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“Hey, I want some,” Kendall teased and filled her plate, taking a characteristic heap of scrambled eggs and dumping salsa all over them.
They joined us at the table and between bites, Julie asked where Rory was.
“He’s out for a run,” I said. “He’s the one who gets up early on purpose. I prefer going to the gym where it’s air conditioned and at a reasonable hour.”
“What about you, Batman?” Julie teased Darren. “Do you just lift the furniture for a workout?”
“Furniture’s too easy. I lift the cars. Sometimes a bus if I want a challenge,” he deadpanned.
“King Kong here has a chin up bar in his doorway and does bodyweight exercises for fun. His cardio, the best I can tell, is either on the treadmill in his office or he just scales the outside of tall buildings,” I said.
Kendall rolled her eyes. “I asked Darren to train me once. Give me a real military style routine to build up some serious endurance. I lasted, what? Fifteen minutes?”
“Ten. At most. Then you threw yourself on the floor and said you’d popped a hernia and I better call the ambulance. Some crap about wanting Jules to have your shoe collection if you didn’t make it.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet!” Julie laughed. “You were using your last dramatic breath to will me your designer heels that I can’t even walk in!”
“Roasted,” I said with an eyebrow lift at my little sister.
“I’d like to see you—and I mean that collectively to include Jeremy—survive fifteen minutes with the beast over there. It’s a good thing he never opened a personal training service. It’s hard to sustain a business model when your clients all drop dead in the first session. No repeat business that way,” she said.
Darren lifted one shoulder as if he couldn’t be bothered to shrug. “Not my fault they’re all weak. I’d never be a trainer. Too many whiners.”
“I think he just roasted you too,” Julie claimed.
“You started it,” Kendall said, sticking out her tongue. They dissolved into laughter—trash talk being a part of their friendship as much as it was in our family evidently.
We finished breakfast and waited on my mountain of a brother to consume the last of his absolute barrel worth of food—all protein and some blueberries, no bagels and cream cheese for him. My bagel, however, had been awesome, and I regretted nothing.
“I’m taking the boat out for a while this morning since it’s supposed to be hot outside. Last swim of the summer?” I offered.
“Yes, please,” Kendall chimed in. Julie’s eyes lit up as she nodded.
“Let’s change and meet in the foyer to head to the marina,” I suggested. Everyone agreed. Rory jogged in and joined in on the plan, as long as he could take a quick shower. It was all I could do not to make a wisecrack about making sure the water was cold.
I got everything together and retrieved the cooler and basket the housekeeper had packed at my request. While I was standing around with my aviators pushed up, preparing smartass remarks about how slow they were, I heard voices up above. Then my sister and her friend were descending the stairs. All the subtle burns about the slowness and vanity of my companions almost slipped my mind, because a body like Julie’s could really stop a man’s train of thought.
Twenty-four years old, with dark red curls piled on top of her head and a bathing suit—Jesus, it wasn’t even a bikini. It was a one-piece with cutouts on the sides and some kind of flimsy, sheer cover up with a floppy straw hat. She looked like a damn movie star who should be lounging on the beach at Cote d’Azur, not hopping on my boat for the day. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Fortunately, she was fishing sunglasses out of her tote bag and didn’t see my too-obvious stare.
Darren and Rory bounded down the stairs, jostling each other. They came to a halt when they caught sight of Julie in that swimsuit. Their faces matched what mine had to look like. I shook my head with a self-effacing grin. We were pathetic, all three of us. I wasn’t about to let Julie’s day be derailed by our sudden crushes on her. I got my head together and demanded they pile in the SUV so we could get to the marina.
Once we were out on the water, the wind whipping across us and the salt air making me feel brand new, I dropped anchor at a good spot. Julie whipped off her cover-up and made her way to the bow where she stretched out on her towel and lifted her arms above her head, soaking up the sun. Goddamn. I swore to myself, reaching in the cooler for a beer. I deliberately turned away. She had no idea of her effect on the Beckett men.
