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Hedra couldn’t help but laugh. Her siblings drove her crazy, but she loved them intensely and couldn’t imagine her life without them.
“But seriously, honey, you’re not even having sex with that delicious drink of water?” Nora asked. “Because if not, you have so much more willpower than me. Boone is gorgeous.”
“We’re not,” Hedra said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. Pussy eating and one single thrust of Boone’s magnificent cock wasn’t considered sex.
“Then why is he marking you?” Jack asked.
“He has an ex-girlfriend who works for one of his clients, and she’s been… enthusiastic about trying to rekindle their romance. Boone told her he had a girlfriend. She invited his girlfriend to a party Boone had to attend, and Boone asked me to pretend to be the girlfriend.”
“Oh my God, it’s a fake dating romance story!” Nora squealed excitedly. “I’m reading one of those right now.”
Hedra laughed as Everett frowned. “So, this Boone guy is too much of a coward to be straight with a woman?”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Hedra said. “Just believe me when I say that this was the best choice Boone could have made. He is about as far from a coward as a person can get.”
“Again, considering he was about to turn Anthony into Swiss cheese just for touching you, I don’t think any of us actually believe he might be a coward,” Jack said.
“Boone is a great guy,” Hedra said.
Nora studied her. “Ooh, you like him.”
“Sure. He’s a good boss and -”
“Don’t even, Heds,” Nora said. “You like like him. You want to be his real girlfriend.” She made kissy faces until Hedra punched her in the arm.
Nora rubbed her arm and said, “Don’t try to deny it. You can’t hide anything from us.”
Hedra didn’t reply, and Everett cocked his head, staring intently at her. “Is there something we should know, Hedra?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you do look tired and,” he sniffed in her direction, “under the overpowering scent of tiger, I can smell your anxiety.”
She made herself smile at Everett. “I’m perfectly fine.”
Everett glanced at Jack, that familiar look passing between them. Hedra sighed. “Stop doing that silent communication thing the two of you do. I’m only anxious because Boone’s grandmother is doing better, which is great, but it also means I need to start looking for another job and a place to live. It’s stressing me out a bit.”
“You could move back to Rosehaven,” Jack said.
“No,” she said. “You know I can’t.”
Her voice gentle, Nora said, “He doesn’t live there anymore, honey.”
“And even if he did, he wouldn’t contact you again or say shit about you,” Everett said. His pupils turned to slits briefly before rounding out again. “We made sure of that.”
Hedra made a small grimace as Nora took her hand and squeezed lightly. “People have moved on, okay? There won’t be any more gossip, especially not without Mateo there shooting his mouth off.”
“It isn’t just that,” Hedra said. “It’s hard to be there without Dianne.”
Nora put her arm around Hedra and purred softly to her. “I know, honey. I’m sorry.”
Hedra leaned into her sister, closing her eyes. She believed that her siblings had shown up here solely because of her birthday and didn’t think Chase had said anything about Mateo contacting her again, but it was good to know for certain. She didn’t want them worrying about her or, worse, going after Mateo again.
Everett’s purring joined Nora’s, and Hedra smiled at him when he took her hand. “Hedra, are you sure you’re okay? You can talk to us. You know that, right?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “I’m really happy you’re here. I’ve missed you.”
Nora stroked her hair before purring to her again. “We’ve missed you too, honey.”
