Page 63 of Falling for the Enemy

Jocelyn rolled her eyes. “Ellen?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my God, who cares about the chili?” Wren snapped. “Jocelyn and your brother had sex again this morning.”

Jocelyn’s jaw dropped. “Wren! Have you lost your mind? People can hear you.”

“Since when are you shy about sex?”

Jocelyn looked at Greyson for help. “Handle your wife.”

He was no help. Wren was in her third trimester, and Grey was wrapped around her swollen finger.

Jocelyn scoffed. “Thanks a lot. Another useless Hawthorne.” She stormed off to check on the vendors, not cooling off until she walked to the opposite end of Main Street, but even then, she didn’t want to walk back, so she sat on an empty bench and people-watched for a while.

That was when she saw her.

“Oh no,” she muttered under her breath as Shalimar and her mother strolled through the crowd like a Ralph Lauren ad.

Their clothes were pressed and layered, giving them an impeccable Kennedy air Jocelyn could never pull off. She wanted to say they looked out of place or snobby, but the truth was, they looked flawless. Every hair, voluminous and perfectly placed, and every accessory intentionally selected like some old-money heirloom that would never go out of style.

He’d be an idiot to give that up.

The girl was perfect for him. Classy and put together, from her pearl earrings to her Hermes flats.

Jocelyn had been so lost in dissecting the woman for defects that she wasn’t paying attention to her movements. By the time she realized she was coming right toward her, it was too late to bolt. The most she could manage was to stand.

Shalimar approached with a picture-perfect smile, as if she were posing for a toothpaste ad. “Hi. It’s Jocelyn, right?”

Her heart kicked into overdrive. “That’s right.”

“We met yesterday. I’m Olivia Aldrich.”

When she held out her hand, fingers down the way royalty might present their fingers for a kiss, Jocelyn frowned. She awkwardly clasped her fingers, gave a short pump, and let go. “I remember.”

“I’m with Soren.”

Oh. She was just gonna come right out and mark her territory.

“Okay,” Jocelyn acknowledged her claim with zero inflection.

Her mouth curved. “I just wanted to make sure we’re clear on that. I know you two are old friends, but I plan to be a big part of his future.”

Stunned at this woman’s directness—when Jocelyn had a reputation for being painfully blunt herself—she mirrored her fake smile and nodded. “Soren can do whatever he wants.”

“Yes, he can. I trust we understand each other then.”

Did they? If this bitch was going to come over to her bench and start marking her territory like she owned the place, she had another thing coming. “I told him the exact same—this morning, when I saw him.”

Her fake plastic smile fell. “Excuse me.”

Jocelyn didn’t flinch. “I think you heard me.”

She glanced over her shoulder where her mother was paying for something at Drift & Dwell. When she looked back at Jocelyn, the mask was off.

Shalimar took a small step forward. “Let me make this clear. You may not know who I am, but I won’t hold that shortcoming against you. My family’s owned the house on the bluff for generations. I’ve been coming to Hideaway Bay since I was a child, and my history with the Hawthornes goes way back. My father’s a shareholder on the fishery’s board, which makes him indispensable to Soren. It’s no accident we keep running into each other. I’m here, past the summer season, because Soren asked me to stay.” She paused, offering another fake smile. “He’s such a particular man. When he told me he couldn’t find a suitable woman who met his standards, I told him he’d just been looking in the wrong places.” Her gaze drifted from Jocelyn’s wind-blown hair to her last season boots. “Which is why I won’t be returning to Newport this fall. Soren wants me close by, in Hideaway.”

Jocelyn breathed out a humorless laugh. “You’re right. He is particular. And Soren always gets what he wants.” Then she pouted and tsked. “Except he doesn’t want suitable. Maybe you can’t see that from all the way up on your bluff, but it’s clear as day to us commoners down here.”