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I shook my head and blew out a deep, ragged breath. “She’s giving my mother a run for Mother of the Year, is all.”
Jenny snorted. “You and James are good people. Maybe you were both adopted.”
“I wish,” I said.
* * *
We snorkeled all morning. The kitchen staff had packed lunch for us; the crew dropped us on a secluded beach with our enormous picnic basket and a cooler full of prosecco and beer. “I could get used to this,” Todd said, sitting back on the blanket that Evie had set up and cracking a beer. “Sure beats filing Department of Labor compliance docs.”
Cole smiled at him. “I don’t miss compliance or due diligence, but I do miss my hockey team. But really, I have every thing I need right here.” He threw his arm around Jenny.
“I don’t miss work,” Jenny said, deadpan. “I don’t think I’m going back.”
“You’re not. You’re retiring,” Cole said protectively.
“I have about ten deals that have probably gone south in the past two weeks, and I don’t even care,” James said. He poured us each a glass of champagne and gave me a loving kiss on the cheek. I leaned back against him, trying not to stare at his tanned six-pack stomach, rising up tautly from his swim trunks.
“I’m sure you’ll still have a booming empire to attend to when you get back,” Todd said. “You always do. Audrey, are you going to transfer to a school out there?”
“I think so,” I said. I hope I make it that far, I thought. “California would be a nice change of pace.”
“I know—warm weather, can you imagine? Winter lasted forever this year,” Evie said. It was true; there had been dirty snowbanks in Boston well into April. “Being down here’s been really nice. It’s so beautiful here. I’m glad you guys came—you’re way more fun than my cousins. All they do is talk about their protein intake and their training schedules. And their screaming kids.” She looked at Todd and wrinkled her nose. “That’s not normal, is it?”
“No, honey, it’s not,” Todd said agreeably. “We won’t be like that when we’re parents. We won’t talk about our kids all the time, and they won’t be screaming, filthy little buggers like your cousins’.”
“Of course not,” she said. She was wearing a pink-polka-dot bikini, her collarbones tanned and on prominent display. “We have manners, and so will our children.”
“We should come down here every year—and we won’t invite your cousins. Or your screaming kids,” Cole said to Evie.
“My children won’t be screaming,” Evie said defensively, telling the same lie all non-parents told themselves.
“Then it’s a date,” James said, lacing his fingers through mine. “Same time next year.”
* * *
We went home and showered before the night’s festivities; Todd and Evie had arranged for dinner at the fanciest of the resort’s restaurants. We had to dress up, which bothered me. Only because I was worried that I’d have to run away from Mrs. Preston in my spike-heeled sandals. And that I wouldn’t get far.
James was dashing in a sand-colored linen suit; he wore a white shirt underneath, slightly unbuttoned, showing off just a peek of his gorgeous, tanned chest.
“Do we have to have to go right now?” I asked, fanning myself. “’Cause you look wicked hot. That tan is killing me.”
“Wicked hot?” he asked, laughing. “Is my wicked hot girlfriend from Southie, or what?”
“She is,” I said, grinning at him.
He pulled me to him and gave me a long, lingering kiss that took my breath away. I felt him stir against me. “Yes, please,” I said and started undoing his belt.
James groaned. “No, thank you,” he said, even though he’d sprung to life instantly underneath my touch. “We have reservations, and we have to go deal with my parents, remember?”
“Ugh,” I said, forgetting all about undoing his belt.
“Ugh is right,” he said. “But I’d like to pick that back up as soon as we get home, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” I said and kissed him again. “Taking your clothes off is about the only thing that can keep my mind off of all our… more unpleasant business.” I sighed. “That and thinking about your abs.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” he said, beaming at me. “You’re perfect, you know that? Now let’s go, before I start trying to show you my abs.”
* * *
As soon as we were back out in the sunlight, my heart started thudding in my chest. We had to face his mother again. James still hadn’t told me what our strategy was going to be at dinner. He’d just instructed me to play along.
