The truth is, neither will I.
I would never choose Ronan over Henry. Never. You could ask me a thousand times and I would only ever have one answer: Henry is all I’ll ever want. And yet Ronan was a lifeline during the darkest months of the summer, when my heart had been shattered, the pain a hundred times more than anything I felt after Jed broke it. Our friendship may be unconventional, but it’s ours. Keeping him in my life is important to me.
“How’s Miami?” With the Alaska location shut down for the season, the staff has retreated to their previous lives. In Ronan’s case, it’s back to Florida, where he shares a condo with Connor.
“Boring, but balmy.”
“Are you staying out of trouble?”
“Define trouble.” There’s a hint of teasing in his voice.
“I can’t. My imagination isn’t that dirty.” Henry keeps calling Ronan and Connor deviants. Given the things they got up to at Wolf Cove after I left—namely their little fuck club experiment—the nickname might not be too far off.
“I think your imagination is just fine, Red.”
I smile as I blend a smoky shadow at the corners of my eyelids. He’s the only one who calls me Red, and I like it that way. “Did this reporter leave you a number?”
“Nope. Unknown caller. Kept calling back until I answered.” Ronan snorts. “The balls he has. How did this asshole get my number, anyway?”
“Probably from whoever’s feeding him all this information.”
“My money’s on Tillie.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking the same.” It has to be her. She’s a gossip vampire who feels she’s been spurned by me, though I’ve never done anything to her. Yes, Connor flirted with me while they were hooking up, but Connor flirts with everyone. But I think it’s all driven by jealousy because I’m with Henry, and she had no idea. If there is one thing Tillie was never shy about admitting, it was how happy she would be to climb into the big bad wolf’s bed. “She doesn’t know anything, though.” Nothing for sure. “Deny everything. We’re just friends.”
“We are just friends, aren’t we?”
“You know what I mean.” If Henry didn’t exist, we might be more. “Are you going back to Wolf Cove next year?”
“Haven’t decided yet. Got some time before I have to commit.”
“But you’ll come for the wedding, right?”
“I’m invited?” I don’t miss the shock in his voice.
“Don’t be silly. Of course, you’re invited.” I falter on my second question. Henry and I haven’t settled on the bridesman topic yet.
“And that’s where you guys are doing it? Alaska?”
“Yeah. We both love it up there.”
There’s a lengthy pause.
“Ronan? Are you still—”
“Yeah, I’ll be there. For you. Not for your asshole fiancé. He doesn’t deserve you.”
Ronan was the only one who knew the silent agony I was suffering during those weeks, no one else the wiser to my secret relationship with Henry. “I’m happy.”
“I know you are, and I’m happy for you.” He sighs heavily. “What are you doing tonight?”
“Nothing with you,” a deep voice cuts in.
I jump at the sudden interruption and spin around to find Henry standing in the doorway. Even with an annoyed scowl on his face, my heart races at the sight of him.
A loud, aggravated groan carries over the speaker. “I guess this conversation is over.”
“It shouldn’t have started,” Henry throws back without missing a beat.
I glare at him, but all it earns is his smug smirk.
“You still work for me, Ronan.” Henry closes in on me, his hands loosening his tie. “Which means I can fire you any damn time I please.”
“But then you’d have to answer to your future wife, and I doubt she’d be impressed, seeing as I saved your rich, jealous ass for her,” comes Ronan’s quick retort. “Talk to you later, Red.” He ends the call.
“Do you have to be a jerk?”
“Yes.” Henry leans in to kiss my neck. “What did he want?”
I inhale the delicious scent of his cologne. “A reporter’s been calling him, digging for dirt.”
Henry curses. “Same one?”
“I don’t know, but we think Tillie might be the one talking.”
“Which one’s that again?”