chilly tingles down her neck. “You are such a naughty girl.”
“But I don’t have time to show you just how naughty,” she said, shoving at his shoulders. “Remember? Addy and Baxter called to say they wanted to have dinner with us.”
His big body didn’t move, even when she tried shoving again. “Is it too late to phone and put them off for—”
Vance hadn’t even finished his sentence before the other couple was walking into Beach House No. 9, both of them carrying grocery bags and wearing high-wattage smiles. As Layla helped unpack the groceries, Vance snatched a magazine from Baxter’s hand.
“What’s with the CarBuy mag?” he asked his cousin. “You in the market for another car?”
“Research,” Baxter replied. “I need to find the right price to ask for my Beemer.”
Vance blinked, and then he stumbled back and fell into a chair at the kitchen table. “Is it just me, or are there pigs flying around this room?”
“Ha-ha,” the other man said. “It’s not a miracle that’s making me sell the roadster...it’s marriage.”
Addy made a little noise, half distressed, half pleased. “Baxter. We talked about this. It’s too soon to be throwing around that word.”
“You like my self-confidence,” he said, and snagged the blonde with an arm around her neck to bring her close. “And you love me.”
Layla felt her eyes go round. Vance looked equally startled. “Um...is there some news we should know?”
Addy’s face was pink but she hadn’t moved away from Baxter. “Yes. It’s so cool. We’ve solved the mystery of Sunrise Pictures.” Then she told them of a letter Baxter discovered that made clear it wasn’t an affair that had ended the company, but Edith’s own wish to be out of the business.
“So now you know,” Layla said.
Addy nodded. “But not everything. The Collar is still missing. Edith put it somewhere for safekeeping...I think here at the cove. Baxter believes it’s in an undiscovered bank safe-deposit box, but that’s because there’s no romance in his soul.”
“My soul has romance,” he protested. “But my brain says no man would hide a priceless necklace in a beach cottage.”
“Ah, but no man did,” Addy pointed out. “And shortly after Edith took action, there came the Great Depression. People didn’t hold a great deal of faith in banks. I bet she thought it was just fine wherever she’d stashed it.”
“But wouldn’t she have told someone where that was?” Vance asked.
“She didn’t tell Max in the letter she wrote him.” Addy sighed. “And then she died a few years later, unexpectedly, of pneumonia. Perhaps she never had a chance.”
“Or perhaps some visitor to Crescent Cove found it,” Vance said, “and took it home with him or her, never knowing that it’s a real treasure.”
Layla frowned. “I don’t like that ending to the story.”
“All of that is old news, anyway,” Vance said. He turned his gaze on his cousin. “I didn’t forget the new news you just dropped five minutes ago. Selling the Beemer? Did you actually use the word marriage?”
Baxter stood behind Addy, a hand on each of her shoulders. “We’re official.”
Layla’s brows rose. “Officially...engaged?”
“No,” Addy said at the same time that Baxter mouthed yes.
“I promised I wouldn’t buy a ring for two weeks,” he added.
Still, their officialness called for handshakes and hugs and congratulations. Vance got everyone their beverage of choice, which they took out to the deck to enjoy with cheese, crackers and crudités. The men gathered near the grill at one corner, preparing it for the steaks they were serving for dinner. Layla and Addy stretched out on side-by-side lounges.
They both gazed on the cousins, so similar in size and coloring. There was a lot of trash-talking bouncing between them, the insults coming fast and easy in the way of men who are close. It brought to Layla’s mind the recent afternoon she’d spent on the deck with Vance and Fitz. That relationship seemed on the mend, and she was glad for them both.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Addy said.
Layla glanced over. “Right this second? That the smile you’re wearing is awfully smug.”
“Really? I feel more surprised than smug.” Then Addy pursed her lips, seeming to consider. “But smug works, too.”
“I can’t believe it happened so fast.”
“We had a...I guess you’d say a one-night stand, six years ago. I hadn’t seen him since, but once we met again, the feelings were there. Again. More. Better.” Addy lifted her hands. “Best.”
“Just like that?”
Addy slanted Layla a look. “Why do you sound so amazed? It’s not as if I haven’t noticed there’s only