Page 11 of Harmless Scandals

“I hope you don’t mind, but mama needed to eat, so I got us some apps,” Jillian said.

“No worries. As I said, food is very important to me,” she said, taking a plate and filling it with tuna tartar. “I have a very serious relationship with it.”

“And that comes from?” Adam asked.

She smiled as she placed her napkin on her lap. “I had to keep what photographers claimed was “fit” when I was a teen. Imagine being a teen and being told you couldn’t have pizza. It was horrible.”

From her aggrieved tone, he knew she was joking, but there was a hint of something else beneath it. She joked, but there was also pain of some sort.

“Photographers?” Mick asked. “Were you a fashion model?”

She laughed out loud at that. So loud, in fact, it drew attention from some nearby diners.

“Uh, no. Too short for that. But I did some hair shots, things like that.”

“Hair shots?”

“Yeah, they use body parts of other people for ads. Like, I had a friend who was just a hand model. Her hands were in all kinds of ads.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that, but I wasn’t sure if it was true.”

She nodded as she popped some tuna into her mouth. “My eyes were used too, so maybe that’s it,” she said to Conner. “I was in a lot of ads there for a while, but my entire face wasn’t.”

“Could be,” he said, but Adam knew from his tone Conner didn’t think it was that.

Adam didn’t think it was, but he knew just from the short discussion this morning and now, that Serenity prized her privacy. Adam could understand. She had apparently made a living as a kid being shoved in front of the camera. Someone like that would either love it or hate it. She had apparently hated it. So, for now, he would happily give her the privacy she wanted and wouldn’t question her.

Adam leaned back in his chair and watched as she and Jillian discussed something about the new rail system. Serenity was animated in the discussion, and he couldn’t help but smile at a few of her sarcastic comments.

Mick caught his eye. There was no doubt he was thinking the same thing. The woman was a delight. Sexy, funny, and smart. Three things that they always liked in their women. Mick would start pushing soon, but Adam wanted to take his time.

Presents were always more interesting when you unwrapped them slowly.

four

Serenity rolled over the next morning and groaned. The first rays of soft light were already peeking into her bedroom. She had spent the night without sleep. Again. She sat up and let out another groan. Why had she been having so many insane dreams? She wasn't a prude, but she had never thought that seeing two men having sex would cause her so many problems.

She stared at her ceiling and thought back to the night before. Adam and Mick had been very welcoming. She had pretty much spent most of her time on Oahu sort of separate from other people. She wasn’t a hermit or a shut in. She found it easier if she limited her time with other people though. Last night had her second guessing what she had seen.

Having spent almost her entire childhood in Hollywood, Serenity had good gaydar. Many people would look at men like Mick and Adam and assume they were just friends. Even with them living together, their build and their masculinity would give people false impressions of their sexuality. Serenity knew better. Masculinity had nothing to do with sexual preference, as her dance teacher had been one of the most effeminate men she had ever met, and he was definitely heterosexual.

Knowing she would get no sleep, and since she was already sweaty, she decided to go for a run on the beach. It was better she worked off this energy than sat here thinking about her insanely sexy neighbors. If she got it done early enough, she would be ready when her friend Dai came by to discuss business.

Mick was taking his first sip of coffee that morning, sitting on their back lanai, when he saw Serenity. She came running up the path that led down to the beach. She was dressed for running and her body glistened with her exertion.

“Hey,” he called out. She stopped and headed in his direction. He tried not to get too excited. She was probably just being friendly.

“Hey, yourself,” she said with a smile, looking up at him.

Damn.

“Are you always an early riser?”

She nodded. “I hate it. I would love to be able to roll around in bed. And you?”

“My military roots. Dad was military and I followed in his footsteps. But I agree, rolling around in bed is much more interesting.”

She didn’t respond to that. Instead, she looked off into the distance. Worried he had made her uncomfortable, he opened his mouth to rectify it, but Adam interrupted him.

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