Sun-kissed (The Au Pairs 3)

Eliza smiled. "I hope so." Then she realized Jeremy had once told her that part of his job as a landscape contractor and designer was to figure out creative lighting schemes for the estates he tended. Some preferred tiki torches, some gas lamplights. He'd once had a commission to light a garden party for a big shipping company and had used truck headlights as an interesting twist.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she asked. "The headlights? Was that your idea?"

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Jeremy looked sheepish. "Yeah, I overheard you talking about the busted spotlights, so I checked them out. The wires were cut."

/> "Bastard!" Eliza swore.

"It's my fault. Paige went a little Fatal Attraction tonight. She asked me to meet her at Volcano this afternoon because she said she wanted to tell me something. Turns out she just wanted to get back together again. Then you drove by, and I told her you were the only girl for me, ever. I think it set her off."

"You told her that?"

He nodded. "Eliza, you should have told me Paige had fired you. I knew she would try to do something like that once she found out about us. She tried to get back together with me earlier this year, but I told her I was going out with you."

"She knew I was your girlfriend all along?" Eliza asked, incredulous. No wonder Paige was always giving her a hard time. She'd wanted Jeremy back for herself, but when he'd rebuffed her affections, she'd taken out her anger on her romantic rival---Eliza. It all made sense now.

"So she cut the wires?" Eliza asked.

"Yeah, I think so. She's a bit psycho. The first time I broke up with her, she came by the Perry house at five in the morning every day, and I almost got fired. But don't worry, I don't think she'll bother you anymore. I told her if she ever did anything like that again, I'd tell her family what she's been up to. Her dad's a cop--he won't stand for that sort of thing."

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"How did you get everyone to agree to turn on their floods?" she asked, stepping into his arms. "Not everyone who's parked up there was here for the show."

"I told them that if they turned on their lights, some beautiful girls would appear," he murmured.

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sweeter the second time around

THEY WALKED ON THE BEACH, FEELING THE COLD WATER

wash over their bare feet. Mara leaned her head on Ryan's shoulder. The summer was almost over. It wasn't what she'd thought it would be--she'd realized love wasn't enough. There were chores to consider. Perhaps she and Ryan had rushed into it too soon and taken all the mystery out of it. Living together. They were still so young--they had the rest of their lives to fight over who squeezed the toothpaste from the middle. She decided that if she did end up at Dartmouth, she wouldn't move in with him until sophomore year.

Ryan kissed the top of her head. "Guess what I brought," he said, fishing in his Coach wallet.

He handed her a laminated piece of paper.

It read Washington Post. Behind the Seams: Sydney Minx, by Mara Waters. It was the headline of the profile she'd written earlier that summer, which had been picked up by the Associated Press and distributed to their network.

"Oh my God," Mara said. "The Washington Post That's huge. That's a real newspaper," she told him.

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"I know," Ryan said, grinning. "You're a rock star."

"When did you see this?" she asked.

"I put in a search the other day. Your piece showed up in about fifty newspapers. This is the biggest one."

They walked a little more, past the fashion show, and found a private spot behind a dune. She was so touched that he would even remember to look up where her article had been published and that he would keep a copy in his wallet.

"This reminds me of something," Mara said wickedly, pulling Ryan down to the sand.

He rolled over on his back and put his arms underneath his head, looking up at the stars. She cuddled next to him, feeling his warm body on the wet sand.

"What?" he asked sleepily.