the ranch again.”
“So now I’m being punished? I’m taking that blowjob back.”
I want to laugh. But I’m too fucking mad.
Chapter 10
~Ivie~
“I’m going to—” Shane begins when we pull up to the house, but I put my hand up, stopping him from speaking further.
“I don’t care what you’re going to do. I’m not speaking to you right now.”
I shove out of the SUV and hurry into the house. I hear him behind me, and I remember that I’m starving, so I whirl back and reach for the bag in his hands.
“Which one is mine?”
He doesn’t reply, so I glance up at him and cock a brow.
“Shane?”
“Now you’re speaking to me?”
I just narrow my eyes menacingly, and he’s smart enough to sigh and hang his head. “They’re the same.”
I fetch one of the sandwiches from the bag and turn to march away once more, headed for the guest room, where I shut and lock the door behind me.
I’m adult enough to restrain myself from slamming the door. Barely.
“He drives me fucking crazy,” I mutter as I unwrap the sandwich and pull my phone out of my purse to video call my best friend, Annika. I’ve been friends with the gorgeous doctor for more years than I can count, and she knows everything there is to know about me.
She’ll talk me down from the ledge.
“Hey, friend,” she says with a bright smile. I prop the phone on the desk so I can see her, and vice versa, and still eat my lunch.
“I’m going to be eating in your ear.”
“I’ll join you. I just made some leftover lasagna for lunch.”
“Lasagna leftovers are the best.”
“Hell yes, they are,” she agrees and takes a bite. “I’m so happy you called. I haven’t heard from you since you went up to Shane’s place.”
“Oh, I’ll likely get into trouble for this call, but I just don’t give a shit. He made me mad, and I want to vent.”
“Tell me everything.” She wipes her mouth with a napkin. “And I do mean everything.”
“He’s mad at me because I got out of the car when we went to the deli to pick up lunch.”
“Why would he get mad?”
“He’s totally overprotective,” I say, getting riled up. “I mean, I know he’s just trying to protect me, but I was out of the car for less than a minute, petting puppies. Puppies, Annika. And he flew off the handle and said I could have been taken out by a sniper.”
She frowns as she chews on some bread. “Do they have a lot of snipers in the mountains?”
“Right? That was my thought. I highly doubt it. But he was pissed off, and that made me mad. So, here we are. I told him I was taking the blowjob back.”
Annika coughs and has to take a drink of her water. “Wait. What? Blowjob? Ivie Jordan, you’re not telling me everything. Stop babbling about snipers and get to the good stuff. You know I’m living vicariously through you.”
“You don’t have to,” I remind her. “Rafe—”
“We’re not talking about Rafe. We’re talking about you and blowjobs. Spill it. Right now.”
“Oh, we’re sleeping together.”
I feel the smile spread slowly over my face.
“Ivie.”
“Okay, so you know we’ve been flirting for months and talking a ton. There’s some serious attraction there. Not just on my part, which is still kind of a mystery to me. I mean, have you seen him? What does he see in me?”
“Ask me that again, and you’ll no longer be my best friend.” She narrows her eyes at me. “There are a million reasons to love you, and I’ll send you an essay on the subject later. Tell me more.”
“Well, the chemistry is off the charts. There has been sex. Like, really good sex. I finally know what all the fuss is about. I mean, I’m not a virgin, but I’m the girl boys had sex with on a dare or because they were drunk. And it’s not like it was a fantastic time for me. But Shane takes his time and pretty much worships every inch of my body.”
“You bitch.”
I laugh, and Annika joins me.
“You know I love you and mean that in the nicest way possible.”
“Of course.” I take a bite and think about the frustrating man in question. “The Martinelli brothers are ridiculously sexy. Like, their gene pool must be made of gold.”
“You’re not kidding. Hotter than hot. And for a long time, my family didn’t mesh well with theirs, but with Nadia and Carmine marrying soon, things have mellowed out.