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“Damn. You’re that sensitive?” He continues to speak as if we have no audience. “This is fun.” He moves back to the chair next to mine as his father drones on about some merger.
“Nate’s got a big deal cooking. Right, Nate?”
“Huge, Dad.”
Zane rolls his eyes to indicate Nate always has a big deal cooking. And I’m sure it always falls through no fault of his.
Zane crosses his legs, and his flip-flopped foot comes dangerously close to my left hand. I reach into my glass and wet my finger slightly. I reach under his foot, just above the arch, and drag my finger down the middle to his heel. Then I flip my finger over and lightly tickle his ankle with the back of my fingernail. When I first begin, he flinches and releases a little cough. His arm pebbles. I look at him with a self-satisfied grin and whisper, “Who’s sensitive now?”
Jack interrupts us. “Kids, we should keep to your mother’s schedule. You know how she is. Katy, you are a delightful conversationalist.” I’d barely said a word, but that’s the secret to the wealthy. Ask the right questions, and they think you’re fascinating.
Zane pulls me back and finishes my Scotch. “How’d you do that?”
“The angle Nate poured, triangle bottle of Glenfiddich. And it tasted aged, so I guessed.”
“Brilliant,” he says and we’re caught in a gaze I don’t understand. We’re interrupted and snap back to ourselves.
“Uncle Zane! We have to go. Uncle Zane. Grandma Birdie’s steaming.”
There are three Hummers to be filled with the Jackson clan. I squeeze his hand and slide to the middle, next to a nose-whistling Aunt Lolly. Zane enters after me and puts his arm around me. And dammit there go my goosebumps again.
Chapter 17
It’s A Small Small World
KAT
Maui
“I’ve had a ton of liquor, and I’m not drunk. What’s it going to take?” I whine as he drives back to our villa so we can get ready for the Rehearsal Dinner Cocktail party. There’s no actual rehearsal because Nate said he didn’t need one. I left before Stacey could give me tonight’s sleep over details.
“They fucking love you.” He pulls into our driveway.
“I know, it’s almost like I’m as genius as you at lying.” He winces a little and I did not mean to be mean. “Sorry. You know what I meant.”
He turns to me and the light catches his eyes. Fuck me they’re gorgeous. Seriously, normally I want to jam my knuckle into his eye, but now I just want to stare at them. “I swear the light in Hawaii makes things look more beautiful. Like this cart looks attractive or that rock over there.”
He pats my hand and steps out of the cart. “You don’t need the light.” He opens the front door and I stomp off after him. He did not just say I was beautiful. That is not fair.
“Hey! That was too nice. We’re slipping into weird territory.”
He turns while opening a bottle of water. “Agreed. But I think we go with it until I take off Sunday morning. Then it will be super easy to go right back to hating you.”
He offers me the open bottle and I drink it greedily. “You’re proposing we keep doing this dance hopping over the decorum line we got going?”
He drinks from his own bottle. “It’s all fucking pretend. Why not?”
“What do you need your parents’ money for? What’s the end game here? Spite? Greed? Laziness? What are you doing this for?”
He exhales and opens the sliding glass door to our patio and lets the sound of the ocean in. I let it cascade over me.
He doesn’t answer as I lean against the edge of the door. “I’ll give you three reasons why I haven’t run away if you give me three reasons for me to stay.”
He nods and I start. “One, I’m having fun with you despite my normal feelings. Two, you just called me beautiful. No one really does that. Three, I really like Hawaii.”
“One, you are beautiful. Two, I need the money to make my show work. Three, I want you too.”
My blood races as I push off the wall. I walk away and yell behind me, “Pick out a dress for me to wear tonight and lay it out on my bed. I’m headed to the shower to get more beautiful.”
