Page 21 of Crossed Wires: The Complete Series

She narrowed her eyes. “You expected me to swim in my underwear?”

“Why not? What’s a bikini if not a bra and undies? Of course, if you prefer, skinny-dipping works too. I just figured you might be a bit modest.”

She picked up a grape and threw it at his head. He dodged the tiny missile. “We’ll sort out the details after we eat. I’m starving.”

They chatted easily as they consumed Hazel’s delicious food, but Hunter had planted a dangerous seed. Too many times during the meal, Annie wondered if Hunter was serious about skinny-dipping. Would she do it if he asked? Could she? She didn’t consider herself shy by any stretch of the imagination, but Hunter wasn’t exactly a friend daring her as a lark.

She’d seen the way he looked at her, knew his feelings were no more platonic than hers.

“So what made you pick Dylan out of all the men in that online dating pool?”

Hunter’s question caught her off-guard, but suddenly she felt grateful for the chance to explain her reasons for signing up. He’d said enough over the past two days to give her the feeling he wasn’t a fan of finding true love virtually.

“Actually, I didn’t. My friend, Monet, was the one who spotted him. We were having a girls night, drinking wine, commiserating over my latest in a long line of shitty boyfriends. Next thing I know, Monet’s signing me up for the service, insisting that there was someone, somewhere in the world, who could love me for me and not my family’s money.”

Hunter scowled. “You been dating gold diggers?”

“Well, not by choice. Usually their true natures and reasons for going out with me don’t come out until much later in the relationship. Might be better to say I date actors. Even if they have other jobs, I always manage to find men who are very convincing when it comes to their interest in me.”

“New York men sound like wankers.”

She glanced at the lake, grinning. “Not all of them. I’ve actually dated some really nice guys too. Unfortunately those are invariably the ones I feel zero attraction to.”

“So if Monet picked Dylan, how didyouend up talking to him?”

“She picked him out forme. We were three sheets to the wind and Monet gave him my email. One thing sort of led to another and before I knew it, we were emailing back and forth every day.”

“What did you two talk about?”

Annie shrugged. “Nothing deep, really. Our jobs, families, what we ate for breakfast. Silly stuff. Dylan’s a really easy guy to talk to. He was nice and,” she paused, trying to find the right word, “safe.”

“What’s that mean?”

Annie wiped her mouth and pushed away the paper plate. Once again, she’d eaten enough to choke a horse. If she stayed in Australia much longer, she’d have to start jogging to keep off the extra weight. “Dylan was half a world away. It’s easy to flirt with someone you run very little risk of ever seeing in person.”

“But you agreed to meet him.”

She nodded. Dylan’s invitation had come on a very bad day. Her boss had called her “Princess” during a staff meeting, Joel had found a new rich girlfriend, telling the tabloids Annie’s cold-fish tendencies in the bedroom led to their breakup, and her sister, Cindy, had called to inform her that their Thanksgiving meal was going to be recorded for a special holiday event on the reality show. “When I read that IM from Dylan, I was feeling pretty lonely. Getting out of town seemed like the answer to a prayer.”

Hunter began clearing up their food, placing the leftovers back in the bag. “So did you come here for Dylan…or a vacation with benefits?”

It was a good question. She wished she had a better answer. “Both, I guess. I thought I’d see if the fun that Dylan and I had online translated into real life,andI wanted to get away. Desperately.”

Hunter studied her face for a long time and she wondered if her response pissed him off. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to wonder if Dylan’s feelings had been more strongly engaged. What if, by admitting her real reasons for coming, Hunter now saw her as a user? A woman looking for a fling while escaping her real life? She hadn’t painted a very pretty picture of herself.

The silence unnerved her. She stood and walked back toward the lake. Taking off her hat, she fanned herself with it while finger-combing her hair. A rumble caught her attention and she glanced up to discover a dark cloud overhead.

“Damn. Storm coming.”

She turned, surprised to see Hunter standing so close behind her. A quick look showed that he’d folded up the blanket and put it and the food back in the pack.

She was sorry to leave. “I guess we should head back.”

He nodded, looking up. “Not sure we’re going to beat it. Think we’re about to get pissed on from a great height.”

As if he’d dared the gods, rain began to fall. Unlike the storms at home, this one skipped the drizzle and got straight to the good part.

Sheets of water fell, soaking her in an instant. The quick, unexpected change caught her unaware and her mouth fell open.