AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You don’t think we worked together on that?” I heard the amusement in his voice. He had absolutely helped. I didn’t want to think about what my face would look like if Ted had landed that punch. The thought made me wince.
“I just wasn’t expecting you to share so well,” I muttered.
He chuckled and shot me a heated look. “I never share.”
Well damn.All the moisture fled my mouth at his words. We lapsed back into silence. We were living together and having sex, but we were still trying to figure out how to be comfortable around one another.
* * *
Disappointment filledme as we returned the horses to the stables. I didn’t want to go back to being confined to the house. I watched him as we walked inside.
“Can we stop by and see the broodmares?” I hadn’t been able to check in on Winnie in far too long.
“Next time. We have to get home.” He said gruffly.
I nodded and gave Scoundrel a final pat on the nose. Vince would have someone rub them down and see that they got a good dinner. Typically, I would insist on doing that myself, but I could tell he wanted to leave.
We were quiet on the drive home. Nothing unusual about that. I was still trying to sort through the emotions he’d dragged to the surface over the last few days. I knew I needed to talk to him about it, otherwise I’d bottle it up and it’d come exploding out at the least opportune time.
“Can we-” I started as we got out of the car and he stepped around toward me. I didn’t get to finish.
“Lyyyyyyyynnnn!”
The squeal was deafening and my jaw nearly hit the ground. My gaze flew from where Sam was rushing toward me, to Luca, to Nico. The latter two had smug smiles on their faces. I was floored. Nico had brought my best friend here as a surprise for me.
I charged toward Sam and we collided so hard in a hug I heard her breath woosh out. She gave as good as she got and squeezed me within an inch of my life.
“What are you doing here?” I gasped. Shock, excitement, confusion, all the feelings flooded me as we embraced.
“Your honey there-” she broke off as she got her first good look at Nico over my shoulder. Her expressive blue eyes widened, then met mine. “Ho-ly…”
I laughed and put my hand over her mouth. There was no telling what she was about to say and I didn’t want the men hearing her. She mumbled the rest of it behind my hand then wiggled her brows.
Releasing my hold of her, I hugged her again.
“He called and said I needed to come visit for a few days. I was going to hop on the next commercial flight I could find. He sent me a private jet,” she said in wonder. “I’m now spoiled and don’t know if I can travel like a peasant ever again.”
Luca and Nico were standing and quietly observing us, like we were aliens who’d just crash landed on Earth and this was first contact.
“How long have you been here?”
“Only about twenty minutes. I’ve been hanging out with Paolo and Mr. Grumpy back there.” She jerked a thumb back toward Luca.
I bit back a snicker. When I first met him, I’d gotten the same impression of Luca—cold, broody, much like Nico. It wasn’t until I started to get to know him that I realized he actually was downright jovial compared to Nico. He hid it well when he needed to.
“Oh! Speaking of…Paolo!” she called out. “You can bring them out now.”
I lost the battle with my tears when Paolo opened the door and my dogs darted out of the house. Autumn gave three rapid fire barks when she saw me and bee-lined directly over.
Sitting down in the gravel, I pulled her into my lap for a hug. Lola trotted over—no less happy to see me—but much more reserved than my Collie. I grabbed her and sat with approximately one hundred pounds of wriggling dog in my lap. It felt like my heart was going to explode.
I looked over my shoulder and met Nico’s piercing gaze. Resting my head on Lola’s, I gave him a watery smile. He just returned it with a little jerk of his chin.
“They aren’t what I was expecting,” Paolo told me, coming over to where I was sitting.
“What were you expecting?” I asked with a laugh.
“A-”
