“He throws me off-course,” she told Audra. “I say I’m not going to be around him then he’s around and we’re talking and it’s fun and he seems like a nice guy, which is definitely all wrong for me.”
Audra raised her brows. “Why’s a nice guy all wrong for you?”
“Because…” Shaking her head, Lilly thought of that devastating kiss he’d laid on her, the way her pulse stumbled whenever he was near, the fact that he could recite the size of a blue whale’s penis from memory and the wicked glint in his eye as he’d shared the fact. “Because I sense he’s really not just ‘nice.’ There are depths there—”
“You have depths too.”
“Exactly why I don’t want to be involved with him. We might drown each other.”
For a moment, something sparked to life in Audra’s eyes. “Has involvement been mentioned?”
“Only in that we both don’t want a relationship. But, God, that doesn’t seem to stop—” She forced herself to take a breath, still bewildered by her over-the-top response to him. “Okay, the deal is, he’s hawt too and for some reason that’s messing me up.”
“Oh, dear—”
“But I’ll talk to him anyway,” Lilly hastened to say. She was supposed to be helping her friend, wasn’t she? “I’ll get what info I can about Jacob.”
“Then you’ll go back to avoiding Alec but failing?”
Before Lilly could respond with more than a grimace, Audra added two more cents. “Why don’t you stop fighting it and go get some regrets instead? For God’s sake, one of us should.”
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Alec said to his second cousin Jessie Hathaway, Kane’s sister.
“What are you talking about?” she replied, with all the enthusiasm of someone twenty-five and carelessly beautiful. “This is total fun.”
She was a beachy looking honey blonde with long straight hair and legs to match. Not that Alec could see much of her looks at the moment, since they stood in complete blackness, the only illumination coming from the glow-in-the-dark coasters set on the tall table they were bellied up to and the neon ring Jessie wore on her head like a crown.
Upon entry to this standalone banquet facility tucked into the resort’s rear grounds, all cell phones were checked like coats. Then women were given the plastic head pieces. Men were not. Alec didn’t know the motivation for the gender distinction—females were identifiable to eliminate an excuse for “accidental” groping by his bad-mannered brethren? Because the organizers knew any self-respecting guy wouldn’t walk around with a neon halo on his head?
“A pop-up bar,” he grumbled now, wondering how he was supposed to get another beer when he could barely see five inches in front of him. Around the room were more tables and more people, shadows against shadows. They’d found a space in a corner, so there were walls on two sides of him. “Who likes to put the unexpected into their drinking?”
Jessie laughed. He saw her hand reach toward her wineglass. Opting for safety, Alec kept his bottle of craft brew in his fist. “I told you it’s a fundraiser.”
“For?”
“A group that provides eye exams and necessary treatment, from surgery to glasses, for needy kids.”
He grunted. “Sort of makes sense then, the blackout.”
“That’s the idea. They’ve talked about trying a dining experience next year.”
Alec frowned. “Don’t count me in. I can’t imagine trying to feed myself in the dark.”
She nudged him with her elbow. “You’re such a stick-in-the-mud. When did my Thatcher cousin become so unadventurous?”
He told himself he wasn’t offended. His siblings had always been the family free spirits and it had never bothered him. His younger sister Joanna—Jojo—had the corner on impetuousness, which is why she’d foolishly married a guy only out to get a green card and now was recovering from a nasty divorce. As for this brother…
“I was never adventurous. Simon’s the one who—”
“Not just Simon,” Jessie said, interrupting Alec. “You weren’t always so risk-averse, I’m telling you. I remember it was you who came up with the impromptu Sled Olympics that winter vacation in Big Bear.”
“Yeah, and I recall I injured myself.”
“Only your pride, silly,” Jessie said, laughing again. “When you landed on your ass in that huge snowdrift.”
Alec found himself laughing with her, remembering the shocking cold and the raucous glee of his siblings and cousins. “Then Simon took off too soon and landed on top of me.” The pleasure of the memory felt good. Too often thinking of the past shrouded him in a heavy gloom. Which was why he kept most of his reminiscing at bay by spending long hours at the office, occupying himself with paperwork and number-crunching.
I think we all retreated to our preferred refuges.
Unwilling to consider it, Alec turned his focus to his younger cousin. “So, what’s new in your life, Messy Jessie?”
He couldn’t see her glare but he could definitely feel it. “You know I hate that nickname.”
Aware it would further her wrath, he suppressed the urge to chuck her beneath the chin. “I suppose you’ve come a long way from mud pies.”
“I’m a hospitality professional,” she said, with exaggerated dignity.
“One who used to make desserts out of wet dirt and sleep with a duck.”
“That was only for three days!”
“Until your mom found out.” Alec smirked. “You’d still be snoozing with Quacky if you could get away with it.”
“Speaking of sleeping…” Her hair fanned out and she seemed to be taking in the other bar patrons. “I should circulate. Maybe meet someone I’m not related to who I find attractive enough to take home with me.”
Alarmed, Alec glanced around the room. “You can’t see well enough to pick any of these guys out of a lineup.”
He sensed the roll of her eyes. “I’m not planning on finding a criminal.”
“Jessie.” Alec tried telling himself she was an adult. “Take my advice and be very careful.”
Her hand found his cheek, patted. “Of course I will. But maybe you should take my advice too. Do something spontaneous. Shut down that brain of yours, get out of this corner,
