Page 112 of Sinful Temptations

Roman stepped away from me, the look of worry marring his beautiful features. “What is it?”

Victor bobbed his head. “Lydia is stuck.”

“Stuck.” I blinked at Roman. “What does he mean stuck?”

His brows drilled together. “I have no idea?”

Victor turned to us. His smile, I assumed, was meant to placate us. “Just gotta go rescue her.”

“Is she okay?” Roman was rigid with concern.

“Ahhh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry. Happens all the time. She just didn’t give enough of a push-off, so without momentum she didn’t make it all the way. I’ll go get her and bring her back.”

“You mean she’s stuck in the middle?” I bulged my eyes at him.

“No, she’s closer to the beginning.” Victor clipped himself onto the wire as he continued talking. He was so upbeat it was like he was talking about winning a darts competition. “But the only way to get her is from here.” He pointed at us. “You two hang here. Okay?”

Stuck in a tree with Roman? Okay. No objection from me.

“And whatever you do, do not unclip those carabiners.” His parting words were muffled as he launched himself off the platform. Hand over hand, he began dragging himself back along the zip-line.

“Do you think she’s okay?”

Roman didn’t take his eyes off Victor. “Yeah. She’ll be fine.”

When I’d last seen her, she’d looked like she was going to vomit. Lord knew what she’d look like now. Roman’s distress was horrible to watch. He needed a distraction.

I thought about doing a couple of topless handstands, but figuring I didn’t have enough room, I said, “So you really like Lydia, huh?”

He glanced down at me with a curious expression, and for a split second, he seemed frozen with indecision. Finally, he nodded, and with sagging shoulders, he said, “Yeah, she’s pretty cool.”

Pretty cool. Woah, that was not exactly the unequivocal response I was expecting. Maybe things weren’t so perfect in Mr. and Mrs. Italy’s house.

God damn it, Daisy. Wing-woman . . . remember?

He needed cheering up. And I was the woman to do it.

I bumped my hip to his. “So, ahhh, you two been doing the—” I made a circle with my thumb and finger and poked my other finger through it.

Roman chuckled and shook his head. “I’d hate to see you do the birds and bees talk for kids.”

I grinned. “What? You mean this isn’t how you were taught?” I repeated the hand signal.

Laughing, he slapped my hands down. “No.”

“Me neither. Mother showed me with a beer bottle and a baby carrot.”

His jaw dropped.

I nodded, all serious. “I thought dicks looked like baby carrots for a very long time.”

Roman burst out laughing.

“It’s true. Not the orange color of course. But all bumpy and hairy.”

A strange sound had us both looking along the zip-line. Victor’s butt was facing us and he was pulling the zip-line over his head, dragging himself and Lydia toward us.

The strange sound was her. At least, I thought it was Lydia unless she’d somehow rescued a piglet along the way.

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