As he was standing to leave, Rox rummaged around in a cabinet and found Cash’s stash of protein bars. She grabbed three and held them out to Maxence. “Here. Eat these in the car.”
He looked at them and blinked. “I shouldn’t, before communion .”
“Then take them for the drive back.”
He accepted the bars and thanked her.
He left, and Cash and Arthur came into the kitchen soon after.
Arthur was wearing a silvery blue dress shirt that was the exact color of his eyes. That probably wasn’t an accident. He nodded at her but staggered straight for the steaming coffee pot.
Cash sat at the table and draped his arm around the back of Rox’s chair. He had reapplied that white bandage to his cheek, reaching almost all the way from his square jaw line to his emerald eyes.
Arthur spooned sugar into his coffee and added milk before he sat down. “So when are we leaving for the animal shelter?”
“Maxence said that he’ll be back after Mass,” Rox told him.
Arthur rolled his eyes and said to Cash, “I don’t know why he’s going through with this charade. His uncle will never let him take Holy Orders.”
“Why would his uncle have anything to say about what he does with his life?” Rox asked.
Cash glared at Arthur and told her, “Complicated family dynamics.”
“Dynastics, you mean,” Arthur said.
“Stop,” Cash told him.
“Fine.”
She would get it out of Cash, and if he didn’t come clean, she was going to corner Arthur and make him tell her what the hell was going on. This was ridiculous.
They drank coffee, ate, and watched news on the television hanging from the ceiling over the breakfast bar until Maxence came back from Mass just over an hour later. He sauntered in from the garage and took a spot at the table.
“How was church?” Arthur asked, a bit of derision in his voice.
“About like you’d expect,” Maxence said, checking his phone.
Cash didn’t comment but just drained the rest of his coffee.
Rox was cleaning the coffee pot at the sink. Maybe she should teach Maxence how to do that, too, and she almost called him over, but she up-ended it to drain and turned around to the guys.
Arthur stood and walked over to her, reaching around her to place his cup in the sink. “And now we’re all off to volunteer at the animal shelter.”
“I have work to do,” Cash said. “You guys can go with her.”
Cash was gazing into his empty coffee cup so he didn’t see the instant of calculation that passed through Arthur’s silver-blue eyes.
Arthur snaked his arm around Rox’s waist and dragged her against himself.
She stumbled as Arthur pressed his body to hers. A week ago, she might have grabbed his ass, but right now, she had her hands up and was already pushing at him. “Hey!”
Arthur said to Cash, “Excellent. That’ll give us a chance to get to know Roxanne so much better.”
Yeah, that’s right. Rox had all the hotties making passes at her for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
She pushed Arthur’s chest. “Get off me.”
Maxence was hiding a smile behind his phone.
Cash glanced up and saw Arthur’s arms around Rox and her shoving at his chest with an annoyed look on her face.
He stood. “Get your hands off her.”
Arthur dropped his hands and chuckled. Rox straightened her tee shirt and went back to washing her cup. If that limey grabbed her again, he was going to learn how Southern girls defended their virtue, and she just bet that an effete European wouldn’t even see her knee coming.
Arthur said, “Come on, Casimir. You don’t want to leave your ladyfriend alone with two notorious rakes. We would steal her from you even before she saw me snuggling a kitten.”
“Oh, yes,” Maxence said. “Two notorious rakes. You wouldn’t dare.”
Cash said to Maxence, “I thought you were reformed.”
He shrugged, still trying to hide his smile. His big, dark eyes widened. Wow, he looked like he was wearing mascara and eyeliner, but when Rox had shown him how to make coffee, she had seen him close enough to be sure that he wasn’t. He said, “You never know when I might snap. I hear people are wagering on it.”
“It’s true,” Arthur said. “I have ten thousand laid down that he’ll go on a bender in Monaco around Christmas, but I’d be more than willing to let that go to see him break with my very own eyes.”
“Ten thousand dollars?” Rox asked, aghast.
“Euros,” Arthur said.
Sweet baby Jesus, that was even more money. She rolled her eyes and turned back to washing her cup, even though it was already spotless and sanitized.