Skinny Dipping (The Au Pairs 2)

tomorrow night? Do you want to come over to my house and hang out? I don't start work till Saturday."

"Maybe," Jacqui said, realizing for the second time in only a few minutes that her plan to ignore all distractions and be a stellar babysitter was not going to be as easy as she'd hoped. "If we can put the kids to bed early."

"Don't worry, we'll be there," Mara assured her. If there was one thing Mara had learned last year, it was that they could figure out a way to take care of the kids and have a good time.

Eliza raised an eyebrow and smiled. Jacqui being responsible? Mara ready to party? Some things really did change. They hugged Eliza good-bye, promising to call her soon.

When Eliza left, her slides click-clacking loudly on the stairs, Philippe reentered the room, looking freshly shaven and wearing a starched white oxford shirt and perfectly pressed blue jeans.

"Better?" he asked Mara.

Mara nodded coolly. She had finished putting away all of her clothes, not having brought as many as Jacqui, who had already crammed the closet with her wardrobe. "I'm going to see what Laurie needs for the kids' rooms."

"I'll be there in a bit," Jacqui promised, not meeting Mara's eyes. She was fully conscious that Philippe had sprawled, emperor like, on the single bed and was staring at her expectantly.

Mara shrugged her shoulders and left, thinking she might take a few unnecessary detours on the way to Laurie's office--say, the

landing right by Ryan's room.

48

"So, Jacqui, are you also needing to see Laurie?" Philippe asked Jacqui. "Because there are still some, what you call it, pina coladas in the blender."

Jacqui stopped putting her clothes away. She knew that the right thing to do was to follow Mara and get everything prepared for the kids tomorrow. But Philippe was still smiling at her, a dazzling preponderance of shiny white teeth and blue eyes. He reached under the bed and brought out a half-empty bottle of Bacardi. "Help me finish this?" he asked.

"I guess I am kind of thirsty ..." Jacqui allowed. She had sworn to herself that she was really going to be better this summer: she was going to keep her head down, she was going to help Mara take care of the kids, she was going to study for that uh, test thing, S-A . . . whatever was it called again. . . .

She exhaled loudly, squaring her shoulders, and looked straight into his eyes. "But you know what? I think I'll just catch up with you later," she told Philippe, running out of the room before he could say her name again in that sexy accent of his.

49

reunited, and it feels so . . . awkward

MARA WOKE UP EARLY THEIR FIRST DAY IN THE AU PAIRS'

room, tossing off the sheets and yawning. Jacqui was snoozing on the top bunk, and Philippe was snoring loudly under a mountain of blankets on the single bed. Last night, she and Jacqui had returned to the room to find Philippe smoking cigarettes and playing solitaire card games by himself. They'd joined him for a few hands of hearts before turning in early.

Mara had spent most of yesterday evening skulking around the main house, hoping to catch Ryan, without any luck. Knowing he always got up early to surf before breakfast, she'd set the alarm and hoped to catch him on his way out. She was extra-careful to put on a cute outfit--a pale-green shrunken T-shirt that showed off her small waist, and Jessica Simpson--like cutoff jean shorts that showed off her legs. She put her long brown hair in a messy ponytail, taking care to frame a few loose tendrils around her face.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of Ryan in his wet suit

50

checking the weather on the flat-screen TV in the kitchen, or waxing down his board in the driveway. Mara stared at the parked Aston Martin, as if willing Ryan to appear. Her shoulders slumped as she walked back into the house, wondering if he was avoiding her. Back in the kitchen, she helped herself to a cup of yogurt and heard voices coming from the patio. Her stomach clenched out of nervousness, and she opened the sliding door.

Ryan was standing on the terrace, talking to a tall, blond girl. He looked up, startled, when he saw Mara. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and faded jeans, and was holding a sleeping bag under one arm and an Igloo cooler in the other. His hair was comically tousled, sticking out in every direction, and he had pillow creases on his cheek, but they only made him look more adorable. As usual, he was barefoot, and his toes were covered with sand.

"Hey!" he said, and for an instant, Mara caught a glimpse of his open, dimpled smile, but it soon vanished into an embarrassed grimace. "Mara--I didn't know you were here."

"I got in yesterday," she said, forcing a light tone. Who the hell was this girl? "Sorry for interrupting."

Ryan dropped his things and walked toward her, his arms extended. "Not at all. It's great to see you," he said, making sure not to make contact with any part of her body other than her back, which he thumped as if she were one of his soccer teammates. She smelled the saltwater in his hair, which reminded her painfully of last summer.

51

"You too," she said, finding it difficult to breathe.

He was even more gorgeous than she'd remembered. The sun had lightened his hair, and his green eyes sparkled in his darkly tanned face. He moved with the same easy grace, projected the same laid-back, down-to-earth vibe. The kind of guy who'd been born with everything and hadn't let that happy accident spoil him one bit. Mara had always thought he was way out of her league--but for one week last summer, he'd been blessedly, deliciously, gloriously hers. And now she wanted him back.