“They both have an excuse to cancel things long before their final week here, and we can all go home.”
I turned around to look at him and regretted it instantly.
Wearing nothing except shades and dark blue swim trunks, he was lying on his back, his glistening six-pack abs on full display.
A smile tugged on his lips. “See something you like?”
“Nope.” I shrugged. “Do you?”
“Very much so…”
I swallowed, and it took everything in me to turn back around.
When I glanced through the binoculars again, a staffer in all white was approaching Chris and Michelle’s spot.
“Okay, I think they’re getting the note,” I said, watching. “Chris is opening it. Please tell me it’s addressed to Michelle.”
“It is.”
“Okay, looks like he’s reading it aloud, and she’s furrowing her brow a bit.” I squinted. “Your brother is scratching his head and…Okay, they’re laughing.”
“What?” Asher sat up and took the binoculars from me. “What the hell…”
“Does this trick usually work?”
“Ninety percent of the time,” he said. “We’ll try something new tomorrow. Do me a favor.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t wear another bikini around me—ever again…”
Nineteen
PRESENT DAY
ASHER
Two Days Later
The Start of Wedding Week #2
Something is off with this entire situation…
Whenever I met with potential clients, I could sense their uneasiness the moment they stepped into the room. It followed them like a cloud as they settled in front of me.
And no matter how much small talk they attempted to make at first, I could see the pain and fear in their eyes long before they ever uttered, “I can’t go through with this.”
With Michelle, I wasn’t seeing a thing.
I’d been racking my brain for days, trying to find anything strange I might’ve missed in the years she’d been around my brother—except for the fact that she seemed to like true crime podcasts a little too much. That, and she suffered from hopeless romantic syndrome just like Katie.
But every day she sent Katie new “SOS” messages, as if things were not as they seemed.
Either she was one hell of an actress, or I was losing my touch.
I pulled up Michelle’s “Best Bride Ever” itinerary and saw that she had an afternoon massage scheduled at the spa.
After that, she had jet-skiing and “couple time” with my brother.
