Page 27 of A Sweet Mess

“You could pick,” Landon offered after a cursory look around. “Both suites are on this floor. I don’t have a preference.”

“What?”

Aubrey glared mutely at Landon, who dropped her bags and mussed his hair with both hands like he was trying to shake out a spider.

“Look, Aubrey. I don’t like the situation any better than you do. It isn’t how I’d planned our lodgings, but there’s nothing I could do about it at this point. We’re two reasonable adults. I’m sure we can share a three-thousand-square-foot villa without trampling each other.”

“Reasonable adults? Sure. Why not?” She threw her hands out and nearly smacked Lucien, who’d quietly joined them again in the face. She was too worked up to stop and apologize. “We were perfectly reasonable during our campout, so this protracted living situation shouldn’t be a problemat all.”

Landon lifted his index finger and opened his mouth as if to argue and then wisely closed it.That’s right, buster.He had nothing to say because she was right. He frowned instead, so she frowned back at him. They pretended they hadn’t almost kissed,multiple times,in the mountains, because they weren’t supposed to be in such close quarters again. But they were wrong. They were going to share a private villa for at least three freaking weeks. Just the two of them. With complete privacy.How can he stand there and bullshit me about being reasonable adults?

When the stare-off continued, Lucien cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Aubrey. I’m afraid it’s all my fault. My other villa became unexpectedly occupied.”

“And by ‘unexpectedly occupied,’ he means Aria asked if she could stay in his villa, and he said yes, rolling over for a tummy rub.” Landon snorted rudely, his anger subdued but close to the surface. “You promised that room to me, Lucien. Sure, Aria is, well, Aria, but damn it, man. You can’t just give her everything she wants. Especially when you won’t give her—”

“Aria had legitimate concerns about sharing this villa with Aubrey,” Lucien interrupted with an icy mask that rivaled Landon’s furious face on the terror-inducement scale. Aubrey might have made some noise at his statement, because he rushed to clarify, “Concerns about sharing the kitchen. She wants Aubrey to have unfettered access to the kitchen. It makes sense for each of them to have their own practice kitchen, so they don’t need to worry about inconveniencing each other.”

“What about inconveniencing us?” Landon waved his hand from himself to Lucien.

“Us? Who cares about us pushovers?” Lucien chuckled and then his smile turned sly. “If it would make you feel more comfortable, I’d be happy to switch places with you.”

“Fuck you,” he said glumly.

Ha ha.They were so fucking funny.What an adorable bromance.Seething, Aubrey raised her eyes to the ceiling and counted to ten.This is happening. I’m going to be roommates with Landon for the next three weeks.Her shoulders rose and dropped with a sigh of doom.

“I have dibs on the best room. Which one is it?”

“Well, if I were you, I’d pick the one farther down the hall.” Lucien’s voice was warm and sincere. “The patio faces the woods, and on some mornings, you can see visiting deer and rabbits.”

“Thank you.” Aubrey managed a small smile. “That sounds lovely.”

“Not as lovely as you.” Lucien bent to kiss her hand, and Aubrey blushed with shy pleasure.

“Even after thirty years in the States, we can’t seem to knock the French ways out of you.” Landon casually pulled Aubrey’s hand free and led her down the hall to her room.

“Couldn’t you find someplace else?” Outside of their host’s earshot, Aubrey made a last-ditch effort to preserve her sanity.

“I could go back out after the three-hour drive and find myself a roach motel, but do you really think it’s reasonable for me to do that when there’s an open suite inmy friend’svilla?”

“Can’t you at least sleep downstairs?”

“On the sofa?”

She felt a twinge of guilt. “Yes.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

His answer efficiently extinguished her guilt. “Why? It’s huge. Two people could sleep on it.”

“I sleep naked. Are you sure you want to walk down the stairs to find me sleeping on the sofa?”

Aubrey gasped, and her eyes nearly crossed as her brain flashed one sinful image of naked Landon after another. “No.”

“I agree. It doesn’t seem very professional.” He dimpled at her.

Stupid. Evil. Dimple.

“I really should stay with the rest of the crew.”

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