She focused on the phone, clearly avoiding my eyes.
“Hailey...?”
“Bianca asked me to keep you busy, okay? Just don’t tell her I told you that.”
I loved that she couldn’t keep secrets from me. “And you thought that was a good idea... why?”
“Will and Jace nearly scared my prom date away. Didn’t want poor Bianca to go through the same.”
“So, you just took matters into your own hands.”
“Yup.”
“In that case, you don’t look nearly as guilty as you should.”
She gave me a sheepish smile. “That’s because I don’t feel too guilty. I was just buying time until I can properly teach her Handling Brothers 101.”
“I have to do something about this.” I pinned her wrists above the armrest, leaning in to kiss her.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Second Epilogue
Hailey
“Mmm... you seminaked, and the pool all to ourselves? I’ll take it,” I said.
“Good. Let’s go. Already asked the staff to open it early especially for us.”
“You knew I was going to wake up at the crack of dawn today?”
“Babe. It’s your brother’s wedding. You’ve been up at the crack of dawn for a week.”
“I have, haven’t I? I just have too much energy.”
“Come on. Let’s work off some of that energy in the pool.”
I looked at him speculatively, wondering why he wasn’t suggesting other activities to burn off the energy.
This was my favorite time of the day to swim in the pool. The morning sun shone directly on us, inundating everything with light.
I couldn’t believe the day of Jace’s wedding was finally here. The last few months had been a bit of a whirlwind. I’d gotten back from Houston two weeks ago. Cameron had been beside himself to have me in LA again, and I was happy to be rid of the drudgery that was corporate PR and dig into my usual Hollywood cases.
The media’s interest in Marion dropped considerably after Reid’s statement, and then reached insignificant levels once news spread that her show wasn’t happening. She wasn’t even getting coverage in trashy gossip outlets, and Macy’s had dropped her exclusive lingerie line.
I had a slight hunch that that hadn’t happened out of the blue. I also had a slightly bigger hunch that Reid had pulled some strings. I’d asked exactly once, and he’d exhibited suspicious signs: evasive maneuvers, distracting me with sexy activities. Honestly, though, I didn’t need to know everything.
The media interest in Reid was slowly fading as well, though I had a hunch it might increase again next year, because he was opening a third hotel.
“What a way to start Saturday,” I murmured after finishing a round of backstroke. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a few waiters laying trays on the pool bar.
“You ordered breakfast?” I asked, thrilled.
&
nbsp; “All your favorites.”
“You devil.”