Page 40 of Somehow You Knew

Willow rubs my shoulder. “I think we’re all just wondering how the hell this happened and, more importantly, how you’re feeling about it.”

I look between my sisters-in-law, the three women I’m so grateful to call my family now. My older brothers may be giant pains in the ass, but at least they’re with women I genuinely love.

I blow out a breath and lower my voice. “It’s been a lot. Of course this isn’t the way I envisioned getting married… But I couldn’t pass up that much money.”

Astrid nods. “I don’t blame you. But…” She hesitates, biting her bottom lip. “I just have to ask…”

I narrow my eyes. “What?”

Her eyes scan the room before she leans in and whispers, “Do you realize howhotyour husband is?”

The four of us dissolve into giggles, but then I let out a groan. “Oh, yes. I’m aware. But he’s also off-limits. We don’t want to make this any messier than it already is.”

There’s a collective groan of disappointment among the group.

Cashlynn huffs. “Well, that’s no fun.”

Nodding, I add, “And what’s even more unfair about the entire thing is that I met him before I knew he was Diane’s nephew, and we really hit it off.” I inhale deeply before continuing. “He’s Hummingbird Guy.”

Their jaws all drop open.

“No way,” Cashlynn says, breaking the silence.

“Way,” I say before taking down a few more gulps of my wine. “When we met at Timothy’s office, I thought he didn’t remember me. It made for a less-than-cordial reunion.”

Willow laughs. “I can imagine.”

“And now we’re married and living together for the next six months so we can both walk away with a life-changing amount of money. Only…it’s not going to be as easy as we initially thought.”

Cashlynn leans forward. “What do you mean?”

“We got a letter the other night from Diane.”

Astrid’s eyes bug out. “Uh, isn’t she dead?”

I shake my head. “And here I thought you were keeping up.”

She swats at me playfully as we all laugh. “You know what I mean.”

“Apparently, she planned out a series of tasks we have to complete while we’re married. If we don’t, the inheritance goes out the window.”

Willow tsks. “Smart woman.”

“What do you mean?” Cashlynn asks.

Willow turns to me. “Diane always wanted the two of you to date, right?” I nod. “So of course she wouldn’t be satisfied with just the paperwork. She wanted you to fall for each other.”

I snort. “Ha. That’s not going to happen. We barely tolerate each other.”

The deflection rolls right off my tongue because in the back of my mind, I’m thinking of all the things Diane could possibly have us do.

There’s no telling… I thought I knew her well, but these past few weeks have proven otherwise.

And perhaps I don’t know as much about her nephew as I thought either.

I gaze out the front window to find Gage talking to one of the servers from Catch & Release. He’s moving his arm around as they stare down at it, so I can only assume they’re discussing his tattoos—the miles of ink on his skin that I have a hard time not staring at.

I seriously wonder about all the other places that man has tattoos—and how many of them are lick-able.