I laugh. “Right. I guess nobody’s going to fire you.”
“I’ll give myself a stern talking to at my next self-performance review.”
“No, I’m not worried, exactly. I just don’t want this to become too much.” My chest tightens as I say that. He is just my fake husband, after all.
“Not a concern from my end, I promise.”
I cover his hand with mine, and the ring he bought me glitters in the sunshine streaming through the window. That’s not fake.
He takes the Bridgehampton exit and heads toward Sagaponack.
My pulse picks up.
“It’s going to be fine,” he says, not taking his eyes off the road ahead.
“Of course it is,” I whisper. Will they see? Will they know?
The next time Toby reaches for me, it’s not my leg he curves his fingers around. It’s the back of my neck, his fingers gently rubbing up into my hairline as he pets me like a nervous kitten.
He sees me. He knows.
We drive through the village in silence, and by the time we see the dunes around my family’s beach house, I don’t think I could say anything else. I concentrate on the hypnotic stroking of his fingers on my skin and try to convince myself nothing else matters.
“We could keep going,” he says completely straight-faced.
I choke on unexpected laughter. “And find a place to stay on the long weekend?”
“I have some resources at my disposal.”
The understatement of a century. “What, would you buy a house in Sag Harbor so we could hide on the other side of the island?”
“Excellent plan.” He accelerates, making as if to overshoot the beach house, and I giggle.
Then I lean over and squeeze his thigh. “No. Let’s go and face the music.”
He pulls into the drive, an easy, cocky grin on his face, and I shake my head.
My sister’s car is already here. My brother hasn’t arrived yet, which floods my body with relief. “Music-facing may have a slight delay. It doesn’t look like Ben and Nana have arrived yet.”
“The traffic was crazy. I’m glad we decided to fly into East Hampton and rent a car instead of coming out from the city with them.” Toby squeezes my hand. “While we’re waiting for them, why don’t you sneak me into your bedroom?”
“That’s an excellent idea.” I grin and we both leap out of the car at the same time. Toby pops the small trunk and we grab our weekend bags, then we climb the stairs to the front door.
Elana is waiting for us on the other side. I’m not sure how she thought she was going to hide the fact that she’s pregnant again, her tiny baby bump has totally popped.
“My baby sister, the bride!” she exclaims, throwing her arms wide before squeezing me tight. “I promise I haven’t gone overboard—”
“That’s code for you totally have, right?”
She makes a shushing sound and hugs me even tighter. “But we’re going to have the most amazing dinner tomorrow night. Totally casual. Clambake and dancing on the beach.”
“We can celebrate all the things,” I murmur. “My new husband, your new baby…”
“Jake just got engaged,” Toby says, looking up from his phone. He turns the screen toward us. “Like a minute ago.”
I pump my fist in the air. “Yes! More to celebrate!”
Elana frowns. “Maybe we can have a breakfast for them the day after… try to keep this—”
“Nope,” I say, blissfully spinning my big sister in a circle. “All the things. Happy night tomorrow. This is perfect.”
She shakes her head at me, but lets it go as she reaches for Toby. His turn to be squeezed to death. “You married my baby sister? In secret?”
He grins at me over her shoulder. “I did.”
I miss what she says, but from the exaggerated face he pulls, I’m thinking it’s some kind of threat. “Elana, let him go.”
He whispers something in her ear before she releases him, and they’re both smiling when she turns around.
I roll my eyes and tug him toward the stairs. “Holler when Ben pulls into the driveway with Nana, okay?”
She laughs. “I will. And remember that my children are just outside, so don’t be too loud.”
I groan. “Well now we’re not going to be loud at all. Thanks for that.”
We stop on the landing and look out toward the beach. Sure enough, there’s Elana’s husband racing back and forth with her boys.
Toby sets his hands on my hips. “I can be very quiet,” he murmurs in my ear.
I twist my head around. “What did you say to Elana?”
“Same thing that I tell you every day. You are the best, most unexpected gift I’ve ever been blessed with, and I’ll never hurt you.”
My heart melts. Okay, quiet it is.
I have the smallest room at the back of the second floor, but it has a small balcony and a private bathroom, so I’ve never minded the cramped quarters before.
Now, as we set our bags on the single chair in the corner, and bump into each other navigating around the bed, I start to second guess my choice. There are ten bedrooms in the house, and they won’t all be full. We could move…
“Do you want a shower after all that travel?” Toby runs his fingers through my hair, then brings them back to my neck and rubs. “We can conserve water.”
“Later,” I say, turning in his arms. “I don’t want to be in there when Nana arrives.”
“I’ve met your grandmother. She’s not that scary.”
“You haven’t met her when the empire is on the line. You are going to be grilled.”
“I’ll pull my public filings up on my tablet so she can see my estimated net worth.”
“It’s not funny.”
“It’s hilarious. Take a deep breath. There’s no need to go spinning. What would you have done if you’d actually hired an escort and brought him here this weekend?”
