Page 53 of Deadly Waves

“No, I don’t know that,” James replied. “Right now, I’ve never felt better. Leave her alone.”

“I’m not messing with her. I’m messing with you.”

“Leave her alone,” James repeated. “I don’t care if you want to make fun of me. She doesn’t deserve it, though. She’s been through enough.”

Grady’s expression softened. “She’s been through enough for ten lifetimes,” he said. “That doesn’t mean she’s immune from the tease machine.”

James snorted as he readjusted one of the pillows behind his shoulder. “She doesn’t want to be treated differently, so I don’t know why I’m telling you to leave her alone. I just … can’t stop myself from protecting her.”

“That’s what a good husband does.”

“I don’t want to be a good husband,” James said. “I want to be the best husband.”

“That’s the Hardy pride coming out to play,” Grady said. “I have that problem, too.”

“Is it the Hardy pride that has you twisted in knots this morning?” James asked, resting his iPad on the floor and giving Grady his full attention as he softly rubbed Mandy’s back. “What did you do last night to get Sophie so worked up?”

“How do you know I did anything?” Grady asked, annoyed. “Did she say something to Mandy?”

“As far as I know, she hasn’t said a word to anyone,” James replied. He was calm, which set Grady’s teeth on edge for some reason. “What did you do?”

“If she hasn’t said anything, how do you know something is going on?”

“Because you were a nervous wreck at breakfast and Sophie wouldn’t make eye contact,” Mandy answered, shifting her head so she was looking at Grady instead of over James’ shoulder. “That means you did something.”

“I thought you were asleep,” James said, cupping the back of her head. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. You need some rest. You barely got any sleep last night.”

“Neither did you.”

“Yes, but I have a plan,” James said. “I’m going to read a file and then take a nap with you. Then I’m going to wake you up with my tongue before reading another file and starting the process all over again. I figured we could order room service for lunch.”

Mandy giggled. “Well, as long as you have a plan … .”

“I knew it!” Grady hissed, extending a finger. “I knew you didn’t really want to look at the files out of the goodness of your heart. This was all a scam so you could play lusty pirates all afternoon.”

“That shows what you know,” Mandy said. “We’ve moved on to lusty mermaids. I bought a seashell bra while we were shopping yesterday.”

James’ eyes lit up. “I forgot all about that bra,” he admitted. “I was so excited to see it and then … well … other things came up.”

“They did,” Mandy said, grinding her hips against his groin area. “They definitely came up.”

Grady opened the bottle of water on the table next to him and tossed a dollop of it on Mandy and James to get their attention. “No!”

“Don’t ever do that again,” James warned, wiping the water from his face. “This is our room. You’re invading our private time together. Stop being a baby.”

“You just told me this morning that things were mostly back to normal between you two,” Grady pointed out. “To me, that meant you were going to stop hiding yourselves away from everyone. This is not stopping. This is the opposite of stopping.”

“Yes, but now we’re doing it for different reasons,” Mandy said. “Don’t worry about us, Grady. I promise we’re okay.”

“We’re better than okay,” James said, kissing her forehead. “We’re going to be downright perfect in exactly fifteen minutes, so I would start telling us what’s wrong now if you want us to help you in the limited amount of time you have left.”

“You’re a cold man,” Grady complained. “I’m your favorite brother and I’m having a crisis. I can’t believe you’re putting me on a timetable.”

“Yes, well, she’s my favorite person and she’s having a crisis of her own,” James said. “Her crisis is simply more fun than your crisis. Talk.”

“Fine.” Grady blew out a sigh as he ran his hand through his hair. “You’re not going to like it, though. I totally screwed up.”

“We’re used to that,” Mandy said, giggling when James scorched her with a stern look. “What? We both know I’m going to be the one who fixes this situation … like always. I have to make fun of him before I swoop in and save the day. Those are the rules.”

“Whatever, wife,” James said. “You have fifteen minutes to fix him before I start fixing you. Talk, Grady.”

“Yes, Grady. Talk.” Mandy’s smile was genuine when she locked gazes with him. “Tell me why you’re here.”

“I’m ready to propose and yet Sophie almost did it last night and I’m terrified because now I’m worried she’ll think I only proposed to shut her up,” Grady blurted out. “This is a huge mess. My stomach is on fire and my heart hurts.”

“Wow,” James intoned, making a face. “I can’t believe you screwed up a proposal twice.”

Mandy smacked his arm. “Don’t make fun of him.”

“I’m not making fun of him,” James said. “I was just pointing out that I got my proposal right on the first try.”

“Yes, you’re the mightiest Hardy of us all,” Grady complained. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“Absolutely,” Mandy said, beaming. “I can fix this. You have to do everything I want you to do, though.”

“I’m so desperate I’m going to agree to that,” Grady said. “If it leads to some weird shark porn area, though, I respectfully reserve the right to run away screaming.”

“Deal.”