you, but we’re all playing along.” I felt my face redden with Ryan’s disclosure, but wondered the same thing.
The room had its own bathroom, and a set of large patio doors that led out onto the infinity pool deck, with unobstructed views of the ocean. It felt very exclusive.
“You’ll get an amazing view of the sunset from this window now that the sky has cleared,” Ryan advised me.
I glanced out at the ocean and the dramatic scene I had witnessed on arrival had gone. I stared at the cloudless sky before looking back at Jamie’s nephew, and saw him checking me out.
“How old are you?” he asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his legs at the ankle.
“Too damn old for you, boy,” Jamie said, cuffing his nephew playfully over his head when he showed up at the door. “Daisy likes men, not boys,” he informed Ryan, hovering just in the doorway.
“Men?” Ryan asked, shifting his eyes from side to side like he was considering that description.
“You know what I mean, wiseass, she likes a real man … me, if you need specifics.”
“Jamie,” I scolded, embarrassed.
“Well, guess you’re not as real as you think, Uncle Jamie, since you’re sleeping in separate rooms.”
“Go ask your mother what she wants for dinner,” Jamie said, dismissing him with a chuckle.
Ryan winked at me and made for the bedroom door, hit the wooden doorframe, and turned around. “Daisy … if you—”
“Get the fuck out of here, and stop hitting on my girl,” Jamie snapped again, but he’d sounded amused.
“Your girl?” He craned his neck and checked out my hand. “No ring there … just sayin’,” he replied, cocksure of himself. “FYI, pretty lady, if you need a man in his prime—” Jamie walked over, grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at him. Ryan ducked, ran out of the room and the pillow landed outside, in the hallway.
“Never too old to have your ass spanked,” Jamie called after him.
“You’d have to catch me first,” Ryan replied from somewhere in the distance as he headed back to the others.
“He is right, though … not on the ring part,” he added quickly, like he was going to give himself a heart attack. “The girl part … shut up, Jamie,” he mumbled to himself. “Come here, I need to kiss you,” he mumbled.
Pressing his lips to my forehead, my cheek, my nose and my chin, before he pulled back slightly to look at me.
“Damn,” he grumbled and shook his head like he was trying to shake something free. “I’m dying to take you to my bed, but my sister wants to talk to you. We should get all the pleasantries out of the way so I can have you to myself.”
“Oh, is this an interview?” I asked, suddenly struck with another bout of nerves.
“Don’t worry, I hear it’s easier to get a job while you’re in work, so there’s that,” he replied, joking. He chuckled. “Don’t be nervous. I think she just wants ten minutes with you without the boys. Ryan’s ridiculous, and Nick … well, he’s something else entirely,” he informed me as he took my hand and laced our fingers together.
“I think I’d rather stand here and look at all that calm out there,” I replied, nodding toward the beautiful evening. Turning us, he stood behind me, his free hand sliding along my midriff as he pulled my back to his chest. While he pressed a kiss to my hair, he sniffed my head.
I chuckled and looked over my shoulder. “Did you really just smell me?”
“Like you’ve never done that to me. I have noticed, you know,” he teased back. “Come on, before I can’t control myself. You smell so good, but we need to eat the main course before I can get to dessert.” I shook my head at his dirty innuendo as he escorted me out of the room.
Chapter 10
Catrina sat at one end of a large leather sectional, reading her tablet when we entered the room. When she heard us, she smiled and stood up to greet us.
“Can you check the boys aren’t winding Bernie up out there?” she asked, and I knew that was code for ‘bugger off, Jamie, I want a word with her on her own’.
Watching her brother grin as he took the hint, we waited until he stepped out onto the patio before she came closer and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
“Oh,” I said, startled by her sudden show of affection. She held