Page 126 of Square Deal

So did the sugary concoction Maddie sent up to our table for dessert.

I loved when she let me be a guinea pig. The woman was a kitchen witch. There had to be some serious sorcery happening behind the scenes to make food taste that good.

I waited until Isaac popped the last bite of milk chocolate mousse, passionfruit coulis, and pink peppercorn ganache in his mouth to present my case.

“So, I kind of have a favor to ask,” I began.

He raised his eyebrows expectantly. He probably thought I was going to ask to borrow his plane. Or yacht. Or his Amex Centurion Card.Yeah, those actually existed.

No—it was worse.Much, much, much worse.

“I need a date for my brother’s engagement party.” I cringed.

His expression was unbothered. “Okay.”

“Okay? Just like that?” He was actually cool with meeting the bane of my existence—my mother—and seeing the rest of my dysfunctional family?

Isaac shrugged and settled back in his seat. “Yeah. I mean, I’d be pretty pissed if you went with someone else, considering we’re a thing. Just tell me when and where.”

I liked that he told me to give him the details. Whenever we were together, and he took a business call, he always told the person on the other end to relay the details to Spenser. But for me, he played an active role in integrating our lives. Never once had he told me to callhis people.

“You sure you’re up for it? The meeting of the family, the dealing with Satan in a satin dress?” I questioned. “I can always say you’re in Bali. Or Mali. Or Dubai. Or Australia. Or Siberia. Wherever in the world is farthest away from North Carolina.”

Isaac placed his hand over mine and stroked my balled-up fist with his thumb. “Hannah.”

“Yeah?”

“I would like to meet your family. I will be a perfect gentleman, and I will tell your mother off any chance I get.”

A laugh ripped out of my throat and broke free. “Alright then. Deal. It’s a date.”

30

ISAAC

It was the weekend of Hannah’s brother’s engagement party. The planets must have aligned or or some mumbo jumbo like that, because it was a Thursday and every single person in the poker club had the day off work.

I had padded my travel schedule to include an extra day with Hannah on the front end of the trip. That way we could spend time together before things inevitably went to shit when I met her bitch of a mother.

That meant I was wrangled into attending beach day.

Beach day with the poker club was—well—quaint.

I offered to have my yacht brought down, but Hannah rolled her eyes, made a Richie Rich joke, and said I would have to do as the locals did.

Apparently, beach day used to include taking Maddie’s houseboat out for a joyride, but it had been the unfortunate victim of arson.

Thank god. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do less than take a rickety houseboat out into open water.

To my surprise, beach day was significantly more fun than ayacht party full of stuffy people who had no interest in getting their designer duds wrinkled, much less actually docking and jumping in the water.

Being the planner that she was, Hannah Jane oversaw the schedule and packing lists, while Maddie and Luca brought coolers upon coolers of provisions.

We loaded up Chase’s truck before the sun was up and drove out to Pine Knoll Shores. It was all hands on deck to haul the coolers, tents, and beach bags over the dunes to the beach. That didn’t even touch the daycare’s worth of baby gear Steve and Erica brought along for Aly.

I could admit that she was adorable. I still wasn’t holding her, though.

So, there I was, in a pair of clearance rack swim trunks and three-dollar flip flops. I had practically bathed in sunscreen. My feet burned in the blistering sand, but I wasn’t complaining. Not when Hannah was ten feet away in a strappy purple bikini that left nothing to the imagination.

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