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Grayson had arranged for a beach canopy to be set up for me, for when I got bored with the sunroom. It definitely came in useful now with Dante and his family here.
“I found out something very interesting this morning.”
Lucy was about to drop an insight bomb that was going to leave me a bumbling mess. I just knew it. Now the question was, how should I play it? Get up and join Dante and Sophie at the water’s edge? Retreat inside? Or stay and face the music? I watched Dante spinning Sophie around and making her squeal with glee.Lucy had chosen her moment well, because of course she had. Biting back a sigh, I said, “Yeah?” I was careful to keep my voice neutral, but it was no use.
I could feel Lucy’s eyes on me as she turned to face me fully, setting her coffee mug down on the little table. “Well, I got up to go to the bathroom before the sun was even up. Had to go past your bedroom door and saw that you weren’t there.”
I took a sip of my coffee, trying to appear nonchalant. “Is that a fact?” I tried to keep my voice light, but inside, I was feeling panicky. And maybe a little confused. I mean, what was I trying to hide here? I’d trust Lucy with my deepest, darkest secret. I could talk to her about this.
Lucy just smiled. “You don’t have to go to such lengths to pretend you aren’t banging him,” she said bluntly. “You’re both adults.”
“I’m not banging him,” I blurted out, a little too defensively.
Lucy raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised by my reaction. “Ohhh?” Did she have to draw it out like that? Like this was a really big deal? “Well, things just got very interesting indeed.”
I swallowed hard, trying to think of what to say next. “The fact that I’mnotbanging him is more interesting than if I was?”
Lucy rubbed a hand over her baby bump, a knowing smile playing on her lips. “It sure is. Because why aren’t you? I’ve barely been here twenty-four hours and the connection between you guys is very, very obvious.”
I flinched at her words, feeling my cheeks burn even hotter. “It’s…complicated,” I muttered, looking down at the sand between my toes.
“How so?”
You figured you’d just grab some extra credit to try to close the deal. I mean, I don’t blame you. No judgement here. It’s just business.
I shrugged. It seemed I did have a deep, dark secret I wasn’t prepared to share. It sat like a lump of hot, shameful coal in my stomach.
“Stef?”
I pushed to my feet. “Leave it, will you, Luce? It’s too much.” Immediately feeling guilty at my brusque reply, I looked down at my sister-in-law.
Shading her eyes with her hand, she said, “Hun, I never meant to upset you.”
“You haven’t.”
“If there’s something you need to talk about, I’m all ears.”
“I know.”
She gave me a reassuring smile. “How about you go ask Sophie to take a swim with you while I make her a snack?”
“Sure thing.” Maybe my answering smile was a little shaky, but I managed it before turning away to go play with my squishy little niece.
CHAPTER 26
Grayson
Iwas in the kitchen, cradling Patti in one hand and attempting to make coffee with the other. It was a delicate balancing act, but I was getting the job done. All the while, I was counting down the minutes until I could have the house to myself again. There was a very good goddamn reason I let no one come here. It was my space, my own little haven. Now it had people crawling all over it and I couldn’t relax properly.
As I waited for the coffee to drip ever so slowly into my mug, it didn’t occur to me I hadn’t been the slightest bit perturbed by Stef’s presence in my little hideaway. Quite the opposite, actually.
Lucy walked in from the beach, her hair windswept and her cheeks flushed.
“Morning, Grayson.” Her voice was bright and cheerful, making me wince a little.
“Good morning, Lucy. I’ve just made coffee, if you’d like one.”
“Just had one, and even though it’s decaf, one a day is my limit.”