Red on the River - Page 81

“Do you know how utterly hot Sam is? How utterly hot and truly dreamy he is? Have I ever told you I think he’s both?” Stella asked.

“Only when you’re incredibly drunk,” Zahra confirmed.

“Well, he is,” Stella continued. “But don’t ever tell him I think so. I wouldn’t want him to get a big head. He’s perfect the way he is. If he knew what I thought, he’d be so arrogant. You’ll have to go to your graves with this secret. Swear it. All of you.”

“Do you have any idea how many times we’ve had to swear to take this to our graves?” Vienna asked.

“Do you have any idea how many times Sam’s had to swear right along with us to take this to his grave?” Zahra asked. “Anytime you’ve had too much to drink in the last two years, we’ve heard about Sam’s hotness and his dreamboat status. He’s heard about it too.”

“He has not,” Stella denied.

“Stella, he’s our sober driver, and you go on and on about him and how you want to ‘do’ him and kiss him all over,” Zahra pointed out. “You whisper in a loud voice all the way home.”

“I most certainly do not.” Stella glared at her. “I know I don’t. You know how I know? Because I always ask you if I said anything like that in front of Sam and you always reassure me I didn’t.”

Zahra burst out laughing. “Honey, we’d all been drinking every time. That’s why Sam’s the sober driver. How would I know if Sam heard or not?”

“He heard,” Harlow said, nodding wisely.

“Oh, yeah, he heard,” Shabina confirmed. “You were pretty loud and you were always in the front, turning around to talk to us. How could he not hear you?”

Stella turned to Raine as if she would save her. “He didn’t.”

“He did. Every single time.”

Stella fell over backward, groaning, a palm to her forehead. “He never said a word. Not a single word.”

“Now we have to hear how he’s such a gentleman.”

Stella sat back up. “He is a gentleman, Zahra Metcalf. A hot, dreamy gentleman, and I’m so going to marry him.”

“Yes, you are,” Harlow said very solemnly. “We’ll all be there to witness it too, so if you ever decide you want to kick him out, it isn’t going to happen. We won’t let you.”

“Nope,” Vienna agreed. “We’re going to remind you how hot and dreamy he is.”

“We’ll get you drunk,” Zahra said. “That’s all it would take for you to be all over him.”

Stella laughed. “Sam isn’t the type of man to let me get so upset with him that I’d want to kick him out, but thanks for wanting to support us in our marriage. That’s why I love all of you so much. I know you’ll stick by us. You let Sam be part of us, and that means so much to me.”

“We love Sam, Stella,” Shabina reassured. “He wormed his way into our affections very early on. He’s a man of few words, but he’s someone we know we can always count on.”

Vienna realized that was true. Sam had a quiet strength about him. He didn’t talk much, in fact sometimes he went hours without saying a word, but he was a man of action. If something needed doing, he just did it without any fanfare. He didn’t wait to see if anyone was paying attention. He didn’t want accolades. He just got the job done. That was Sam. And he always watched over them.

“Most importantly,” Raine contributed, “he loves animals. Especially dogs.”

“Hey,” Vienna protested. “He loves cats too.”

“He used to love cats,” Zahra corrected. “Until your haughty high-and-mighty Princess raked all the skin from his arms when he had to rescue her out of the tree she was clinging to after she escaped the leash on one of your nonsense walks.”

Vienna groaned and threw herself sideways, lying down on the groundsheet to look up at the stars. That had been a terribleday. Princess had refused to walk on the leash. Vienna was trying to train her by taking her out daily. She allowed Princess to lead and sort of ambled around while she followed behind, keeping the leash loose, but the Persian cat despised the entire idea and wasn’t in the least bit shy about letting Vienna know. The cat had persisted in lying down and when Vienna would go to pick her up in surrender, Princess would hiss her displeasure and show her claws and teeth.

“Don’t remind me. And the walks weren’t nonsense. I read all about training the cat to enjoy walks with their person. I thought if I could get her to like that, she could be outdoors a bit. Cats are supposed to want to be outdoors. She was deeply offended every time I took her outside.”

“Your cat is not normal, Vienna,” Shabina said. “You know I love you, but it has to be said. Princess is a devil cat. She’s of the devil.”

Harlow nodded her agreement. “At least a demon.”

“Sadly, I have to agree,” Raine said. “Her eyes even glow red, and she takes on a demonic appearance when a dog gets into the house. She chased poor Daisy around the house until Daisy nearly died from exhaustion and fright. She’s a Jack Russell, for heaven’s sake. Nothing can wear out a Jack Russell.”

“With the exception of my naughty little Persian cat.” Vienna sounded more proud than embarrassed.

“You weren’t thinking she was so great when she bolted up the tree and then clung to the peeling bark and cried pitifully,” Stella pointed out.

“Who you gonna call?” the women shouted out in perfect harmony.

“Sam Rossi!” they all answered together.

“Poor Sam,” Stella said. “It’s a wonder he even wants to stick around. He came right away and got torn up like you wouldn’t believe. Even his manly chest.”

There was a collective groan.

“That’s it, Stella,” Vienna said. “Go to bed. We have to break camp super early and hike our butts off tomorrow. It’s going to be a long, hot day. Just sleep and don’t dream about punching bears.”

Stella looked a little embarrassed. “He wanted our campsite, and I wasn’t going to let him have it,” she muttered as she stood.

All of them laughed. “You weren’t alone,” Raine pointed out. “Everyone joined in. It was a regular MMA fight against the nonexistent bear.”

Tags: Christine Feehan Romance
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