Page 4 of In a Bind

Chapter Three

Raini

I'd worked veryhard at avoiding my sister. I'd gone to my room to change and after some quick greetings with people whose names I barely remembered, I found my brothers for a short conversation and hug. All without one glimpse of Mindy.

I'd managed to get through the back patio and out the gate to the path leading to the storage shed only to run into her coming out of the shed with Dad's business partner, Zane, in tow. He was carrying two foldable chairs under each arm while Mindy led the way, her arms completely free to point out the way back to the house.

She stopped with an angry fist on hip stance when she saw me. "Raini, there you are."

My gaze flitted past her scowl to the man behind her. I was sure I caught him gazing back for a second but then he pretended to be interested in the scenery. He had that cool dark copper coloring that was always so captivating, especially to an artist's eye. He had a light smattering of freckles on his face, but they were mostly camouflaged by the golden brown hue of his skin. The sunlight reflected off of his brown eyes that were flecked with hazel green. He would be fun to paint, I thought briefly, while girding myself for my sister's forthcoming lecture. In fact, with the way he looked in his tight t-shirt and swim trunks, it seemed he would be fun to paint in the nude. Preferably both of us, artist and model.

"Raini," Mindy's harsh tone snapped me out of my daydream, "did you hear me? You're a day late. I expected more help from you." She glared at the beach towel under my arm. "Where are you going?"

"I thought I'd take a swim."

"Good, then while you're at the pool area you can make sure that the guests have everything they need out there."

"I'm going to the swimming hole. Didn't you hire like fifty billion people to help out this weekend?"

"That's not the point. The guests expect to see us mingling."

"No, Mindy, that's only in your head. They've got great food and tons of booze. They could care less whether I'm sitting in on their dull conversations or not."

Zane, it seemed, decided it best to keep moving with his load of chairs and let the sisterly love happen in private. I ignored Mindy's wrath for a second and took the opportunity to get to know the sex toy seller a little better.

"Hey, burnt umber."

It took him a second to realize I was talking to him. He turned back with his unwieldy load of metal chairs.

"I'm going to take a bike ride to the swimming hole. Why don't you join me after you're through moving furniture."

A small gurgling sound came from behind, and I swung back to my sister. "Oh, wait, sorry, I didn't realize that something was going on here." I looked back and forth at each of them. "That explains why you have one of the guests carrying chairs around."

Mindy's face darkened. She couldn't seem to get the words out, which was unusual for her. I'd struck a nerve. She had struck one too. I never would have pictured the guy with long copper hair and that obvious bad boy eye twinkle as being her type. Guess I underestimated her taste.

"There's nothing happening, Raini. Zane is just helping me, which is more than I'm getting from my sister."

Zane took that as his cue to move on.

I looked back at Mindy. "Sorry, Min, I didn't know."

"There's nothing to know. Oh my God," she groaned, "why the heck did Mom think it necessary to have a fourth kid?" She hurried along to catch up to Zane.

I turned back down the path and headed into the shed to dig out a bicycle.

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