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“What’s that orange thing in your hand? I don’t recognize it.” I went to her and bent closer to peer at the carrot. “That’s not a Cheeto…”
“I went to the corner store, okay? Don’t make a big deal.”
I laughed. Then, I realized I had to tell Candace that I’d be going to the beach house after all.
“I just agreed to go to Westhampton with Luke."
"What?" She came over and gave me a hug. "You go, girl. Finally. You really deserve this, Alexa. Of all the people I know, you deserve to spend a nice weekend with a hunk of man like Luke. Seriously."
I smiled, agreeing with her. "I do deserve to have some fun with a hunk of a man. He promised to be good and not try anything."
"And if you want him to try anything, you can always encourage him."
"I'm not going to," I said and shook my head. "I'm just doing this because he's actually pretty nice and he needs an excuse to keep his adoptive mother and her best friend from setting him up with the best friend's daughter. They dated a few times and now they want to marry him off to her."
"You're such a philanthropist," Candace said with a snort. "Talk about a sacrifice. I'd go with him if you decided to turn him down. Seriously. He's amazingly hot, amazingly rich, and sounds like a decent guy."
"He's also amazingly dead-set against a long-term relationship, so there's that. It's a game changer, in my opinion. The only reason I'm spending time with him is because he probably has a really great beach house and the food will be good."
"Not to mention the view."
"That too," I said, wondering where the beach house was located. "I should google the beach house and see where it is.”
"I didn’t mean that kind of view, silly," she said and elbowed me playfully. "I mean, who would want to miss Luke in bathing suit?"
"Oh, yeah, that view." I took in a deep breath. "That view's pretty nice, too."
Then, I did google the family, and searched for a beach house address in Westhampton and sure enough, I found one. It was a huge home with a security fence surrounding it, and it was beach front.
"You're going to live the lifestyle of the rich and famous for a weekend," Candace said with a sigh. "Too bad you couldn't bring me along. I'd kill to go in your place. Couldn’t you take me with you in an extra-large suitcase? I could sneak out and pretend to be a beachcomber…"
"Sorry, sister," I said and shrugged. "It's just me. He's picking me up at seven on Friday. I'll stay for the weekend and be back Sunday night."
"You are one lucky girl."
I smiled, hoping she was right. It sounded good on paper – a weekend spent with a fabulously rich hunk of a man pretending to be his girlfriend. I'd learned my lesson about that things that were too good to be true.
They
usually were.
Chapter 10
Luke
* * *
The following Wednesday, John and I had sausages and eggs at Barney's Deli down the street from my apartment. He'd been out of town for two days, working with a client in Silicon Valley and flew back that morning and so we met for lunch to catch up.
"So, you talked to Alexa? She’s coming with you after all?”
I forked a sausage and chewed for a moment. "Yeah. She caved to my manly charms.”
“Probably more like the prospect of a weekend a the beach with all the trimmings. It’s great this happened, in a way. Better than if she’d been the real Lexxi.”
“One wrong letter in an email. That'll teach me to rely on my memory."
"It's so bizarre," John said and bit a piece of toast. He chewed for a moment. "It's one of those fate moments, I guess. You know, when wires get crossed and your life changes."
