Page 5 of Body Shot

Not hot guys with piercing blue eyes and scruffy beards that make my lady parts come alive. And that says something, because my lady parts are one hundred percent on lockdown.

“Come on, let’s help set out the food,” Hana tells me, tugging me by the hand.

Johan’s fiancée, Sloane, is carrying a big beach bag that she dumps near someone she calls Decker, and the two hug.

“Brother and sister,” Hana whispers to me.

“Uh huh.” I look at the massive crowd of adults and children, and anxiety begins to creep in.

“Stop it.” Hana gives me a look. It’s the same look she’s been giving me since college when I want to leave a social gathering, but she wants to somehow force me to enjoy myself.

“I’m not doing anything,” I protest.

“You’re thinking about how long until you can escape,” she says knowingly, wagging a finger at me. “You’re thinking about how you just want to go back to your book.”

“I like reading,” I say.

“I do too,” Hana says, “but not at a beach party surrounded by hot guys.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to say something about how it’s easy for her to say that when all of them want to sleep with her, but again, it’s not her fault she’s gorgeous. It’s also not her fault that I’m…not.

“You know parties like this aren’t my thing,” I say instead.

“Do this for me today, and I promise, it’ll just be us the rest of the week. Except for dinner at Johan and Sloane’s on Tuesday night. And when she comes to the spa with us.”

We only have a week together before she leaves to go back to Slovakia and I have to head back to Philadelphia to start my new job. We’ve been planning this trip for a year, and we made lots of fun plans.

Well, fun except for today.

Ugh.

Why am I like this?

I should be excited about meeting Johan’s friends and teammates.

Hanging out with a bunch of pro athletes.

Instead, I’m desperate to go back to hiding under my tree with my book.

“When did you get to town?” Sloane asks me as we spread out a massive blanket.

“Yesterday,” I reply.

“Hana said you guys got a suite on the beach.”

“Yup. The room is beautiful.”

“I was going to offer to let you stay with us,” Sloane says, “but I’m guessing a suite on the ocean is a lot more fun than a guest room in the suburbs.”

I chuckle. “We wanted to splurge.”

“I wanted to splurge,” Hana corrects me. “She wanted to stay at a Motel Six or something.”

I snort. “When we started planning, I didn’t know if I would have a job. But I do, so now it’s not an issue.”

“What kind of job?” Sloane asks.

Now I’m in my element and talking about the startup software company is easy.

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