Aria’s POV
The sun wasn’t even up yet when I forced myself out of bed, stretching my
over my head with a groan. My whole
body ached from yesterday, but there was no time to dwell on it. There was too much to do,
I rubbed my eyes, stumbling toward my closet to grab a hoodie and a pair of jeans. The air was cool this early in the morning, and I shivered as I pulled on my clothes. My hair was a tangled mess, but I didn’t have the energy to do much about it. I just threw it into a quick ponytail, grabbed my boots, and was about to leave when my bedroom door creaked
open.
Enzo,
He leaned against the frame like he had all the time in the world, arms crossed over his chest, his sharp eyes scanning me from head to toe. I froze, my heart lurching at the way he was looking at me–like he could see right through me.
“We’ll be gone for most of the day,” he said after a long moment, his voice still rough with sleep. “But when we get back,
we need to talk.”
I blinked. “Talk about what?”
Enzo didn’t answer right away. Instead, he took a step forward, closing the space between us in seconds. He reached out, threading his fingers through my hair, gently tugging me closer until I was tilting my head up to meet his gaze. My stomach did a stupid little flip.
“Don’t worry about it, tesoro,” he murmured, brushing his lips against my forehead in a slow, lingering kiss.
My throat tightened, but before I could say anything, he was already pulling away. “Be good while we’re gone.”
And then he was gone.
I stood there for a long moment, staring at the door, trying to push down the uneasy feeling creeping up my spine.
What did he mean by that?
What did they need to talk about?
Were they mad at me?
If they were mad, Enzo wouldn’t have kissed me like that. Right?
No. That didn’t make sense. If they
Ugh. I didn’t know.
But I did know one thing—I was going to spend the rest of the day obsessing over it.
I threw myself into work, hoping it would be enough of a distraction. It wasn’t.
The horses needed feeding, the stalls needed cleaning, and there were a hundred other little things to do around the ranch. Usually, I loved being
ng out here. It was peaceful, a place where everything made sense.
But today, my mind was everywhere except where it needed to be.
Chapter 59
I kept replaying Enzo’s words in my head, trying to guess what they wanted to talk about.
What If It was bad?
What if-
My phone buzzed in my pocket, breaking me out of my spiral. I wiped my hands on my jeans before pulling it out, frowning when I saw Cassandra’s name on the screen.
I almost didn’t answer. Almost.
With a sigh, I pressed the phone to my ear. “What?”
Cassandra gasped dramatically. “Wow. No ‘hello? No ‘I miss you, Cass‘? I’m hurt.”
I rolled my eyes, grabbing a bucket of feed for the horses. “I’m busy.”
“You’re always busy,” she huffed. “Which is exactly why I’m calling. Have you even taken a break today?”
I hesitated.
“That’s what I thought,” she said smugly. “I swear, you work more than anyone I know. What are you trying to do? Impress your little boyfriends?
Heat crawled up my neck. “They’re not-”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night.”
I sighed, dumping the feed into the trough. “Did you actually call for a reason, or are you just here to annoy me?”
“Both,” she said cheerfully. “But mostly, I wanted to remind you that you’re allowed to, you know, relax sometimes. Maybe do something fun for once?”
I scoffed. “Like what?”
“Literally anything that isn’t back–breaking labor.”
I shook my head. “Not happening.”
She sighed dramatically. “Fine, fine. But when you collapse from exhaustion, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I rolled my eyes again. “Noted.”
We talked for a little longer, mostly her rambling about some party she was planning to crash later, before I finally hung
- up.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of chores, my body moving on autopilot. By the time I was finally done, the sky had gone completely dark, the stars flickering above like tiny little reminders that I should have stopped hours agu.
I was exhausted.
Dragging myself back toward the ranch house, I sighed in relief when I finally stepped Inside, warmth wrapping around me
Chapter 59
dy muscles ached, my feet were sore, and all I wanted to do was collapse into bed,
like a hug. My
But before I could even make it to the stairs, a pair of strong
ms wrapped around me from behind.
“You overworked yourself again, didn’t you?” Matteo’s voice was low, soft against my ear.
1 stiffened, my heart skipping a beat. I hadn’t even heard him come in.
Before I could answer, another pair of hands cupped my face, tilting my chin up. Dante. His dark eyes scanned me, something sharp and knowing flashing behind them.
“You’re ridiculous,” he muttered. “Do you even realize how exhausted you look?”
I frowned. “Gee, thanks.”
But before I could say anything else, he leaned in, pressing a slow, lingering kiss against my lips. My stomach fluttered, and I barely had time to process it before Enzo appeared at my side, brushing his lips over my temple.
“You’re not supposed to run yourself into the ground while we’re gone,” he murmured, fingers ghosting over my arm.
us take care of you.”
Matteo sighed, his hands sliding down
n to squeeze my waist. “Come on. Let us
Dante smirked. “You stink.”
I scowled. “Wow. Really feeling the love here.”
“You should.” Enzo’s lips twitched into a smirk before his gaze softened. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
I groaned, but I was too tired to argue. Maybe just this once–I’d let them take care of me.
Even if I still had no idea what they wanted to talk about.
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