Free Two Knights of Indulgence by Alexandra O'Hurley

stray piece of firewood.   I just went to clean it up.”
    Matthias looked from one of them to the other, his
emotions giving away nothing.   Nicolas
felt on edge, sure his friend knew he’d interrupted something between Nicolas
and her.  
    “Venison?”   Nicolas looked over the
large shank of meat.
    “Moose.   I didn’t find any deer.”
    “Have you butchered the whole animal?”
    “No, it’s dressed and skinned.   I only took this piece.   You can help me finish it tomorrow.”   Nicolas noted it wasn’t a request.   Matthias had always been the one to give
direction, and he’d almost always followed.   A few times he’d put his two cents in and they’d gone nose to nose.   Nicolas knew a battle was before them, it was
all a matter of time.
    “Sure.   Let me
get out of these bloody clothes.”
    Nicolas needed to gather his thoughts, and he needed
to be away from the both of them.   His
head was a swirl of thoughts and emotions, and he felt himself coming
unglued.   And it appeared to be all her
damned fault.   Women knew how to twist a
man into a pretzel, and Britt seemed to be an expert at it.
    ****
    “Do you want him?”
    The question was so blunt Britt didn’t know how to
answer it.   Matthias didn’t look at her;
he stared at the large piece of meat on the counter as he sliced it expertly
into thick steaks.   She watched him move
gracefully around the kitchen as she settled into one of the stools at the bar
across from him.   “I don’t know what I
want right now, besides to go home and back to my life.”
    “Is that really what you want?”
    “Yes.”   As soon
as the words were out of her mouth, she knew them to be the lie they were.   There was some kind of connection she felt
with these two men and to sever that tie and walk away was unthinkable.   It was as if she were on vacation up here, and she already felt refreshed.   The stresses of her everyday life made her
nearly insane, but was she only trading one stress for another?   Being around these two was almost as hectic,
and fending off the strong emotions they threw her way was going to take a lot
of energy.
    “We shouldn’t need to be here more than a couple of
weeks to throw them off your scent.   Then
you should be able to go back to your life.”  
    There seemed to be an unsaid “if you want” on the end
of that sentence.   It hung heavily in the
air.   “Two weeks?”   She hadn’t expected to stay away quite so
long.
    “Give or take.”   Matthias threw three of the steaks on the indoor grill on the
stovetop.   The lean meat sizzled as it
hit the surface, and the smell was wonderful.   “How do you like your steak?”
    “Still moving.”
    “Bloody, hmm?”   Matthias smiled.   “One would think
you saw enough blood on the job.”
    “One would think.”
    “Speaking of blood, how bad was Nicolas’ injury?”
    Nice segue,
dude.   She
chuckled inwardly as Matthias turned his back on her, as if trying to hide his
interest.   A frisson of electricity amped
up in the kitchen, and she knew it came from his direction.   He wanted to know what had happened between
her and Nicolas while he was gone.   Jealousy wasn’t a good emotion; she’d seen what it could do firsthand in
the ER.   Men fought over women, women
fought over men, and the sum of that explosion could be devastating.   Yet she still couldn’t fight the tiny pinch
of pride that he felt envious.
    “He rushed in very bloody, but I watched the skin knit
back together before my eyes.   He was
fine within a few minutes.”
    “So you believe us now?”
    Did she?   She
was leaning toward yes, but trust wasn’t something to be handed over on a
whim.   “I think I need to see more before
I make a decision.”
    Matthias smiled slowly.   “Of course.”
    He turned the steaks over then moved them to a frying
pan.   Opening a bottle of wine, he poured
some into a glass for her before pouring the rest over the meat.   “Wild game