Pretty Jane (The Browning Series Book 3)

“Oh, hell no,” Beau said with a sudden scowl. “That’s much too fast. We’ll be going twenty. Maybe thirty. And those lazy lizards are miles out. They won’t bother us.”

  PJ’s gaze fluttered over to Jackson, who was watching them with a smirk. “Don’t look at me, sugar. All I heard was half-naked.”

  “Goddamn, man. You are a tool.”

  Jackson only laughed as he picked up the gas can. Then he strode over to the shed, where Lily and Eli appeared to be arguing, and a tall guy with sandy blond hair appeared to be ignoring them as he methodically checked over the skis.

  “PJ?"

  “Yeah?”

  Beau reached out, grasped both of her hands, and tugged her in close. “It’ll be the most fun you’ve ever had in your life.” He kissed her softly, the gentle encouragement of his lips nearly as persuasive as the warmth of his eyes as they held her in place.

  PJ was melting, her willpower being licked away. This man’s kisses were potent. They could get her to do just about anything. Maybe even dance in public. PJ wrinkled her nose at the thought, ripping away from her boyfriend with a snort. “I don’t know, Browning. I’ve been to FunWorld, and that place is legit.”

  Beau’s mouth quirked, a grin forming. “This is better,” he said confidently. “Trust me.”

  PJ’s gaze darted back to all those skis leaning up against the side of the shed, a ripple of nervous energy unfurling in her belly. Truthfully, she’d always wanted to learn how to water ski, but she’d never had the opportunity before. It did sound really fun. But if PJ was going to do this, she’d have to suck up every last one of her insecurities about her body, her looks. She’d have to strip down in more ways than one. In front of four hot guys and the agitated-looking princess stalking her way. “I don’t know…” PJ hedged.

  “Do you trust me?” Beau asked, with a little less cockiness.

  “Of course I do,” PJ answered without hesitation.

  “Then believe in yourself. You can do this.”

  PJ smiled. “I guess I could give it a try.”

  Beau’s answering grin was radiant as he leaned in, but before he could settle his lips on hers again, PJ was yanked hard to the left.

  “Awesome,” Lily chirped. “Pardon us, Beau Bear, but PJ and I need to go suit up.”

  PJ could only shake her head in bewilderment as the girl tugged her towards the stairs. “But I’m already wearing my suit.” She could hear Beau chuckling behind her as she moved up the steps, so she paused, muscling out of Lily’s grip to turn back and hit him with her brattiest glare. “Yeah, go ahead and laugh it up, Beau Bear,” she hollered while jabbing a finger towards the front of the house. “I’m about to make that river my bitch.”

  This was met with a chorus of laughter and shouts from the guys hitching up the boat trailer down below, but it was the muffled sound of Jackson’s deep drawl that had her smiling as she trailed after the princess. “Man, that girl’s a keeper.”

  Chapter 34

  A few minutes later, PJ was following Lily into one of the bedrooms in the living quarters of the house. Like much of the interior of the home, from what little PJ had seen of it as her stepsister had hustled her through, this one was done in a nautical theme. Bright white walls were adorned with colorful canvases of ships and lighthouses, harbors sparkling at nighttime, and waves crashing on rocky shores. A glass lamp packed full of shells sat on a wicker nightstand between two beds covered in rich navy comforters.

  Lily threw her beach bag down on one of the beds and yanked off her peasant top. The chick wasn’t wearing a bra. PJ should probably look away, but she was rooted in place, stunned by the utter lack of reservation with which the woman was stripping down. “Damn know-it-all,” Lily muttered to herself, unzipping her denim shorts and pushing them past her hips.

  PJ caught a glimpse of thong and an eyeful of ass as Lily turned her back to root through her bag, and the sight had PJ smiling to herself as she sat down on the edge of the bed to remove her boots. It was nice to see that even skinny princesses were packing a little cellulite in places.

  “He’s so dang irritating,” Lily said as she jerked on a fitted black crop top and matching bikini briefs.

  “Lily?”

  Her stepsister stopped fuming long enough to glance at her. “Yeah?”

  “What the hell are we doing in here?”

