Cheyenne ran her hands though her dark hair. “What you
asked about us having another kid kind of set things off.”
Steph slapped her own forehead. “Shit, Cheyenne. I’m such
an asshole!”
“No, it wasn’t just that. We’ve been arguing for weeks. Ev-
er since we…” Cheyenne trained off.
“Since what?” Steph titled her head curiously.
Cheyenne paused. “Since we hired a nanny.”
“Kara seems great. A bit cheerful for my taste, but what do
I know?” Steph leaned forward, trying to read Cheyenne’s fine
features in the moonlight.
“Scot’s been on this kick now that he wants to have a gag-
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gle of kids. You know how much I struggled with the idea of one
baby. We’re so busy with work that we have no choice but to
have a nanny. I don’t want to just pop out kids so another person can raise them. It’s hard enough to find the family time to focus on one child.”
Steph sat frozen in the dark, rolling Cheyenne’s words
around in her head. She couldn’t help but wonder if she would
have had the same issues with Phillip had her pregnancy been
normal. A disturbing idea hit her. Would he have even wanted
kids? Maybe he wouldn’t have.
“And now we have this other person living in our home.”
Cheyenne continued, “So we actually only have one day a week
together without her there. We’re usually so tired that we can’t even enjoy it. Last Sunday, I took one of Liam’s toys away, and
he looked me in the face and said, ‘I want Kara’.”
Steph shook her head sympathetically and set down her
drink. She was starting to feel a bit too tipsy and wished that she hadn’t started this conversation. Unsure of what to say that
wouldn’t sound bitter, she vamped for time. “So what are you
going to do?”
Cheyenne shrugged with a smile. “I plan to get out of this
dress, finish this drink, and gorge myself on chocolate.”
Steph exhaled. “I guess I kind of dodged a bullet.”
Cheyenne face fell, and she went pale. She raised her glass
to Steph. “Who’s the asshole now?”
Steph tapped Cheyenne’s bottle with her own on autopilot.
She wished she could find a way to make Cheyenne see how
lucky she was.
86
CHAPTER SEVEN
Phillip drove his dune buggy down the third world road like
he was a stunt man in some Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic
movie. He’d stumbled up to eat breakfast at the restaurant and
realized he was terribly late. After running back to his room after breakfast for a quick shower, he missed the shuttle ride to the
boat for today’s excursion. He was glad he’d had the forethought to rent the buggy. He was sure that Yara would be pissed that
he’d overslept, but at least he was hangover-free, which was
more than he could say for David, Scot, and Bret.
Nathan looked relatively normal at breakfast, but he’d been
a lot more focused on sex than alcohol as of late, so he had bags under his eyes, but a smile on his face. Phillip remembered those days fondly. He tried to derail that particular train of thought, but after having Steph in his arms the night before, that was an impossible mission. Her hair had smelled like peppermint, and
when she turned those eyes up at him, he’d nearly kissed her.
Old habits die hard.
He pulled up to the dock, and a quick headcount revealed
the only people conspicuously missing were the nanny and Liam.
He saw Cedric boarding the boat behind Saffron, and thought
about turning around and driving away. He’d managed to avoid
the priest the previous evening and was contented with keeping
the rest of the trip confrontation free.
He found a spot toward the back of the yacht far away from
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Cedric and his fan club. He’d manage to suppress a laugh when
Bret complained the night before that even a priest got more ac-
tion that he did. As Phillip climbed aboard, all three bridesmaids chattered with Cedric in Portuguese, which the priest in turn
translated for Bret. Yara and her parents were deep in discussion about the latest wedding drama. He purposefully went to the far
back of the boat, where Scot and Cheyenne were cuddled up to-
gether, making him soon feel like a third wheel. In the center of the boat, Nathan and David puffed on cigars in the wheelhouse,
while right outside, in full view of Phillip, Saffron made quite a production of rubbing sunscreen all over Stephanie, which
turned out to be an incredibly riveting sight. Steph had on a pink two-piece, and her body looked unreal. Whatever her workout
was, he wanted to sign up for the thirty day free trial. Saffron caught him watching them and gave him a conspiratorial nod.
They set out toward the smaller islands for a sail-by. The
untouched beauty made for stunning views, yet he found himself
distracted by Stephanie, who perpetually bounced from one side
of the boat to the other taking pictures. As they rounded the islands and headed back in the opposite direction, D.J. Dave fired up his playlist. The boat took on a party atmosphere. Not long
after, Nathan and Steph cheered foolishly when a saccharine
sweet Ke$ha song came on. The pair jumped to their feet and
danced enthusiastically around the deck. As Steph danced by
him, he caught a glimpse of the scar to the lower right of her naval. It was surprisingly large and jagged; the scar of an emergen-cy, not a planned precise incision. She seemed completely un-
concerned about covering it. Saffron joined the dancing, and she seemed intent on grinding on Steph for Nathan’s viewing pleasure. Nathan soon became the meat in their dance party sandwich,
and Steph carelessly twirled away and bumped David’s hip with
her own on her way to sit with Cedric. David shook his head,
smiling at Steph and then approached Phillip, sympathetically
handing him a beer.
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RAGE
An hour later, their yacht arrived at Dolphin Bay. The entire
ship was surrounded by the creatures, and Steph’s camera made
continuous noise as their acrobatics entertained everyone on
board. Steph leaned over Phillip’s lap for several minutes during that portion of the trip, and perched beside him to capture her
shots as the dolphins swarmed his side
