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“Your final occupancy permits came through. You’re good to go.”
Eloise grins as she takes the envelope. “Jake will be so relieved! He’s made so many phone calls to Savannah, each one more frustrating than the last. I thought those little veins in his forehead might completely pop.” She looks at me, still beaming. “We’ve got a full house this weekend. Booked out completely because of the opening and the Flower Festival. Without the permits, we’d have had to cancel everything.” She frowns as realization seems to hit her all at once. “Wait—a full house means I don’t have a place to putyou.”
I wave a hand. “It’s fine.”
“No, it isn’t.” She taps a perfectly pink fingernail against her lips. The color matches the enormous flowers all over her sky-blue dress. “You could sleep on the couch at mine and Jake’s place, but honestly, it’s not very comfortable.”
“What about the other half of the carriage house?” I ask.
“Naomi is living there right now,” Lo says. “She’s helping out at the bed and breakfast for us. We thought housing sounded like a nice perk so Liam can be close, especially when he gets out of school for the summer. If you’d waited until next month, our house would be done, and we’ve got a gorgeous guest room, but we still don’t have water.” She points at Ben. “I bet there’s somethingyoucould do about that, actually. We can’t live in the house until there’s water.” She puts the paper from Ben down on the check-in counter behind her and props her hands on her hips. “I bet Merritt and Hunter wouldn’t mind you staying with them. Want me to text her?”
I can’t think of anything I’d like less than staying witheitherof my still very newlywed sisters and their enthusiastically affectionate husbands. They’re all in that disgustingly annoying phase of being starry-eyed and all over each other.
I mean, I’m happy for them. But no walls are thick enough to entice me to stay across the hall from either of their bedrooms.
“Don’t text Merritt,” I say, quickly enough to make Ben’s eyebrows go up. “I’ll just get a room at the place next to Ned’s.”
“It’s all booked up too,” Ben says. “The flower festival is this weekend. Everything is booked.”
“In Savannah then,” I say through clenched teeth, wondering if that’s close enough to Oakley to make German happy. I’m out of Atlanta, at least. I suppose that was the whole point. Maybe I can rent a car? Or borrow Lo’s car?
“You could always stay on my boat,” Ben says.
Eloise beams. “Yes! That’s perfect! The boat is great!”
Oh hell no.I take a few steps backward, wheeling my suitcase with me. “Actually, I think I might get seasick sleeping on a boat. But it’s fine. I’ll find something in Savannah. Don’t you worry about me.”
Ben steps close and wraps his hand around the handle of my suitcase, his fingers brushing against mine. “Sadie,” he says, hisvoice calm and soothing in a way that annoys me simply because itiscalming. I might expect him to treat me like a petulant child right now, but there’s a sincerity in his voice that’s catching me off guard. “I won’tbe staying on the boat with you, if that matters.”
His eyes dart to Eloise, who frowns, and he gives his head the tiniest shake. Which means … he normallydoeslive on his boat? I’ve been on it once before, the night Eloise and Jake got engaged, but I don’t remember thinking it was Ben’s permanent residence.
Also, it’s more than a little off-putting how Ben and my sister can communicate with no words.
I don’t like it.
“You remember it,” Ben says. “It’s comfortable, spacious, and large enough that seasickness should not be a problem.” His smirk returns in full force as he raises a brow. “Especially when it’s sitting stationary in the harbor.”
Right. He has a point there. But still—I don’t want to accept anything from this man. It feels like losing a point in a rousing tennis match.
“I don’t think so.”
“Please. Your sisters are married to two of my closest friends which also makesthemmy close friends. Let me do this for them, if not for you.”
Closest friends?I narrow my eyes at Eloise, who only shrugs. What has been happening? While the cat’s been away, it seems the mice have done their fair share of playing. Or …bonding.
“Come on,” Ben says. “It’s perfect.”
I frown, but he’s making it difficult to argue, even forme.“I’ll be alone?”
“More or less,” he says. “The boat is staffed, so you won’t be entirely by yourself, but it’s a minimal crew when we aren’t actually at sea.”
Annoyingly, I’m already aware that I’m going to say yes. And not just because a boatonOakley Island sounds better than a hotel room across the bridge in Savannah. Introvert though I may be, I do actually like my sisters. If I’m going to be here, I’d rather be closer to them than not.
But I’m also going to say yes because Benedict King has made me feel somethingbesidesannoyance. And that fact is strangely hard to resist.
THREE
Benedict
