“I trust you were naked the entire time?”
“I’m still naked. Are you still planning to be in Atlanta next month for the jewelry expo?”
Definitely smug. “Yes, but I’m not coming for dinner afterward unless you put some clothes on. The honeymoon’s over.” She peeked through her sheer curtains at her empty driveway.
“Oh, Sinclair,” her sister sighed, “as long as Beau’s got a pulse and a tongue, the honeymoon’s never over.”
She let the curtain drop back into place and grinned, despite her nerves. “I’m scandalized, Mrs. Smith-Montgomery. But it sounds like you had fun, and you weren’t sick the entire time.”
“I’m not going to lie to you. First trimester is not the ideal time to go on a snorkel boat.”
“So noted, although I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for me. All’s well on the baby front?”
“Yep. Baby likes the beach, as it turns out.”
“Convenient, since mommy likes the beach.” She paced over to her drafting desk and started straightening sketches.
“What can I say? He’s his mommy’s boy.”
She stopped tidying. “Boy?”
“Yes.” Savannah took an audible breath. “We just found out today. We’ve got a healthy baby boy in the works. I know I said I’d be thrilled either way, and I would, but—”
“But a boy is wonderful,” Sinclair finished for her sister and gave fate an invisible high five. Beau had lost his first wife and their four-month-old daughter in a car accident a couple years before Savannah had moved into the apartment beside his. Falling in love again, the baby…all of it had been an emotional minefield for him. Having a baby boy was a completely new experience for both of them. Something solely theirs, that they didn’t have to share with the past.
“Mom and Dad don’t know yet,” Savannah added.
“They won’t hear it from me.”
“Thanks. Mom’s next on my call list. You don’t have to keep it to yourself long.” Savannah sighed. “So…what’s new with you?”
“Me?” Was it her imagination, or did this sound like more than a casual inquiry on her sister’s part? “Not too much. A national retailer expressed interest in carrying some of my pieces, and I picked up a few hefty new custom commissions.”
“Sounds like you’re kicking ass professionally, but to be honest, I’m more curious about your personal life. What’s new there?”
Yep, Savannah was definitely chasing after specific information, and she’d studied at the knee of a master. She could be single-minded when she wanted to be, like a shark chasing prey. “Why do you ask?”
“I saw you dirty dancing with Shane Maguire at the wedding—”
“We were not dirty dancing. It was just a dance. One dance.”
“I gave him your purse, and then the both of you disappeared, so in my book, it wasn’t just a dance. You were wearing a different dress when you came back to the reception, which leads me to believe the escapade involved him tearing your clothes off.”
“I didn’t leave with him. There was no escapade. Jeez. Is that what everyone thinks? I couldn’t keep my hormones under control through my own sister’s wedding? He’s an old friend. He happened by while I was having a problem with my dress and helped me out. I drove myself home and changed. Now you have the whole sordid story.”
“That’s not the whole story, and we both know it,” Savannah said gently. “He’s the guy, isn’t he?”
Shit. She released a breath and rubbed her chest. “Yes.”
“Does he know?”
“He does now.” As briefly as possible, she explained their deal, and how that had evolved into…whatever it had evolved into.
“Wow,” Savannah said when she finished. “So, what now?”
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “He wants a second chance and says he plans to stick around, but…” She walked over to the window again.
“You don’t believe him?”