Page 43 of The Arrangement

“I’m serious, James. Will you be honest with me?”

See? Much better. I lifted my head to look into his concern-filled gaze. “What would you like me to be honest about?”

“Are you actually excited about going to the beach with Mitch and Andy, or are you dreading it? Because if you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to.”

Jesus, I loved him. We hadn’t even had penetrative sex, nor did I know if we ever would, but I was completely, one hundred percent in love with this man. “Excited is a little strong, but I’m not dreading it.” I reluctantly let my arms slide free of his waist. “More than anything, I’m anxious.”

“Why’s that?”

“You have such an amazing relationship with your sister, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted with my siblings. But Savannah is, well, Savannah. She takes after our dad. When Andy came along, I thought for sure that’d be my chance, but we’re like oil and water, always have been.” I simultaneously loved and hated how the smirk on Marc’s face made me want to smile back. Couldn’t he see I was having a moment here?

“First off, I’m gonna tell you like I’ve told everyone else who’s said that about me and Alex growing up. It’s not fair to compare typical sibling relationships to what my sister and I have. It’s just not. And second, pretty sure your brother said the reason he’s here is because he’d like that kind of relationship, too. Maybe give it a chance before you decide it will never work?”

I made sure my eye roll was over the top so he knew it was insincere. “I suppose I could give the little twerp a chance.”

“Might help if you didn’t start off by calling him a twerporhitting on his boyfriend again,” he said, shoving the flat of his palm against my chest. Was that a touch of possessiveness I detected?

Warmth pooled in my chest, and I grabbed his hand. “Thought you said you understood why I did that.” He snorted, but before he could come up with a retort, I pulled his hand up to my mouth and slowly sucked down the length of his middle finger. Lust flared in his eyes, and his breath stuttered. I was pulling it out just as slowly when he dragged his eyes away from the obscene display to look me in the eye.

His cheeks were dark pink and his pupils were blown, but his voice didn’t waver as he said, “Maybe if you play nice today, I’ll let you do more of that later.”

I nipped at the tip of his finger before releasing his hand and raising an eyebrow. “Let me, huh?”

“We’ll see. You’ll have to be very good first.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get a move on. The sooner we go, the sooner I get my treat.” I smacked a kiss on his lips, then booped his nose, loving how his chuckle wrapped around me as I scooped up the beach gear he’d put together.

The beach was PACKED. I was suddenly grateful Marc had insisted on leaving when we did. I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would have been if we’d waited until closer to noon. Andy straightened from Mitch’s liberal ministrations of sunblock to peer at the people-bedecked white, sandy beach.

“Why is it called Orange Beach?” Andy asked, shading his eyes to read the prominent sign about rip currents and the beach flag report. Today had a yellow flag, which Marc had already explained meant medium hazard and was about as good as itever got. We’d all also gotten a verythoroughlesson on rip currents.

Marc paused his securing of the bedsheet he’d brought to act as a blanket. “Aside from it being the name of the town, I don’t have the faintest idea.”

A curious expression crossed Andy’s features, then suddenly Mitch dove across the sheet, kicking up fine sand all over the place, and held a cell phone in the air, while Andy tried to scramble over him. “No!” Mitch shouted. “You can do book research later. We’re onvacation.”

“But it’s notfora book. It’s one little search. Come on, Mitch. You’re being unreasonable,” Andy argued, still trying to climb over his boyfriend who was kicking up even more sand all over the sheet Marc had just finished setting up.

I stood with my hands on my hips and glowered at the two of them. “Would you two knock it off? You’re getting sand all over everything.” They looked thoroughly chastened, though Mitch stole the opportunity to drop Andy’s phone in his shoe before working to remove the small dunes they’d created. I turned a disbelieving look on Marc to find him trying to stifle laughter.

“What?Ididn’t do it.” His smile did things to me that I didn’t ever want to go away. “Come on, we’ve been busting our asses at the shop. We totally deserve a day to cut back and relax.”

“Exactly! I vote we stop wasting time and get in the water,” Andy said, eagerly getting back to his feet.

“Uh, doesn’t your sunscreen need to finish setting?” I asked, glancing at Marc. Not sure why I looked to him. It wasn't as if I didn’t know how sunscreen worked, and Andy definitely hadn’t waited long enough for it not to wash off.

“I’ll be fine,” my brother countered.

Mitch snorted. “Said like someone who conveniently forgets they burn like a lobster and then a certain someone else has to take care of their scorched ass for a week.”

“He makes a good point,” Marc admitted.

“Sure does,” I said, prompting Andy to frown. “If Andy gets burned, it won’t be us that has to deal with it.” Like the bestest obnoxious big brother in the world that I most definitely was, I threw Andy over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry and hauled ass toward the crashing waves.

For some reason, he didn’t seem as eager to get in the water now, judging by his dire shouts of “Don’t you fucking dare!”

Since he didn’t actually tell me what I shouldn’t dare to be doing, I could hardly be held accountable for launching him into the next large wave. But I’m not atotalpsycho. I waited until after it had crested first. It wasn’t like I wanted him to drown. Though I was still laughing my ass off when he came spluttering up for air at the same time Mitch finished splashing angrily up to us.

“What the hell is wrong with you!” Andy yelled.