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Diego shrugged. “Anyone can be insecure. Doesn’t matter how good they look. Astrid and I have helped many people through those emotional boundaries.”
Raeni shook her head. “Then you should work on that for yourself, ‘cause you’re seriously hot. Right, Astrid?”
Fuck.Why did this have to circle back to me every time someone brought up his looks in conversation? Our friend from college, Aya, did it to me all the damned time.
“Yeah, he’s hot,” I said in the most nonchalant tone I could attempt.
Raeni held out her hands. “See.”
Diego shook his head. “Go hang out with youramigasor something, Raeni.”
She whipped out her phone, and her gaze flicked down to his abs. “Are you going to be walking around today like that?”
“No.”
She huffed. “Fine. I’ll go to a friend’s instead of them hanging out here.”
I bit back a laugh.Called it.
Diego turned back to face me when Raeni walked off. “You owe me.”
I grunted and scooped my bacon onto a paper-towel-lined plate. “Your fault for putting me in that position.”
He came up behind me again and his lips hovered close to my ear, puffing his hot breath against my skin, and sending a shiver down my spine. “Position? You say that like you didn’t enjoy providing me a little appreciation. You even said you find me hot.”
“Yes, and?” I really wanted this conversation to end. “As your friend, I can still find you objectively hot.”
“Objectively.”
Why did he sound so offended by that word?
My cell phone pinged with a new text and I took that as my way out of this awkward situation.
Slipping around Diego, I snatched my phone off the counter. I cocked my head at the notification.
“What’s up?” Diego asked as he threw more bacon into the pan.
“It’s a text from Officer Rory,” I mumbled. I closed the open text conversation I’d had with Aya and pulled up the new text. “Looks like he had contact with someone who may need the retreat. He sent the guy our way and was checking to see if he arrived.”
I texted Rory back to let him know we hadn’t had any new arrivals yet, but we’d keep an eye out. “If he shows up, he’ll be driving a blue pickup.”
“Well, Rory hasn’t been wrong yet with the people he’s sent to us, so let’s hope he does show,” Diego said. “Have you heard from Aya?”
I nodded and put the phone down. “I was texting her this morning.”
His brow spiked. “Isn’t she in Chicago right now visiting her brother? It’s a bit early for her to be up.”
Given it was only eight A.M. here, he had a decent point. “You know she’s always been an early riser, if she even slept at all.”
Only whatever god that was out there knew whether she did or not. I swore I could wake up at any time of night for whatever reason, and there she’d be, awake herself. Maybe her brother was like that, too. The way she talked about her twin, I didn’t doubt it. “Plus, I think she’s still working on Norwegian time.”
After college, Aya had joined the retreat’s staff to help run, and even improve, the technical infrastructure we had. But she also enjoyed seeing her family, who were split between Norway and Chicago, so she took time off periodically for visits. She came from a well-off family and did her own freelance gigs, all of which paid for the expenses, which was nice. Running a non-profit made it impossible to pay my friend enough of a wage to support her free-spirit ways.
“Did she say when she’ll be back?” Diego asked.
I joined him by his side and poured the scrambled eggs in a waiting pan. “She’s aiming for the next few days.”
Diego scooped the finished bacon from the cast iron pan. “Tell her to text me back. She’s the one who picked the Viking-age Norway theme for this year’s cultural event. I still need her to approve a bunch of activities.”
