“Jack?” Gran asked. “Is that one of the gorillas that came with these two?” She tilted her head to mean Juliet and me.
“Gran, behave yourself,” Tess said, her tone admonishing but full of sweetness. Her eyes sparkled. “Juliet and Ryan are celebrities. They need security, and while they’re here, we’re lucky the guys were able to be here too.”
“Hmph,” Gran grunted. “And by the way, I’m not speaking to you today, about goons or anything else. I can’t believe you moved my stuff.” Gran’s voice had all the indignity of a maligned teenager and when she stuck out her tongue at Tess to make her point, I had to stifle a laugh.
“I said I was sorry about that. But it’s for the magazine shoot tomorrow. It’s just temporary. And so are the guards.” Tess sounded exasperated.
For the most part, our security detail was practically invisible—a significant feat for four guys who must’ve weighed two hundred and fifty pounds a piece.
“So,” Tess said, turning to face Juliet and me. “How did you guys meet?”
“At a party,” I volunteered, at the same moment that Juliet blurted, “On set.”
I cringed inwardly. This was what we probably should have figured out before arriving. Tess didn’t seem easy to fool, and Gran definitely didn’t. I wondered if Juliet might decide we could just be honest with her family and keep the pretense for the media.
Tess raised her eyebrows and laughed, and the sound filtered through me like sunlight sifts down through tree leaves, soft and diffuse.
Juliet raised her eyebrows at me, as if to tell me to continue, so I improvised. “It was a party on the set of a movie we both worked on,” I said. “We had one scene together, but didn’t really get to chat until the wrap party.” I knew it was a poor cover and watched Tess consider this and decide not to question it.
A faint smile ghosted her heart-shaped lips. I had a fleeting vision of what it would be like to rub a thumb over those lips, to taste them. I refocused on the sandwich before me. Wrong sister. Focus.
“When was that?” Tess asked.
This time, Juliet and I looked at one another, and I decided to let her answer. We should have ironed out all the details ahead of time, but she’d slept through the flight and she’d been on the phone through the car ride. These were things we needed to get airtight before the magazine people showed up. If we got this wrong in front of the media, Juliet’s scandal would be even more scandalous and I’d be an easy target for stories about poor desperate Ryan McDonnell who’d do anything to save his career. That would not be good for me, or for Dad.
“The movie went on about six months, so we’ve known each other a while. But the party was just a little while ago. Two weeks?” Juliet said, looking to me to confirm.
“Sounds about right.”
Gran snorted and leaned back in her chair. “So this is your third date?”
“Gran,” Juliet sighed.
“Two weeks?” Gran repeated. “I’ve got hemorrhoids with more mileage on them than that.”
Tess dropped her sandwich back to her plate. “And I’m out.” She stood and shot Gran an angry look. “You’re impossible.”
Gran merely shrugged and continued nibbling her own sandwich. I watched Tess go, wishing I could follow her into the house, but I was supposed to be here with Juliet.
“It is new,” Juliet said. “But it feels … right.” Her delivery was good. I didn’t get a chance to see if Gran was buying it because my eyes were on Tess’s back as she went back inside the house.
Or if I was being honest, my eyes were on her ass.
I waited as long as I could, something inside me ramping up and forcing me out of my seat. “I’m just gonna go visit the bathroom,” I said, rising and dropping a kiss on Juliet’s cheek. “Be right back.” I slipped through the swinging screen door behind Tess, my mind spinning and my heart in my throat. I had no real idea why I was chasing her or what exactly I was going to say. I just knew I wanted to talk to her. Alone.
Chapter Six
Tess
I had just turned on the water to rinse my plate at the sink when Ryan came in the door after me, a strange expression on his gorgeous face. I was still a little annoyed—Gran was legitimately impossible, and I was worried what she might say in front of the magazine people when they arrived.
I turned to face Ryan, a nervous hitch in my breath.
“Sorry about Gran,” I told him. “She can be a little …” I trailed off. There was really no word for Gran. “She’s not great in company, but on a daily basis, she’s a pretty entertaining companion.”
“I’d guess so,” he said, leaning against the counter next to the sink, his eyes on me and his gaze intense. There was something in the way he was looking at me that made me feel warm all over, little shudders of excitement popping through me.
I slid the dish into the rack and looked up at him, feeling nervous as the bright blue eyes pierced me. I felt weirdly naked, exposed. “Is there something I can help you with?” It was difficult being this close to him. The attraction I’d always felt seeing him on screen was magnified about six thousand times having him just eighteen inches away from me.
“Well,” he said, his voice low and soft enough to make me tilt in toward him so I didn’t miss a word. He leaned a hip into the counter, his body close to me, his eyes never leaving my face. “I thought we better talk about cake.”
The kitchen was quiet, but the air
