“A long,goodnight,” she said as she looked around the crowd on the manicured lawn. “A muse-tastic night.”
I stopped myself from admitting that the two thousand words I’d added today poolside were in the wrong manuscript.
“This place is amazing, but it sure doesn’t give the classic Hamptons vibe,” I said as I eyed the glass and steel monstrosity in the distance behind us that looked more like a villain lair than a home.
“Yeah, not my thing at all,” Meredith agreed. “But you can’t beat the view.”
We both turned to admire the pink sun sinking into the water.
“I really hope Colton keeps his clothes on tonight,” she added. “Drunk skinny-dipping is sort of his thing.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I’d prefer to not see your boyfriend naked.”
A woman in a clingy red silk halter dress and killer arms stopped in her tracks when she spotted Meredith.
“Harmony Pilates!”
“Yup, that’s me.” Meredith smiled at her. “I thought you looked familiar.”
It was her usual feint, because Meredith saw so many body parts during class that it was almost impossible for her to keep track of people.
“Oh my god, Iloveyour class. I usually go to Spirit on the Upper West Side, but I’ve done a few drop-ins with you,” the woman said.
They descended into Pilates speak so I peeled off in search of a drink. The hosts had gone all out and set up three bars around the vast property, along with a dance floor and stage where a club DJ was staring intently at his phone. So far, he’d only been playing lo-fi house music, but I had a feeling he was cueing up a playlist of bangers for when the sun went all the way down.
I squinted at the liquor displayed behind the bartender as I waited in line. No surprise, it was all top-shelf.
“Hey, virgin.”
My heart contracted as I turned around, because of course it was Kai in all his tanned, bright smiling glory. Mercifully, there was no one else in line behind us, so the only other person to witness my gape-mouthed stare was the bartender.
“Oh, hi!” I finally managed once I’d collected myself.
He jutted his chin toward the bar. “What are we drinking tonight?”
We?Be still my heart.
“Um, what are we in the mood for?”
He gave me a wicked grin and pumped his fist in the air. “Shots, shots, shots, shots—shots—shots!”
His puppylike enthusiasm was adorable.
“Well, okay then.” I laughed. I turned to the bartender. “I guess we’re doing shots.”
The dour-looking guy didnotlook impressed to be serving us. “And what kind?”
“Uh... do you have any Yamazaki 18 back there?” Kai asked.
“We do not,” he answered.
“How about Pappy 20?”
I’d never heard of either, but I assumed it was because they were ridiculously expensive.
He put two shot glasses on the bar in front of him and poured as his answer. I noticed that his tip glass was already full, so there was no reason for the grumpiness. But then again, he was working a party in the Hamptons filled with finance bros and their influencer girlfriends on a holiday weekend. It tracked.
Kai handed me a glass, then lifted his toward me. “Happy Fourth.”
