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Aaron and I didn’t respond. I felt frozen in place, my heart rapidly pounding as I tried to figure out how to handle this.
“That she-wrench-from-hell told me.”
“Your stepmom knows?” That didn’t make any sense. Of all possible leaks, for the news to get all the way to Regina Pedicant… everyone must know. Everyone.
“She heard from some snuffy nose who used to work at the law firm. Apparently, rumors have been swirling around them for years. But it’s like, legit. One hundred percent true.” She beamed at me. Beside me, Aaron let out a slow and grateful breath, processing the clues before I did that she was not accusing or talking about us.
“I’m sorry,” I said carefully. “Who are we talking about?”
“Your new listing!” She tucked the hot pink wrap tight around her waist and carefully lowered herself to the chair. “The mobster-attorney-guy.”
“Wait—Brad and Julia De Luca are swingers?” That couldn’t be right. They had seemed so… normal. Well, not normal. Annoyingly perfect. Madly in love. Uncreepy in every way. I glanced at Aaron and found him watching me, his face guarded, and I realized the hypocrisy of my thoughts.
It was as if I was putting Easton and me in a separate category from the rest of the people in this…what had Kurt called it? Lifestyle. Not that we were in the lifestyle. We were just… I frowned, trying to think of what it was we were actually doing. Testing the waters. Yes, that was it. We’d had one quick dip to see the temperature. That was all. One quick dip and a few harmless and fact-finding messages. I’ll be in Miami next Sunday if you guys are free.
“I know,” she said gleefully, settling back in her chair and closing her eyes. “So fucking crazy.”
Irritation bloomed in my belly. “Oh, I’m sorry. You’re a born again virgin and you’re suddenly judgmental of others?”
She cracked one eye open and squinted at me. “Who put your granny panties in a bunch? I wasn’t judging. I just said it was crazy. It is crazy, Elle. Being single and cock jumping is one thing. It’s a lot different when you have a wedding ring on your finger.”
I struggled to process a response. I opened my mouth, then clamped it shut. I couldn’t. Shouldn’t. Aaron shot me a warning look and stood. “I’m gonna run up to Ace and get another connector bib for this pool pump. If you need me to pick up anything while I’m out, just text me.”
“Thanks, I think I’m good.” She smiled sweetly up at him and I fought a sudden and intense wave of dislike toward her. Just as quickly as it came, the emotion was replaced with panic. Was it jealousy about Aaron? Shame and insecurity over my actions? Rightful indignation over her comments?
“Did you grab me some Midol?” I asked tersely and God, I was being a bitch. Maybe it was my period. Day 3 hormones pushing on my hot points as well as my cervix.
“Oh, no. I forgot in the juicy gossip. Aaron, can you—”
“I’ll just get it,” I grumbled, gathering up the muumuu and pushing to my feet. “Where it is?”
“In the medicine cabinet in my bathroom. I mean, I can go and get it…”
I didn’t respond, already striding toward the house and up the steps that led to the back deck. It was nice to know that Chelsea considered married threesome participants open targets for ridicule and scorn. My stomach flipped, and it wasn’t the cramps. I thought of Brad’s hand, settling on Julia’s butt. Their kiss in front of me, in the kitchen. There was no way my new clients—my first big clients—were into this kink. No freaking way.
“Elle!” Aaron called out my name just before I reached the back staircase that led to Chelsea’s master suite. I paused and turned to watch him gently close the slider door.
“Talk to me for a minute.” He approached warily, the way Easton did when he needed to capture a skink. Coming to a stop before me, he peered down at me. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s going on between you two?” The question exploded out, as if it had been bottled up and pressurized for days. And maybe, possibly, it had. “Are you dating? Fucking? Giving each other goo-goo eyes over dinner each night? Does Becca know what we did?”
“Whoa.” He raised his hands and gave a half-step back. “I’m not doing anything with Chelsea, and I’m not sure it’s any of your damn business if I am.” The country boy came out a little in his voice and I’m sure Chelsea just swooned over that too.
“Something is going on with you and Chelsea, and if you don’t see it—then you need to be a helluva lot more careful with my best friend, because she is falling for you and I’m watching it happen.”