  “You mean aside from changing?”

  “Yeah,” PJ drawled sarcastically.

  “We’re having us some girl talk.”

  “What the fuck?”

  Lily turned to face her, crossing her arms under the pink Body Glove logo on her swim shirt. “Okay. The way I figure it, you owe me some genuine sister-type action after all the crap you put me through at the White House, so right now, you’re just gonna sit there while I vent.”

  PJ side-eyed her warily as she tugged off her socks. “About the know-it-all?”

  Lily sat down beside her, pulling her hair into a messy ponytail. “He treats me like I’m a baby,” she said irritably before pitching her voice into an exaggerated masculine timbre. “Careful, Lily darlin’. That Slalom X ski might be a little big for you. Maybe we should start you off with a smaller board.” Lily growled as she tossed her hairbrush into her bag. “Gawl! He’s so annoying!”

  “Eli?”

  “Yessss!”

  PJ blinked, taking in the girl’s erratic breathing and flushed features with suspicion. “You like him.”

  “What!?” Lily’s big blue eyes grew impossibly larger, the screechy tone of her voice confirming PJ’s hunch.

  “You like Elias Park.” PJ didn’t bother hiding her smirk at Lily’s incredulous look.

  “No I don’t. I’ve known him forever. He’s like a brother. Like a bossy, over-protective—”

  “—sexy—”

  Lily’s nostrils flared, and her cheeks turned a tell-tale shade of pink. “—annoying brother,” she finished lamely.

  “Uh-hum.” PJ stole one of the hair ties from Lily’s bag and gave her own locks a quick braid as she considered the girl. “Well, at least you won’t have to worry about him bothering you too much since he brought Mel, right?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Lily said a little too quickly. “Definitely. I mean, I’m sooo glad he brought her.” She fiddled absently with a tube of sunblock before tossing it aside with a sigh. “She’s really pretty, isn’t she?”

  “Yeah,” PJ agreed without equivocating.

  “Like Angelina Jolie, but with significantly more melanin.”

  “Which makes her way prettier.”

  “Yeah,” Lily agreed without equivocating.

  “Lily,” PJ said, unable to believe what she was about to do, “I’m going to give you a bit of sisterly advice.” Her stepsister nodded solemnly. “If you like Eli, as in like-like him, then just ovary up and tell him.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Sure it is. Come on, Lils, you’re twenty years old, not twelve, right?”

  Lily rolled her eyes and sighed.

  “What are you so afraid of?”

  Lily frowned at her fingernails, the polish at the tips of them worn away by hours spent at her keyboard. “It’s never been that easy for me to date,” she said quietly. “Not just because of my family, but because it’s hard for me to open up with guys. I’m always worried that if they see me… the real me, they’re gonna think I’m…” Lily sucked in a breath. “I don’t know, crazy or something.”

  “So what if you are.” PJ shrugged. “I mean, people wear masks all the time. For a lot of different reasons. Maybe it’s time you stop hiding.”

  Lily inhaled sharply, anxiety still lining her face. Then a moment later, she was jumping up and schooling her expression into a familiar bossy smirk. “Alright. Girl talk’s over. It’s time for skiing.”

  “Yep.” PJ grabbed her flip-flops and made for the door.

  “PJ?”

  “Yep?”

  “Ditch the dress.”

  “Shit.”

&
nbsp; “And the makeup.” Lily crossed her arms again and raised a brow. “Right now, it’s your turn to ovary up.”

  “Why can’t I do it with a little CoverGirl?” PJ whined.

  “Does it have sun block in it?”

  “Does SPF 15 count?”

  “Not for pasty chicks.” Lily tossed her the tube of sunscreen with a wink. “Want me to rub it in for ya?”

  “We’re not there yet, sis.”

  Lily snorted as she sailed from the room.

  PJ reluctantly pulled off her dress and started working the cream into all the skin exposed by her two-piece, which was an extensive amount of skin considering how tall she was and how tiny her suit was beginning to feel. She’d felt good about it at the store, loving the color against her skin, the way the bra-style top held the girls in check with just the right amount of cleavage. But now she wasn’t so sure. Especially about the bottoms. PJ tugged at the Lycra hem riding high on her hip, wishing she’d opted for the boy-shorts instead of the bikini briefs.

