Page 74 of Grant’s Blaze

“Don’t think so. Wow, that was pathetic.”

“Oh, why don’t I ever have my camera ready when I should?” she moaned out. “Seriously, when will I learn?

“You might want to get better at that,” I gibed. “Because I understand babies do adorable things all the time. You certainly don’t want to miss a trick.”

“Maybe I should just ask Bas to hire a photographer to follow Kaisan around all day.”

She issued the comment so seriously, I looked at her out of the corner of my eye first to see if I could gauge if she were joking around or not. Her expressionless face gave nothing away, though, so I turned at the waist and gawked at her.

The brat burst out laughing, and I was so tempted to push her into the pool, but she had the cutest shoes on. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“You should thank the shoe gods right now. They saved your ass from getting tossed into that pool. You all are sleep-deprived and crazy up on this hill these days! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!”

“Girl, that is the truth. I don’t know what I would be doing without Dori’s help, because even with it, I feel like a zombie most of the time. Bas tries to help when he can, but he has to get up so early for work. So what am I going to do? Make him get up in the middle of the night to change a wet diaper? That’s just ridiculous. Plus, I’m trying to nurse as much as possible, so he’s not much help there, either.”

I just smiled sheepishly. What could I possibly add to the conversation at that point? How my lady-in-waiting was a godsend? Or that I knew anything about midnight feedings or wet diapers? But hey, I could regale her about the time my boyfriend was kidnapped by maritime pirates. Wait, that was no good either—not unless she wanted to hear about how they’d done it to settle some sort of score with her baby daddy.

“I’m going to see what Grant’s up to,” I said abruptly before walking away as casually as possible. I knew I’d left Abbigail just standing there like a fish out of water and even felt a twinge of guilt about it. But just a twinge.

I could still feel her stare drilling into my back as I made my way over to Grant. And Christ, it was a far distance from one side of their goddamn pool to the other.

When I finally got to where Grant was sitting, I looked around the chairs for our bags but didn’t see them. He was talking with Sebastian and Pia but wrapped his arm around my waist.

“What’s up? Whatcha looking for?”

“Have you seen our beach bags? I want to slather on some sunblock ASAP. Don’t want to burn.” I scrunched my face at him, nearly touching my nose to his. “I’m told I’m pasty.”

He pulled me down on his lap and tipped me back so fast, I laughed until I nearly snorted. Luckily, he blocked the sun with his big frame, or I would’ve been blinded since I was looking straight up into the sky.

“Oh my God, Tree. Put me back up.”

Finally he tilted me upright, and I was so winded, I just shook my head at him.

“Jesus. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.” I turned to see what he had in a tumbler on the table, but it was clear, so it could’ve been a number of things.

“Are you thirsty?” he asked. “Do you want me to get you something?”

“Let me,” Sebastian said. “Otherwise, what kind of host would I be?” He looked at me expectantly.

“I’ll have what Grant is having.”

Bas turned slightly to Grant. “Another?”

“Sure.”

“Two waters, coming right up.”

I looked at him and grinned. “You’re full of surprises today. Water, huh?”

“Not a fan of drinking in the sun. It makes me feel like shit. And if you hop up for a minute, I’ll get your sunblock. I put our bags over there in the shade because I didn’t know if you had anything that could melt in yours. Makeup or lip stuff or whatever.”

“Now see, Twombley? That’s why you get paid the big bucks!”

I intended to add a kiss as his extra reward, but Grant wasn’t looking at me anymore. His gaze, wide and bewildered, was fixed all the way across the pool.

I joined him, my own breath catching hard as Elijah Banks emerged onto the deck. But that wasn’t the shocker sight of the hour. That part belonged when I observed his date for the party. Hannah, my head chef from Abstract Catering, was lingering about two paces behind him like his current submissive.

What. The. Hell?