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“You don’t understand.” Her head started shaking back and forth, growing faster as she spoke. “Living with Angus and Heather, you couldn’t.”

“Mum and Dad can be pains in the arse?—”

“No, Hunter.” She set the food down, and somehow that felt like a rejection of me, of everything I was trying to say. “No one in your family can ever doubt that they are loved. Your parents, even your siblings, you all do whatever you can for each other without question.”

I flushed at that, knowing it was true, but how did that become a liability?

“Even go on fake dates with your sister’s best friend to help her out.”

“Any other friend and I would’ve told Millie to piss off.” I picked her up then, putting her down between my legs and curling my body around hers. Somehow I felt like I needed to become a physical barrier between Jamie and the world. But the threats she was facing came from the inside, not the outside, so I just tried to hug her through this.

“Most people’s families aren’t like that,” she said, rubbing my arm like I was the one who needed soothing. “They’re a bunch of people thrown together by genetics with personalities too similar to get on and needs too different for everyone to meet.”

“Seems like everyone else is getting their needs met,” I said, unable to keep the judgement out of my voice. “Are you other brothers getting badgered daily about the engagement party? Is Frankie?” She blinked, wanting to answer, but not able to come up with anything. “What does your mother want? What’s it going to take to get her off your back this time?”

That seemed to put us back on solid ground.

“Me in a dress, with a date who looks good in a suit.” I couldn’t stop myself from smiling, knowing that I was the perfect guy for the job. “Me attending all the events Nadia’s family has invited us to, like visiting a bridal boutique tomorrow.” She shrugged. “Whatever it takes for me to present as feminine and in a stable relationship.”

“Stable relationship…?” My grin widened. “That might take a bit more work, but the suit? You know I’ve got you, babe. I can hire a swanky car, open doors, and escort you like the best of them.” And suddenly Majorie’s dreams didn’t seem so crazy. I could just see how it would be, the restaurant date of a couple nights ago replayed and done right this time. “I can throw my credit card at Millie again, get her to find you another amazing dress.”

“Yeah, I guess…”

Jamie was vibing with me seconds before, but her light seemed to fade again. I mentally called her mother a whole lot of names, because while some girls really didn’t enjoy dresses or feminine clothing, the way Jamie was that night made me think she didn’t hate it.

That in the right circumstances, away from her mother’s harsh eyes, she actually quite enjoyed frocking up.

But even if she didn’t… The tailor who’d custom fitted my suit was a contact I’d made doing fashion shoots. She did a lot of work for the different menswear companies, performing quick and dirty alterations to get an off-the-rack suit fitting a model better. Kelly was always happy when I brought her more work, though I wasn’t sure if she did suits for women.

I needed to find out.

“Eat up,” I ordered, nodding to the food. “It’s going cold and I had one more thing planned for tonight.”

“What?” That faint smile, the look of curiosity was exactly what I was after. Jamie always bounced back fast, and that’s what was happening right now.

“Eat your food and I’ll show you.”

“Show me…?” Her eyes narrowed. “This isn’t some prank involving your dick, is it? Because I already got up close and personal with that today.”

“Yeah, you did.” I grinned before biting off a chunk of fish, then chewed and swallowed it. “I promise my dick will stay in my pants at all times.”

And it did.

Once we were finished and the leftovers were tossed to the seagulls and the wrappings placed in the bin, I went back to the van, grabbing my surfboard.

“Surfing?” She took a step backwards. “No, no, no. My balance is freaking terrible. I trip over everything.”

“No surfing.” My arm went around her waist, directing her back to the beach. “And you just need to trust me.”

“Trust me…” She hissed, but when I pulled her into the water, she came. I let the board float on the water’s surface, holding it in place.

“Throw yourself on and then I’ll show you.”

“If you take me anywhere near the waves?—”

“The water’s pretty damn flat right now,” I told her. “No waves to catch, even if I wanted to. Jump on, Jamie, unless you’re scared?”

Hayden and I used to use that phrase to egg the girls on to do all sorts of dumb stuff, and right now she frowned in recognition of that. Didn’t stop her from pulling herself up on the board, though. Dripping wet and sitting astride it, she couldn’t have looked any more beautiful. Jamie let out a little yelp as I jumped on behind her, hands gripping the edge of the board.