Page 98 of Nothing to No One

“You knew from the beginning that I was making a mistake letting you be with him, even as a ruse. You knew this was forever.”

Just how deep did he want to dive? “It’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid. Tell me.”

“We’d only known each other for a few hours, but seeing you come down those stairs in the mansion that first day…”

“You knew it was forever.”

Maybe not exactly, but she’d known it wasn’t nothing. “I didn’t want to be with him. I never wanted to be with him.”

“And I forced you to do it.”

“You didn’t force—” Sudden hammering on the front door interrupted. Recovering from the initial jump scare, she relaxed. “I’m surprised it took them this long.”

“Ignore it.” He found her hand in their sheets and rested it on his mouth. “They’ll go away.”

“Is that what we want?”

“I want to be alone with you.”

Until they confronted the world with their unity, they’d never be fully together. It wouldn’t be fun, but it was necessary to prove they held no shame.

“This won’t fix itself, beau.”

“Will screaming and shouting help?” The knocking kept going; one person didn’t have that many hands. “That’s all they’ll do. Scream shit at us. We have to figure this out for ourselves first.”

“Figure out what we want from each other?”

He didn’t know already? She did. Maybe it was her small-town roots, or her gender, but honestly? It didn’t take long to reach a conclusion. What was the usual course for a man and a woman in love… He had to know she was in love with him, didn’t he?

The knocking stopped to be quickly followed by a half dozen clear pounds.

A man hollered from the hallway. “Some guy showed me how to bust through one of these once!”

Struan was up and dragging on his sweats in an instant. “Shit.”

She boosted onto her elbows. “That wasn’t Roman.”

Or Magnus.

“It’s Tripp.”

Hurrying out of the room, he wouldn’t make his best friend wait. Allies were better than the opposite. Quickly gettingout of bed, she threw on some shorts and a tank. In the bedroom doorway, she got her first look at their visitors. Three of them. Tripp, Zairn, and…

“Roxie.” Rushing to her newest friend, she welcomed her hug. “Thank you for coming.”

“What are you doing here, Bambi, honey? Why didn’t you come to Jane’s?”

Tripp fielded that question. “Let me think, two horny as fuck people finally getting a chance to be alone… do they choose an apartment with a bed, completely alone, or show up where there are people waiting to bombard them with questions…?” The mischievous heir landed his focus on Zairn. “Your woman needs an education, and I’m not the man to give it.”

“It doesn’t matter, we’re here now.” Roxie smoothed Bambi’s hair. “How are you doing, honey? Are you okay? You’re so precious.”

“How did you know we were here?” she asked. “That anything happened?”

“Mieux went looking for you at the house. You weren’t there and there was a big to-do.”

“Mieux?”

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