Page 6 of This Could be Love

“Which you would have by now if I hadn’t begged you to come over as quickly as possible.”

“You mean, if you hadn’t gone all English duke on us.”

He frowned.

“You could have simply called a doctor, but you justhadto carry the poor damsel in distress up to your house.”

It took me a moment, but then my eyes grew wide, and I stared at him thunderstruck. “Youcarriedme?”

He lowered his head. “How else do you think I got you here?”

My face turned red. “Well, I don’t know. I thought you’d…helped me walk up here or something.”

“Helped you?” He cocked a brow. “You were unconscious.”

And sweaty. And sandy. And heavy. God, how embarrassing!

Laurie tapped at an imaginary watch.

“Yeah, I really got to go,” he mumbled, and I thought I actually caught a hint of regret in his voice. “You’ll show her how to get back to the beach?” he asked his sister, who nodded and shooed him off.

“Okay. Well.” He raised a hand. “Bye.”

Once again I noticed his tiny tattoo but once again was too slow to make out what it was.

“Bye.”Vince, I said to myself silently. The name fit. His hair, his eyes, his smile.

He turned away and made for the terrace door.

“Have fun, Simon,” Laurie warbled.

He stopped and looked back at us over his shoulder. “Who’s Simon?”

“The English duke,” we responded in unison.

He looked so confused that we burst out laughing. Shaking his head, he disappeared into the house.

“That was kinda mean,” I said.

“You don’t have a brother, do you?” she asked with a knowing smile.

I shook my head. “Only child.”

I used to be kind of sad when I’d say that—I’d always wanted a sister. Someone to swap clothes and develop secret languages with, to play tennis with during the day and read with under the blankets at night. In the meantime, I no longer had a problem with the fact that we were a family of three. Well, by now I also knew that my mother’s pregnancy had been a minor miracle. After more than twenty years in high-performance sports, her cycle had been irregular, and her period had often been absent for several months. A fate many professional athletes shared. And one that I might not be spared either.

“He’ll be okay.” Laurie tore me from my thoughts.

I cast a glance at my watch. I’d have to be getting on my way, too, if I didn’t want Kay to start getting worried.

“Tell me. Doyouthink it’d look good on me?”

I looked at her quizzically.

“Bangs.” She grabbed her hair with both hands and made a fringe against her forehead.

The way she was standing there in front of me was cute.

“I think it’d look great on you.”