Page 6
She snorted. “She’s lucky she left when she did. I was about to start talking about my tender nipples.”
I laughed again. “By all means,” I said, gesturing grandly. “Continue. Tell me all about your nipples.”
She snorted, shaking her head. “In your dreams, Blackwell.”
“Frequently.”
That earned me a punch to the shoulder, but there was no real force behind it. We were both grinning like idiots. The tension of her anger dissolved into the easy rhythm of our friendship.
This was what I liked about Lucy. She could be furious with me one minute and laughing the next. She didn’t kiss my ass or keep her distance. She treated me like a normal person.
In my world, that was rarer than it should’ve been.
“Where did that come from? The whole pregnant fiancée thing?”
She shrugged, her heels finding more solid ground. “You weren’t answering your phone. I had to walk across this entire beach in three-inch heels. My feet are going to be hamburger tomorrow.” She glanced at me. “You deserved to suffer a little.”
“Fair enough.” She had a point. “But pregnant? Really?”
“It was the nuclear option.” A smile tugged at her lips. “I figured if regular girlfriend wasn’t enough to scare her off, I needed to escalate.”
“Well, it worked.”
Lucy’s smile turned smug. “Maybe next time you’ll check your phone before wandering off to flirt with beach bunnies.”
We reached the steps leading up to the pool deck. Lucy paused to scrape sand off her heels. I waited, letting her hold my arm for support. Her hair was windswept and her face was flushed from the walk in the sun. A few grains of sand clung to the hem of her pants.
She looked nothing like the polished professional she normally was. She was rumpled, irritated, and completely herself. This was the version I only got to see when it was just the two of us after a long day.
We climbed the steps together, and back up on the pool deck, the chaos of the photoshoot swallowed us whole. Sebastian spotted us immediately, his expression cycling through relief, annoyance, and resignation in rapid succession.
“There you are,” he said, striding toward us. “I was about to send out a search party.”
“No need.” Lucy gestured at me like I was a prize she’d won at a carnival. “Found him at the tiki bar.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. “The tiki bar.”
“Drinking water,” I clarified.
He looked me up and down like he might be able to see the truth.
“Get to makeup.” Sebastian pointed toward the tent set up on the far side of the pool deck. “We’ve got maybe ten minutes of good light left. I want to get at least three more setups before we lose it.”
I gave him a lazy salute and headed in the direction he’d pointed. Behind me, I heard Lucy say something to Sebastian, probably apologizing for my behavior or making some excuse. She was good at that.
Smoothing things over. Making my messes disappear.
She deserved a raise.
3
LUCY
Ifound my shady spot again, though someone had moved my chair a few inches to the left. The iced coffee was watered down. I took a sip anyway. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, and I needed the caffeine.
My laptop hummed back to life as I settled in, pulling up the spreadsheet I’d abandoned during my beach expedition. My feet throbbed inside my heels. I would have blisters for days. Worth it, though, for the look on Jeremy’s face when I’d announced my fake pregnancy.
I smiled to myself and started typing.
