“Oh, honey, please call me Melissa. ‘Mrs. McNeal’ sounds like some old lady from a retirement brochure,” she says with a laugh.
We all laugh along with her, and I settle deeper into my chair, the sun on my legs, the breeze on my face. I feel relaxed.
Melissa offers me a strawberry margarita, and before I can even say thank you, a woman in a crisp white uniform walks over and places the chilled drink in my hand with a smile. My eyebrows lift as I take it.
Wow.
How much money do these people have to own a place like this and have actual service too? I glance around again, taking in the high-end finishes, the perfectly manicured garden, and the breathtaking view of the ocean.
A burst of laughter comes from the other side of the pool where the boys are still chatting by the grill. Violet turns her head toward the sound and smiles softly. “I’m so glad Adrian is having fun with your son, Melissa.”
Melissa nods. “Yes, Cole is always alone. He’s my youngest, and his older brother never wants to hang out with him. I guess being eight years apart is a big difference when you’re fourteen and twenty-two.”
“I see that same thing in my future,” Violet says with a chuckle. “Adrian is twelve years older than Ethan. I think Imight need to give Ethan another sibling, someone close enough in age that he can actually play with.”
The thought makes me smile, but then something hits me. I glance around, suddenly aware of two tiny absences. “Wait, where are Ethan and Everly?”
“Oh, they’re with my daughter Lucy,” Melissa says. “She loves babies. Since both of them were napping, she offered to stay in the living room with them. She’s my sassy middle child,” Melissa adds proudly. “A senior in high school, planning on becoming a teacher.”
“I haven’t met her yet,” I say, already curious.
“Oh honey, you will soon,” Melissa assures me. “She’ll call us the second one of the babies wakes up.”
“That’s why we’re enjoying these few minutes of sun and margaritas,” Violet says, raising her glass with a grin.
I take a sip of mine, sweet, cold, with just the right amount of tequila, and lean back into the plush lounge chair, letting the moment soak in.
I keep stealing glances at Esteban. He’s so at ease talking with the guys, standing there with a beer in one hand, gesturing animatedly as he laughs at something Noah says. He looks like he belongs here, confident, magnetic, sun-kissed skin glowing under the Florida light.
God, he’s handsome. But it’s more than that. There’s something about him that makes it hard to look away, something I want to reach out and hold onto.
And the truth is, I want him.
I haven’t let myself think too much about tonight, about what it means to share a bed with him. But now that we’re here, now that I’ve seen him half-naked and felt his breath on my neck, it’s all I can think about.
I can’t wait to feel him close to me.
To hear his voice low and rough in the dark.
To wonder if he’ll make a move.
Because I know he’s attracted to me, I see it in the way he looks at me when he thinks I’m not paying attention. Ifeltit when he kissed me at his house. That wasn’t fake. That kiss was fire and hunger and something I haven’t stopped thinking about since. I also noticed it earlier when he saw me in this swimsuit and how he tried to hide is hard on. There is no doubt in my mind that he wants me.
And now I have this ache—this deep, pulsing need—to be with him.
Not just to pretend.
But toreallybe his.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Esteban
The smell of sizzling meat rises from the grill as I stand beside Austin and Noah, nodding along to whatever Mr. McNeal is saying. He’s relaxed, completely in his element, a beer in hand and sunglasses pushed up into his thick hair. For a guy worth who-knows-how-many-millions, he’s surprisingly easygoing.
But we haven’t talked about business. Not once.
It’s been all family stuff, parenting stories, jokes about teenage tantrums, and how Cole refuses to eat vegetables unless they’re fried. Noah and Austin are chiming in, answering every question Mr. McNeal throws their way, laughing like they’ve known him forever. I’m mostly quiet, just waiting.
