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“No, of course not.” Georgie regarded her with concern. “What’s up?”
“I want to spend some time with you, that’s all.”
Georgie didn’t entirely believe her, but who knew exactly what Meg was thinking? “You can stay in the guesthouse.”
Bram bristled. “No, she can’t. My office is in the guesthouse.”
“Only in half of it. You never go into the bedroom.”
Bram turned on Me
g. “We haven’t even been married for three weeks. What kind of loser barges in on people who are practically on their honeymoon?”
Scatterbrained Meg Koranda disappeared, and in her place stood Jake Koranda’s daughter, her expression as steely as her father’s when he played the gunslinger Bird Dog Caliber. “The kind of loser who wants to make sure her friend’s best interests are being protected when she suspects that same friend might not be looking out for herself.”
“I’m fine,” Georgie said quickly. “Bram and I are passionately in love. We just have a weird way of showing it.”
Bram abandoned his clean-up efforts. “Have you told your parents you want to stay here? Because I swear to God, Meg, I don’t need Jake on my ass right now. Or your mother.”
“I’ll deal with Dad. And Mom already dislikes you, so she’s no problem.”
Chaz chose that moment to enter her kitchen. Today two tiny rubber bands made miniature devil horns out of the now fluorescent red hair on top of her head. She looked fourteen, but she cussed like a veteran sailor when she saw the condition of her kitchen. Until Bram stepped forward…
“I’m sorry, Chaz. The blender got away from me.”
Chaz immediately softened. “Wait for me next time, okay?”
“I sure will,” he said contritely.
She began ripping off squares of paper towel and handing them out. “Wipe your feet so you don’t track this shit all over the house.”
She refused any offers of help and began attacking the mess with single-minded focus. As they left the kitchen, Georgie remembered Chaz’s enthusiasm for cleaning up messes and wished she had her video camera handy.
She decided to settle for Meg instead, and later that afternoon as they sat around the pool, she turned the camera on her and began asking about her experiences in India. But unlike Chaz, Meg had grown up around cameras, and she answered only the questions she chose to. When Georgie tried to press her, she said she was bored talking about herself and wanted to swim.
Bram appeared not long after. He closed up his phone, sprawled on the chaise next to Georgie, and gazed at Meg in the pool. “Having your pal around isn’t a good idea. I still have the hots for her.”
“No, you don’t. You just want to annoy me.” He hadn’t put a shirt on, and lust shot right through her slutty little body. Bram thought she was playing games by holding him off, but it was more complicated. She’d never viewed sex as meaningless entertainment. She’d always needed for it to be important. Until now.
Was she finally clear-eyed and self-assertive enough to indulge in a mindless fling? A few steamy romps and then, “Arrivederci, babe, and don’t let the door hit you on your way out.” But that scenario had a major flaw. How could she have a mindless fling with a man she couldn’t send home afterward? No matter which way she looked at it, living under the same roof was a complication she couldn’t get around.
“You haven’t mentioned your meeting at the Mandarin this morning,” she said to distract herself.
“Nothing to say. The guy mainly wanted the dirt on our marriage.” Bram shrugged. “Who cares? It’s a beautiful afternoon, and neither of us is miserable. You have to admit this is a great third date.”
“Nice try.”
“Give it up, Georgie. I’ve noticed the way you look at me. You do everything but lick your lips.”
“Unfortunately, I’m human, and you’re a lot hotter than you used to be. If only you were a real person instead of a male blow-up doll…”
He swung his legs over the lounge and stood above her like a golden Apollo who’d sauntered down from Mount Olympus to remind female mortals about the consequences of messing with the gods. “One more week, Georgie. That’s all you’ve got.”
“Or what?”
“You’ll see.”
Somehow it didn’t sound like an idle threat.
