Yeah, she’d gone in and out of the house for more lemonade than she could possibly drink. And each time, she made sure her path inside was right past his chair, or wherever he was in the pool. She’d been loud and outgoing while playing volleyball and chicken with her cousins, but the problem was, no matter how much attention she tried to draw to herself, he’d openly ignored her. Same as last July.
“I didn’t even talk to him,” she protested.
“But you made sure he couldn’t take his eyes
off you.”
She rolled her eyes, though her pulse skipped at that revelation. She hadn’t known he’d noticed her. “Reyes has always had a chip on his shoulder with me. Last summer we ran into each other down at the stables and he was a jerk. He’s still a jerk.”
Except for the luggage.
She shoved aside the flicker of guilt for purposely overlooking that when she called him a jerk to his face earlier. Why should she feel bad when she’d tried to thank him, only to have him brush her gratitude aside with his flippant comeback about it being part of his job? It so wasn’t.
Shelby frowned beside her. “That’s so weird. And so unlike Reyes.”
“Lucky me,” she quipped before changing the subject. “How’s everything going now that your clinic is open? Must Love Paws is an awesome name.”
“That was all Honor, and yeah, everyone loved the name. And things are going really good so far. The community seems really happy to have us.”
“That’s cool.”
“You should come check it out while you’re here,” Shelby suggested.
“I’d love to. On a slightly different note, do you all still do brunch even when Uncle Mark and Aunt Janine are in Washington? Because I’m having dinner with Grandpa and Grandma tonight, but I want to see everyone—especially the babies.”
“Oh, my God, they’re the best,” Shelby gushed with a huge grin. “I love being an aunt.”
“I bet. None of my brothers are even close to getting married,” she pouted.
“I’ll share, and yes, we still do brunch. Wait until you see the babies. Maverick has caught up on everything after being nearly two months early, and Ava is so precious.”
Maverick was Merit and Mae’s little boy, born last November. Ava belonged to Asher and Honor, and had been born in January.
Raine wasn’t sure she could stand to wait until Sunday even if it was only three days away. “What about Celia and Robert? Any talk from them about kids?”
“They’re trying, but no luck yet.” Her cousin made a sad face. “I pray it happens soon for them, though, because I know Loyal and Rox are already trying.”
She wasn’t surprised. They’d been talking about kids at their wedding back in February.
“Does it give you the bug?” Raine teased.
Shelby’s grin answered before her words. “A little, but we’d like some time to ourselves after the wedding. Especially after how crazy everything was this past spring.”
Crazy was an understatement to describe what Bells and Dev had gone through with her psycho stalker. She reached out to squeeze her cousin’s hand. “I’m so glad you’re okay after all of that.”
“Thanks. I was lucky to have Dev—even though I didn’t want him as a bodyguard at first.”
“Good thing he was.”
“Believe me, I know.” She fiddled with her bottle cap before offering a sideways smile. “And on that note…I wanted to say, make sure you give Reyes a chance, okay?”
Her pulse skipped, because her first thought after their talk of marriage and babies was, give him a chance with what? But there was only one thing her cousin was talking about. “Dad didn’t give me much of a choice. And unfortunately, he’s right. I’m getting nowhere with Charlie right now.”
“Rey is really good with horses, Raine. And when I say really good, I mean crazy amazing.”
“Yeah, but no experience training riders at all.” Resentment bled into her voice. She couldn’t believe her dad would put her future in his hands.
“Maybe he’ll be just what you and Fire need,” Shelby said.