Page 79 of Bridesmaid for Hire
I hate that she’s right.
Despise it, actually.
I’m older than she is, I should be wiser, smarter, teaching her what it’s like to be part of a business, and yet, here she is giving me a lesson.
“From the tight set in your jaw, I’m going to guess you know I’m right and you’re now wishing you’d handled things differently.”
“I do,” I say as I turn away from her. “I wish I was the one who was feeding you the whipped cream.”
“Are you even breathing?” Maggie asks as she sits across from me at our two-person table that overlooks the lagoon.
When we showed up for breakfast this morning, the hostess knew exactly who we were and said that Mr. Hopper wanted to make sure we had a good table. Well, they gave us the best and most romantic table, tucked into a corner with lots of privacy. The view is incredible, the sweet smell of the lilies surrounding us in planters envelop us in romance. And the tea lights between our plates—despite it being daytime are an oddly nice touch.
I pause as I’m about to grab another forkful of eggs and look up at her. This morning, I didn’t wake up to her face-first in my lap—instead, her shins were pressing against my neck. I was having a dream that I was snorkeling, and I thought I was drowning because I couldn’t breathe. Nope, it was just my bedmate trying to suffocate me with her legs.
“Yeah, I’m breathing. Are you actually concerned, since you tried to asphyxiate me this morning?”
“No,” she says, staring me down. “I’m just wondering why you haven’t lifted your head since your plate has been set in front of you. No one is going to steal your food. You can slow down.”
“I’m starving,” I say as I pop a piece of bacon in my mouth, the way she hates it.
“That much is obvious.” She cuts into her stack of pancakes.
I nod at her plate. “Are you going to eat all of those?”
She glances at her plate and then back up at me. “Probably not.”
“Great,” I say as I reach across the table with my fork and slice into the stack, pulling out a triangle of three pancake layers.
“Hey.” She pulls her plate closer. “At least let me tell you when you can have some.”
I shove all three triangles into my mouth and smile at her while I chew.
She shivers with disgust. “Where are your manners?”
“Currently unavailable,” I say just as Haisley walks up to our table.
“Good morning,” she says and places her hand on my shoulder. “How are you feeling, Brody?”
I wipe my mouth with my napkin and sit taller.
“Much better,” I answer. “My nurse really rubbed me back to health.” I wink at Maggie whose mouth parts open in shock from my randy comment.
Haisley chuckles. “So, she’s multitalented then. Because she really saved us last night with her seating chart skills.”
“That’s my girl,” I say as I pick up my coffee. “Great at everything. Especially the rubbing.”
“I would say we’re both very lucky,” Haisley says just as Jude walks up and places his hand on her back. “Not about the rubbing though. I’ll leave that to you two.”
“Smart,” I say. “Because I don’t share.”
Maggie kicks my shin under the table, but I’m barely fazed at this point. After the fastball to the dick yesterday, I heed no pain.
“Did you ask them?” Jude asks, politely changing the subject.
“Was just getting to that.” Haisley clasps her hands together. “So we’re taking a little hike today up to a sacred palapa where we’re going to participate in an ancient tititorea game. Mom and Dad are going, so are Hardy and Hudson and the twins, and we thought we’d offer you an invitation as well. But don’t feel pressured to join us. I know we’ve probably bogarted your time here on the island and if you want a break from us, it’s totally okay.”
Maggie glances at me, and I smile up at the happy couple. Yeah, we’re going.We’re so desperate to be liked by you that we will say yes to pretty much anything at this point.“We would love to join you. Just let us know when and where.”