  Screw it. She could do this. PJ reached into her backpack and pulled out a pack of makeup remover towelettes, noticing as she did so that she’d missed a message on her phone. Grabbing the device from her bag, PJ sat back down on the bed to read her incoming text.

  Kory: Wow. I just finished reading Crazy Love and I’m halfway thru Crazier Love.

  PJ smiled as she cleaned off her face. She and Kory had been texting each other quite a bit over the past few days. Along with the email address PJ had slipped the girl at the airport in California, PJ had also given her a good-size bag of her favorite reading material. She’d figured Kory could use a little happily-ever-after escapism after everything she’d been through. As it turned out, Kory was a much better book buddy than Lily. PJ tapped out a quick reply.

  PJ: Thoughts?

  Kory: OMG. Liza, Dirk, AND Tristan. Chapter 35. Hand job scene.

  PJ giggled at the string of mind-blown emojis popping up on her phone.

  Kory: Who knew a girl could be so amphibious?

  Kory: “ambidextrous”

  Kory: Flipping autocorrect.

  PJ laughed, firing off another reply before lotioning up her face.

  PJ: Girl that’s nothin. Wait till you get to Craziest Love.

  Kory: Looking forward to it, but will have to take a break on the reading. Got a pile of college apps I’ve been neglecting.

  The second PJ read the c-word she was frowning. Why did everyone seem to be screaming that word at her lately? She so wasn’t interested in college. She wasn’t even particularly interested in hearing about other people going to college. But this chick was nice, and since PJ was on some strange girl-talk kick, she figured she ought to say something supportive.

  PJ: That’s cool. Any schools you’re leaning towards?

  Kory: Probably a JC in SoCal. I might have a job opportunity in San Diego.

  The second PJ read the word San Diego she was perking back up. She hadn’t talked to Andy in weeks, but the last she’d heard, the girl was still looking for a roommate, and she knew Andy’s apartment wasn’t too far from a junior college in the city. Maybe she should set these two up.

  Kory: I don’t know, though. Gray’s going to Sac State, and I’d feel shitty about moving so far away after everything he’s done for me. I’d miss him like crazy. I love him.

  The second PJ read those three little words, she sighed, the pitter-patter in her heart returning. She was pretty sure she knew the feeling.

  PJ: I get it.

  Kory: Thanks. And thanks for the books ;) I should probably be going. I’ve got this project to work on for school, and then I’m hanging at Etta’s tonight.

  PJ: Sounds fun. Tell her hi for me.

  Kory: Will do.

  “PJ! We’ve got a boat to catch!”

  PJ jerked at Lily’s heckling cry. Hastily rubbing in the last of her sunscreen, she shot off one last text. This one to Andy. Kory was obviously still unsure about college, but it was good to at least give her some options, and if PJ was able to help both of these girls in some way, she was going to take the opportunity. Because they were her friends.

  PJ smiled, liking this particular word more than she cared to admit. It had been a while since she’d had more than one girlfriend to talk to, not counting the feline variety, of course, and now she had Andy and Kory and even—

  “PJ! MOVE YOUR ASS!”

  PJ grabbed her stepsister’s discarded blouse and wiped the remaining greasy lotion from her hands with it. “Coming, Lils.”

  Chapter 35

  There was a pier running parallel to the grass in front of the boathouse, bordering it like a sidewalk separating the bright green of the lawn from the dark blue of the river down below. Two more piers jutted off from this one, extending out over the water on thick wooden pilings.

  Beau stood on the shorter of the two, tethering the bow of the Brownings’ twenty-foot Malibu VTX to the dock after a smooth launch from the ramp. Jackson was hauling the trailer back up the drive with Eli riding shotgun and pounding the roof of his truck in excitement.

  “Someone looks happy.”

  Hearing this for the second time that day, Beau glanced up to find Nathan at the other end of the dock shaking his head at Eli’s antics as he reached for a rope to secure the stern.

