Page 55 of Three Little Wishes

“I didn’t have my morning coffee yet.” Sage lifted her mug to her lips and took a sip. “You can tell me now.”

“It wasn’t so much what she said, it was how she said it.She sounded… I don’t know, nervous. Upset. I heard Nonna yelling in the background. In Italian so I don’t know what she said, but she sounded upset too.”

“Nonna’s upset and yelling about something eighty percent of the time so you can’t go by that. But Mom rarely gets upset or nervous, unless it has to do with her art.”

“That must be it. She’s anxious about the auction.” Willow relaxed on the chair. “I feel better now. Thank you.”

“That’s it? You woke me up fifteen minutes after I’d finally fallen asleep, dragged me downstairs, handed me a cup of coffee, and then made me come out here… for that?”

“You should be thanking me. If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t have gotten to enjoy the spectacular sunrise or this gorgeous morning.”

“What’s gorgeous about it? The grass is wet, gnats are swarming my head, and I’m sitting on a hard chair and not sleeping in a bed.” Her sister stiffened. “Tell me that’s not what I think it is?”

Willow pretended she didn’t hear Lucky barking and took a sip of her coffee to keep from laughing at her sister’s expression. Just as she got her amusement under control, the door opened and Noah walked out with Lucky on a leash.

“I take it back,” Sage whispered. “That’s worth waking up for.”

Her sister wasn’t wrong, and Willow had been right about Noah working out. And she knew this because his tanned muscular chest and rock-hard abs were on display. He was bare chested, his navy sleep pants riding low on his hips as he walked Lucky to a tree a hundred yards from where they sat. He had seriously sexy bedhead and looked half-asleep.

“Are you drooling?”

Willow wiped a hand over her mouth. “My jaw must’ve dropped, and coffee dribbled out.”

“You’ve been living with him for almost a week, and you haven’t seen him half-naked before?”

“He’s not half-naked. He’s wearing sleep pants. And the last time I saw him without a shirt was thirteen years ago. He’s changed, a lot.”

“Yeah, I bet he has. Not many fifteen-year-old have abs like that. We can count them when he turns around. I’m guessing eight.” Sage tilted her head to the side. “Although the view from the back is pretty spectacular too. Look at his shoulders… and his butt,” Sage murmured, saying exactly what Willow was thinking.

“I can hear you, you know,” Noah said, his sleep-laden voice rough and deep.

“Oops. We thought you were sleepwalking.” Her sister grinned, turning to Willow when Noah walked toward them. “You were right about his broody face.”

Noah scowled at Sage. “You’d have a broody face too if you had less than an hour’s sleep.”

“You weren’t the only one not sleeping. Your house isn’t soundproof, you know,” Sage said.

“Blame your sister.” He took Willow’s mug from her hand, downing what looked like the rest of her coffee.

“It’s not my fault,” she pointed out instead of suggesting he get his own cup of coffee. She’d have had to string more than four words together, and with a bare-chested Noah standing in front of her, that was most definitely beyond her.

Sage snorted and stood up. “I’ll let you twofightit out.” She waggled her eyebrows at Willow from behind Noah’sback. It was annoying having a sister who knew her so well. “I need at least five hours of sleep before we break the news about the teenager from hell to Mom and Nonna.”

“Sage, she’s not that bad.”

“Will, she and demon dog are a match made in hell.”

Noah laughed, taking a seat in the chair Sage had vacated and stretching out his long legs.

Willow shook her head. Even his feet were beautiful. “Don’t encourage her,” she said, leaning down to pick up Lucky, who was snuffling the grass.

“What are you two doing up, anyway?”

“Ask my sister. I’m going to bed, and Will, after you twochat, you should grab a few hours’ sleep before we have our showdown with the fam.”

“I can’t. I told you, Sage. Mom wants me to meet her at the beach at seven.”

Her sister frowned. “Are you sure you got the time right? She has her early-morning yoga class.”

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