“I’ll check with Adelaide, but given how they seem to be enjoying their conversation on the beach now, I think that’ll be a good plan.” Surprised at the invitation—they’d never extended such invites to one another as bachelors—Dempsey wondered for a split second how family dynamics would change with women around. But then, that wasn’t really a concern for now, since Adelaide wouldn’t be under his roof for long. He would return to his usual role as the Reynaud black sheep then.
“Good. We can sneak away to watch some game film after dessert.” Gervais started jogging again, backward. “You can let me in on the highlights of Sunday’s game plan.”
“Of course.” So it would be a working dinner. Still, he appreciated the offer. “I’ll text you once I speak to Adelaide.”
Since the four Reynaud brothers had gone off to college, they hadn’t spent much time together outside of family gatherings that their grandfather insisted on. Even now, Leon was the most likely to bring them together. Dempsey hated to think that their grandfather’s decline in health would be the next thing to put Gervais, Dempsey, Henri and Jean-Pierre in the same room together.
Maybe tonight would be a step toward having a stronger relationship with Gervais—they had a working partnership to protect in the Hurricanes if nothing else. The only drawback would be that Dempsey would have to share Adelaide for a few hours, and with their time together limited, he didn’t like the idea of giving up any of it.
They’d been together intimately for less than twenty-four hours and already Adelaide had gotten under his skin deeper than any other woman he’d ever known.
* * *
“I love your earrings.” Erika lifted a hand toward Adelaide’s ear as they sat outside by the pool behind Gervais’s breathtaking home that evening. “May I?”
They were sipping virgin margaritas under a pergola heavy with bright pink bougainvillea. Adelaide had mixed feelings about the evening, since getting closer to Dempsey’s family would only make their breakup more difficult when it happened. But visiting with Gervais’s fiancée this morning and this evening had been surprisingly fun. There was nothing pretentious about this Vikingesque princess who, apparently, was one of five daughters in a family of deposed royalty from a tiny kingdom near Norway.
Their casual outdoor dinner had made Adelaide all the more committed to building a business and a life for herself outside the male-dominated world of football. She craved more girl time.
“Of course.” She scooted closer on the massive side-by-side lounger they shared, since Erika had wanted to put her feet up and insisted Adelaide should, too. “These are a sample from an accessory collection I hope to design for female sports fans.”
“Sports fans?” Erika frowned, a pout that didn’t come close to diminishing her stunning good looks. “They do not look like sports paraphernalia.”
Close up, Adelaide marveled at the other woman’s skin tone. But then, maybe living so far north the sun couldn’t wreak the same kind of havoc. She’d rather take the freckles, she decided, than live for months in the cold.
“That’s because they are intended to offset other team-oriented clothes. Most women don’t want to dress in head-to-toe gear like a player. So I have some pieces that are very focused on team logos, and some accessories that pick up the colors or motifs in a more subtle way so that fans can be coordinated without being cartoonish.”
“So when I buy Henri’s jersey to wear—just to tease Gervais, of course—” she gave Adelaide a conspiratorial grin as she released the jewelry “—I can wear gorgeous black-and-gold earrings with it.”
“Exactly.” Sipping her icy-cold cocktail that made good use of fresh oranges and limes, Adelaide winked at her new friend. “And how can your future husband argue when the jersey has the Reynaud name on it?”
“There is a bit of competition among them. Have you noticed this?”
Adelaide nearly choked on her drink after the unexpected laugh. “I’ve noticed. You’d be surprised to know it was even worse when they were teenagers.”
“Tell me.” Erika peered over her shoulder where the brothers had sat a few minutes before. “It is safe. They are watching their games on television.”
“When I first met Dempsey’s brothers, I was thirteen.” It was a year after he’d been living with the Reynauds and she’d been so excited that he’d invited her to his fourteenth birthday party. The day had been a disaster for many reasons, mostly because she’d realized that her friend had become someone else since leaving St. Roch Avenue. “And they knew I was Dempsey’s friend, so they decided to vie for my attention.”