Scored(58)

“Can I really watch Jeopardy while you apologize?”

I smack her plump ass in answer.

*

Aiden gives me the evil eye from his seat on the private plane. Layton waves cheerfully from her place beside him.

I pick up Paige’s hand and kiss the knuckles, laughing. “This is already the best vacation I’ve ever had.”

“Glad to be of service.”

Since Layton and Paige boarded last, on purpose as suggested by me, Aiden had no choice but to stay in his seat. Sam, the rookie quarterback, and Mitchell, our best linesmen, give me the thumbs-up for what has to be the hundredth time. They are on drinks four and five respectively, so it might be the liquor doing the gesturing.

While they respect Aiden as our quarterback, they don’t like him any more than I do. I take that back—they like him less than I do because I like everyone. My mom used to say that I never met a stranger and everyone was my best friend. Mikey’s fault, of course, because he said hi to everyone. And since I wanted to be just like him, I followed suit.

“Why are you grinning?” Paige asks as the plane levels out.

“Thinking about my brother.”

“How is the new job going?”

“Good. The place where he works is very handicap friendly and they have special bathrooms there for people who need more than a stall. Basically, they exist because of private donations and how amazing their coffee is.”

Paige gives me an appraising glance. “Are you one of the donors?”

I clear my throat, torn between wanting to show off and not wanting to brag about doing good for other people. Yet, this is Paige. She’s not asking in order to figure out if I’m worth her time, or if I have enough money to help bankroll an operation like Coffee Buddies Café.

“I am, but I don’t put it out there for everyone to examine. My donations are made anonymously.”

“Have you ever thought that you could help them open other Coffee Buddies Cafes if you did tell everyone?” she asks.

“Your sister would probably like that.”

“Who cares what my sister likes? What do you think?” she presses.

“I think, besides being one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met, that you’re one of the smartest I know, too.”

“Only one of the smartest… and most beautiful?” Her tone is light and teasing.

“Besides my mother.”

She lays her head on my shoulder and looks up at me, smiling sweetly. “I love that you’re a momma’s boy.”

“I’m not—all right, I am one—but I have very firm boundaries where my parents are concerned.”

Paige nods. “Of course you do.”

“They know to give me space.”

“Which is why they have a house two streets over from yours.”

“Exactly.” I laugh, then give up all pretenses of being completely hard-assed when it comes to my parents. “I’m a family man at heart, bright eyes. That won’t ever change.”

She sighs one of her signature ‘all is right with the world and Dallas Drake is the man’ sighs. “I wouldn’t have you any other way.”





CHAPTER 23




Paige


Layton and I stare in wide-eyed shock at the structure before us. The house is three stories tall and completely glassed in on one side. There are wings on each side that seem to go on for miles. Cars I can’t identify by name are lined up like matchbook cars in the garage. A white, sparkly Mercedes catches my eye—it looks suspiciously like the Swarovski-crystal covered one I saw on a viral Facebook video.

“I thought you said we weren’t staying in a hotel,” Layton says from the side of her mouth. Unlike how I grew up—poor and on food stamps in a trailer park, Layton comes from old money, made in banking and lawsuits, but not this kind of money. This is the kind Mrs. Price once said requires a sort of showmanship reserved for horseracing and the nouveaux riche who gold-plate everything in order to appear classy.

Then again, the Prices think it’s sinful to flaunt their wealth, which is part of the reason Layton is so down to Earth.

“We’re not. This is an honest-to-God vacation home.”

“For thirty people to live in at one time?”

“There’s a room with a wall made of candy,” Dallas says.

Layton turns to him. “Does Willy Wonka own this house?”

“I don’t think Johnny Depp ever lived here,” he says in all seriousness, but I don’t miss the twinkle in his sexy eyes. “Ladies get to pick their rooms first, but Paige, you keep in mind that we’re sharing a bed.”

“I thought we were having a girls’ weekend, Paigey-Poo,” Layton whines, and I have to bite back a smile. She’s never called me Paigey-Poo in our lives. She’s here to get info from Aiden, not girl time with me.

“Paigey-what?”

Layton links her arm through mine and lays her head against my shoulder. In her heels, she’s taller than usual, but since I have on heels as well, I’m still four inches taller. “Tell him, Paigey. It’s a girls’ weekend.”

Dallas’s face falls, and he looks ready to cry. Well, not exactly, but pretty close. I take pity on him. “She’s joking.”