“El!” I squeal like a middle-school girl. “God, I’ve missed you!” I pick her up and swing her around, loving the sound of her laughter and the way my older sister’s familiar embrace feels. It’s so nice to show affection to someone without second-guessing everything about it.
“Hi, Tal. I’ve missed you, too,” she says through her laughter as I place her back on her feet.
She reaches for her bag, and I nudge her with my hip.
“Don’t you dare,” I tell her, grabbing the handle as I open the back of the Range Rover.
“This is why you’re my favorite brother,” she teases.
“I’m also the good-looking brother, the smart brother, and the nice brother,” I point out.
She throws her head back in laughter and kisses my cheek.
“That you are, but don’t tell Luke.”
I help Eloise inside and climb behind the wheel. Since there’s no time like the present, I jump right in as we merge onto the two-lane that will take us back up to the town of Ricochet Ridge.
“So, I know you’ve had a long day, but is there any chance you’d be willing to go see a play with me tonight?”
“A play? I’m not sure I packed anything appropriate to wear to a play,” she says, totally serious.
“You’re telling me there’s not a single chic jumpsuit in that bag?” I ask, knowing my sister better than she knows herself.
Her half-smile tells me I’m right.
“What are we seeing?”
“Um, I think it’s actually a queer love story,” I confess, taking a right turn.
“Well, how do you know it’s any good?” she asks.
“I know one of the lead actors. He works at Summit, the restaurant I can’t wait to show you on top of Ricochet Ridge.”
She shrugs, not fully understanding. Then again, I’m not sosure I do, either. My infatuation with Zeke has only intensified since keeping my distance. I’m constantly wondering if he’s eating. Did he take his break? Did he have his afternoon coffee?
“Okay, sure, sounds fun.”
“Great! You’re going to love him.” And then a thought occurs to me. “Um, but maybe you could not mention who we are?”
In my periphery, I see her turn in her seat to look at me, and I feel her wide eyes boring a hole in my head.
“Christian Talon Devereaux!”
“Yeah, like sayingthat, for example,” I point out.
“You mean to tell me that the whole undercover project isstillgoing on? You’ve been out here forever!”
“I know. Iknow.I meant for it to be over by now, but I haven’t hit all the areas of the resort yet because I sort of got stuck at the restaurant,” I explain clumsily, leaving out the part where finishing the exercise no longer interests me, and I just want to focus on helping Zeke.
“What do you mean,stuck?” Eloise reaches forward to turn the radio off, bathing the car in silence, which means she can tell that I’m dying to talk about this.
Beating around the bush with each other has never been our style.
“Okay, so, the host at Summit is this young, quiet guy with the prettiest cheekbones you’ve ever seen.”
Now it’s her turn to interrupt me.
“Since when do you noticecheekbones?”
