Page 33 of Some Like It Hott

“Oh,” he says. “Right.”

“You said you’d tell.”

“I didn’t technically say I’d tell?—”

“You implicitly agreed by saying you asked first and pushing me to tell you after we’d discussed the fact that it was only fair for you to tell if I told.”

“Whoaaaa,” he says, and holy shit, he’s definitely smiling. And it’s so…pretty. Eye crinkles and dimples and straight white teeth. Everything about him gets brighter, and?—

I want to do it again. I want to make him smile again.

“You ever thought about law?” he asks.

“Never once,” I say, and he does—he smiles, and we’re walking side by side, like maybe we’re friends or something.

“Don’t think I’m going to let you off the hook,” I warn.

He’s quiet, and I think he’s not going to tell me. And I wouldn’t be surprised. This is Preston, after all. He has not become a titan of New York finance by showing his cards.

“Kali,” he says abruptly. “My ex-wife. She asked me for a divorce about a year ago. She’d met someone else, and she wanted to—to see where it went.”

And holy shit. He told me something I know he hasn’t even told his family. Preston Hott doesn’t open up easily, and he’s given me something he’s been holding incredibly close to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly.

His gaze flicks over to me. There’s grief in it. He’s letting me see it. “You get it,” he says.

There are so many things I could say, but I settle on the only one that seems like it might help.

“I do.”

That’s it. That’s the whole conversation. Right then we reach the lodge, and he says he needs to check in about something at the front desk, and I head to the elevator.

But as we part ways, my chest is a whole village of warm fuzzies.

17

Natalie

“This is so fun!” Rachel tells me, sweeping an arm out to encompass all the festivities at the Wilder-Hott party, which includes not only Wilders and Hott and their significant others and kids, but also what appears to be hundreds of friends. “I can’t believe you guys put all this together in a week.”

“We have good partners,” I tell her, giving her an affectionate side hug. She hugs me back.

All the Wilders and Hotts are doing their demos for free today. When Hanna told me that, I got teary. Yes, technically Sonya and her staff work for Hanna, but Hanna says she offered them pay and they wouldn’t take it. Neither would Gabe, Rachel, or Brody, all of whom are volunteering today because they love Hanna and want her to succeed.

Yeah,Hanna said, her eyes suspiciously shiny, when I told her how amazing I thought that was.They’re pretty great.

Rachel’s demo is quiet for the moment. She’s hosting a wine tasting, and Brody is doing nature talks (reinterpreted for Hanna’s backyard), with a few of their staffers periodically relieving them so they can take breaks and experience the other activities. A short distance away, Sonya’s co-workers are hard at work: Brianna and Amelia are offering chair massages, a woman I was introduced to as Reggie is painting nails, and someone I haven’t yet met is teaching yoga.

Gabe Wilder, one of Hanna’s brothers-in-law, is teaching kids to boulder on an immense craggy rock with a thick pad below, and a sign directs partygoers down to the river if they’re interested in doing some paddleboarding with Easton. That’s been one of our biggest hits, along with horseback rides and lasso lessons.

Of course, Horace’s Portable Madhouse is an even bigger hit…

But Jell-O wrestling has had the longest line all afternoon.

I wander away from Rachel and sidle alongside Preston. “Told you so,” I tell him, because I can’t resist crowing. “Everyone loves Jell-O wrestling.”

He scowls at me, but I can see his heart’s not in it. He surveys what we created with something soft in his expression that makes me think he’s pleased.

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