Skinny Dipping (The Au Pairs 2)

meet Jacqui and Philippe and the kids for lunch at Jeff & Eddy's. She'd spent the morning getting pedicures with Sugar and Poppy, and she felt slightly guilty that she'd ditched work again.

"That woman over there just asked us if we were models," Jacqui explained, rolling her eyes and holding up a thick business card. Mara turned to see Mitzi Goober waving enthusiastically at their table. Mara blew kisses in her direction. "What did Mitzi want?" she asked.

"She wants us to work at this show," Philippe explained, handing Mara an invitation.

Mara read the engraved lettering. It was an invitation to a charity fashion show at the Bridgehampton Polo Club next week. She'd received one the other day in the mail, with a front-row seat designation. Sugar and Poppy had been talking about the event nonstop since then--apparently, it was going to be one of the biggest events of the summer. "You guys should do it," Mara said.

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"Modeling is so silly," Jacqui declared, cutting up Cody's string beans.

Mitzi Goober rushed over, air-kissing Mara's cheeks. "So, you guys are all set, right? Reinaldo is going to love you guys. Seriously, it would be such a huge favor, since a couple of the models couldn't get their visas renewed in time."

"So it's a favor? What will you do for me in return?" Philippe asked, smiling wickedly.

"Oooh, you're a bad boy," Mitzi cooed. "I like that. What do I have to do?"

"We'll do it," Jacqui said flatly, cutting in. Did Philippe have to flirt with everybody in sight? Philippe was supposed to be hers--even if all they'd done was sneak a few kisses here and there since the tennis tourney. If agreeing to walk in the show was all it took to get rid of this annoying girl, she was happy to do it. Plus, Eliza and Mara were both going to be there, and Jacqui wished the three of them would get their asses together and be best friends again.

"Fabu!" Mitzi said, blowing air-kisses all around. "See you later, lover. I'll get us a room," she joked, growling at Philippe.

A room, huh?

Now there was an idea.

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booty calls totally

don't count

IF ANYONE EVER ASKED, ELIZA WOULD TELL THEM SHE WAS totally not in love with Ryan Perry. Not at all. They both had their reasons for wanting to keep their relationship--if that was even a word for what they were doing--quiet.

After Jeremy flaked the night of the tennis tourney and Eliza found out Mara knew--and didn't care--about her and Ryan, it just felt natural to do it again. He'd brought her flowers, for goodness' ake. That night they'd gone back to the Perry estate and, well, the next thing she'd known, they were naked. That was the third time that year. Maybe it was a pattern?

The next morning, Eliza had sneaked out of Ryan's room, taking care not to use the side stairway that led to the back of the house that the au pairs often used. Even though Sugar said Mara knew, she was paranoid about bumping into her. Eliza couldn't totally shake the feeling that fooling around with Ryan was like playing with someone else's toys.

Now, ten days later, Eliza was getting more comfortable with

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the idea. They'd hooked up a few more times, and it had been fun and casual. The other night, after 50 Cent celebrated his album release at Seventh Circle, Ryan had popped over to the club around closing, and they'd gone back to her place, ostensibly to watch a DVD again, but somehow things had gotten kind of friendly. A couple of days later, he'd called her on her night off and asked if she wanted to come over for Godfather III. She hadn't really felt like it (Sofia Coppola might be a great director now but she was a bad actress, Eliza thought), but she'd found herself there anyway. Eliza decided that hooking up with Ryan was like eating standing up in front of the fridge. It didn't count. Zero calories.

Except her parents were being so annoying about the two of them, treating Ryan like her boyfriend, which he was so not. One night, Ryan came over and the two of them micro waved a pizza and hung out by the pool instead of going to a party at the PlayStation2House like they'd planned. Her parents had gotten home early from some charity shindig, and her mom and dad hadn't been able to stop making a big deal out of him being there. Of course, Ryan was an old family friend and all, but still. Her mom winked at the two of them, and then the next morning her dad said Ryan could come over to visit any time he liked, which was interesting, since after Jeremy had come over for dinner, her dad had said maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have people around the house since it wasn't theirs. Eliza supposed that had to do with Ryan being the right sort of person to have

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around, and Jeremy the wrong sort--according to her parents' logic, anyway.

Not that Jeremy even tried to see her anymore--she'd hardly heard from him since the night of the tournament. Of course, that didn't stop her from checking her messages obsessively.

"Who're you calling?" Ryan asked, shoving a handful of kettle corn in his mouth and spilling crumbs all over the carpet. He'd picked her up from work that night, and now they were just hanging out, watching TV.

"Just checking my messages," Eliza said.

Ryan nodded. On the screen, a popular actress was explaining away her latest disastrous relationship to Oprah during the show's 3 A.M. repeat.

The thing was, it was fun doing whatever it was she was doing with Ryan. It was fun when he picked her up from the club, since everyone knew him or knew of him, and all the waitresses and bartenders thought he was such a doll. It was fun not worrying about anything. Even the guilt over Mara was getting more distant every day. Sugar had said Mara knew and didn't care, so it wasn't like Eliza was doing anything wrong. Being with Ryan reminded her of her old life in New York, when she would kiss any boy she wanted to, just because she could.