Page 122 of Nothing to Tell

“Friends,” Roxie said again.“Friends is good.”

FORTY-ONE

ROXIE WAS RIGHT, friendship was good.It was.Although her female friend hadn’t sounded so convinced.Had she missed sarcasm?Was it just placation?Maybe she’d had other things to do and needed to get on with her day.That would be no surprise, Roxie had so much going on in her life all the time, it must be difficult to keep track of people.Major respect that the billionairess hadn’t dropped her simply because she was working out of state.

Breakfast.What did she want for breakfast?

It was the weekend so something nice, indulgent.Maybe there was some of their fresh fruit mousse leftover from dessert last night.

They’d cooked two nights that week.One night each.On the other nights when Bastian called dinnertime, she’d go downstairs to a set table and exquisite food just there, waiting for them.

What about after breakfast?

Maybe in the afternoon she’d use Bastian’s gym in the basement.It was the basement, kind of because it should be below ground level yet it was half glazed to wells of light trapped in the sort of moat around it.Where did rich people get their ideas for architecture from?It was incredible.

Another great thing about working from home?She could do it in her jammies.After getting up, she’d brushed her teeth and hippity-hopped through to the office to check email.She could stop in the bedroom and change, but she was only going downstairs to forage, then she’d be back in her seclusion.And it was the weekend, why shouldn’t she have a slouchy day?

She slid open the kitchen door and stopped.Dead.The room, which should’ve been empty, was not.Three women at the island and four men at the table all landed their focus right on her.Strangers.All of them.Unloading ingredients from boxes, it looked like.

Huh.

Okay.

Not good.

Bastian hadn’t mentioned anything about guests.

The garage door to the kitchen opened and two more women appeared.Were they having a party?Everyone stared at her in her vest top and boy shorts; she hadn’t so much as run a brush through her hair.Demanding an explanation wasn’t her purview, this wasn’t her house.As far as she knew, Bastian was still snoring upstairs.Did he know the kitchen was full of people?He could’ve given her a heads up that she’d wake to this.

“Hurry, hurry now, what’s the delay?”

Oh, that was a voice she knew.The women in the doorway shifted and, yep, that was Carolyn Hunt.And, of course, Keely was right there behind her mother.Carolyn’s jaw fell and the quiet of the tense moment was pierced by Keely’s screech.

Keely ran across the room to hug her.“You’re back!You’re back!You’re back!”Keely chanted.“I’m so happy you’re back!Back to having bags of sex with my devoted big brother!You’re back!”

“Uh, excuse me,” Harper managed to say and actually sounded calm.

How had she pulled off the miracle of composure?

She extricated herself from Keely’s embrace and spun on the spot to hurry back the way she’d come.Picking up the pace, she took the stairs two at a time and ran straight into Bastian’s bedroom, closing the door only to fall against it.And there he was, sleeping away.How could he be sleeping?Rushing across the room, she climbed onto the bed to kneel beside him and give him a shake.

“Bastian,” she hissed.“Knight, wake up, please, Bastian.”

“Mm, Sweet,” he mumbled without opening his eyes.“Lie down.”

His arm flopped around her, urging her onto her side.“Bastian.”

He rolled back, pulling her to his chest.“Always what I want to wake up to.”

Despite the growing storm in the kitchen, she laughed at just how tied up an unconscious Bastian could get her.There was nothing funny about the conspicuous lump pressing into her hip.To her shame, she enjoyed feeling it again, even if it was just a morning thing and nothing to do with her.

“Bastian—”

Keely flew into the room with Carolyn behind her.“Separate yourselves for like thirty seconds,” Keely said, rushing to the end of the bed.

Carolyn joined her daughter, and the others from downstairs?Yeah, they were crowded on the threshold, not missing a thing.

This could not get any worse.