  “It’s been a couple years since we’ve been out here,” Beau said with a twinge of guilt. When they were younger, he and Eli had spent much of their breaks from school either partying in the Hills or tearing it up on the river. That had all changed after college. Mostly because they’d both been so focused on starting their businesses, but also because Beau had been trying to figure out parenthood, and he just hadn’t had time for much else.

  “I know how it is,” Nate said. “Mobile’s only an hour away, and Sarah and I haven’t been over in a while either.”

  “How are y’all doing?” Beau asked his brother tentatively.

  Nate finished wrapping the line around a cleat on one of the pilings, his smile tightening as he gave it a hard tug. “Not pregnant.”

  “Shit.”

  Nate sighed as he looked toward his wife, who sat in a beach chair next to Mel on the other pier. “She got her period three days ago. We almost didn’t come. She cried all night Wednesday.”

  “I’m sorry, brother. That sucks.”

  “Tell me about it,” Nate said, stepping deftly into the boat. “We start fertility treatment soon. Next Saturday, I get to go jerk it into a little plastic cup so some doctor can tell me whether or not my guys can actually produce.”

  Beau winced as he watched his brother checking over the controls at the helm. “Sounds like a fun weekend.”

  “Yep. I guess that’s why we’re here now.” Nate nodded toward the guys striding back across the lawn, their arms full of life vests. “Jackson calls me a couple nights ago after I texted him that we might not make it, and he starts blowing my ear up with the divorce stats for couples struggling to conceive, and how we both need to ‘relax’ and ‘stop stressing so damn much.’”

  Beau eyed his brother, noting for the first time the smattering of grays in his tawny beard, the hairline that had just started to recede like their father’s, the deepening lines about his forehead. “So what do you think?”

  “He may have a point…” Nate peered back over at his wife. Sarah had just tossed back her mane of colorful hair and was laughing at something Mel was telling her. “But he’s still an idiot. Ain’t no way I’d ever let that woman go,” he said solemnly. “That’s my heart sitting over there in that chair. I’d jerk it into a thousand little plastic cups for her.”

  “Holy shit, that’s romantic,” Eli said, catching the tail end of their conversation as he strolled up with Jackson. “Think I might need to sample that for some song lyrics.”

  Nate flicked him off.

  Eli blew him a kiss.

  Jackson sighed. “You still stressing about that lab test?” he said, squinting down at Nate. “Your swimmers are fine, m
an. We’ve got good genes. Dad knocked up Mom four times.” Jackson slapped a hand on Beau’s shoulder. “And this one didn’t have any trouble sowing his seed either.”

  Nate frowned. “Jesus, do you ever shut up?”

  “Nope,” Jackson said with a wink before noticing Beau had stiffened beside him. “Aw, come on, man. Lighten the hell up. So you got a girl pregnant in college. Big fucking deal. High schoolers do that shit every damn day. Get over it already.”

  Beau glared at his brother. Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal anymore, but at the time, it had sure felt like it. Experiencing the wrath of God blasting out of Janelle’s father when he’d ripped Beau to shreds six years ago, feeling the quiet disappointment from his own, which had somehow been distinctly worse, and having his life irrevocably altered by one night’s decisions… all of it had felt like a really big deal.

  Jackson sighed. “You know what you need to do?”

  “What’s that, Jack?”

  His brother smiled and handed him his vest. “Give it up to the river.”

  Beau couldn’t hide a begrudging grin, the tension in his body already fading at those six familiar words. Their older brother, Bennett, had used to say them often, whispering them to himself every time he took that first heart-pounding plunge into the cool, still waters beyond the pier. Over time they’d become something of a mantra amongst the four of them, a simple verbal reminder that no matter what was weighing them down, no matter what funk was between them, when they came to this place, they let go of it. They gave it up to the river. Even if only for a little while.

  “You too.” Jackson tossed Nate his vest.

  Nate snorted, but the lines about his face were already relaxing.

  Eli, however, was ramping back up. “Okay, boys. Let’s do this!” he said, eyes sparkling with anticipation as he handed Beau a second vest. “Dude, I found Ben’s old one. Think it will fit PJ—”