Adverse Possession (The Anna Albertini Files #3) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,2
Crap. I scrambled for balance but slid farther, landing on his legs and hitting my head on the side of the counter. Water sprayed me right in the face, and I turned away to cough.
Aiden grasped my arm and set me out of the spray. “You okay?” He didn’t even sound surprised.
“Yeah.” I shook water out of my hair and it sprayed everywhere. My head didn’t even hurt. My entire front side was soaked, however.
A sharp knock sounded from his door.
“That’s the pizza. Get money from my wallet.” He ducked back under the sink, his muscles moving nicely. The spray of water trickled and then stopped.
I wiped water off my face and shook out my shirt before taking cash out of his wallet, which was on the counter. I’d pay, but I didn’t have any personal cash right now. Even in the bank. Then I wiped off my feet before walking out of the kitchen and through the empty living room to the door. I opened it, more than ready for dinner.
“Hi.” A stunning and very curvy redhead stood on the porch—without a pizza.
I blinked water out of my eyes, acutely aware of the feeling of mascara running down my face. “Hi.” I wiped off my cheeks and looked past her for a pizza car. Nope. “Can I help you?” New neighbor? Wonderful. She really was pretty.
Her eyes were a light blue that matched her frilly shirt that was tucked into dark jeans. She had the ability to look dressed up in jeans, which was something I’d always admired. The Chanel handbag over her shoulder completed a perfect look, along with the four-inch red checkered wedges. When she spoke, she had the perfect southern accent. The one that sounded like warm molasses sliding over your skin. “I’m looking for Aiden Devlin. Rumor has it he lives here.”
Of course she was. “Yes. Can I tell him who’s here?” More importantly, I wanted to know who she was.
She smiled full and red lips. “Tell him his wife needs to talk to him.”
Chapter 2
The entire world lurched to a stop, and my mouth went dry. My brain fuzzed. The woman’s lips moved again, but I couldn’t hear her through the wild buzzing of bees that somehow had gotten into my head.
She poked me in the upper arm. “Hello?”
The woman had poked me? Oh, hell no. I swallowed. Kind of. “Aiden?” My voice came out a whisper, and I cleared my throat. “Aiden!”
He emerged from the kitchen with the wrench still in his hand. “What? I said that the money—” He stopped cold. Water dripped down his muscled chest. “Sasha?”
I blinked. In slow motion. I think I heard the blink.
“Hi, Honey.” She smiled and muscled past me, using her generous hips to do so. “We need to talk.” She didn’t spare me another glance. “Tell your Twinkie to get lost.”
Twinkie?
Aiden looked at her, at me, and paused.
He fucking paused?
“How dangerous?” He looked all business now.
She tilted her head.
“Shit,” he muttered.
It was at that point that I lost it. “What are you two talking about?” My voice most likely reached all the way across the lake through the screen at the open sliding glass back door. When my lungs kicked in, they did so with gusto. I whirled on Aiden, slamming the door shut at the same time. “You’re married?”
His way too blue eyes narrowed, and I could actually see him thinking it through. I recognized that look.
My temper beat him to the punch. “No. Absolutely not. Do not protect me for my own good. Do not keep secrets from me. Whatever you’re doing, stop it right now,” I bellowed.
Sasha winced. “This one is a little feisty.” With her cute southern accent, she made the insult seem classy.
I clenched my fingers into a fist. Unconsciously. Well, mostly unconsciously.
Aiden held up a hand. The one without a wrench. “Hold it a minute. I am not married.”
Yep. He knew the exact right thing to pause me in what would’ve been a spectacular moment of Irish/Italian temper. “Explain,” I grit out, my teeth actually hurting.
Sasha looked around the empty living room. “We need a sofa, darling.”
Aiden exhaled loudly. “Stop it.” He tossed the wrench back into the kitchen where it bounced loudly against the toolbox. “Anna Albertini, meet Sasha Duponte. Sasha, Anna.”
Sasha turned to me, all smiles. “Charmed.” She held out a hand.
I looked at her perfectly painted nails and reached out to clasp palms. Then I met her gaze evenly. “The pleasure is mine.”