Page 65 of Big Stick Energy
He pulls out a box and hands it to me, but when I lift the lid,I find a hangover recovery kit. Premium electrolyte packets, luxury aspirin, and eye drops.
Eric groans.
I shake my head. “Let me try.” I reach in blindly. “Okay, this feels… rectangular and heavy.”
“Monogrammed sterling silver business card holder?”
“Close!” I pull out the leather-bound wedding itinerary. “Just what everyone needs—a schedule that could have been an email, wrapped in the hide of an animal.”
His eyes dance as he shakes the basket in my direction. “One more try. I believe in you.”
I put my hand into the basket and feel my way past something that could only be a pair of socks, and something that feels like a deck of cards. Then I strike gold. “Oh yes,” I say as my fingers close around a circular object. “Unless it’s a hockey puck, it’s a small wheel of cheese.”
“Or soap,” Eric says with a grimace. “Let’s not get excited.”
I pull out the item, and it’s neither cheese nor soap. It’s an embossed pocket mirror, gold-plated, with Theo and Maribel’s intertwined initials on the back.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” I mutter, while Eric laughs. “There’s always the Diamond Member goodies.”
“Sorry?”
“The Diamond Member stuff.” I get off the sofa and wander over to the coffee service and open the cabinet. “Here we go!” I pull out a tray containing a sleeve of crackers and a small jar of toasted almonds. From the mini fridge, I grab a platter with a wedge of cheese and a bunch of grapes.
Eric stares. “That’sawfulnice for mini bar food. They’ll charge you a fortune.”
I grab a card off the tray and toss it to him.With our compliments, it reads.
“Huh,” he says slowly. “Must be nice to be a Diamond Member. Do you travel a lot?”
“Not as much as you do,” I point out. “Grapes?”
We do some snacking until Eric checks his watch. “I need to find a hotel room. It’s either that or go home, and I just…” He sighs.
“You could stay here,” I hear myself offer. “I mean… we could get you a rollaway bed.”
“Really?” He sets down the cheese knife and considers me. “Are yousure? You probably want your own private space.”
I point at the full-sized bedroom behind me. “But I’ve got that. Right there.”
“Oh, man, I appreciate the offer.” He pats the sofa. “And this thing is as big as a rollaway bed. I’d be pretty happy to crash on your couch tonight. You keep rescuing me, though.”
The embarrassing thing is how much more I’d do for this man if he ever asked me. Not that I’ll admit it. “This is what teammates do for each other, right, Captain?”
He passes me the grapes. “Damn right.”
Chapter 22
That’s in the Bylaws
Eric
At six o’clock, we make our way down to the beach for cocktails and dinner. Darcy wears a cotton dress that the breeze likes to ripple around her smooth legs, and I have a feeling I’m going to spend a lot of the evening trying not to stare.
“Wow, what a spread,” she murmurs as we reach the party tent. “Where should we start? With the oysters and work our way toward the sushi? Or the reverse?”
She bites her lip, and I try not to fixate on how pink and plump it looks in the golden evening light. “You pick.”
“Oysters, it is!” she says brightly.
