Page 23 of Fallen Ink

She nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see her. Hell, he was making her act loopy, and it had nothing to do with the single glass of wine she’d finished over an hour ago.

“It was a blast. And I have a pretty painting to put in my house.”

His laugh went straight between her thighs. Damn man. “You’re going to have a hundred of those one day and will end up giving a few to me.”

“You sound as if you don’t want them,” she teased. “Just for that, you’re getting this one.”

“I’m honored,” he said dryly, but she knew he was joking.

“Um…so I have to tell you something, and I don’t really want to.” She pulled onto her road, thankful that it wasn’t a long drive for her since she really didn’t want to be driving at all when she told him this. “Hold on, let me turn off my car so I can use my phone rather than let the whole neighborhood hear my conversation.” She’d had that happen once, forgetting that her speakers could be heard even through closed windows, and she’d never lived it down.

“Okay,” he said, drawing out the word. “Do I need to come and get you? Are you safe?”

She swallowed hard, her eyes stinging again as she put her phone to her ear. “I’m fine. I promise. But, well, the girls noticed that I looked, um, relaxed shall we say?”

Mace didn’t say anything, the silence palpable.

“So, in other words, they knew I was sleeping with someone.”

“And what did you say?” he asked, and she couldn’t read his voice. She usually needed to see his eyes in order to guess his emotions and had never been really good at it through the phone.

“That, yes, I was sleeping with someone. Then I lied completely because I’m an idiot and said it was someone they didn’t know and that the person wasn’t important.” She spoke quickly so he didn’t have a chance to get a word in. “I knew it was the worst thing to say as soon as I said it because you’re nothing but important to me, but I was stupid, and I’m so sorry I called you that. I know we’re walking on eggshells as we figure out exactly what this is, and I shouldn’t have called you unimportant like you were nothing. I’m so damn sorry. Oh, and Shae knows about us, by the way. Totally guessed it and got on my case for calling you what I did, but she promises not to tell Shep.” She stopped talking, her breath coming in gulps of air as she realized she’d blurted out everything without actually taking a breath.

“Babe.”

“Yeah?”

“That was a lot.”

“I know.”

“First, I get why you said it. Hell, I probably would have said the same thing and rambled to you right after. I know you think I’m important just as I hope you know that I think you’re damn important to me. As for Shea? I figured someone would figure out one day since the two of us are constantly eye-fucking each other. Don’t get me wrong, I love imagining you bent over various pieces of furniture at the shop, but if we want to keep this between us, then we might need to hold back from doing that. As for not telling Shep?” He paused. “Well, when we’re ready to tell people what we’re doing—once we figure it out, that is—I’ll deal with whatever he has to say when it comes to it.”

She rested her head on her steering wheel, aware that she needed to get inside at some point. “This is getting complicated.”

He was silent for so long that she was afraid she’d lost him.

“Yeah, it is, but we were complicated already.”

“True. I just…I can’t lose you as my friend, Mace.”

“You’ll never lose me, Addi. Even if we find ourselves just friends again, you’ll never lose me.”

At that odd statement, she sat up again, wondering what the hell she was doing.

“Goodnight, Mace.”

He sighed. “Night, Addi girl.”

Then there was silence again as the line cut off and she stared at her phone, wondering if their beginning was close to their ending…and if her best friend in all the world had just lied to her.

Chapter 8

Mace couldn’t help but grin as Daisy ran into his parents’ arms, her words running into one another as she told them about her day. Everybody said kids were resilient, but the way Daisy had bounced back from that first day at his house to now was remarkable. She still talked to her mom every day on the phone and Skyped three times a week, but she’d settled into Mace’s life and routine far easier than he would have expected.

“Hey, big brother.”

Mace turned as Sienna made her way up the walkway, their other sister Violet right behind her. Both of the girls lived and worked up in Denver and didn’t make the drive down to the Springs as much as they used to. Their monthly family dinners, however, weren’t something anyone could get out of. And now that he had Daisy with him, he didn’t really mind.

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