Page 67 of The Rescuer

Reece puffed out an exasperated breath. “Yes, I like women, and no, I don’t have a V-card that needs punching. Not that it’s any of your fucking business, asshole.” He looked over both shoulders. “Neve is like … I’ve known her my whole life. It would be like doing the dirty with my sister, and that’s just … wrong.” A little voice told him his statement didn’t hold a lick of truth. When he’d believed she and Charlie had something going, he’d more or less prepared himself to look at Neve as an eventual sister-in-law. But lately, the word sister was not what came to mind when he looked at her.

Noah raised a skeptical eyebrow. “First off, she’snotyour sister. Second,youmay not remember, but the rest of us do. You weren’t looking at her like a sister the other night, dude. More like she was a prime cut and you hadn’t had a meal in weeks. The kiss says it all. Check the video.” He motioned toward Reece’s pocket.

Charlie hooked a thumb toward Noah and chirped, “What he said. And you weren’t handling her like a sister either. I’d call it more of a mauling.”

Reece’s mouth slackened, closed, and dropped open again. Noah and Charlie looked at each other and exchanged shit-eating grins.

Noah folded his arms across his chest. “So you’re saying nothing happened when you got back to your room?”

“Nothing happened.”Except that we tore up my bed before winding up in hers stark naked. Yeah, nothing happened.

“No wonder she’s hell-bent on divorcing your ass!” Charlie barked.

Reece cringed at the mention of the D-word. “Would you keep your goddamn voice down?”

“No one can hear.” Charlie kept running his mouth. “Let me get this straight. You ask the girl you’ve known your entire life to marry you—who’s perfect for you, by the way, even if you are too dense to see what everyone else knows—you stick a fucking rock on her finger that costs as much as a house in some parts, promise to love her till death do you part, then take her back to your room and … pass out?” He threw his head back and howled with laughter.

Christ, Reece’s baby brother was irritating. He was also one of Reece’s two closest friends. Noah was the other, which was an unfortunate truth at this particular moment. Maybe he needed to find himself some new BFs. In Vermont. “Something like that, yeah.”

Charlie rapped him on the head with his knuckles. Hard. “What is the matter with you, bro?”

“That hurts!” Reece cocked his fist back with no real intention of letting it fly, dropping it when Hailey called them to dinner.

Noah gave Reece a playful shove. “Mom’s going to ask us all tosharewhat we’re thankful for. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.”

“This is going to be good,” Charlie agreed.

The only comeback Reece had in him was “Fuck you.” Not only did it sound lamer than the last time he’d said it, but it didn’t accomplish a damn thing—except give his brothersmoreammunition to hurl at him. He kept his mouth shut as he followed the two idiots to the dining room.

Neve’s hands flitted overthe silverware beside the fine china plates, straightening the shiny pieces so they lined up just so. Her obsession with the perfect arrangement might have been OCD, but it was more likely her nerves. When Marilyn had asked her to set the table, she’d jumped at the chance to give her hands something to do so she wouldn’t bite her nails to the quick. With the boys huddled around the TV watching football and Marilyn and Joy prepping food in the kitchen, Neve had also welcomed the moment to still her jumpy mind.

She had been in the Hunnicutt house countless times before—she’d even set their table before—and she had never been uncomfortable, but right now she was dancing barefoot on virtual hot coals while holding on to a whopper of a secret. Her gut churned with Reece’s and her deception. His mother had always treated Neve like arealmom, but if she knew, Neve doubted she’d be as kind and welcoming as she’d been when they first arrived.

Marilyn Hunnicutt was a rare gem. Welcoming, warm, and generous, she was unaffected by the wealth that had been passed down to her. Thesalt of the earth, she was the sort of woman every girl dreamed of having as a mother-in-law, and the complete opposite of the stereotypical bee-otch portrayed in so many movies and books. Since she’d been a little girl, Neve had always imagined Marilyn beinghermother-in-law someday. Now she actually was, but the poor woman had no idea. And if she did? Neve shuddered as she pictured all that sweetness and affection icing over like Bedrock Creek in winter.

The very real possibility physically hurt Neve’s heart.

Hailey sidled up beside her and set down a crystal wineglass, oblivious to the fact that she’d bumped the fork Neve had so painstakingly arranged. Neve picked it up, buffed it on her sleeve, and laid it back down carefully. If Hailey noticed, she didn’t let on—probably because she was too busy grinning her Cheshire cat smile.

“I hear you two are living together now.”

Neve kept her head down, moving on to the next place setting. “Where did you hear that?”

Hailey began counting off on her fingers. “From Dixie, who heard it from Luanne, who heard it from Germaine, who was at the rec center directing the placement of ice blocks and saw Reece moving his bags into your house.” Her grin broadened. “The small-town wireless is efficient in Fall River.” She dramatically tapped her cheek. “Oh, and there was speculation about yours and Reece’s marital status.”

Neve abruptly stopped. “You didn’t say anything, did you?” she hissed.

Hailey’s offense at the question etched itself in her features. “Of course not! I’m onyourside.” She looked over both shoulders and lowered her voice. “But Neve, being on your side means I want you to be happy. You’ve always wanted to marry Reece, right? Why not run with it?”

Neve didn’t have girlfriends or family to confide in, so when she’d first met Hailey and they’d hit it off, she’d been happy to fill that empty spot with her new friend. Hailey was genuine, like a real sister, but right now Neve was questioning her wisdom in confessing every frickin’ secret she’d ever had—including the one that, before now, had been her biggest: her lifelong love for Reece Hunnicutt.

“I can’trun with it. He doesn’t love me—notthatway. We agreed we’re getting an annulment.”

With a wicked gleam in her eyes, Hailey did a silent hand clap. “Then jump that man’s sexy bones, and there won’t be an annulment. You’ll have to get a divorce instead, and that’ll give him time to fall in love with you.”

Neve’s mouth swung open. “No! That’s wrong on so many levels.” She ignored Hailey’s frown of disappointment. “Look, as much as I love Reece, I never wanted to marry him on a whim in Las Vegas, and I certainly don’t want to trap him. If by some miracle he were to decide he wants to marry me, he’ll need to want it as much as I do.”

Hailey’s hands went to her hips. “Girlfriend, hedidwant to marry you. That’s why you’re in this pickle barrel, which, in my humble opinion, should be a pot of honey instead. You struck the jackpot—no Vegas puns intended.”

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