I bury my face in his chest. “Can you imagine what a disaster that would have been? And you’d be just down the hall. We’d have had phone sex, and then I’d have an actor here with me.”
I’m mortified just thinking of the fake love triangle I almost found myself caught up in.
Toby is shaking with quiet laughter. “I’d have glowered the entire time. We’d have ended up on the beach late at night, and I wouldn’t be able to resist kissing you.”
“You’d be the other man?” Now I’m laughing, too, because it didn’t happen, so it’s fine, but it almost did.
“I’d keep him up late drinking, and wake him up early go golfing, so he never got a minute alone with you in this room.”
“I’d have picked another room,” I whisper. “With a bigger bed. And a couch. And floor space.”
“You’d have made him sleep on the floor?” He gives me a look of mock horror.
“I’d have taken the couch, of course. We’d only have stayed one day. I’d have made up a reason to go back to Toronto as soon as possible.”
“It sounds terrible.”
“Awful.”
He cups my face in his hands and gives me a slow, serious smile. “It wouldn’t have happened. Because you are mine, Cara. And I am yours.”
“That was a big risk you took…”
“Hindsight being what it is, maybe we could have both gone about it differently, but I’m happy with where we’ve ended up.”
I press up onto my tiptoes. “Me, too.”
Ben arrives with Nana in tow two hours later. We’re on the beach when they arrive, and Elana calls for us from the deck. Toby scoops up my youngest nephew and fireman-carries him along with us.
“What?” he asks innocently as I give him a knowing look. “I’m not above using a child as a shield.”
He’s smart, too, because all the kids descend on Uncle Ben, which leaves Toby free to charm Nana for at least a minute before he needs to go toe-to-toe with my older brother.
“So,” Nana says, eyeing him up hawkishly. “You are the young man my granddau
ghter has married.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“And you are gainfully employed?”
He grins. “You own seven percent of my company, Mrs. Russo.”
“Indeed I do. You give adequate returns, but I have some thoughts on your customer service practices.”
“I’d love to discuss those over a cup of tea.”
She winks at him. “She prepped you.”
“She did.”
“She must like you, then.”
I clear my throat. “I’m standing right here.”
Nana frowns at me. “There’s no need to be lippy, Cara.”
“I can’t help it,” I say cheerfully. “And Toby doesn’t mind.”
He grins at me. “I don’t mind at all.”
“Well, then,” Nana says, holding out her hand for me to take. “In that case, I want to hear all about this whirlwind wedding. Elana says that you wore blue?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
TOBY
I GO to follow Cara and her grandmother into the kitchen, but before I get far, Ben throws his arm over my shoulders and redirects me to the side porch.
“Let’s have a beer,” he says, like I have any choice in the matter.
I give him a bland look and accept the bottle he offers. “I was going to have tea with your Nana.”
“This won’t take long.”
“Elana’s already threatened to take a hit out on me should I hurt Cara, which I won’t.”
He shrugs. “Sure, that’s one way to do it. I’d rather murder you with my own two hands.”
“She’d knee-cap you for saying that, you know.” I give my best friend a patient grin.
He takes a long pull of his beer and glowers at me. “Of course I do. And I’m also happy for her, if you make her happy.”
“I think I do. She makes me ridiculously happy, by the way.”
“Of course she does.” He shakes his head. “I never should have left you alone with her in that restaurant.”
I laugh. “I swear to God, that night was the first night I looked at her like that. But honestly, I think I’ve always loved her a little. She’s so damn smart, and fearless, and adventurous.”
He gives me a reluctant half-smile. “She is all of those things. Don’t, uh…” He scrubs a hand over his jaw. “Don’t try to hang on to her too tight, you know?”
“I know. Wherever she wants to fly, I’ll follow. I’ve always had a bit of the wanderlust in me, too.”
“I guess you have.” He laughs. “Couldn’t convince you to set up shop in New York, could we?”
“Tech is in California.”
“Geography doesn’t matter anymore, though.”
I look at him carefully. “Cara’s not moving back to New York, either.”
He nods, his dark eyes both sad and proud at the same time. “I know.” He hesitates. “You’ll really follow her wherever she wants to go?”
“To the ends of the earth.”
He holds out his beer and I clink my bottle against it. “Then welcome to the family, my brother.”
Jake and his brand-new fiancée, Jana, arrive just before dinner.
Elana sweeps all the women into the living room, flicking a wrist at her brother. “Ben, you’re in charge of getting dinner on the table. Please?”
Ben laughs. “I love how you add that question at the end, like there’s even a chance you’d let me say no.”
“We have weddings to discuss,” she says regally.
“Fair enough.” He leads us into the kitchen, where Elana has a binder detailing every meal.
I run my finger over the careful notes for tonight. “Your sister is a force of nature.”
“I know. She’s thinking about running for office, too.”
“Jesus.” I laugh.
Jake leans back against the counter and crosses his arms. “I’ll donate.”
“Well, yeah, of course, count me in. And Marcus will help with her environmental platform, of course. But doesn’t she have enough on her plate?”
