Page 19 of Diego

“That is insane,” Leah says.

“Agreed.”

Carter looks furious on my behalf now. “What the hell does he think you’re supposed to do?”

I lean back in my chair and look at the screen in front of me.

My inbox is still open.

My coffee is still sitting beside the keyboard.

Everything about my morning looks exactly the way it did twenty minutes ago, except now I have the owner’s request for showings, no plan, no listings, and a deadline that is going to require me to become significantly more connected before sunrise.

Leah watches me. “What are you going to do?”

I pick up the piece of paper with Diego’s number and unfold it again.

“I guess I’m going to do a good job,” I say, “and work really, really, really late.”

Chapter Five

Diego

I shut off the engine in the driveway of the boys’ house and just look at it for a moment. I have been here countless times since they moved in over a year ago. I know which cabinet contains the good whiskey, which stair creaks near the top, and which chair in the living room Dante claims even though no one remembers him ever officially claiming it.

None of that makes the prospect of living here more appealing. Visiting five single men in their twenties is one thing. Temporarily becoming their sixth housemate is another.

At least my stuff has already been delivered. I know because Edoardo texted me twenty minutes ago to say the movers were finished and everything that belonged upstairs had been taken to the room they cleared for me. The handful of larger pieces I asked them to bring are apparently in place too, which means I have managed to relocate three years of my life without carrying a single box myself.

There are advantages to delegation.

I get out of the car.

The front door opens before I reach it.

Tomasso stands there holding a Negroni.

“Welcome home.”

I stop halfway up the walk and look at him. “Don’t call it that.”

His grin widens. “You’re going to be fun to live with.”

I stop at the bottom step.

“You have always been my least favorite.”

“You'll change your mind soon. I'll make sure of it.”

I continue up. “Please don't.”

He steps aside to let me in and claps me on the back. “Your stuff’s upstairs.”

“That's something then,” I say.

“Where is everyone?”

“Kitchen.”