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After that, Joan flitted away to mingle and ply her seductive wanderings on my guests. Everyone was fair game. I enjoyed watching her antics and how she flustered even the most seasoned womanizer.
A while later, I was still grilling and serving burgers and hot dogs when Joan returned to ask, “Where’s Ciaran?”
I scanned the area but because so many people were milling about, I didn’t immediately see him.
“He said he might go down to the beach,” I answered. Joan’s furrowed eyebrows reproached me. “I made it more than clear he was invited, so don’t think I’ve been a prick.”
“Okay, I was going to accuse you of being a prick, but also, Jason is here.” She pointed toward the waterfall pool lagoon. He and two other teammates were jumping in and out. “Ciaran won’t remember him, but…”
“No, I know,” I said under my breath. “It would be very suspicious if I tried to keep them apart. Maybe Jason won’t say anything.”
“You’re really leaving it up to chance?” She whistled. “Drama at home, drama on the team,” she said, and tsked. “How did you explain the night? Your lip is looking better, by the way.”
“I told him I stopped him from getting more drunk and that he punched me because of it.”
“I’d be shocked if Ciaran actually believed that,” Joan said after a long swill of her beer.
“You’ve got a good read on the kid. He let it go but my guess is he thinks I’m full of shit. We’ve been, ah, dancing around each other.”
Joan studied me for a long moment. “I called it.” Her voice was smug. “I can’t wait to tell Filipe I was right.”
I took my time flipping two rows of turkey burgers. “What are you going on about?”
A group cannonballed into the main pool while someone threw a Frisbee for the Chocolate Labrador to catch mid-jump. In a sense, the scene was picture perfect. A late spring party. Good tunes, libation, pretty people in very little clothing, no adult supervision. Miss Paulina would march out only if someone set the house on fire.
By all appearances, there was nothing missing.
But my mind was on Ciaran. I should go find him and insist he come to the party.
“You like Ciaran,” Joan said.
“He has several good qualities,” I replied. I hiked my shoulder. “He administered the KT Tape and did a hell of a job.”
Joan’s self-satisfying smile did not deceive me. “You like like him. You think he’s hot, don’t you? I mean, when I witnessed how he kissed Jason, whoa. That tongue…”
Joan fanned herself as she watched several of my teammates form a line and start sprinting to the edge of the property, whooping and hollering. If anyone got too close to the fence, they’d pitch over and tumble two hundred feet to the beach below.
“You’re being a bit dramatic.” I bit into one of the turkey burgers. “You should join the theater program instead of pursuing activities in cyber security.”
“Then I’d only be able to pretend to be a hacker instead of the real thing. But you don’t get to change the subject like that. I think Ciaran’s hot, too. I dare you to admit it.”
“Joan, stop.”
“As I live and breathe, Matthias Vaulteneau, it’s more than that, isn’t it? You’ve got a crush on someone you can’t have a crush on.”
“Shhh,” I hissed at her, looking around to see who might have overheard. “I do not. Ciaran is free to do as he pleases.”
“Is that so?” she asked, her lips teasing into a smile.
I finished my beer. “Yes.”
“So then it won’t bother you that he’s playing Frisbee with Jason?” Joan pointed to the far end of the property near the alcove that led to the semi-private grotto. “They certainly look pretty chummy.”
29
CIARAN
Ihad every intention of changing into the wetsuit and sneaking out through the back of the property, but when I looked outside and found someone throwing a Frisbee to a friendly-looking chocolate lab, I changed my mind.
