Crazy Hot (The Au Pairs 4)

"Sure," Ryan agreed, knocking one back while Mara grimaced. She could never quite stomach raw seafood. They stood in tense silence for a moment. "Anyway, it's Eliza's big day, so I thought I should be here," he said finally, looking down at the pink terrazzo floor. "Is it me, or is everything pink in here?"

"Everything's pink," Mara confirmed. Oh. So he was here for Eliza. He and Eliza went way back, and nothing ever seemed to affect their friendship. She was suddenly a little jealous of that, and took a big gulp of champagne from her glass.

"Dude, that is so Eliza." Ryan laughed.

Dude. There it was again. There was just something so platonic about that word. Ryan called Eliza "dude" all the time, and Mara had liked that he did, since it meant that he thought of her as a buddy and not as a girl he'd once hooked up with. Then again, what did she care? She had a new boyfriend now--not that she was thrilled with David at this particular moment. He'd just sent her a photo of the Louvre from his camera phone with a note that said I LOUVRE YOU. Great, but how about an I Louvre You call?

It was silly to be so awkward around Ryan. They had a history together, and there was no reason they couldn't be friends. "You know, we should hang out sometime," Mara proposed, adopting a super-casual tone. The fact that her heart was beating quickly was probably just the stuffy air. There were too

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many people in the boutique and the air-conditioning system couldn't keep up.

"Yeah." Ryan nodded. "I'm sure I'll see you around this summer." He took two chicken skewers from a passing tray. "I missed dinner," he explained, blushing slightly.

'"See me around'? You're not getting away that easily," Mara teased. Did he really just give her the "see you around" brush-off? "We should get together. What are you doing for the Fourth?" she pressed, now determined to squeeze a real plan out of him.

"Dunno." He shrugged, looking around for a trash can for the skewers and shoving them into his pockets when he couldn't find one.

"C'mon, you always have big plans." She thought of her first summer at the Hamptons, when Ryan had saved her from a disastrous Fourth of July taking care of the Perry kids by herself. She'd spent the holiday with him these past three years. Why couldn't they just hang out like they used to?

Ryan shrugged. "A couple of the guys might be getting together for a barbecue down by the house. Not a big deal."

"What time?"

"Around noon or so."

"Cool, I'll bring beer."

"Uh, okay." Ryan nodded, taking the empty skewers out of his pockets and placing them on a passing tray.

"See you then," Mara said cheerfully, willfully oblivious to how reluctant Ryan was about extending the invitation. Boys

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could be so immature! She'd practically had to invite herself to the shindig. If he could be friends with Eliza, why couldn't they be friends too? It couldn't be that hard, could it?

"Ryan! You made it!" Eliza squealed, bursting on the two of them and giving Ryan a friendly hug. She looked puzzled to see Mara. "I thought you'd left!"

"I was just--," Mara said, but Eliza had already pulled Ryan deeper into the party. Mara watched them walk away, arm in arm.

The Fourth of July was next Saturday. A week wasn't a very long time, but for Mara it suddenly felt like an eternity. She hitched the shopping bag that held the minuscule bikini on her shoulder. Maybe she'd wear that to the barbecue, just to remind him that she wasn't exactly one of the guys.

"Dude" indeed.

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GOOD-LOOKING GUYS GET AWAY WITH EVERYTHING

WALLFLOWER WAS NOT A WORD THAT CAME TO MIND

when describing Jacqui Velasco, but that was exactly what she felt like at the store opening. Modeling had been fun at first. Eliza had picked a daring, thigh-scraping strapless A-line dress for her to wear, and the white fabric stood out against her deep mocha tan. Jacqui had enjoyed vamping it up and helping guests decide which of Eliza's sexy white dresses looked best on their figures.

But a few hours later, almost all the racks were bare, and she had to inch around the room, which was getting more jammed by the second with the late-night crowd, who were more interested in the free cocktails than in the clothing.

Other than Eliza, who was busy being a social butterfly, and Mara, who had just left, Jacqui realized she knew almost no one at the party. That had never fazed her before--in her hard-partying days, she could make a friend in the instant it took to pop a champagne cork--but between trying to get into NYU and working for the Perrys, it had been a while since she'd been

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