Page 26 of Harmless Scandals

“They were suing you?”

She chuckled. “No, they were each trying to get dirt on the other one for their divorce. If I thought it would work, I would have made up stuff. After observing them, I realized they just wanted to ruin each other’s lives. It would have just drawn out the entire thing.”

Adam concentrated on opening the wine and not the joy she brought to the kitchen. It wasn’t something he could put his finger on, but she made everything somehow lighter.

“Did you get any good shots while you were taking your life for granted?” Mick asked.

“Yes, I did. And there were a lot of people on the beach.”

“Haoles.”

“No, most of those people were locals. We rarely get waves like that on this beach. The photos are going to be stunning.”

“So modest,” Mick said.

“One thing I learned early in life is there is no room for false modesty. I’m a much better photographer than I was an actress.”

“Yeah, Mick told me about that.”

She made a face and shook her head. “It’s nothing that big. Other than it gave me the ability to pursue my love of photography. I definitely didn’t have any skills other than singing and acting; and, as I said, I wasn’t that good at the latter.”

“But singing.”

“I’m okay. Nothing to write home about.” She glanced at the stovetop. “That smells good.”

“Mick has his mother’s love of cooking and thankfully the ability.”

“I can cook. But alone…”

Adam nodded. “Why bother. Yeah, Mick cooks like this so we can have leftovers if the other one is gone on a job.”

“You two are crazy,” Mick said with no heat. “I love to cook.”

“I like to bake. I don’t do it often, but when I do, I go to town.”

“If you want to toss any of that over in our direction, we will gladly take it off your hands,” Mick said. “I am not the best baker.”

Adam snorted.

“What?” Serenity asked.

“It takes patience. Mick doesn’t have much of that.”

“You usually don’t complain about that.”

The change in Mick’s tone told Adam he was talking about something else. Adam just smiled, then turned to pull down the wine glasses.

“So, how about we leave him in the kitchen and drink some of this wine in the living room?” Adam asked.

“Sure,” Serenity said.

The vibe she was giving off was that she was open to the idea of sex with them. He needed to get to know her better, and besides, getting time alone with Serenity was not a bad thing.

By the end of the night, Serenity’s hormones were singing. She knew that neither of the guys had picked up on it. Maybe she was a better actress than she thought.

Also, she had drunk a lot, so that had smoothed out her nerves a bit. She wasn’t a heavy drinker anymore, so just a few glasses went to her head.

“Take this,” Mick said as he handed her a container with leftover pasta. “We’re out a lot this coming week on jobs, so it will just go to waste here.”

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