Chapter 9
TAYLOR
‘Tell me what you see going on over there?’
Sadie leans in, the paper umbrella in her drink bobbing dangerously close to my left eye. She’s staring past the firepit at the couples on the far side, gaze narrowing on one pair in particular. No. No-no-no. It’s not—
‘You see what I see, right?’ she presses, brows nudging north.
‘You mean Granny Anna getting up close and personal with Sterling?’
‘I think technically, he’s the one trying to get up close and personal,’ she murmurs. ‘Granny Anna looks more like a deer caught in the headlights. Should I go rescue her?’
‘And spoil her fun?’
‘You think she’s having fun?’
I smile as I acknowledge all the signs that tell me she is. ‘She’s twirling her hair. Facing away, but her body’s leaning in, eyes boomeranging back every five seconds. She doesn’t look like a woman in need of rescuing.’
Sadie tucks her chin in. ‘I’m not so sure.’
I laugh at her scrunched-up face, the firelight exaggerating every furrowed line. ‘Are you so out of practice you can’t spot flirting any more?’
‘This is Granny Anna we’re talking about,’ she insists. ‘She hasn’t looked at a man in… what, almost a decade?’
‘You don’t know that. For all we know, she might have a secret sex life that puts the rest of us to shame.’
Sadie splutters into her drink, almost losing her eye to the mini-brolly while she’s at it. ‘Yeah, right.’
‘Just because she’s Theo’s mum and a widow doesn’t mean she doesn’t have needs like the rest of us.’
She makes a face. ‘Okay, TMI. It’s almost as bad as thinking of you getting it on.’
‘Says the woman flaunting it in our faces last night,’ I say, instantly deflecting as my head eagerly travels down that road, straight to Axel, and this morning, and last night… and the talk we’ve yet to have.
Because yeah, I know the horse has already bolted, we’re well inside the baby-making territory, but if I can get some reins on it, get an agreement drawn up, maybe I can get it back under control.
‘No fucking way.’ Theo’s head pops between our deck chairs like a bodiless puppet, and I jump out of my skin.
‘What the hell, Theo?’
But he’s not listening; his eyes are laser-focused on the same scene across the way.
‘Tell me what you see going on over there?’
Sadie and I burst out laughing and Theo glances between us, his scowl less than impressed.
‘I fail to see anything funny about this.’
‘When your wife just said the exact same thing as you, it’s bloody hilarious.’
‘So you do see what I see?’
‘If you mean, is one of our biggest investors making a pass at your mum, then the answer is most definitely yes.’
‘But she’s old enough to be his mum!’
I cock a brow. ‘Pot, meet kettle.’
Sadie chokes on her drink. ‘Theo’s not old enough to be my dad, Tay.’
Theo doesn’t even comment. He’s too busy glaring daggers across the firepit, shoulders knotting like he’s about to storm a boardroom. ‘Does he think gifting us the island for our wedding gives him a free pass at the Mother of the Groom? Who even does that?’
‘I don’t know, I think your mum’s quite enjoying his Tuscan charm,’ I tease.
‘What is he? Half-Italian or whole?’ Sadie murmurs, joining in my fun.
‘Half. And he certainly wears it well.’ I sip lazily through my straw. ‘I can totally see the appeal.’
‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ he mutters.
‘Chill out, Theo.’ I pat his arm with a smile. ‘It’s just some harmless fun…’
‘Harmless fun?’ he throws back at me, eyes wide. ‘Harmless fun is what Lottie and Sadie’s We Rise ladies are having over there, dancing barefoot in the sand. That? That is— No.’ He shakes his head, planting both palms on his knees and making to leave. ‘I’m breaking it up.’
‘No. You’re not.’ Sadie grips his shoulder and pushes him firmly back down. ‘One: she’s a grown woman. And two: look at her face, Theo – he’s making her happy.’
As if on cue, Granny Anna giggles, her laughter bubbling through the night air like champagne fizzing over. Her fingers lightly touch Sterling’s thigh, and Theo winces.
‘Oh God, she’s flirting,’ he groans into his hand. ‘My mother is actually flirting. There’s not enough therapy in the world to unsee this.’
‘Chill out, darling. If she starts to look uncomfortable, we’ll go rescue her,’ Sadie assures him.
‘But right now, she’s in her element and we should let her live a little.
Besides, Sterling deserves to enjoy himself too…
Gifting us his island for the most private and perfect wedding venue, it’s only fair he gets a romantic twist of his own. ’
‘I really am going to be sick,’ he grumbles.
‘Relax,’ I murmur around my straw. ‘It’s not like he’s about to drizzle her in olive oil and call it foreplay.’
Sadie squeaks with laughter, and I let it roll free, revelling in a healthy dose of payback. He got it on with my little sister, after all; he can take some ribbing—
‘Who’s rolling who in olive oil?’
Axel’s lazy drawl slides in behind me, and my whole body combusts, the joke slingshotting back with a force I can’t laugh off. The image of him oiling me up, of our bodies slipping and sliding and—
‘Ha!’ Sadie seizes Theo’s arm and launches to her feet, snapping me out of fantasy land with a jolt. ‘I’ll let Tay explain that one while I take this one for a cleansing walk along the shore.’
