No. No. No. So not happeningagain.
I had no idea if the message got through. My body could be so goddamn stubborn attimes.
But at least I didn’t have to worry about Josh wanting to have sex again. He and I had already agreed that what happened between us was nothing more than a one-night stand. As in onlyonenight. Plus he was a hockey player who no doubt made one-night stands part of his career. Wasn’t that what hockey players did? That’s why they were players—so tospeak.
The four of us walked to the parking lot where my brothers had left theirvehicles.
“I’m guessing you won’t be joining us?” I said toChris.
“The welcome mat hasn’t been extended if that’s what you’re asking. Plus I have a job later this afternoon that will take me out of the city until thefuneral.”
“Chris flies helicopters,” I explained to Josh. “But that’s not the career my parents had planned for him. He was supposed to take over Dad’s position in the telecommunications company our grandfather created. And Mum thoroughly disapproves that he’s a pilot. Apparently it’s not a dignified enoughcareer.”
“And that’s why you’re the black sheep of the family?” Josh askedChris.
Chrisnodded.
“Never mind that he has saved lives when he assists with search and rescue missions,” Simon pointed out. “Something our dear sweet parents can’t claim forthemselves.”
“But that of course only makes him hotter to the girls,” I said, grinning. Yes, Chris and Josh had that in common. And like Josh, I couldn’t see Chris ever settlingdown.
Oh, who was I kidding? I couldn’t see Simon settling down either. When you grew up in a family where your parents didn’t love each other, they were just together for convenience, you didn’t exactly yearn to replicate theirmistakes.
So, you’re probably wondering what Simon does for a living. He’s a corporate lawyer…for my father’s company. Which is why he’s still welcome at my parents’home.
On the drive to my parents’ house in Simon’s Jeep Cherokee, Simon and I caught up on the past five months. But not in a way that excluded Josh—who was sitting up front with mybrother.
“You should’ve seen Holly as a kid,” Simon said to Josh. “She was nothing like the princess she is now.” His laugh? Proof that one of us had been adopted. Why couldn’t I have inherited the same laugh as him and Chris—just the feminineversion?
“I’m not a princess,” I said with a faked huff. “I can’t help that I like looking good. It’s not as if I’m delicate like one and need the staff to cater to my everyneed.”
“That’s because Nanna refused to let you be one.” To Josh he said, “Our grandmother was convinced Holly was better off as a tomboy than dressed up like royalty and paraded in front of our parents’ friends whenever our parents hosted aparty.”
“I bet if Mum had known that,” I said, “we wouldn’t have been allowed to stay with Nanna. Or at least I wouldn’thave.”
“That’s right. Plus Mum would’ve married you off at a much younger age.” Simon looked briefly at Josh. “Our parents don’t believe in love. Juststatus.”
By the time we pulled up to the security gate of my parents’ mansion, Josh knew a lot more about me than I would’ve preferred—thanks to Simon. Like when I was a toddler, I had escaped our nanny and run naked into the party my parents were hosting. To say they were mortified was like saying the Sahara Desert was nothing more than asandbox.
When I was eight, I broke my leg when I fell off my bike. Did I mention I’d been trying to fly off a ramp and land in thelake?
And then there was that unfortunate incident at my sixteenth birthday party involving my bikini top. Simon swore Wilfred had never been the same afterthat.
“That’s not true,” I said as the two men laughed. “I’m sure my boobs weren’t the first ones he’d seennaked.”
That just made Simon laugh harder as he attempted to identify himself into the speaker so that security would open thegate.
Once we were permitted onto the property, he drove along the driveway, and I tried to imagine what Josh was thinking as we approached the house. The horseshoe-shaped, Mediterranean-style mansion, with the red terracotta tiled roof and balcony running along the entire length of the second floor, tended to impressvisitors.
Me? I had always felt like a prisoner growing up here. You know how some teenage boyfriends climb the tree outside their girlfriend’s window so he can sneak into her room? Let’s just say that fantasy had never been a possibility forme.
Guard dogs would’ve beenunleashed.
And guard dogs plus boyfriends didn’tmix.
Not even alittle.
“This is where you grew up?” Josh asked, his eyes in danger of popping out of hishead.
