“You’re not my boss,” she shoots back, each syllable oozing defiance.
“Not at the moment.” A slow grin spreads over my face. “But we both know it’s just a matter of time.”
She huffs out a breath and turns on her heel, lifting a hand over her shoulder to give me the one-finger salute.
I watch every step as she stalks back to the Jeep, hips swaying. Maybe it makes me an asshole of the highest order, but I fucking love bickering with Lucy like this. Just the thought of it sends a thrill racing up my spine.
Which is why I can’t resist throwing out a parting shot.
“Hey, Luce. One more thing. I’m going to need you to delete those pictures when I win the bet.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lucy
Eleven days to Santa Monica
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
I’m not usually an F-bomb kind of girl, but holy fucking shit. I’ve gone viral. Likeviralviral. Last night, I had eighty-seven followers on Insta.
This morning I have eighteen thousand—and climbing.
Sweat beads along my brow, despite the fact that it’s barely nine a.m., and my heart slams against my rib cage, threatening to break free.
Dios mío.
I’m going to faint.
My legs turn to jelly as I scramble for a place to sit. I drop down on a misshapen rock and exhale slowly. I hold until the count of four, then inhale, using the same count.
All around me, people mill about, waiting for the Meramec Caverns tour to start.
I ignore them, repeating the box-breathing exercise until my heart rate has slowed and I’m reasonably certain I’m not going to spiral into a full-blown panic attack.
The tour is supposed to start any minute, but how can I go spelunking with Miles when I’m not even sure I can look him in the face?
Miles.
Mierda. What am I going to tell him when he returns from the bathroom?
Because I know without looking which So Savvy Traveler photo has garnered all the attention.
It’s the one I posted last night in a fit of temper.
The one of Miles with no shirt, holding Nibbles, and showing off those gloriously lickable abs.
It was an ovary-exploding thirst trap.
I should have known. The only thing sexier than a man with a baby is a man with a cute, furry animal. Doesn’t matter if it’s a dog, a koala, or, apparently, a rabbit.
Just thinking about the sight of Miles and Nibbles has my temperature climbing again.
I never should have posted that picture, but he was acting so damn smug. So sure I was going to lose the bet and come crawling back to Triada.
I just…freaked out.
My social media posts weren’t generating enough likes. And forget about new followers. Hell, my own parents don’t even follow me.
