Page 65 of The Suit

I didn’t know what that meant but over his shoulder the blonde one coughed into his coffee.

“Pennington, put her down. Now,” ordered Rafe, and he did, but he kept hold of my hand and dragged me over to where they were all standing, to where Rafe reached out and I was pulled once more, this time into his side against the heat of his still naked torso.

I’d never been touched so much in my life.

“Holmes, please excuse Penn; he tends to act out when he’s hungover.” Rafe looked over to him. “Why are you so hungover anyway?”

“I’m not hungover, I just haven’t slept. Sienna kept me up all night,” he added with a leer that was much more fitting of a cartoon villain.

So sunglasses was Penn, which made the blonde still staring at me in bemusement, Murray. I was right when I said they were set apart from the rest – up close, the three of them together really were extraordinarily good looking. Had they looked this good at school? I’d never been near enough to find out. For the first time ever, I questioned what I’d actuallybeendoing with my time there, and where it had gotten me.

I smiled, unsure of what else to do and suddenly desperate to make a good impression, anything other than the sort of person whose face belongs on a dart board.

“I apologize for crashing your weekend, but Rafe won’t let me leave.”

Now it was Rafe’s turn to be the recipient of bemused expressions as they turned to him but he simply shrugged.

“Damn right. She’s coming tomorrow too.”

I frowned slightly, seeing as this was the first I’d heard of it, “What’s tomorrow?”

Penn lifted his sunglasses to reveal the eyes of someone who was way chirpier than he should be considering he looked painfully hungover, even if they did light up like the Fourth of July fireworks. “Oh Holmes, it’ll only be the greatest experience of your life. Tell me, have you ever been to a baseball game?”

Murray and Rafe both smirked, giving me the impression I was on the outside of a joke.

“Only to take clients.”

“And have you ever been to the Yankees?”

I shook my head, unsure what I was really answering; especially with the way Murray and Rafe were now openly snickering it felt like much more of a loaded question than it was on paper.

Rafe stepped out and smacked Penn on the head. “Leave her alone.”

“No chance. I have a new member to enroll into the world of baseball.”

Murray snorted but didn’t offer anything further, and I was certain Penn was about to commence his first lesson on baseball, whether I wanted him to or not. Then I realized someone was missing just as she walked in.

“Kit…” Penn grinned at her, “come and meet Beulah…”

I turned to see a young woman with the type of warm, open face you wanted to tell all your secrets to, and nothing like what I’d seen from a distance when I’d watched her step off the helicopter. Her hair was tied back, her skin fresh and totally devoid of make up, giving her a glow that teenage girls spent hours trying to achieve.

Murray pulled her over to his side and I couldn’t decide if it was because he couldn’t bear to not be touching her, or to keep her away from me. He failed on both counts when she became the second member of this exclusive little group to pull me into the type of hug I’d missed most of my life.

“Beulah, it’s so great to meet you! I must apologize as I didn’t realize you’d be here, or I would have been in contact during the week so we could plan things. I’m delighted there’s another girl here to keep me company when these three get into their stride, and we’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other seeing as they’ve kept you a secret.”

She let go and stepped back, Murray staking claim again as he softly planted a kiss on her head.

Growing up with no parents, raised exclusively by a sibling for the first part of childhood tends to make a person wary of meeting new people, and yet with her wide, truly genuine smile, she immediately put me at ease.

I liked her so much that it relaxed me with the boys.

“I wouldn’t worry; I’d imagine anything you might have heard probably wouldn’t have been that complimentary.”

Murray smirked then looked over at Rafe. “You’re right about this one. I think I do like her.”

And that was all he said.

“I love your dress,” Kit continued, as though Murray hadn’t spoken.

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