like his definition of her, if the smile on her face was any indication.
“Are we talking about the same woman?” Avery asked.
Victor’s eyes locked with Shannon’s.
“I did tell him he was rude.”
“And Justin said you called me an asshole before you knew who he was,” Victor told her.
Her cheeks started to flush.
“Who is Justin?”
“Victor’s brother,” Shannon told Avery.
“Ouch.”
“You’re the only one who has accused me of being full of sass,” she told him.
“I can vouch for that,” Avery added.
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Nope. Shannon’s the reserved one. Always watching but almost never speaking up unless asked.”
Victor moved his gaze to Avery. “Now I know we’re not talking about the same woman.”
“I’ve known her longer than you, buddy.”
He smirked. “She sat in my lap on the airplane.”
“I fell,” Shannon corrected him.
He met her stare, lifted an eyebrow. “You didn’t get up right away.”
“There was turbulence.”
“Then you blamed me.”
“I needed to get back to my seat, and you stretched out and fell asleep when I was using the restroom.”
Victor grinned. “See the sass?”
Shannon rolled her eyes.
Avery’s mouth hung open. “You did not just roll your eyes. Shannon never rolls her eyes.”
Dylan started to laugh. “Looks like you bring out the best in our new friend, Victor.”
Shannon seemed to bite her lips together to keep from speaking. But man, did he want to know what she was thinking.
“Looks like I do.”
Chapter Ten
“I just need a couple more hours.” Avery rolled back over when Shannon nudged her awake after eight the next morning. “I think I drank too much last night.”
“Can I get you anything?”
“No. I’ll meet you on the beach in a few. Jet lag and drinking. Bad combo.”
They hadn’t been out that late, closing the beach bar and grabbing a bite in the hotel restaurant.
“I’m within shouting distance if you need something.”
Avery lifted a hand and then tucked it under her cheek.
Five minutes later, Shannon left their room with a beach bag slung over her shoulder.
Instead of going straight for the sand, she detoured to the hotel restaurant, sat, and ordered coffee. She picked up her e-reader and clicked into a book written by and about a single mother by choice. There were a lot of things she’d considered before making her decision to have a baby . . . and many she had not. Hearing from women who had done it helped boost her confidence in her plan.
She sipped coffee and ordered a plate of granola, fruit, and yogurt and enjoyed the quiet before the restaurant and beach outside filled with people.
Deep in a chapter about the support system needed to be successful at raising a child as a single woman, Shannon nibbled on her breakfast, ignoring everything around her. Her thoughts wandered to her parents . . . people she had tried to please most of her life but ultimately felt she disappointed. They’d been ecstatic with her marriage to Paul. What affluent parents wouldn’t be? Little did they know it was all a calculated plan to obtain financial security for her future. It wasn’t that Shannon was afraid of work. She wasn’t. Her liberal arts degree was for her parents, her minor in digital photography was for her. Except photography didn’t pay well, and as a new graduate, she couldn’t afford her rent. And her parents refused to help her financially so long as she pursued a career in taking pictures. Shannon ended up opening a small studio and had been working with wannabe actors who needed headshots and budget weddings. But she wasn’t getting ahead, and her parents were already one daughter short since Angie had run off. Since Shannon was a people pleaser more than she cared to admit, she started to look for alternatives that would make her parents happy and give her the financial freedom she needed.
She’d met Samantha Harrison, owner of Alliance, the company that arranged her temporary marriage to Paul, at a holiday party at her father’s firm. Sam, as she liked to be called, clued in right away that Shannon was looking for stability while building her business. With her pedigree and poise, coming from a wealthy family, it was an easy match between her and Paul. Sam introduced her to Meg, one of her colleagues, and the facts of a temporary marriage were spelled out to her.
When Shannon realized she only had to pretend to be the man’s happy wife for two years and then leave with six million and a house worthy of the governor’s wife, Shannon signed the