Free Once Bitten, Twice Shy by C.C. Wood

her offer away. “No thank you, Susan. Please call me Ivie. Ms. Lang reminds me too much of my mother.” I loved my mom but I didn’t necessarily want to be her.
    “Okay, Ms. La…I mean, Ivie.”
    I saved my work and shut down my computer. “I’m going to get out of your way and go stretch my legs.”
    She murmured something I couldn’t understand as I left the room, carrying my laptop and charge cord. I didn’t ask her to clarify because I was pretty sure Susan was the shyest person I’d ever met. I just nodded to her as I walked by. She smiled slightly but that was all.
    After I deposited my laptop in my room, I slid on a pair of shoes. I knew that Conner would never let me go for a walk in his fabulous neighborhood. I could already hear his sexy Scottish brogue telling me that it was unsafe. I decided to take a stroll around the backyard. Hell, it was almost the size of a city block anyway.
    I was just getting ready to head back inside when Donna popped out the back door of the house, still dressed in a sharp dark plum suit, two glasses of white wine in her hands. As I walked under the roof covering the veranda, she gave me one of the glasses and walked over to the swing that Lex and I had shared a few weeks before.
    Plopping down hard and causing the swing to sway alarmingly, Donna took a large sip of her wine. “Damn, I had a long day.” She turned her eyes to me. “How was yours?” she asked.
    I shrugged. “I had a lot of work to do.”
    Her mouth quirked. “Still avoiding Lex?” I didn’t answer right away and she perked up. “What happened?” she asked.
    I settled on to the swing beside her and took a drink of my own wine. “Can I have a couple days to process it before we talk it to death?” I asked. Typically, I wanted to discuss this kind of thing with my girlfriends, but Lex had been correct this morning. I was completely overwhelmed by what I was thinking and feeling and all the information would take some time to digest.
    Donna watched me carefully for a moment before she sighed. “Yes, but we’re doing girls’ night in with all the girls when we do talk about it. I have a feeling I’m gonna need Kerry to make me her Man Problem Special.”
    Kerry’s Man Problem Special was basically a shot of tequila chased with a Long Island Iced Tea. Simple, effective, but lethal.
    “Fine.” I just hoped by then I figured out exactly what was going on inside my own head.
    She seemed mollified by my answer and continued to drink her wine without a word. We sat together on the swing for a while in companionable silence. Every now and then, she would use her toe to gently set the swing in motion.
    I wasn’t sure how long we sat out there together, just enjoying each other’s presence when Conner appeared on the veranda, a chilled bottle of white wine in his hand.
    “Dinner is almost ready, ladies,” he said softly, as he refilled our glasses.
    Donna smiled at him, affection and tenderness plain on her face. While Conner’s expression wasn’t as open, his blue eyes shimmered with love and contentment. I felt my throat tighten as I saw it. I couldn’t help the wave of longing that crashed through me. I wanted that. I wanted to come home after a long day and have someone pour me a glass of wine and make me dinner. Or at least help me cook. I wanted to go to bed at night with a man who looked at me the way Conner was looking at Donna.
    “Thanks, babe,” Donna said softly. Conner just nodded at her, then me, and headed back into the house.
    She and I sighed at the same time, though hers was much more dreamy than mine. I gave her a sidelong glance.
    “You’re a lucky bitch. You know that, right?” I asked.
    She snickered and took another sip of her wine. “Yes, I do.”
    I shook my head and stood. “Well, let’s go inside and set the table for dinner.”
    Donna rose to her feet and we walked into the kitchen together. As it turned out, we didn’t need to set the table, Conner had. There were