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“Yes,” I whispered.
Andy’s baby blue eyes clouded as I launched into his arms. He enveloped me, bracing us from falling to the cold concrete, the barriers shielding us from the whipping evening wind as I kissed him.
Andy
EPILOGUE
“Why are you calling me, Andy?”Brad asked, his tone firm, bordering on cross.
“Only to let you know we landed safely,” I said. “Nolan is in charge. He’s at the gym in Manchester and has strict instructions not to bother me.”
“Good. How was the flight?”
“Uneventful. I should warn you, though, you’re spoiling us with the jet.”
Brad laughed. “Well, I don’t think it’s outside of the realm of possibility that you’ll have one of your own one day.”
Strangely, confessing to my mentor that my marriage had been a sham only strengthened our relationship. He shifted his focus from my burgeoning gym empire to grooming Madison and me for bigger and better deals. Thankfully, Payton and Nora had moved their relationship onto firmer footing, even bordering on friendship.
“Maybe. Still, thanks for the wedding gift.”
“Considering I didn’t get you one the first time, it’s the least I could do. Enjoy yourself, and tell Nora I said hi.”
I hung up the phone, placing it in the tiny lock box in our hotel room and shutting it away for the next week. Then, I set off in search of Nora.
I didn’t have to wander far. She’d moved from the living room area of our overwater hut and onto the pier. A white umbrella shaded her from the tropical sun, along with a pair of sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat that collapsed onto her shoulders. I smiled, my eyes gliding down her face, which was currently buried in a book, onto the bright yellow bikini and back again.
“What are you reading?” I asked, perching on the end of her lounge chair and running a hand up her leg, warm from the sun.
She set the book on her lap with a smirk as my fingers moved up her thigh, teasing at the knot holding her bottoms in place. “Bunny threw a bunch of books in my suitcase before we left. They’re all alittlespicy.”
“Spicy?” I asked, taking the book out of her lap and opening it. “I like the sound of that.”
“You want to borrow this one when I’m done?” she teased.
“Maybe.” I leaned forward, kissing her. “Or you could just describe said spiciness. Show me whatever’s making you blush so nicely.”
She laughed, eyes darting furtively around the empty pier. “The sun is making me blush. I know it’s hard to imagine, being Cal’s sister and all, but I don’t exactly tan. I burn.”
I groaned, dropping my hand onto the lounger. “You had to bring your brother up, didn’t you?”
“I’m stopping you from trying to seduce me in the middle of a pier. What if Emmanuel saw us?” Her lips formed a perfect O. I leaned forward, kissing her with a laugh.
“The butler? I think he’s specifically paidnotto see us in situations like that.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “You don’t think he’s walked in on people? Sweet Emmanuel?”
“He’s twenty, not ten, and I’m positive accidentally walking in while a married couple is having sex ranks pretty low on the messed up things he’s seen.”
She grimaced, eyes darting for the cabin, as if Emmanuel might materialize out of thin air.
“I’ve killed the mood, haven’t I?” I asked, squeezing her knee and pushing myself back up to standing. “Do you want something to drink?”
“Water would be great,” she said, placing the book on top of the stack beside her and pulling a textbook out of the stack on the ground. “I should probably study for a bit before we go snorkeling.”
“You could have taken the semester off. It’s not as though you’re on a time crunch anymore,” I teased, proud of her for keeping up with her studies, even on a tropical island half the world away from her college.
“I could, but then I’d graduate a full year later. Half these classes are only offered in the fall or the spring, and I want to make sure I’m done before Brad pushes you to move to New York.”
