Page 86 of Down and Dirty (Italian Stallions 1)

ChapterSeventeen

They opened the car doors as quietly as they could after arriving home. Jasper had fallen asleep within the first five minutes of the trip, too many hours of playing and too much food taking their toll on the little guy. Jess had also been quiet during the ride, sitting next to Jasper in the backseat as Rhys drove them home. He’d kept checking on her in the rearview mirror, wondering about the pensive expression on her face.

Tony opened the back door and gently extracted Jasper from the car. The kid never stirred, sleeping soundly in Tony’s arms, and the four of them entered the building in silence.

Aunt Berta had remained at Nonna’s to help with the last few remaining cleanup tasks. Most of the mess had been taken care of before they left. It was one of the best things about the Morettis—while they partied hard, they all did their part when it came to cleaning up the mess. Aunt Berta planned to stay in Nonno and Nonna’s guest room tonight, returning home sometime tomorrow.

When they reached their apartment, Tony whispered, “I’ll put him to bed. Coffee?”

Rhys and Jess nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll stash the leftovers in the fridge.” He held a Tupperware container filled with lasagna, mushroom ravioli, eggplant parmesan, and God only knew what else. Nonna had made enough food to feed the entire East Coast, so everyone had gotten a doggie bag.

“I’ll make the coffee,” Jess offered.

He and Jess continued to the kitchen, working together like an old married couple, with her filling the pot with water, him scooping out the grounds.

“Quite a party,” he mused.

She nodded. “It really was. I’ve never been to anything like that.”

“Are you okay?” Rhys asked, worried about her change in demeanor. She’d been as excited as Jasper when they left the house earlier, but that had definitely dimmed somewhere along the line.

Jess paused—for just a moment—but it was long enough to warn him whatever she said next would be a lie. He’d come to learn her “tells.”

“I’m just tired. That was a lot.”

He chuckled, deciding he was overreacting. Of course she was tired. Because itwasa hell of a lot. “You’ll get used to it.”

She didn’t reply to that. Instead, she turned toward the cabinet and pulled down three coffee mugs.

Rhys leaned against the counter, watching as Jess reached into the refrigerator, pulling out cream for her coffee, then pulling a spoon out of the drawer.

She fit in their space.

She fit here.

He’d felt the rightness of that almost since day one, but it had become even better in the past two weeks, since they’d moved from roommates to lovers. Rhys would never have described himself as lonely, always opting for the word loner. He’d walked through his life with a plan, never questioning if it was right or wrong.

Jess had shaken his foundation, revealing cracks he’d never noticed.

Rhys had also studied Layla with Miguel and Finn all afternoon, and for the first time in his life, he’d felt a definite twinge of…well, he could only describe it as jealousy. He was jealous of what Tony’s sister had found.

The problem was, while he, Jess, and Tony had changed their status, holding back nothing—physically—in the bedroom, none of them had mentioned what came next.

Did something come next?

Did he want something else?

They couldn’t live in this limbo land of lust forever, though he had to admit that wouldn’t be a terrible thing. Sex with Jess and Tony was off-the-charts amazing, and he didn’t see it ever getting old.

But sharing a woman in the bedroom was different from sharing a…

Fuck.

Rhys let himself think the word.

Avoiding it didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

Awife.

---