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ALEXA: I'm serious!
LUKE: I promise. No funny business. Not even a joke. >:-(
ALEXA: Good. Okay then. I'll go out with you for the weekend to the beach house as long as you pinkie swear.
LUKE: Pinkie swear??!!
ALEXA: Since we're back in public school and all…
LUKE: Okay. Pinkie swear. I promised no funny business and I mean it. We'll do some surfing, and lie on the beach, work on our tans. Eat fresh fish and drink cold beer. You'll enjoy it after your comp, am I right?
ALEXA: It sounds great. What kind of stuff do I need to bring? I want to fit in with all your wealthy family members... Will I need formal evening dress and gloves? A tiara, mayhap?
LUKE: Just bring a bathing suit, a sundress and sandals, and you'll be fine.
ALEXA: I note you didn’t mention a nightgown…
LUKE: Oh, DARN. Busted. ;) Bring a nightgown. The tiara is optional. My adoptive mother might like it, but I prefer something less ostentatious.
ALEXA: Okay. When will you pick me up?
LUKE: Friday, as soon as I'm free. I'll probably work until six, so I can pick you up at seven if that's okay.
ALEXA: Sounds good. See you then.
LUKE: Thanks a bunch, Alexa. I mean it. You'll be my sanity and I'll make sure you won't regret it. I'll be the perfect fake boyfriend. No hanky-panky. Just lots of PDAs to keep the wolves at bay.
ALEXA: I'll hold you to that promise.
LUKE: You can hold me to anything, especially you. ;)
LUKE: Okay, now you know I had to take that opening. The world would not be right if I left it hanging…
ALEXA: Bye…
LUKE: See you Friday.
I put down my phone and smiled. Then, I forced the smile off my face. I really shouldn’t have agreed to go with him, but I'd be done with my comps by then and it would be kind of nice to spend a weekend in Westhampton. I'd only been to the Hamptons once before with Candace the previous summer and always planned on going back. Now was the perfect time. It was late in the season, but the weather was warm enough so it would likely be a fantastic weekend.
The Marshalls most likely had a fantastic house, and the food would be good. I'd spend the time with Luke, fending off his family. We could get some surfing in – or at least, I could try. The fresh seafood and cold beer sounded so good, plus the beach and the sun. I’d been working like a dog for so long, it would be wonderful to escape Manhattan for a weekend.
Spending it with one of the best-looking men I'd seen in a long time, with those blue eyes, and those bangs that fell into his eyes in that incredibly sexy way…
Hell, who was I kidding? He was the best-looking man I'd ever seen up close.
Or from a distance.
A weekend spent pretending to be in love with him, staying at his family's beach house in Westhampton? Lounging around on the beach with him beside me in a pair of swim trunks, that delicious washboard abdomen on display? That smile and those eyes…
Yeah, I could handle a weekend like that.
My only fear was that I'd enjoy it too much and end up being just another notch on his very committed bachelor's belt.
* * *
I left my bedroom and found Candace in the kitchen rummaging through the refrigerator.
"What's up?" she asked when she saw me, a carrot stick in her hand. "You finished for the night?"
