Lacey didn’t even like anyone calling her Lace. She accepted it when people did, but the only person she said she liked calling her that was River.
“Um… Sure,” Lacey said. “I already have my suit on.”
“Yeah? Cool.” Cameron looked over at River. “Are you joining us?”
“I’m good. Not a big fan of the ocean.Laceknows why.”
“It’s the seaweed,” Lacey shared. “It freaks her out.”
“I don’t blame you,” Cameron replied. “I don’t like it, either. I got used to it, I guess.”
“Have the ocean out your window, too?” River asked.
“No, we don’t,” Cameron replied and appeared a little defensive.
“We have a pool and a hot tub, but we didn’t want to live by the ocean,” Kennedy offered, and when River smiled at her, Kennedy lifted that damn sexy eyebrow at her again and shook her head. “Why don’t you two get out of here already? I’m sure Jessie would love to get a shot of you swimming or something.”
“It would be better if youallwent. Double date and all that,” Jessie said.
“I’d rather not,” Kennedy replied.
Jessie sighed and sat on the sofa.
River chuckled and asked Kennedy, “Do you want to hang out withme?”
“What will we do?”
“I don’t know. I can see what ingredients they have in the kitchen and maybe make something dessert-like for us.”
“Dessert before lunch?” Cameron asked.
“We could eat it later,” River suggested.
Cameron nodded and said, “I’m going to change. Lacey, can you maybe track down towels or something?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
When Cameron walked out of the room with Lacey in tow, River felt a small tinge of jealousy, but then she realized that it wasn’t really jealousy. It was more territorial. Cameron was walking right into hers, it felt like. As her eyes landed on Kennedy, though, River bit her bottom lip because she was doing the same damn thing to Cameron.
“Kitchen?” Kennedy asked.
“Only if you really want to.”
“I do. Could be fun,” Kennedy said before she looked at Jessie. “And give us a wide berth, please. I beg of you. You have enough footage for a hundred YouTube videos and all the social posts you need.”
“You and Cameron not being in the same room unless there’s a meal going on kind of makes it unnecessary to film everything now, doesn’t it?” Jessie replied.
Kennedy looked over at River and then to the floor.
“We’ll be in the kitchen. It’s all good, Jessie.”
She patted Jessie’s knee.
“I’m going to go make some calls,” Jessie stated before she stood and walked down the hall.
“Is she okay?” River asked. “She can hang out with us, if she wants,” she offered, not really wanting that, but spending time with Kennedy alone probably also wasn’t the best idea. “And I don’t mind the cameras,” she added. “I’m getting used to them. Weird how quickly that happens, huh?”
“Imind them today on your behalf. You won this prize. It shouldn’t have come with the strings for either of you. I’m sorry about this. It’s all…” Kennedy sighed and stood up.
