I hadn’t answered Nolan, obviously.
But I had no idea what to say to him when we landed.
The chickens ran into their shed, and Nolan walked out of the house followed by Juno as the helicopter settled onto the dirt. The dog hadn’t shown any signs of being vicious, but I still wasn’t getting out while she was that close. Not until Chase picked me up and dumped me onto the ground, anyway.
“Hey!”
“The dog’s just sitting there. If she was dangerous, I’d throw myself into the path of snapping teeth, don’t worry.” Chase picked up two of our bags. “You should try petting her.”
“Ugh, no.”
“You didn’t reply to my message,” Nolan said. “Again.”
“I was busy.”
“No, you weren’t.” Chase flashed him a smile. “Hello, hot stuff.”
Asshole.
Nolan folded his arms. Uh-oh.
“You said Marielle liked being the centre of attention, so what’s the problem?”
“I meant the ‘one room or two’ question.”
Fuck.
“Two,” Chase said.
I gasped. “Traitor! I should fire you for that.”
“You won’t fire me; you adore me. And it’s time to stop skating around the painfully obvious truth that you like Nolan and he likes you. If you need me, I’ll be upstairs checking out Grindr.”
Chase sauntered off, leaving me with Nolan, the dog, a dozen chickens, and a tornado of nausea swirling in my stomach. If I wished hard enough, maybe the ground would open up and swallow me?
“How far are we from the San Andreas Fault?” I asked.
Nolan sucked in a breath. “Not far enough.”
We stared at each other, our gazes locked. My pulse began racing, and I dug my nails into my palms until they hurt. What was I supposed to say? In the end, nothing—I shrieked instead when something wet touched my hand. Nolan caught me as I leapt into his arms, and I glared down at the dog who’d snuck up on me.
“She knows you’re nervous,” Nolan said. “She’s just checking you’re okay.”
Damn Chase for putting me in this position.
“Do I look as if I’m having fun here?” I snapped.
“No, but I am.”
“I hate you.”
“Apparently, you don’t.”
“Chase talks bullshit. Don’t listen to a word he says.”
“No, he doesn’t.” Nolan’s chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath. “He was right about me liking you.”
“Well, great, we’re friends again. Super.”
