Quiet Nights Read Free Page A

blurted, “that’s not what I meant at all.”
    “I’ll see you around,” I said, turning and jogging down the street, back on track to get to checking on the Italian cypresses.
    “That’s not what I meant!” she yelled after me.
    I waved a hand in the air to let her know there were no hard feelings.
    “My brother needs saving, is all!”
    That was not my job. He’d have to do that all on his own. I learned that lesson the hard way. I was no one’s knight in shining armor, and the days when I was looking for one were long over. I could ride to my own damn rescue.

Chapter Two
     
     
    Y ES , SOMETIMES it took me a minute to put two and two together, but as I stood in the shower that evening, washing off the dirt and sweat and grime of the day, it hit me.
    “Holy shit!”
    I was fuming by the time I threw open Annalise Renaldi’s front door. I froze, confused, because a man I had never seen before was standing there.
    “Hello,” I greeted the stranger.
    He was older—I was guessing midfifties—and he looked startled. “Are you another son?”
    I was at a loss.
    “Yes!” came a yell from the kitchen. “That’s my adopted one—that’s Kelly!”
    “Oh,” the man said, smiling, offering me his hand. “I’m Emmett Cheong.”
    I shook his hand, because what the hell else was I supposed to do? “Pleasure?” I couldn’t help but make it into a question, because learning the man’s name didn’t dispel the stranger in the house thing. Who in heaven’s name was he?
    “Annie and I are seeing each other.”
    Annie? Seeing? And didn’t using that word instead of just saying “dating” mean something important? I opened my mouth and closed it just as fast.
    “Kel!” Coz bellowed, and because he sounded a bit off, his voice too high, scratchy, slightly frantic, I smiled fast and bolted.
    The kitchen was a huge space with one of those islands copper pots hung over and a fridge just for wine, and more open cabinets and shelves than any one person should ever be able to fill. But Annalise Renaldi tried, and to that end: roosters. So many roosters, made out of everything from brass to wrought iron to ceramic to stained glass. They were supposed to be lucky, but dear God, they were everywhere.
    “So she’s dating,” Coz muttered, then drained his wine glass as I reached him. “Did you know she was dating?”
    “Nuh-uh,” I said, glancing over at Mia. She had the same dark eyes and ochre skin as her mother and brother. “You?”
    She inhaled deeply. “Nope.”
    My attention was back on Coz.
    “Dating,” he repeated.
    I had nothing.
    Mia poured Coz another glass before taking a swig straight from the bottle.
    “Oh, Kelly,” Annalise said cheerfully as she sauntered by on her way to the oven. “Have a glass of wine, dear.”
    I leaned sideways as I was trained to do, and she kissed my cheek before grabbing a pot holder and a slotted spoon and opening the door to check on the sausage and peppers. It was funny; people always thought when they met her that the sweet Southern lady would make fried chicken for dinner, but she’d spent most of her life married to an Italian man, and because she loved him, she’d learned to cook all his favorites. Slowly, insidiously, Sicilian cuisine became what she was best at and known for.
    “So,” I choked out as Mia put a glass down in front of me and poured from the same bottle she was quickly draining. “Dating, huh?”
    “Yes,” Annalise sighed as Emmett came into the room. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
    I coughed, took a big gulp of wine, and let Mia top me off before she finished up the bottle. “We need another one,” she announced, walking out of the kitchen toward the wine cellar at the back of the house. “I’ll get it.”
    “I need vodka,” Coz whispered, emptying his wine glass for the second time in less than two minutes before passing it to me on his way out.
    “I think we surprised them,” Emmett informed Annalise as I chugalugged my