AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Amelia responded with a bland smile. It was all she could manage. Finally dipping her spoon into her coffee, she stirred the clouds of cream away.
Leo shifted his hand away from her thigh, propping it on the back of her chair. He ate a bite of his scrambled eggs and picked up a rasher of bacon, like having his arm around Amelia’s shoulders while he ate breakfast was an everyday occurrence.
“You any good at volleyball?” Leo asked her, eyes shining.
“Shouldn’t you know that about the woman you’re about to marry?” Cora interjected.
“We haven’t covered volleyball yet, but I still feel confident we’re a good fit.” Leo grinned at the older woman, sounding, to Amelia’s ears, like he meant every word.
Or maybe that was just what she wanted to hear?
Trudy barked a laugh. “Funnily enough, in twenty-two years of marriage, Rob and I haven’t covered volleyball either. You any good, babe?”
“I can spike like the best of ‘em,” Rob boasted as he took a seat next to his wife. “Just don’t count on it getting over the net.”
Laughter rang around the room, and Amelia sipped her coffee, trying to make everything make sense. It was pleasant, easy conversation, and she felt like she was losing her mind.
She wanted this. She wanted it so badly it felt like a demon scrabbling at the inside of her skin. She wanted a man’s arm around her shoulders while he laughed with friends and acquaintances. She wanted someone who knew how she took her coffee without having to be asked. She wanted to wake up with a pleasantly sore body, confident in the knowledge that it would happen again and again and again.
No, Amelia realized with dawning horror, she didn’t want a man; she wantedLeo. She wantedthisman to sit beside her and make her feel seen. She wantedhimto take her to bed, to wake up next to her, to spend his life with her at his side.
“You okay?” he asked, proving that he could see through every wall she’d ever erected.
She nodded, then lied through her teeth: “I’m good.”
“Good.” He squeezed her shoulder.
Ari sat down diagonally across from them and nodded to the group. Leo stiffened beside her, and Amelia remembered what they’d done the night before. So much had happened, she’d forgotten that Ari was trying to break away and start his own company. She’d forgotten about the ring, and Ari’s watch, about the library’s rare coins. She’d forgotten that Fred knew she and Leo were lying about something and that this whole mess might explode in their faces sooner rather than later.
Maybe the detonation had already started. Last night, they’d lit the fuse that would destroy them both.
Vanessa entered the room with her boyfriend Mark hot on her heels. She waved like a queen to her subjects. “Morning, everyone,” she said as she glided toward the buffet tables.
Mark boomed behind her, “Morning! Did everyone see the cop car outside?”
Air was sucked out of the room as everyone inhaled at once.
“The cop car?” Trudy asked.
“Yeah!” Mark grabbed a plate and opened one of the silver food warmers. “It was unmarked, but I saw the police light sitting on the dash! Just like the movies when they stick it on the roof to catch the bad guys. Crazy, huh? Wonder what that’s about? Hope one of you didn’t steal Nadia’s ring.” He chortled while Vanessa glared at him. “What, babe?” he protested as he caught her look. “That thing’s worth like twelve mil. I looked it up.”
“Mark,” she hissed. “Not now.”
Amelia flicked a gaze around the room. Robert seemed nonplussed, focused on buttering his toast. Was hetoocasual? Trudy’s brows were drawn. Gregory and George were in deep conversation at the far end of the table. Ari looked positively green.
She frowned at him. Leo followed her gaze, and the weight of their combined stares must have drawn Ari’s attention. The other man stiffened across the table, his hands gripping his silverware so hard they shook.
“Ari?” Leo asked quietly. “You worried about the cops?”
“What?” Ari asked. “Are you accusing me of something?”
“Someone in this room hasn’t been honest,” Leo continued in a low voice.
Amelia sucked in a breath. Was he accusing Ari? Sure, they suspected he was trying to screw Fred over business-wise, but that wasn’t the same thing as stealing a woman’s ring right off her finger.
Ari’s eyes blazed. He clung to his utensils for a moment, then visibly forced himself to relax. He set his knife down, then his fork, then smoothed the front of his shirt as if he were smoothing a tie. Unease trickled down Amelia’s spine. Something was going on here, and she didn’t understand what it was. Beside her, Cora shifted in her seat, then stilled. No one else moved.
In the silence, footsteps sounded down the hall. At least two people, probably three. The drumbeat of their steps rocked through the room like gunshots. Leo tensed beside her, and Amelia tried to quietly fill her lungs in an attempt to calm herself down.
