Finn shot her a look. “Where’s my drink?”
“Do you want a blueberry margarita?”
Finn shot a worried glance toward the grill. Since James and Jake were drinking beer, he seemed conflicted.
“You want one, don’t you?” Ally teased.
“I’ll have a beer,” Finn said.
“Because that’s a manly drink?” Ally pressed.
“Oh, wow,” Emma said, sipping from her cocktail. “This is amazing. Where did you find this recipe?”
“The internet is more than just good porn these days,” Ally said.
Finn’s face was conflicted. “Let me have a taste.”
Emma handed the drink over, smiling as he drank.
“That’s really good,” Finn admitted. When he swiveled, he found Jake and James eyeing him dubiously. “For a girl’s drink,” he said, straightening.
Ally’s mouth dropped open in mock outrage. “So, you’re going to have a beer because that’s what the men are doing, even though you want a blueberry margarita? That doesn’t seem very manly to me.”
“Shut up, Ally,” Finn growled.
“If you want one of those blue concoctions, go ahead,” Jake offered. “We won’t think less of you.”
“Speak for yourself,” James said.
Finn puffed out his chest. “I want a beer.”
James pointed to the cooler behind the grill. “They’re in there.”
The three women exchanged amused smirks.
“I can’t believe how yummy this is,” Mandy said, playing to the crowd.
“I know,” Ally replied. “So much better than a boring old beer.”
“This is like Heaven in a glass,” Emma said, joining in on the fun.
Finn pointedly ignored them. “What are you grilling?”
“Mandy stuck sticks through chicken, steak, and vegetables,” James said. “She says it’s cooking.”
“I also marinated it in red wine,” Mandy countered.
“They look good, baby.”
Thankfully, the arrival of Sophie and Grady distracted everyone, and Mandy’s tart retort died on her lips.
“Sorry we’re late,” Sophie said. Her face was flushed, her hair askew. She seemed excited. “We didn’t realize how late it had gotten.”
“Do you want a drink?” Ally asked.
“Yeah,” Sophie said. “What are those?”
“Blueberry margaritas.”
“Oh, cool. I love blueberry.”
“They’re amazing,” Emma said.
Sophie took the proffered drink. “Oh, nice.”
“There are beers in the cooler,” Finn told Grady, pointing to the red container behind the grill.
Grady shook his head. “I want whatever they’re drinking. It looks good.”
Finn faltered. “But those are chick drinks.”
“So?”
Finn gestured toward Jake and James. “You know they’re going to make fun of you if you drink that, don’t you?”
Grady shrugged. “So? You guys already make fun of me because of my hair,” he said. “Why would I get all wound up in a knot because I’m drinking a chick drink?”
“But … .”
“Give me one of those,” Grady said, moving past his brother and focusing on his sister. “They look fun.”
“They are,” Ally said, extending her tongue. “Plus, you get a cool blue tongue to go with it.”
“The better to lick you with later, my dear,” Grady teased, giving Sophie a soft kiss before settling on an empty lounger with her.
Sophie’s face flushed with pleasure and intrigue.
“You two are all sparkly,” Ally said. “Were you having sex?”
Sophie’s smile flipped downwards. “No.”
“Yes,” Grady said. “We were celebrating.”
James shifted his gaze from the kabobs to his brother, curious. “What were you celebrating?”
Sophie linked her fingers with Grady’s, her face lit with excitement. “We’re moving in together.”
“Congratulations,” James said, trying to ignore the squeals as Mandy, Ally, and Emma descended on Sophie with hugs and exuberant exclamations.
Jake moved away from the grill, settling Ally on his lap when she was done fawning over Sophie. “That’s a big step.”
“It felt right,” Grady said.
“Of course it did,” Mandy said. “Oh, I’m so happy for you two. Are you moving into Sophie’s house?”
“Yes.”
“It’s our house now,” Sophie corrected. “Our house.”
“Our house,” Grady agreed, kissing her lightly on the cheek.
“When is this happening?” Finn asked.
“Tomorrow,” Grady replied. “That means I need all three of you – and your trucks – at my place by ten.”
James stilled. “Excuse me?”
“Hey, we helped you move,” Grady reminded him.
“I know, but that’s like zero notice.”
“So?”
“Maybe I have plans,” James hedged.
“You’ve had those same plans for more than a year,” Grady said. “I think you can postpone them for a few hours.”
“Well … .”
“We’d love to help,” Mandy said, cutting her husband off. “This is so exciting.” She turned to Sophie. “Are you excited? You look excited. You’re all … shiny.”
“I’m … blissful,” Sophie admitted. “When Grady started talking this afternoon, he was so … weirded out. I thought he was going to break up with me.”
“Never,” Grady growled, slinging his arm over her shoulder.
“When he finally got the words out, I almost cried,” Sophie said. “I was so overwhelmed.”
“You almost cried?” Grady challenged.
“Okay, I may have cried a little,” Sophie conceded.
“Which made me cry,” Grady said, his words empty of guile. “Then, when we both got done crying, we made a plan and celebrated.”
“That’s why we’re late,” Sophie apologized.
