I waved one hand awkwardly. “Hey. I came for dinner.” I honestly wouldn’t have if I didn’t feel like digging through the stored food in the cottage pantry to figure out what to make. If I were at my apartment, I more than likely would have just popped open a can of soup. It wasn’t unheard of for me to make Poptarts a full meal, either.
Ry chuckled. “So you have. I’m glad you found the house.”
I snorted. I wasn’t the only one who could make ridiculous statements, it seemed. “Yeah, I nearly couldn’t find the giant house a few hundred yards up the driveway.”
“Okay, smartass,” he shook his head. “Dinner is ready to be served. You’re actually right on time.”
We walked through the house, our footsteps loud on the wooden floorboards and muffled as we stepped across thescattered rugs. The inside of the house was just as impressive as the outside. I was certain that the wall sconces, floral oil paintings, and gilded mirror were left over from the time the innkeeper’s sister was the homeowner.
“It smells delicious,” I said as I walked along, following dutifully. We arrived in a semi-formal dining room. I would bet my badge that there was a larger, much fancier dining room nearby. The one we were in had a table large enough for six with a matching china cabinet and sideboard. There was a large flower arrangement of hydrangeas set in a low vase, giving the room a softer feel.
“I hope you’re hungry!”
I turned at the sound of a woman’s voice and was surprised to see someone around my age, possibly a few years older, carrying a basket of rolls. She was pretty, with a girl next door vibe. But it was the man following behind the woman who made my heart beat skip, then quicken.
Holy shit. And I do meanholy fucking shit. The man was hot. I thought Ry was hot, but the man wasdangerouslyhot. I glanced over at Ry to see him smirking at me. Okay, he was hot too. And he obviously knew I was affected by his boyfriend. But who the hell wouldn’t be? He was also the man from the news article. The one I had printed out with his grainy picture in it.
The man was taller than Ry by maybe three inches, and Ry wasn’t short by any means. But while Ry was all lean muscle and sharp lines, the other man was broad and built for strength. I didn’t have to wonder if he had a six-pack of abs under his shirt; the outline was there for the world to see.
His face was beautiful in a ruggedly handsome way. His skin tone was golden from his time spent working outside on the ranch and nearly matched the color of his short hair. It made his brilliant blue eyes stand out even more. His cold, dismissive blueeyes. I felt a shiver go down my spine at the feel of his gaze on me.
Before I could turn around and head straight for the front door, Ry took my arm, led me to a chair, and all but shoved me into it. I started to make a sound of protest, ready to make an excuse for why I needed to get away from the man who looked like he wanted to personally put me right back on a plane headed straight for Virginia, when Ry plopped a roll on my plate with a pair of wooden tongs. He sat down in the chair next to mine and placed an arm over the back of my chair. I was certain it wasn’t because he was trying to flirt or stake a claim the way some men did. No, Ry knew I was seconds away from bolting like a rabbit.
“Parker, I’d like you to meet my partner, Gage.” He leaned into me and whispered loud enough for the housekeeper to hear from the kitchen. “Don’t mind him. Gage doesn’t meet new people often and forgets how to act in polite society. He’s not so bad once he thaws.”
A rumble that sounded way closer to a growl than should be possible came from the direction of the large, incredibly gorgeous man. He suddenly jolted in his chair, and I was able to take a full breath when his icy glare turned onto Ry instead of me.
“What the fuck, Ry?”
Oh, fucking goodness. His voice was even worse. As if it wasn’t bad enough that the man looked even hotter than a Hollywood heartthrob, his voice was sin, honey, and whiskey all rolled into one. I would fan myself, but I couldn’t move, afraid to draw his fierce scowl back to me.
Ry spoke slowly, as if he were talking to a child who refused to learn common courtesy. “Say, ‘Hello, Parker. It’s nice to meet you.’”
Gage’s expression just grew darker as he glared at Ry, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Either the pressure finally got tome, or the situation was just that ridiculous. I started giggling, a sound I hadn’t made in nearly ten years.
As both men turned to look at me, one with a glare bordering on hatred, and one with a smirk teasing his lips, my giggles turned into full-blown laughter. It didn’t take long for both men’s expressions to change into ones of complete bafflement. It just made me laugh harder.
I wiped at my eyes as my side began to ache. I had started out laughing at the strange situation I had found myself in. I was sitting at someone’s house who clearly didn’t want strangers around, while being treated like a child who needed to be told to say hello. But as I held my arm across my stomach, the fleeting thought crossed my consciousness that the last time I laughed so hard was when Mariposa and I had been fishing. The fish I caught was huge, and I needed help with it. Mariposa was always brave and more than willing to help me out in any situation.
Everything was going well until she tried to gently return the fish back into the lake. It suddenly began to flop around like crazy in her hands, making both of us shriek in surprise. But it was when the fish bitch slapped her across the face with its tail before hopping down and into the water that we both laughed so hard we fell to the ground. I ended up peeing myself and had to jump into the water to clean my shorts. It was humiliating, and turned into one of my favorite memories.
My laughter died away as the tears fell. I quickly wiped them away with the backs of my hands, but gave a watery smile when Ry handed me a linen napkin. “Thanks,” I murmured, attempting to play off the tears as if they were from the uncontrollable laughter instead of from an emotional memory dump. I blew out a breath. “I haven’t laughed that hard in a while,” I said with a chuckle as I fanned my face. “I just couldn’t help myself when you kicked him under the table.”
I avoided looking at the men’s faces as I rambled out excuses for my emotional breakdown. They probably thought I was nuts. Gage hadn’t wanted me in his house before, but after that display, I wouldn’t be surprised if he demanded I leave the property entirely.
“Would you like some wine?” The deep timbre had my head jerking up just to visually verify who it was that had offered me a drink. The tone he’d used was different, no longer cold and distant. Gage’s expression was still guarded, but somehow, it seemed his cold eyes had thawed from frozen tundra to simply snowy winter.
I swallowed back the drool that pooled in my mouth. “Yes, please!” I squeaked. I felt Ry pat my hand that was resting on the table. I darted my eyes to him, widening them when I realized that I was literally drooling over his man. Instead of looking angry, he fucking winked at me. Just like that, I remembered how amazingly sexy Ryu Nakamura was. I was in deep trouble around these two men. If it were possible to cause ovulation just from being around sexy men, I would have dropped a dozen eggs in the last ten minutes.
Luckily, the rest of the dinner passed without incident, and my over the top laughing fit didn’t result in me peeing my pants this time. Gage was cool, but cordial, though he didn’t speak much. Ry carried most of the conversations, switching between Gage and me effortlessly. I listened as they talked about the ranch, fascinated by everything they said. When I’d heard them mention someone by name more than once, I got curious.
“Who’s Dante?” I asked as I took a sip of wine. Both men froze for a beat and glanced at each other. I looked between the two men. “What? Is it a secret? Do you want me to pretend I never heard the name?” I mimed locking my lips with an invisible key, then tossed it over my shoulder the way I did when I was a kid with my sister. Shit, how much had I had to drink?
The tall, gorgeous, golden god at the head of the table smirked at me. “Damn, there went another egg,” I muttered into my glass.
“What’s that about an egg?” Ry furrowed his brows, then glanced around the table as if he were going to see a random egg lying on the tablecloth, or in the gravy bowl. The idea was so funny, I snorted, then pouted when I realized all my wine was gone.
“I think Special Agent Parker is ready to call it a night.” Gage stood up at the end of the table. As I lifted my chin to follow his height, my head ended up tilted so far back that I felt myself listing to the side. I might have fallen over if Ry hadn’t steadied me with a hand to my shoulder.
