“That was one hell of a fake kiss,” I breathed.

“Totally fake.”

“Um… the hand on the boob’s part of making it believable to my family?” I wondered.

He was so close I could see the dark flecks in his blue eyes. He grinned. “No. That’s just for me, sweets.”

6

THATCHER

Wednesday

“When can Sandy come live with me, Uncle Thatch?”

I was sitting in the stall that we’d turned into the dog nursery. My niece, Claire, was surrounded by puppies. Maple’d had a litter and everyone had been taking care of them. The puppies were now seven weeks old and starting to eat water-softened dog food. They played and rolled around, climbing on Maple, who was getting tired of being stuck with her children twenty-four/seven. I assumed every mother could understand, even the fact that one of them was currently gnawing on her ear and another climbing over her legs.

I petted her head, letting her know she was a good girl. Claire was going to keep one. Since all of them were yellow labs except a single black one, she’d had a tough time keeping which one was hers straight. I had no idea either, but Huck and Sarah had picked out a little pink collar and Claire had put it on one of them the other day. Now she knew which one was hers—even though I’d switched it yesterday because the Sandy she’d picked had turned out to be a boy—and was more eager than ever to take her up to the main house.

“This weekend,” I replied.

I had my cell in hand, staring at the text I’d finally gotten back from my friend, Kent. He was the one whose bar I was going to run for the winter in Cozumel.

KENT: Dude, I was in Belize fly fishing. You’re in?

I’d texted him five minutes after Astrid left my office on Saturday night. My text had been simple: I’m in.

I hadn’t heard from him since, until now. In those few days, I hadn’t changed my mind about going. In fact, the kiss with Astrid had been the deciding factor. I’d liked it too much and that was a problem. I had a feeling it could lead to more, and I didn’t do more. One kiss and my balls had ached all night. I’d had to do bookkeeping at my desk to try to get my dick to go down before I could go back and help the bartenders.

Since Saturday night, Kelsey and Sawyer had gotten together and that was a crazy-as-fuck story. Huck and Sarah were a done deal. Hell, she was already living with him in the main house. I was the last Manning brother standing.

And I was going to stay that way. I texted him back, moving my thumbs over the small screen.