Page 38 of Peyton's Price

“I really don’t.” She sat on the couch next to Maggie, who threw her arm around her. “But you two do, so go ahead.”

“Not if it upsets you,” Maggie protested.

“It doesn’t,” Peyton said.

Trick and Maggie regarded her with identical expressions of skeptical sympathy.

“Well, it doesn’t any more than I already was,” she said, waving them on. “You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me. After the last few weeks, there isn’t anything you can possibly say that would make me feel worse. We can only go up from here,” she added.

Her philosophical air broke the dam. Soon, Maggie groused about Caroline and her endless plans. “This wedding is going to be the worst.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not going to go.” Peyton poked her in the ribs. “What is the bridesmaid’s dress like?”

“Can something be elegant and awful at the same time? Cause Caroline’s choice manages to be both. It’s a genuinely nice fabric and the bodice is all right, but the skirt is amermaid train. I can’t walk in it. Sometime that night, I’m going to end up flat on my face. I just know it.”

Turning suddenly, Maggie clutched her arm. “You don’t hate me for being a bridesmaid, do you?”

“Of course not. It’s not like you can say no. Liam would kill you.” Peyton turned to Trick. “Are you going to be the best man?”

“No, Calen is. I told Liam I’d be the best man at his next wedding,” Trick said with a wicked grin.

“You did not!” Peyton almost smiled.

“I did,” he said. “But the only reason he didn’t punch my lights out is because I hid behind my pregnant wife. Thalia somehow convinced him that the real reason is she was afraid of going into labor, so I might not be able to fulfill my best man duties. The wedding is near enough to her due date for that excuse to work. She was obviously lying through her teeth, but she’s too pretty and pregnant for him to hassle just now, so he let it go.”

“Having a woman to hide behind suits you,” she remarked wanly, sipping her water.

A buzz sounded from Maggie’s phone. She lifted it to read the text displayed on the screen, but then promptly put it away.

“What’s that?” Could it be Caroline again? Had she found a suitable ‘background’ role for her?

“It’s just Jason. He thinks he can break away from the surveillance detail for us to go to dinner, but I’m going to text him not to. I told the chef to prepare your favorite meal, and then—”

Peyton held up a finger to interrupt. She took the phone to read Jason’s pleading message.

“Don’t even think about it. Your hot FBI agent husband, who’s been stuck in a van for weeks and weeks, apparentlyneedsto meet you for dinner and no doubt a quickie.”

Maggie laughed at her brother’s curdled-milk expression.

“Maybe it could be a double date?” Maggie suggested softly after a moment. “Ethan was so happy to see you. He’s been worried, too.”

“If Jason can get away, it’s because Ethan is covering for him,” Peyton pointed out. “I’ll catch up with Agent Thomas some other time. Now please get out of here so I can live vicariously through you.”

It took more poking and prodding, but Peyton was able to convince Maggie to join Jason for dinner. Once she was gone, Peyton looked at Trick, wishing he’d leave, too.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said, pointing the corkscrew at her. “I’m not going anywhere. Besides, my wife’s asleep. If she follows her new routine, she’ll be dead to the world for a few more hours.”

He sat next to her on the couch, shuffling a deck of cards he’d picked up from the table. “Wanna play twenty-one?”

“Well, I’ve got nothing better to do.”

“Ouch,” Trick said, putting his hand over his heart.

She flicked his nose. “Stop. I just mean I can’t even work. I don’t have a laptop anymore. All my stuff is still in California.”

“We can ship it out here.”

“No. I…I won’t be staying that long.”

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