Skinny Dipping (The Au Pairs 2)

"Did you ever do this as kids?" Eliza asked.

Jacqui and Mara shook their heads.

"It's fun. You never know who's going to get it," Eliza said. "Who's got the best arm? Mara?"

Mara shrugged and accepted the bottle. She threw it in a wide arc, and the three of them watched the bottle bob up and down until it disappeared into the waves. They trudged back to Eliza's house in good spirits.

"So you guys are coming tomorrow night to the club, right?

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I'll put you on the list," Eliza said, as Jacqui flicked her cell open to call a taxi.

"Okay," Jacqui said slowly. She was already feeling worried about getting caught sneaking out tonight. "I guess it depends on when we get the kids to bed. ..."

"Yeah, I don't know," Mara said. "I have this dinner thing earlier."

Eliza gripped Mara's shoulders affectionately, as if to shake away her doubts. "C'mon, it'll be fun. It's the first weekend of the summer. Promise."

"Is Ryan going to be there?" Mara asked, thinking she really didn't want a repeat of that morning again.

"So what if he is?" Eliza asked. "I mean, well, Mara--"

But suddenly, there was a flash of headlights as an Aston Martin Vanquish convertible turned into the driveway.

"Bonjour!" Philippe called out. Obviously, he had no qualms about using Ryan's car.

"Am I too late?" Philippe asked, a crooked smile on his lips when he saw how disheveled the girls were, their wet clothes plastered to their bodi

es.

"No, you're just in time," Jacqui replied briskly, "to drive us home."

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anna perry is a lot younger than her botox implies

THE NEXT EVENING, AFTER WRESTLING THE KIDS TO

bed, Jacqui walked into the playroom--a carpeted, windowless room in between the girls' and boys' bedrooms--and began putting away toys, games, skateboards, Legos, plastic pistols, Barbie dolls, and assorted talking stuffed animals in the plastic chest. The kids' wing was located in a remote, almost inaccessible corner of the house, behind a soundproofed door. Jacqui noticed that the kids couldn't have been farther from Anna's bedroom unless they were in the servants' cottage, but that a dual-level walk-in closet, complete with a built-in wet bar, was located right off the master bedroom.

Jacqui finished her task alone, since Mara was getting ready for her date with Garrett, and Philippe had wandered off again. But when she walked back to the cottage, she found Philippe sitting--no, lounging on the steps outside.

The lazy bastard. He was never around when they needed him. Jacqui put her hands on her hips, ready to give him a piece of her mind.

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Seeing the look on her face, Philippe handed her a rolled-up joint. "Not really my scene," he explained, motioning back toward the house. "Here, take a poof."

It really wasn't a great idea to get stoned right on the property. Especially if she was concerned about getting a stellar reference from the Perrys at the end of the summer. But she was feeling a little tense . . . and, well, she wasn't one to turn down a hit. She accepted it and inhaled, feeling the acrid smoke hit the back of her throat.

"You are amazing," Philippe said. "Ma tante said it wouldn't be easy, but I did not think it would be this hard. I just wanted to be near the beach."

Jacqui laughed. She really couldn't be that angry at Philippe. He sounded just like she had last summer. They sat in companionable silence, listening to the crickets chirping in the bushes and watching the fireflies dance around the bushes by the pool. Philippe's cell phone rang a couple of times, but he ignored it.

"Who's trying to get hold of you so bad?" Jacqui asked when he ignored it the third time.

Philippe was nonchalant. "Just a couple of friends," he replied, and left it at that.