"To…" I chew on my lower lip, "TGIF."
The three stare at me.
"Thank God it’s Friday?" Amelie furrows her eyebrows.
I glance at each of their faces, "Tongue Goes in First."
Amelie hoots, "I love your step-mama, Summer."
I wince, glance at Summer, who shakes her head. Her phone pings. She picks it up, checks the screen and smiles. "Sienna says she's bummed not to be here, but the pregnancy is exhausting her. She's going to stay in."
"Sienna?" I ask.
"Jace's wife." Summer sets the phone down. "He's a friend of the Seven. They moved here from LA because Sienna's pregnant and they want to bring up the child in Jace's home country."
"That sounds wonderful. It's beautiful that they can plan for the future, a life together." A ball of emotion clogs my throat.
Where has this...hankering for becoming part of an unit come from? To have someone to call my own. A family, kids. I had hoped that I'd have it all one day, until Nina's kidnapping had turned my world upside down. It could have easily been me. Hell, sometimes I wish it had been me. I'd have gladly traded places with her.
She and I? We’re... Solid.
Until I met her, I was always a background friend. I never fit in with any particular circle of friends. All through high school, I'd find these cliques. They'd be close with each other and I'd sort of latch on, but I was never permanent with them.
They wouldn’t have even noticed if I wasn't with them.
All of that changed when I met Nina. With her, I didn't feel left out. It was like I had found someone who got me. Someone who recognized a kindred soul, know what I mean? She had my back.
We promised to look out for each other, to be the sister we each had always wanted and never had. And then she was gone. My throat closes. No way, could I abandon her when she needs me. I'd do everything, and more, to help her.
I take a sip of my drink. The cold liquid slides down my throat. It hits my stomach and warmth instantly tingles up my spine. "Yum." I glance down at the cocktail. "This is good."
"Isn’t it?" Summer licks her lips. She glances around, then sinks down into an overstuffed cushion. "I am surprised Saint allowed you leave the office on your own."
"Oh?" I sink back into the settee while the other two sprawl out next to me. "I didn’t think he wanted me there a second longer."
"I don't know." Summer levels me with a stare. "He sure seemed keen to take care of you."
My cheeks heat. "It isn't what it seems." I cringe. Ugh, is that the oldest excuse in the book, or what?
Summer frowns, "Perhaps he doesn’t quite know how to share what he feels for you?"
I choke on my drink. "What he feels for me?" I set my glass down with such force that some of the drink spills. I glance around. Summer hands me a box of tissues and I pull one out, mop up the drink from the table. "He left me in his room, for a so-called important appointment." I wad the tissue into a ball, "And when I find him, it's with his—" I clamp my lips shut. Damn, I want to confide in them, but can I trust them? Will I be able to trust anyone after the events of the last few months?
"Ooh." Amelie rubs her hands together. "Did you catch him with his pants down?"
Heat flushes my cheeks. I toss the balled-up tissue onto the table, "The details don’t matter."
Summer looks thoughtful, but doesn’t speak.
Amelie pouts. "Aww, and I thought you were going to be fun."
"Trust me, I am the most boring person you’ll meet."
Amelie, looks me up and down. "It’s the quiet ones who have a sting in the tail."
"Sure," I hold up my forefingers on either side of my forehead, "and these are my horns."
She giggles.
Summer tilts her head, "At any rate, he got the color back in your cheeks."
And how.
She pulls up her knees, rests her chin on them, "Did he at least kiss you?"
"Of course, not." I scowl.
"Did he make a move on you?"
I shuffle my feet.
"Are you attracted to him?" Amelie chimes in.
"Do you like him?" Isla asks in a breathless tone. "You do, don't you?"
"Hold on." I hold up my hands, scan their expectant faces. "Yes," I exhale.
"Yes, what?" Amelie bounces on the cushions.
Whoa, is she excitable or what? I let the silence draw out, then reply, "Yes to all of that."
"I knew it." She holds up a hand, and Isla high-five’s her.
"Hold on." I frown. "Did you two have a bet going?"
Amelie peers at me from the other side of the settee, "You don’t mind, do you?"
I raise my shoulders. "Not as long as you’ll help me with what I have in mind."
"Ooh!" Amelie takes a hefty sip, then balances the glass on the arm of the sofa. "Give."
"It’s all straightforward."
Not.
"Clearly there's chemistry between Saint and me, and I want to stay in London." I say, sticking to the barebones version of the convoluted reality of my life. " I don't want to return to the US."
Summer’s shoulders stiffen. "So you want to get together with Saint?"
"I saw him first at your wedding." I nod toward Summer. "There was an instant connection between us. Of course, I was married to your father then—"
"But you had no feelings for him," she says.
I glance toward her. "It’s not like that. I cared about him, but...Was it that obvious?" Clearly, I’m not as good an actress as I like to think, if both Saint and Summer had seen through my charade.
She scowls, "Only because I'd been trying to figure out why the hell a beautiful woman like you would want to be with him." Her features harden. "He was all wrong for you. Besides," she looks me up and down, "you'd be good for Saint."
"I... I would?" I blink.
She nods. "He