Ben just lifts his hands in the air. “What my sisters want, my sisters get. That’s all I worry about.”
Jake laughs and thumps me on the shoulder. “And his little sister wants you, huh?”
“We already did this. You missed the threats on my life. We’re all good now.” I’ve got a sloppy, stupid-happy grin on my face, and I don’t care.
“You could have told me it was Cara who you eloped with when we were texting earlier.”
“We’d just arrived. I was busy defending my honor to her older siblings.”
Jake glances around toward the living room. “What do you want to bet they have my wedding all planned out by the time Ben gets the steaks grilled?”
“No doubt. Have you guys picked a date?”
“We’re thinking Thanksgiving. It’s our one-year anniversary, give or take, and winter dates may be easier to come by in the city. Although we could follow your lead and just elope.”
I keep silent, because it’s none of their business that Cara and I haven’t just done anything.
We’ve begun something, though. And when the time is right, we’ll finish it in our own way.
The next morning, we both wake up while the house is still quiet. Gray light filters through the window. “If we hustle down to the beach, we could probably catch the sunrise,” Cara whispers, her eyes sparkling. “We’ve never shared one of those.”
“Have we shared a sunset?” I ask as I pull on jeans and toss her a hoodie.
“Three of them. Well, two that we could see, and then, uh…” She blushes. “It was dusk when we went for that walk in Brooklyn.”
I drop my gaze to her mouth. Our first kiss. And then we both gamely tried to walk away, even though it changed everything. “I remember.” I glance back at her eyes. “But the other two?”
“Dinners out west. When I was in school.” Her cheeks stay pink. “You have excellent taste in restaurants with amazing views.”
“And even better company.” I reach for her and she takes my hand. Quietly, we sneak downstairs and out the back door.
The sun has broken the horizon to the east, and we walk down the beach in that direction, watching it slowly climb into the sky, bringing with it a bloom of color.
“I didn’t have a crush on you back then,” Cara says quietly. “It wasn’t like that. It was just nice. That’s why I remember those dinners.”
“And the views helped.”
She laughs. “Sure. Yes. But you’ve always seen me.”
I squeeze her hand in mine and rub my thumb against her skin. “It was easy to see you. I’ve always liked you. Before I loved you. Before it would have been appropriate to love you. I don’t remember the restaurants we went to or the views, but I remember everything we talked about. Your ideas, your assignments, your frustrations.”
She slides her fingers out of mine and twirls away, jogging down to the water. I chase her, and she dodges and weaves up and down the beach until I catch her. My arms slide around her waist as she throws her hands in the air, and I spin us both.
“You’ve always been the most beautiful girl in the world to me,” I admit. “Even when I was firmly in protective older friend mode. And if you’d come on to me, I don’t know that I would have been able to say no.”
“Then it’s for the best I only saw you as a mentor back then, right?”
Heat crawls through my chest. “Yes.”
“But not now,” she says on a breath, her lips twisting in a shy, happy smile. “You said I should wait for someone who lights me up inside. You do.”
My attention keeps snagging on her soft, pink mouth. It did back then, too. Secrets I kept from myself, apparently. “I also said you should wait for a kid to get down on one knee, and I forgot to do that part.”
“I forced your hand a bit.”
“It’s never too late.” I kiss her as I set her back down, then I lower myself to one knee. I take her hand, with my ring already on it, and I gaze up
at her. “Cara, will you marry me? For real?”
“Yes,” she breathes. “Although everyone already thinks we did.”
We did in all the ways that matter. “Let’s keep the same date. Marry me next year.”
“Just make it official?”
“Secretly so.” I sit back on the sand and tug her down. She straddles my lap, and I kiss her knuckles before turning her hand over and kissing her open palm. “We can do it sooner if you want.”
She shakes her head. “I love the idea of doing it next year.”
“Might be the perfect time, right before you move on to your next adventure.”
Her eyes soften. “I might not go far.”
“No.” I catch her chin gently between my fingers. “Cara, go as far as you want. Fly like the wind. Please. I’ll follow.” I exhale roughly. “I told Ben you—we—wouldn’t move back to New York City. He already knows you need adventure. He challenged me to not hold you back from that. And I never would. But I need it, too. I’ve spent the last thirteen years in California. And it’s been amazing. But I’m ready to do something new, too.”
She leans in and brushes her lips against mine. Her eyelids flutter shut as she takes my mouth, and I let her consume me.
This is going to be our life for the next year. Stolen moments. A honeymoon in fragments.
By the time she finishes her degree in Toronto, I’ll find a way to take the next step together, so we have more time.
My thoughts scatter as she works her way under the hem of my shirt and slides her fingers over my flexing abs. Awareness prickles on my skin, sparking deeper, more primal wants.
She breathes against my mouth as she glances between us, and her hand moves lower. Heat surges through me as she tentatively strokes my dick through my jeans. My cock immediately thickens for her, and she gives a soft, pleased murmur.
Of course I’m following her back to her place for a few days after this family vacation. We need more time to explore and discover each other.
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