“You’re not late,” Mandy said. “You’re doing things on your own schedule.”
Sophie grabbed Mandy’s hand, gripping it tightly. “That’s a very nice way of putting it.”
As the woman started talking about decorating, and the possibility of painters coming into the house for a spruce, Grady disengaged himself from an ecstatic Sophie and made his way over to James.
“So, you said the words and got what you wanted,” James said, keeping his voice low.
“Kind of.”
James knit his eyebrows together, waiting.
“I didn’t say the words,” Grady said. “They were on the tip of my tongue. I just couldn’t get them out.”
“So, what, you just asked her to move in together?”
“Yup.”
“What did she say?”
“She cried and jumped me.”
“Well, that’s a win,” James said. “I … I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?”
“Because I think you’re desperate to say the words,” James said. “Don’t force yourself, man. When the time is right, you’ll know. You two have made a commitment. She looks happy. She looks thrilled. It will happen.”
“I hope so.”
“You can’t force the situation,” James said. “You’ll know when you’re ready.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’ve known you for your whole life, Grady,” James said, swigging from his beer. “You’ve never let me down. You’ve frustrated me. You’ve pissed me off. You’ve purposely aggravated me. You’ve never let me down, though.
“You love that woman,” he continued. “You can’t treat her like I treat Mandy. She’s different. She moves at a different pace. Something tells me that you’ll say the words when she needs to hear them.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re not j
ust my brother, Grady,” James said. “You’re my best friend. I want you to be happy. What you want to do more than anything else is make Sophie happy.” He pointed. “Look at that woman. Have you ever seen her happier?”
“No,” Grady said.
“Don’t ever compare your relationship to anyone else’s,” James said. “You seem to forget, I’ve known Mandy since she was a child. Sure, we found each other fast as adults, and we loved each other fast as adults. That doesn’t mean you have to live – or love – at the same pace.”
“I know,” Grady said. “It’s just … I need to tell her.”
“Give it time,” James said. “Have some more blue chick drinks. You’ll relax and realize you did the right thing for you, and you’ll be happy with the decision. There’s magic in the words, Grady. I didn’t believe it before, but I do now. When you need the magic, you’ll find the magic.”
“Are you likening me to Harry Potter?”
“More like Cedric Diggory,” James said. “He was the ladies’ man.”
“Dude, you know way too much about Harry Potter.”
James shrugged. “My wife is a geek.”
“I … thank you for everything.”
“No,” James said. “Thank you for everything. Now give me a drink of that … thing. I’ve been dying to taste it since they started pouring them.”
“THIS hot tub is all kinds of awesome,” Ally said, swimming around excitedly. “It’s so hot and steamy.”
“Isn’t that how a hot tub is supposed to be?” Sophie asked.
“Don’t give me crap,” Ally warned. “I’ve been dying to get in this hot tub since they bought the house.”
“Yeah, Jake told James that you wanted to have sex in it while we were gone,” Mandy said. “James is threatening to drain it.”
“Jake has a huge mouth,” Ally lamented. “He’s such a gossip.”
“You must be rubbing off on him,” Mandy teased.
“It’s lucky for us you had four bathing suits,” Emma said, leaning her head back against the ridge of the tub. “This is amazing.”
Mandy eyed Emma’s ample chest as it spilled out of her bikini top. “You fill it out a little better than I do.”
“Oh, please,” Emma said. “I’d much rather have your chest.”
“It’s not as impressive as yours.”
“Yeah? And you don’t have people staring at your chest instead of listening to the words coming out of your mouth,” Emma said. “Just once – just once – I would like for someone to look at my eyes instead of my boobs.”
“You’re a model,” Ally said. “You get constant reinforcement.”
“Yeah,” Sophie said, glancing down at her own much smaller endowment. “You never have a body-image crisis.”
Emma bit her lower lip. “I might not have a body-image crisis,” she conceded. “I still have no self-esteem. I look at myself in the mirror and wonder what Finn could possibly see in me every day.”
Mandy frowned. “Why would you worry about that? Finn adores you.”
“But why?”
Mandy shrugged. “Because you’re you.”
“Finn looks at me differently than any man ever has,” Emma admitted. “He sees my heart and not my boobs. Still … after my father … .”
Mandy moved through the water, settling herself on the bench next to Emma. “We can’t imagine what your father did to you,” she said. “I … sometimes I feel vacuous because you’ve been through so much, and all we want to talk about is shoes and sex.”
“Oh, don’t,” Emma protested. “You guys are the only people that have ever treated me as anything other than the daughter of a child molester. I never thought … once anyone found out what my father did to me … I never thought anyone could stand to touch me. I never thought anyone could possibly like me as a friend … or anything else.
“Finn shows me the opposite every day,” Emma continued. “You guys show me the opposite every day. I now know what a real family is now. You guys have made me whole.”
“Me, too,” Sophie interjected. “I never had to go through what Emma did, but when you get cast in the foster system at such a young age – like I was – you start to question your worth. You guys have shown me more love than I ever thought was possible. You guys are pure delight.”
