Chapter 18 #2
“Babe, you make us sound like we’re weird or something,” Kane said before Diana could say she hadn’t fallen for anyone and had no intention of it either.
Even if she was still having some feels from the conversation about the kind of men she’d slept with before Alex. Those feels were a bit of a problem if she were honest. She wasn’t used to this, and she didn’t want sex with him to mean more than it should.
I despise him. I despise him.
As if repeating that phrase would protect her. Especially when she could feel the warmth of his body at her side, his arm looped casually around her back. She felt protected and safe beside him.
“Not weird. Besides, Diana knows some of your shit already. She helped me get my life back. She knows you aren’t normal.”
Diana couldn’t help the small smile that played on her lips as she took a sip of coffee.
She liked Daphne. This girl was no nonsense, and she’d certainly gotten Kane in line.
He’d been somewhat of a serial dater before Daphne, but now he was obviously devoted to her.
It was sweet. And it filled her with envy.
“I should probably go,” Diana said, setting her mostly full cup on the counter as the silence stretched.
Alex’s grip tightened around her waist. “No need. These two were just leaving. And I promised you breakfast.”
“Yeah, sorry, have to go,” Kane said, taking the hint. “We’re opening up the range. Just stopped in because, uh…”
“She knows why you’re here,” Alex said. “No need to make something up.”
Kane glanced at Daphne. She shrugged.
“They saw your car,” Alex told her, not waiting for the explanation. “And they wanted to know if you’d popped in spontaneously to harass me about something, or if you spent the night.”
“Oh, I definitely just popped in. My shower wasn’t working, so I thought, hmm, who would let me take a shower? Alex was the first person I thought of.”
He snorted softly. Daphne laughed and set her empty cup down before looping an arm in Kane’s.
“Come on, Candy Kane. Time to go. Let this lady finish her morning routine and get some breakfast before she has to go to work. If you want to come to book club,” she added, “it’s at six o’clock on Tuesday.
We’re reading about blue aliens with two penises this month, and Callie is about to die because Nikki suggested it. ”
“Thank you for the invitation,” Diana replied, because she’d been raised with manners. She wasn’t sure she’d go, but she kind of wanted to. Blue aliens with two penises? One seemed to be quite enough when attached to a man who knew how to use it, but the possibilities were intriguing.
“Nikki is Callie’s little sister,” Alex murmured in her ear as Kane and Daphne started toward the door. “She’s seventeen going on forty, so it’s probably okay. But yeah, sounds cringey as fuck to me.”
Diana’s heart beat faster than it should for such a mundane conversation, but it was how the conversation made her feel. Included. Part of the circle. It was a false feeling. She needed to remember that. She wasn’t part of this group, not really.
“I remember Nikki,” she said as they drifted after Kane and Daphne, coffee cups in hand. “She stomped on Dima Smirnov’s instep when he held her hostage.”
“She sure did. Nearly took ten years off Seth and Callie’s lives, but the kid is made of strong stuff.”
“Bye now,” Daphne said as they went out the door. “Take your time, Alex. We’ve got nothing exciting happening this morning. I mean I may have ordered some decorations for Halloween, but nothing to worry yourself over. I’m sure the guys can put the skeleton together without you.”
Alex stilled. “Skeleton? Daphne, what did you do?”
But she was already through the door and Kane pulled it shut behind them. A bark of feminine laughter came from the porch before footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Diana turned to Alex. He was stiff as a board, jaw working as he stared at the door.
Then he shook his head and laughed. “Damn that woman. She’s probably ordered a giant skeleton—and God knows what else—so she can host some kind of Halloween party.
Never should have encouraged her ideas for an events business. ”
Diana was intrigued. “You let her start an events business?”
“It’s supposed to be a small one, but damn if she didn’t manage to sell a shit ton of tickets to her small-town brunch thing last month. Made a helluva profit.” He groaned and dragged a hand over his face. “I told her she could use the profits to fund the next event.”
“And that’s a problem why?”
