“I have to root for Cas.”
“Oh, no, poor Grayson.” Caroline bounces Evelyn on her hip. “You need to cheer for Daddy!” She raises Evelyn’s arms up and down. “Go Daddy! You can do it!”
Grayson hears her and shifts his attention to them. His gaze is steely, intense. Electric. “Well, I have to win now,” he says. “I have two beautiful ladies cheering me on.”
It’s probably too much for being in public, but I flick Caroline’s hair off of her shoulder. “You weren’t a lady last night,” I murmur in her ear.
She gives a soft laugh. “I seem to remember saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’”
My dick hardens uncomfortably. “You’re such a good girl.”
Grayson is watching us, his expression unreadable.
Cas looks like he wants to devour us both.
But then Sam Reed counts down, and the competition is on.
My husband has no idea what he’s doing but he just dives in, grabbing an oyster and shoving the knife between the shells. When nothing happens, he glances at Grayson to emulate his movements.
“You’ve got this, Cas!” I call out in encouragement.
He’s jabbing the knife repeatedly, making me wince. “Oh God, I can’t look,” I tell Caroline.
She squeezes my arm. “I’ll tell you if I see blood. Look at the other end of the table. Fiona is killing it.”
I take her advice and scan the row of contestants. Fiona is very efficiently working on her third oyster. Bud seems to be pulling ahead, but otherwise everyone seems evenly matched. Ford looks like he was born shucking oysters, which he probably was, and Grayson is holding his own. When I dare to look, I see my overly confident husband is struggling but refusing to wave the white flag. He is now beating his first oyster on the table.
“He’s trying,” Caroline says with a snort. “And at least he looks good doing it.”
Cas has definitely turned some heads in town with his tall, muscular build and his tattoos.
“Go, Cas!” Caroline cheers.
He raises his knife in acknowledgement.
I get that feeling again—that maybe what Cas and I have been looking for when we bring women into our marriage is…Caroline.
Is it a crazy thought?
Probably.
That doesn’t stop me from having it, though.
Which is why I wrap my arm around Caro and give her a side hug. She just laughs, still watching the contest. Camille gives me a knowing look.
“What?” I ask her.
“Nothing. Just seeing what everyone is seeing.” She waves her hand. “Everyone here has excellent eyesight.”
I have no response to that, so I just watch Sam call time.
“Time! Two minutes are up! Gotta check things over.”
It’s clear Bud has stomped the competition, followed by Ford, then Fiona. Grayson pulls a respectable fourth. Cas is last, with zero opened oysters.
“Bud’s got it with nine!”
Everyone claps and the contestants all lift an oyster and drop it back and swallow.