Ally moved to Sophie’s side, slinging her arm around the woman’s narrow shoulders. “You guys seem to think that we’ve given everything and you’ve taken everything,” she said. “That’s not the truth.”
“No,” Mandy agreed. “You guys have given us just as much as we’ve given you.”
“Not even close,” Sophie said, wiping an errant tear from her cheek. “You’ll never know what you’ve given me.”
“Or me,” Emma chimed in.
“And you’ll never know what you’ve given us,” Ally said, hugging Sophie tightly. “You’ll never know.”
Mandy grabbed Emma’s hand, tugging her across the hot tub so the four women could embrace in totality. “I love you guys.”
“Me, too,” Emma sobbed.
“Me, three,” Sophie added.
“We’re a big pile of love,” Ally said.
The sound of someone clearing their throat caused all four women to look up and fix their attention on the four men standing on the pavement next to the hot tub.
“Does someone want to tell us what’s going on here?” James asked.
“We’re very happy,” Mandy said, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Okay,” James said. “Let’s erase blueberry margaritas from future drink menus and get these drunken females out of the water. This is just too … freaky to wrap my head around. I can only take so much.”
“Oh, leave them be,” Jake said. “I think it’s sweet.”
“It’s also disturbing,” James said. “Anytime I find my wife in tears, I’m concerned.”
Mandy stood, placing her hands on her hips. “How many times do I have to tell you that women can cry when they’re happy?”
“Just until my heart doesn’t break when I see the tears,” James said.
The four women burst into uncontrollable sobs in unison, his words tugging at four different hearts.
“Okay,” James said, glancing at his brothers and Jake. “I’m guessing some more beer is in order.”
“Lead away,” Grady said. “This whole … thing … is freaking me out.”
“I want a blueberry margarita,” Finn announced. “I don’t care if it’s girly.”
James smirked. “I think blueberry margaritas will do us all good. Although, I’m not climbing in there and hugging you guys while I cry.”
“Dude,” Grady said. “We’re not girls.”
Eleven
“Baby?”
The lump beneath the covers didn’t shift, but James was sure he heard a slight whimper. He sat down on Mandy’s side of the bed and carefully pulled down the covers. Mandy’s hair was a mess of waves and kinks from sleeping on it wet, and her face was pinched and pale.
“Baby?”
“Shh,” Mandy said, her voice raspy. “There’s no need to yell.”
“I’m not yelling.”
“It sounds like you’re yelling.”
“I think that’s because you’re hung-over,” James said.
“I am not hung-over,” Mandy scoffed, wrenching an eye open and then immediately slamming it shut. “Where is that light coming from?”
“The sun.”
“Well … make it stop.”
James fought the urge to laugh. “Can you sit up for a second?”
“Why?”
“I want you to take a few aspirin and drink this bottle of water.”
“Why?”
“Because if you do, and you go back to sleep for a couple of hours, you might just wake up feeling a little better,” James said..
“Fine,” Mandy said, sighing as she struggled to a sitting position.
James dropped the aspirin in the palm of her hand and unscrewed the t
op on the water bottle. “I’m guessing that blueberry margaritas are going to be off the menu for a good, long while.”
“Ally is evil,” Mandy grumbled, popping the aspirin into her mouth.
James’ eyes widened as he watched her down the entire bottle of water without stopping for a breath. “Thirsty?”
“I feel like I’ve been reincarnated as a dirty dish rag,” Mandy admitted. “Why did you let me drink so much?”
“I didn’t think you drank that much,” James said. “Ally must have put more tequila in those things than I realized.”
“Evil,” Mandy mumbled.
James pushed Mandy’s hair out of her face, deciding that making a big deal out of it probably wasn’t wise – at least for now. If he could figure out a way to snap a photo with his cellphone without her noticing, though, he was going to use it as blackmail material for months.
“Why are you dressed?” Mandy asked after a moment, looking him up and down. “It’s Sunday.”
“I know. I have to go and help Grady move.”
“Oh, I forgot about that.”
“I bet.”
“I guess I’m supposed to help.”
“Yeah, I think you’re going to be more of a hindrance than a help right now,” James replied. “I want you to go back to bed for a couple of hours. If you can be over to Sophie’s by one, though, I’ll buy you lunch. If not, you’re on your own.”
Mandy held her stomach as she contemplated trying to digest food. “I’m not sure … .”
“You’ll feel better later,” James said, cutting her off. “You need to eat regardless.”
Mandy nodded, leaning her head back on the pillow. “Okay.”
James leaned over and brushed a quick kiss against her forehead. “I love you,” he said. “Get some sleep.”
“Hmm.”
James tucked the covers around her, smiling down. “Oh, and don’t worry, baby,” he said. “We promise not to load the video of you four in the hot tub together to the internet, even though we know we could make a fortune off of it.”
“Uh-huh,” Mandy said, her eyes closed again.
James moved to the door, watching as she bolted to a sitting position a second later. He snapped the photograph the minute she stopped moving, smiling as her face tipped into a scowl.
“What video?”
“See you in a couple of hours,” James said.
Deadly Honeymoon (Hardy Brothers Security Book 7) Page 8