“Because Daphne possesses a singular talent for pushing envelopes. She’ll have a damned carnival parked in that field before she’s through.”
Diana laughed. “I don’t know. Sounds kind of fun.”
“You ever read a book by Ray Bradbury called Something Wicked This Way Comes? Or watched the movie?”
“Can’t say as I have.”
Alex shook his head. “Yeah, well, carnivals in October aren’t always fun. My luck, that’s the one Daph will book. Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show, parked in my field and wreaking havoc on Sutton’s Creek.”
She was still laughing as he led her back to the kitchen. “Aren’t you being a tiny bit dramatic?”
He sat her down at the small kitchen table and then pulled out eggs and bacon from the fridge. “There was a time when I’d have said maybe so, but that was before I moved to Sutton’s Creek and everything I thought I knew turned upside down. Drama’s in the water here.”
“I think it’s charming. I’ll admit Colleen Wright is a bit kooky, though.”
“She materialize beside your car yet when you’d have sworn nobody was there?”
“Oh my God, how did you know?”
It was his turn to laugh as he put bacon in the pan. “How do you think? She does it to everyone, and I’m no exception. Which is unnerving as hell considering what I do for a living. Not being aware of people approaching your position is a recipe for disaster. But she got me. Once anyway.”
“And did she have a message from the spirits for you?”
“Nope. Did she have one for you?”
If she told him what Colleen had said, it would feel too much like exposing a piece of her soul. And she’d already done enough of that when she’d admitted he was the first man to go down on her.
“She wanted me to take a ghost walk tour. Offered me a discount and then had to run because Reba was stumbling around on the back porch.”
“The kombucha,” he said sagely.
“Or the bourbon.”
“Probably the bourbon.” He grinned and flipped bacon, and her heart thudded.
“I could help you with that.”
“Nope, got this.” He cracked eggs in a bowl. “Drink your coffee and think about how much fun you’re going to have at that book club.”
She watched him beat the eggs with a fork.
Now that she knew he’d spent a few years in the Alaskan wilderness as a child, she wasn’t surprised he was so competent at cooking.
She wasn’t, but then she’d been raised with a cook and staff.
What had he said last night about being a peasant unworthy of touching her?
The memory made her stomach tighten, and not in a good way.
“I’m not sure I’m going,” she replied. “She only invited me so they can grill me about you.”
He gave her a look that said duh. “You need to go, Diana. You wanted in, you’re in all the way.
If we’re supposed to be dating, it means you’re coming to the Dawg for dinner, you’re going to Rory and Chance’s place for cookouts, and you’re going to the book club.
If you don’t do any of it, it’s suspicious. ”
“They don’t like me.”
“The guys don’t, and that’s on me. But the ladies—well, nobody tells them what to do, not really.
Daphne likes you. I expect Kane does too since you made it possible for them to be together.
He thinks he’s taking my side by acting like he doesn’t.
Out of all of them, the only one whose dislike you’ve earned is Seth’s.
Because you ambushed Callie with that photo of Dima Smirnov and he hasn’t forgotten it.
But if Callie doesn’t hold a grudge, and I doubt she does, he’ll accept you. ”
“And when this is over and we aren’t pretending to be together anymore?”
It was hard to think of not being with him, which was weird because they’d only given in to this attraction two nights ago. But she had to keep reality front and center. They weren’t compatible long-term. Even if the sex was addictive, it wasn’t enough when the foundation wasn’t there.
He carried over a plate with eggs and bacon and set it in front of her. “I’ll make sure our breakup is my fault, okay? They won’t blame you, and you can still go to the book club meetings if you like it enough.”
She arched an eyebrow even though her heart squeezed at how casually he mentioned their inevitable breakup. “It’s two-dicked blue aliens. Of course I’ll like it.”
If for no other reason than how outrageous the subject matter was.
“You’ll go?”
“I suppose I have to.”
“Good girl,” he said with a wink before he walked away.
She liked those words a lot more than she should. She liked him a lot more than she should.