With This Fling (Summersweet Island 5)

Ryan doth protest too much…

And Danny looks like she’s about ready to punch him in the face with all of his protesting.

“Never seen him before in my life,” she mutters. “He just looks like a nerd.”

I do bark out a laugh this time, and Laura shushes me with a smack to my arm.

They’re obviously lying about knowing each other, but she looks like she would eat him alive if she was actually his girlfriend. Whereas Ryan looks like a sweet, innocent Mr. Nice Guy who wouldn’t hurt a fly, Danny looks like a badass who works in a tattoo parlor, seconds away from breaking a beer bottle against the edge of the closest picnic table and slicing Ryan’s throat with it.

She’s wearing an oversized tank top with some kind of lacy bra thing under it, with a pair of frayed jean shorts, and black Doc Marten’s on her feet. She’s got a full sleeve of colorful tattoos on one arm, some more on the side of one thigh peeking out from under the edge of her shorts, a nose ring, and a trucker hat on backwards over her long black hair streaked with bright red at the ends. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two more opposite people in my life.

“Well, then, Danica Brewster, this is Ryan Hutton; Ryan, this is Danica,” Laura introduces, playing along with their charade. “Although I believe she said her first name is actually Tinsley, but she goes by her middle name. It definitely suits her better, wouldn’t you agree?”.

“Oh, fuck,” Danny mutters. “You’re Ryan Hutton?”

“You’re Tinsley Brewster?” Ryan replies, quickly starting to back away from her, tripping over the leg of one of the picnic tables in the process.

“Oh, this just got interesting,” Laura muses.

I can immediately smell matchmaking on her mind. I can also see it on her face when I look at her, while she watches Ryan make a hasty retreat away from the Dip and Twist, saying a quick goodbye to everyone before practically running away down the street.

“There’s definitely something there. I’ll call Ryan later.”

“No, you will not,” I tell Laura.

She rolls her eyes at me, and I lean over and kiss the tip of her cute little nose.

“Did you like it when people were meddling in our business?”

“No.” She pouts, crossing her arms in front of her with a huff.

“Exactly. Leave Ryan and Danny alone.”

Laura scoots closer to me on the bench, grabs onto the front of my shirt, and tugs me toward her. “I thought we discussed this. It was even in your vows. You are not allowed to tell me what to do unless I’m naked.”

“Then get naked, woman.” I smirk at her, making her laugh and let go of my shirt when Danny finally makes it to our table.

Laura gets up to give her a hug, then takes the painting and stows it inside the stand. She spends a few minutes chatting with Danny in there before coming back to me.

Turning around on the bench, I grab onto her hips and pull her down on my lap. She wraps her arms around my shoulders, and I wrap mine around her waist.

“I’m sorry to tell you that I think you just became a dad again,” Laura sheepishly admits to me as she turns and watches Danny walk into town on the sidewalk. “I think I just adopted another stray. It’s a girl!”

All I can do is laugh. “Whatever you need, sugar.”

I pull her closer and kiss my wife—the woman with the biggest heart in the world.

An hour later, we manage to sneak away from the stand while everyone is busy eating their ice cream. With our hands joined, we giggle and whisper like a couple of kids as we jog around the back of the stand, stopping every few feet to kiss before we make it to my bike parked in between everyone else’s golf carts.

“You know, as soon as I start this thing, everyone will hear it and know we’re sneaking away early,” I tell Laura as I hold my hand out to her once I’m seated on my Harley, helping her get on the back behind me.

“Don’t care,” she tells me, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Take me home, plus-one.”

Hearing her call me that doesn’t have the same effect on me it did a few months ago. Especially since she put it in her vows that nothing makes her happier than knowing she has a plus-one for the rest of her life.

The bike starts with a rumbling roar, and just like I knew it would, the sound makes everyone in the picnic table area stand up and rush out from under the awning to stand in front of the Dip and Twist.

“Looks like someone’s in a hurry to consummate the marriage!”