Love Loyal and True (Must Love Diamonds 2)

She met his gaze as the question made her heart go haywire. Loyal had said he wanted to see where things went between them, but between last night and this morning, they hadn’t specifically defined what that meant. Was this a fling for him to test the waters and see how long it lasted? Or were they boyfriend and girlfriend now?

Soulmates ‘til death do us part?

She didn’t want to presume anything—least of all that last bit.

When she heard Loyal rise from the chair behind her, her heart raced faster. She glanced back at him as his firm hand on her hip drew her to his side.

“Yes, it’s ongoing,” he said to his brother. “Is that a problem for you?”

Her pulse skipped a few beats as she fought to not grin like a love-struck idiot.

“Not for me,” Asher replied, his gaze locked with Roxanna’s. “So long as you both know what you’re signing up for. Because as I recall, only a few weeks ago you two couldn’t stand the sight of each other.”

“We’ve worked things out,” Loyal said in a tight voice. “We’re good now. Really.”

She gave a short nod of confirmation, and finally, Asher said, “If you say so.”

Hating the distance between them, she lifted her eyebrows and forced what she hoped passed for a carefree grin. “So, what’s up?”

“Nothing. I’ll talk to you later.”

She frowned as he left abruptly, and then slowly turned to look at Loyal. “What exactly are we signing up for here?”

Before he could answer, Asher returned to the doorway, startling her yet again. “How about we have dinner Saturday night?”

“You and me?” Roxanna asked for clarification.

“You guys, and me and Honor.”

Loyal’s hand flexed on her hip. “If it’s okay with Roxanna, I’m game for the inquisition.”

She shot him a glance, and he shrugged his shoulder. She turned back to Asher. “I’m good with dinner, but not an inquisition.”

He didn’t even smile. “My house at seven?”

They both agreed, and he was gone again.

Suddenly, her stomach was flopping around like a fish out of water. Dinner with her best friend and his new fiancé was something she’d done a half-dozen times over the past four months, but this would be different. She and Loyal would be there together. As a couple.

And he hadn’t answered her question from before yet. What exactly was their status? Was he going to love her and leave her, or had he truly meant to go against his own rule of no relationships?

When she lifted her gaze, she found his gold-flecked one on her. He looked like he was about to say something, but instead his gaze rose to the clock hanging above the door, and his hand fell away from her hip.

“It’s nine o’clock.”

“Yeah. I better get out there and unlock the front door.” She did her best to squash her disappointment as she turned to leave. Then she decided the door could wait another minute or two and swung back.

“I thought I knew the score here, and I was ready to accept it, but then you said you wanted to see where this”—she gestured between the two of them—“goes. I know this is crazy early to push, but I need to know if this is still just sex, or if it’s more to you?”

“Just sex?” he asked with a little smirk.

She wasn’t in the mood to tease no matter how cute the damn man was. “You know what I mean. What are we doing? What do you want out of this? If it’s just going to be a fun fling, fine. But I need to know so I can—”

His finger pressed against her lips to stop her from talking. Then he stared at her for a long moment, his gaze moving over her face as if he were committing it to memory.

“It hasn’t been just sex since the stables, Roxanna.”

“It hasn’t?” she barely managed to ask past the lump in her throat.