Page 181 of Huckleberry Hill
“Oh. Right.”
I looked at the ring again.
“I want you to come home. I want us to be together.”
I frowned. “This is my home.”
“What about New York? We had a life there.”
“No, Gianni, you had a life there,” I said. “And you walked out on me the minute there was a problem.”
He sighed. “You don’t know how much I regret that. I was in Italy without you, but everything reminded me of you. I made a list of the wines I knew you’d like, the dishes I couldn’t wait to make for you, the sights I want to show you on our honeymoon . . .”
I rubbed my third eye.
We were having this conversation in the middle of the kitchen, and it felt like it was happening to someone else.
“Please give me another chance,” he begged.
The front door opened. “Bear snack, sorry I’m late. I stopped by Sweet Teeth and grabbed you some chocolate chip?—”
Declan came to a halt when he entered the kitchen and saw me standing with my ex-fiancé.
“Bear snack?” Gianni asked, his gaze bouncing between me and Declan. “What is that, a nickname?”
“Ah, yeah,” I said awkwardly.
The two men were sizing each other up, neither one saying anything. They were both nearly the same height, but Declan was more muscular, while Gianni had a leaner build.
I felt the tension between them, but I wasn’t sure how to diffuse it.
“Declan, Gianni. Gianni, Declan.”
“Declan,” Gianni repeated.
“Her boyfriend,” Declan stated. “And the father of her child.”
I winced.
“Father of her . . .” Gianni looked at me in shock. “You’re infertile.”
Declan dropped the bakery bag on the kitchen table. “Not anymore.”
Gianni’s expression tightened. “So let me get this straight. We break up and you come home and jump in the sack with the first guy you see? And now you’re knocked up in a couple weeks? Hadley, what the?—”
Declan’s punch interrupted Gianni’s tirade, and the next thing I knew fists were flying.
“Stop!” I yelled. “You can’t fight in here! If you break my grandmother’s china, she’ll kill both of you!”
Neither of them heard me.
Declan had sprung into protective boyfriend mode and Gianni was . . . well, he wasn’t going to take a fist to the face and not do anything about it.
I hastily went to the sliding glass door. “Out! Both of you!”
Gianni swung and clocked Declan across the jaw, momentarily stunning him.
Somehow, I managed to coerce them in the direction of the back porch. With fresh mountain air, and no hindrances, they went hard for each other.
