“Does he call you a Sheila?”
“No. He calls me Goldilocks.”
Joy’s laughter filled the houseboat, and I couldn’t help but laugh with her. Her laughter was contagious.
“This is too good,” Joy yelled. “Thorn! He calls her Goldilocks!” Thorn started laughing, too. I didn’t know what he thought was so funny. Joy turned back to our call. “What else?”
“Nothing else.” I loudly ruffled the papers in my hands. “Oooh. Something has come up. I gotta get moving.”
“Oh, my lord. You slept with him!”
I blew out a breath. “Why would you say that?”
“YOU DIDN’T DENY IT!!!”
“Cheese and crackers, Joy.”
“STILL NO DENIAL!”
“Fine. I slept with him. Sort of.”
“Sort of? What is this sort of?”
“I rage fucked him in the Flamingo Cove Marina outdoor shower.”
Joy hooted with laughter, and I considered hanging up on her and blocking her from ever calling me again, but she would figure out a way around that. Or send my stealth brother. Nothing would stop Brock from getting to me. I shuddered.
“Goodbye, Joy. I have to finish panic-cleaning before my fake fiancé, the love of my life, andhisfiancée show up here.”
“Later, friend. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I pressed “end” on the call to her hoots of laughter and shook my head again. Joy was my oldest friend in the world. She knew everything about me, which meant she knew exactly how to tease me mercilessly. I dreaded what she’d come up with next.
“Knock, knock,” Rowan’s voice boomed through the open doorway.
That deep, Australian voice did something to me. And for a moment, I forgot about everything else.
I was in a daze as I watched him enter my main living area, cloth bags of groceries hanging off his arms. He was wearing another short-sleeved shirt, which meant I could see his bulging biceps and the hint of that anchor tattoo. But the tattoo didn’t capture my attention this time. My fake fiancé wasjacked.
“Goldilocks, if you keep looking at me like that, I’ll lock the front door, throw you over my shoulder, and drag you back to the stateroom to tie you up and pleasure you for a week,” Rowan warned.
Yes, please. Let’s do that.My lady business whispered.
I wiggled and shook my head, hoping to clear some sense in there. “Nope. Nope. Nope. We said no funny business. You fucked that royally on the boat yesterday, and now we’re stuck.”
“You could have told him the truth,” Rowan said as he set the groceries on the cluttered coffee table and looked around. He sighed heavily. “This place is a pigsty.”
“Hey! You’re two hours early! I was cleaning.” I defended myself.
Rowan crossed the room to pull the stack of papers from my hands. “Yes. I can see you’re hard at work.” He glanced at the paperwork. “Sorting through grocery store coupons that are expired.”
I fumed. “I’ve been busy.”
He laid the coupons on the pile I had made on the counter, then turned to face me. “Yes. I understand that.” He perused my cleaning attire and messy hair. “But perhaps you let me help you? I’ll work in here while you shower and get ready.”
I thought about it for a few minutes. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to have Rowan tidy up. I had been at it for 30 minutes and only made a slight dent in the papers. “Fine. Don’t mess up my piles.”
“I wouldn’t dream of doing that, love. Now, go get in the shower. Take your time. I got this out here.” He shooed me toward the stateroom.
