Motherfucker. Was hestilltrying to set us up? I gaped at him in shock, until I saw the twitch of his lips and the teasing glint in his eyes.
Suddenly, I laughed out loud. Deep, belly laughs that resounded through my whole body. Law joined in, his head falling back against the couch cushions.
I shook my head as the raucous sounds reduced to the occasional chuckle. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d laughed so hard. Lifting my eyebrows, I pointed a finger at him. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, and the smile that lingered there. “I tried for a while, but you can’t fight who you are. Plus, shame is heavy so… I let it go.”
Despite everything that had happened, and the pain we’d caused, I was glad he’d found a way to accept himself, without apology. If only I could have done the same. “What about you? Did you ever find what you were looking for?”
He hesitated before responding. “There’s a big difference between finding what you want and being lucky enough to have it. You know that as well as I do.” Our gazes held as acknowledgment passed between us. “It’s a shame you won’t be at the wedding next month. You, me and Gabi could have spent time catching up, getting to know one another again.” Not even a hint of leer coloured his voice, but I knew he meant more than his words implied.
“Frank and I were never particularly close. I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get an invitation.”
“Still,” Law said, waggling his eyebrows, “it would have been fun to see what kind of mischief we could get up to.” Okay, a little bit of a leer edged his words that time.
I couldn’t help but smile, even as I shook my head. “I don’t think Gabi would agree with you.”
His own grin turned downright sinister. “But you do?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Laughing, he raised his bottle to me. “You never needed to.”
The door opened and we both looked up to see Gabi standing in the doorway, two bags of groceries in hand.
Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of us sitting there, grinning at each other, before they narrowed in Law’s direction. “What are you doing here?”
Rising from the couch, he pointed to the shopping bag he’d left on the kitchen counter. “I’ve brought ribbon for the wedding booklets. From Frank.”
She headed in that direction, dumping her own bags before poking through the contents of the one Law had brought. “I told Frank I’d pick this up from his place tomorrow afternoon.”
“Yes, but I was going to be in the neighbourhood, so I offered to drop it over.”
Gabi gave a sceptical snort as her gaze shifted from him to me and back again. “I’ll bet you did.”
“Hey, even you can’t fault me for this.” Sliding his hands into his pockets, he took another step, bringing the two of them within arms’ reach. I remained seated, watching from a distance. “I did a buddy a favour.”
“Yeah, right.” She made a show of checking her watch. “It’s been all of twenty-eight hours since I told you about Connor coming home and here you are, lame excuse in hand.” She held out the plastic bag before letting it fall back to the counter with a light thud. “Surely if you’d waited you could have come up with something a little more convincing.”
Surprise brought me to my feet. “You only told him I was back yesterday?” Apparently, Lawhadjumped at the chance to see me.
“At lunch,” he confirmed, watching the cringe on Gabi’s face with an air of gleeful satisfaction. “You didn’t think you could continue keeping him all to yourself, did you? Really, Gabi, it’s about time you learned to share.”
“I’m not sharing Connor with you,” she snapped.
His mouth dropped open in mock horror. “That’s a tad selfish. Everyone needs more than one person in their life. Wouldn’t you agree, Connor?”
Two sets of eyes landed on me and my body shivered at the sudden attention. Opening my mouth, I said the first thing that came to mind. “I suppose it depends on how you define sharing.”
Gabi let out a laugh as she returned her attention to the man in front of her. Lifting her hands to rest on her hips, she said, “I think we all know how Lawrence here defines sharing.”
A slow, seductive smile spread across his mouth. “You know me so well,” he drawled. “Though not as well as I’d like.”
Even from across the room I could sense the waves of arousal crashing between them. It was there in the shortening of their breath, in the way their bodies edged closer. They’d done this to each other in a matter of minutes. What would happen at the wedding, when they had an entire champagne-fuelled weekend of romance at their disposal?
Crossing the space between us in a few long strides, I came to a stop beside Gabi. “Thank you for bringing the ribbon,” I told Law, a warning clear in my tone. “You can go now.”
“Of course,” he agreed, continuing to lock eyes with Gabi. “See you at the wedding,” he told her. “I’m sure the two of us will have a great time together.”