‘Cleansing, you say?’
I don’t even need to look to know Axel’s wearing that smirk which now has the power to make my knees soften, and my core throb.
‘Don’t ask,’ Theo grumbles, dragging a hand through his hair as he sends his mother one last look. ‘Though on second thoughts, you fancy putting a not-so-friendly word in—’
‘Theo!’ Sadie blurts.
‘All right, all right.’ He jerks his hands up in surrender. ‘I’ll leave it. For now.’
And just like that, they’re gone, leaving me with Axel and the heated echo of my reckless tease…
Axel
‘So… you gonna explain?’
I drop into Sadie’s vacated deck chair and take a swig of beer from the bottle, sparing her a glance. She’s flushed. And I’m trying to figure out if it’s the fire, or me?
Or more specifically, the idea of me, her, and a fuck-ton of olive oil, of all things.
Because it’s what I’m seeing. Her naked body sprawled out, oiled skin bathed in sunlight, and—
‘Theo’s mum.’
‘W—What?!’ I choke on my beer as my brain stumbles over the switch up: Taylor morphing into Granny Anna before I can stop it.
‘The olive oil…’ Her mouth quirks, eyes gleaming in the firelight as she jerks her chin towards the couples across the way.
I follow her gaze – and my jaw drops.
I don’t know what stuns me more: my fantasy gone sideways, or the sight of Sterling obviously making a play for… no, he can’t be. Is he seriously—?
‘Yeah, it’s happening,’ Taylor murmurs, like I’ve asked the question aloud.
‘And Sadie thinks a cleansing walk is gonna help? Try bleach for his eyeballs and a knee to Sterling’s—’
‘Ax. Don’t you start.’
‘The man’s old enough to—’
‘Be her son. Yeah, we covered that.’
‘I bet you did.’ I turn to look at her, light dawning through my brain. Oh, no, she didn’t… ‘I bet you rubbed it in too.’
She smothers a smile with her cocktail straw. ‘Maybe.’
‘Taylor.’
She sips serenely. ‘What?’
‘Using his mother and Sterling as payback for him getting with your little sister? Really?’
‘He was being a hypocrite.’
I cock one brow. ‘There’s a bit of a difference between a twelve-year age gap and… hell, I don’t know how old Sterling is, but he’s gotta be our age.’
‘So?’
‘So…’
‘You sure that’s what’s got your back up?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘If it was the other way around, I bet you’d have no problem with it…’
‘What are you trying to say?’
‘I’m not trying to say anything; I’m simply telling you. If he was the older party, you’d be all macho and “nice one, mate,” bigging him up for pulling the hot young chick.’
‘Firstly, I would never call any girl, chick. And secondly…’ I pause, begrudgingly chewing it over. Hell. She’s got a point. Would I react the same if the roles were reversed?
I mean, Granny Anna is… objectively hot. In an ageing-gracefully, good-genes, doesn’t-even-try sort of way. Her happy, almost hippy-like charm draws everyone in, so I can’t blame Sterling for noticing, but…
‘Told you,’ she says, all high and mighty now.
‘She’s still Theo’s mum and that ain’t cool. Not at his wedding, for fuck’s sake.’
‘He’ll get over it.’
‘Not if you rib him with it.’
‘Chill out, Ax. The man can take it. And he knows I’m just teasing.’
She shimmies deeper into the deck chair, smug as a cat in cream, her cheeky grin making me want to spank her petty arse silly. Not literally, but yeah… and now that image is right up there with the olive oil.
‘And what if he doesn’t? What if he thinks you still hold a grudge deep down? Or worse, you provoke him over Sterling enough that he actually does break it up and cause a scene? You think he’ll thank you for that later? You think Sadie or his mum will?’
She drags her gaze away from Sterling and Anna, her eyes narrowing to slits as they meet mine. ‘Are you scolding me, Axel?’
‘Do you need scolding, Baby Girl?’
It’s out before I can stop it. And I see the spark it lights in her eye. The heat. The flicker. The flare. And then, just as quickly, I see her stamp it out: her body going stiff, her mouth forming the start of something serious.
‘Ax, we need to talk. I think it—’
‘Aunt Tay-Tay! Aunt Tay-Tay!’
Our heads flick to Lottie racing up to us, blonde curls bouncing, cheeks as red as her dress.
‘Will you dance wif me?’ She hops from one foot to the other, fists caught in her dress as she pouts. ‘Parker says no and Josh is asneep!’
Taylor sends me a look that says, We’ll pick this up later before she turns her full focus on Lottie, breaking into a smile so full of love, it steals my breath with it.
‘Of course I will.’ She plants her drink in the sand and starts to rise.
‘’n you, Uncle G!’ Lottie turns that pout on me, tiny hand thrusting out while Taylor takes her other. ‘Dance wif me, pwease!’ The kid’s fingers grasp at thin air.