Love in Country (De La Fuente Family 4)

Sarah laughs and rolls her eyes. “I’m sure you will.” She glances at my groin, her eyes widening. “You look ready,” she comments in a husky tone.

I laugh. “I’m always ready for you.” I clear my throat and step into her when I’m abruptly pulled out of the bubble I felt wrapped in.

“Aiden, Bobby is getting pissed,” Rae shouts as she enters the barn.

I make sure that she doesn’t see Sarah by keeping my back toward Rae. Sarah’s ravished mouth is for my eyes only.

“I’ll be a minute.” I trace along Sarah’s bottom lip with a finger and watch as her eyes darken.

“Aiden!”

I smile down at Sarah when I hear the frustration in Rae’s voice. “I better go,”

I whisper against her lips. “I’ll be seeing you very soon, Sarah.” While I let my meaning sink in, I brush the hair from her face and give her a brief kiss.

Stepping away from her and walking out of the barn is so hard, in more ways than one. I grimace at the discomfort in my jeans, and sigh when I breathe and feel my arousal start to ebb.

10

Sarah

After this afternoon in the barn with Aiden, I felt confident that everything would work out just fine, but then the bubble had to go and burst when I watched him with Rae. They were natural with each other and Aiden had no qualms about holding the other woman’s hand when she dragged him toward where they were filming.

I’m being silly with jealousy, but I just can’t help it because I want to be able to be carefree with him. I want to be able to touch him, laugh with him, and just be with him in public without whispers behind my back.

I’d kept busy in the barn for a while and then before I finally left, I had snuck another look to see what was happening. Aiden and Rae had been talking off to the side, and the conversation had looked serious before Rae had wrapped herself around Aiden in a hug.

My brain knew what he’d told me about their relationship, but it was hard to accept that when what I’d seen looked to be a tender moment between them.

Either way, whatever was happening had put a dampener on my joy of our time in the barn. The words I’d spoken had been the truth, but were his to me? I wanted them to be and he certainly couldn’t hide his reaction to me, but who knew.

Pulling me out of my miserable thoughts about Aiden, Greg clears his throat, and asks, “Did you talk to Kris earlier?”

“Yeah, not for long,” I answer. “She’s upset, and I don’t blame her really. It’s gone on far too long.” I school my features so that he doesn’t know there is anything truly wrong with me, and add, “I looked at a cabin today.”

I feel his stillness at my words before he drops into a chair at the kitchen table. “Tell me,” he requests, more resigned than anything.

I sit opposite him. “It’s small. One bedroom. And sits on the banks of the river. The inside needs cleaning out. And it could use a lick of paint throughout, but it’s solid…I put in an offer earlier today and it was accepted straightaway. It’s time, Greg. Not just for you, but for me as well.”

“I should never have tied you to me the way I did. Instead of being an ass, I should have just been honest to begin with like Matthew begged me to do. I’ve hurt you, and the man that I love. I’m not sure about making the announcement at work, but I’ll agree that in our personal life it has to stop.”

I’m surprised that he’s being so understanding for a change and I’m presuming that I have Matthew and his sister to thank for that.

“If you hadn’t got me to help with keeping your secret, I wouldn’t have the practice that I have today. And I wouldn’t have met Aiden.” I shrug, not even knowing what is really going to happen with Aiden, if anything. “I’m not suddenly doing this because of him. I need you to know that. He is responsible for giving me the push, but after talking to Kris today, I knew that it was time.” I offer him a wry smile. “It’s going to be strange living on my own after all these years.”

“You’ll be fine, Sarah. Plus I’m not exactly going too far, huh?”

“You’re going to move in with Matthew?”

“I am. I was going to offer to continue paying rent on this place so you have somewhere to live, but I guess you have your own plans.” Greg smiles and takes my hand. “I know I haven’t always been easy to live with and I’m sorry for that but regardless you’re still my friend and I’ll help you in any way I can, so please don’t be afraid to ask. My offer of help will always stand.”

Tears prickle at the back of my eyes at Greg’s unexpected words. “Thank you,” I whisper. “We’re really going to do this?”

Greg squeezes my hands in his and lets go. “Yeah”—he clears his throat—“we are.”

Sighing heavily and feeling so mixed up, I drop my head into my hands. Seconds later I feel Greg’s hands on my shoulders.

“I need to tell you something and I really didn’t want to be the one to tell you.”