Page 30 of Deadly Waves

Ten

“You two look… shiny.”

Grady was relaxed and happy as he stood behind James and Mandy in the buffet line later that night, his fight with Sophie all but forgotten. They spent the rest of the afternoon in their room, only leaving when the noise from their growling stomachs became intolerable.

“You look shiny, too,” Mandy said, her face flushed. “Do you want to see what we were doing?”

Grady was caught off guard by the question. “I … don’t think so.” He glanced at James for confirmation. “I think your wife got too much sun today.”

“That’s not what she’s going to show you,” James chided, chuckling. “Just look. She’s going to have a conniption fit if you don’t.”

“Okay, what do you want to show me?” Grady patiently waited for Mandy to pull up a photo on her phone. When she did, his mouth dropped open as he grabbed the device. “Holy crap! Is that what I think it is?”

“It’s Great White,” Mandy said, her voice cracking. She had no idea why she felt so weepy. “It’s … amazing. Oh, and that’s me posing in front of it.”

“I never would’ve recognized you,” Grady deadpanned.

“Don’t cry,” James pleaded, slipping his arm around Mandy’s waist as he kissed her cheek. “You know I can’t stand it when you cry.”

“I don’t know why it’s happening,” Mandy said, swiping at her cheek. “I can’t explain it.”

“It’s called excitement,” Grady said, his voice full of awe as he moved his finger over the screen to look at another photo. His mouth dropped open when he hit the third in the line. “You two are sick.”

“Hey!” James grabbed the phone from him. “Don’t look at those.”

“You showed them to me,” Grady reminded him.

“Yes, but those photos are private,” James said. “We showed you the first one, not the last one. I can’t believe you looked at them. You know I’m going to have to kill you now, right? You saw my wife naked.”

Mandy’s cheeks flooded with color as she stared at her feet. “I told you to email those from my phone to yours and then delete them.”

“I did email them,” James shot back. “I just forgot to delete them.”

“If it’s any consolation, I saw more of you than her,” Grady said. He wasn’t particularly worried about James following through on his threat. “Was it cold in your room? Was the air conditioner on high?”

James scowled. “Baby, I’m going to double check my phone against yours and then I will meet you back in line, okay? Stay here with Grady … and go ahead and kick him if he’s a douche.”

Mandy pressed her lips together and nodded.

“Don’t worry about it,” James said, kissing her cheek. “Grady won’t tell anyone if he knows what’s good for him.”

“Oh, I’m going to tell everyone,” Grady countered, smirking as he watched his brother scurry away. “You guys are seriously kinky. That was some weird crap.”

Mandy’s expression was serious when Grady turned in her direction.

“What?” Grady was flummoxed. “I swear I didn’t see much of you. I couldn’t look away from him. He seemed seriously … excited … about the shark.”

“I don’t care how much you mess with James over the photos,” Mandy said, taking Grady by surprise. “I’m not embarrassed and I don’t care if you saw me naked. That was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. And, yes, I was talking about the shark and not James’ excitement … although, to be fair, that was pretty fantastic, too. We had a great afternoon.” She took on a dreamy expression before returning to reality. “What were we talking about again?”

“How sick you and my brother are,” Grady replied, not missing a beat. “Seriously. You’re truly sick. I’m mortified that you guys would take pornographic photos of yourselves while watching shark porn. It’s so tacky.”

Mandy made a face as she glanced around, making sure no one else from their small group was present before unloading her thoughts on Grady. “When are you going to propose?”

The question was so far out in left field Grady almost choked on his tongue. “What?”

“When are you going to propose?” Mandy repeated, not missing a beat. “I think it should be soon. Do you have the ring with you?”

Grady’s mood turned from confused to agitated. “What did James tell you? That was a private conversation between the two of us. I cannot believe he told you my plan. I’m going to kick the crap out him and his shark excited … friend.”