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“Of course, sir,” I said and smiled at them without missing a beat. “I took his bourbon away and made him go straight to bed. And look at him. He barely has a hangover.”
Mr. Preston snorted and went back to stirring his coffee. When I’d met him last night, all he’d done was stare at my tits. Apparently he couldn’t do that with his wife sitting next to him, so I was dismissed as no longer of interest.
Phew.
But Celia was still staring at me.
“We didn’t have much time to talk last night,” she said, “with all the wedding excitement.”
“I know,” I said. Thank God, I thought.
“Tell me about your family. Todd mentioned that you’re from New Hampshire.”
“I don’t have any family,” I said. “My parents died several years ago. I don’t have any siblings or cousins. Both my parents were only children, and so am I.” I briefly wondered what it would be like if that were true, if I had no one left to disgrace me or depend on me.
It would be a mixed bag, I decided.
“How sad,” Mrs. Preston said.
“Not really,” I said. “But I’m afraid my family wouldn’t have been interesting to you anyway—we weren’t society. My father owned a shoe store, and my mother was a nurse. Very middle class. Very boring and under the radar, unlike your family.”
She smiled briefly at my compliment that was not a compliment.
“I’m sure that James’s lifestyle must seem very glamorous to you,” she said.
“His house is a lot more glamorous than my dorm,” I admitted.
“Is it serious between you and my son? He doesn’t tell us anything,” she said.
I smiled at her and tried to decide on a course of action. With lying, I’d found it was always safest to tell the version closest to the truth.
“He’s out of my league, Mrs. Preston,” I said. “I’m sure he’ll figure it out sooner rather than later. But right now, I’m still the new and the shiny. We’re just having fun.”
Some approval actually crept into her smile. “Well, stay new and shiny until we get through this wedding,” she said. To my shock, it appeared that she was supporting me. “He hasn’t been this easy to get along with in years.”
* * *
“I think your mother doesn’t actually hate me,” I told James later. We were back at the apartment, and I was digging through the clothes Elena had sent for me while he sat on my bed, watching me.
I was looking for a normal pair of jeans, something that wasn’t geared toward high-society functions that I could breathe in. I found nothing of the kind, so I settled for a simple cotton dress that probably cost a thousand dollars.
“In fact, she might even be rooting for me,” I said. “And your father didn’t look at my tits once. I consider brunch an outright success.”
James shook his head at me and laughed. “You asked me what my best outcome was yesterday—this is it,” he said. “I had no idea when I hired you that you were going to be able to work magic on my family, but I’m not complaining.”
“I think I should charge you extra,” I said. “Now go change. We don’t have to see anyone in your family for the rest of the day, and you don’t have to swindle people out of their land or take their money or whatever it is you usually do. Take off that damn suit.”
“I thought I was the boss,” he said. He stood up and towered over me, making my heart stop.
I smiled at him anyway. “Will you please take off that damn suit? Sir? I would like to go to the park and get a hot pretzel. And then go to Fenway and drink some beer. If that’s okay with you.”
He traced the outline of my jaw with his finger, and I stopped breathing. My skin lit up on fire underneath his touch. “It’s okay with me,” he said darkly, and strode out of my room.
Tease! I wanted to scream after him as he headed down the hall. Instead I just smiled to myself, enjoying the moment for once, and changed my clothes.
* * *
The Commons were glorious. The trees were all in bloom, there were flowers everywhere, and it was warm. Usually in Boston, it was either winter or humid, except for a brief respite during the fall.
