Page 85 of Reckless

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Nope.”

“That woman is insane.”

“She most certainly is.” I paused for a moment. Then repeated my plan. “A tent in the garden. No cell phones.”

“You are going to ruin the grass.”

“I am sure Madison could foot up the bill for that inconvenience. Or better yet. She will organize the next wedding at your hotel. For free. How about that?”

“I have to follow my gut. My gut tells me, I would regret this.”

“People that socialize with my sister tend to experience regret at some point. She hooked up with her high school boyfriend at the bachelorette party. I won’t get into the details of what happened after that, but he compared her to a black widow. You know. They eat the male after mating.”

“What was the ex-boyfriend doing at the bachelorette party?”

“He lives in the gym. Women tip well. Apparently, my sister added another bonus.”

Parker laughed. I heard a tapping noise from his end.

“Tent in the garden,” he said. “You leave at ten, not twelve. No cell phones. No one goes anywhere near the private villas. No one wanders in the main building. Madison writes me a check for your two hundred guests stomping on my grass and she organizes the next wedding without me having to pay her a dime. And I want her to come over here and do everything by herself for your sister’s wedding. I’m not making my staff organize a last-minute wedding.”

“Sounds fair to me.”

“Will you be able to make her do it? She doesn’t sound like someone who will leave everything behind because you said so.”

“She will for this. Failure doesn’t exist in Madison’s world. She would rather die than let everyone know she messed this up. Do we have a deal?”

“Deal.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hannah

TylerandIwereflying back home for the third time in the past month and a half. It was the first time though that we sat next to each other, traveling together. Not together as a couple, I wasn’t that delusional, but together as two people who enjoyed spending time with one another.

He worked late at night, just like Nick had, but Tyler never behaved like he was entitled to the right to show up at my door in the middle of the night. Or like I had to twist my schedule to serve his. In fact, he never even texted in the middle of the night. He usually came to my apartment around seven and left by nine to go back to work. Sometimes I fixed us something to eat and sometimes he brought takeout. It looked like a real beginning of a relationship. Lots of sex, laughs and takeout in bed. He didn’t expect anything from me, and I tried my best not to expect anything from him.

We didn’t even have a game plan for the wedding. It felt unnecessary to come up with one, giving the fact we weren’t in a secret relationship. Although if I dared to call what we had a relationship, I would also have to say it was the best one I ever had.

The moment we boarded the plane on Friday morning and put our belts on, Tyler leaned back on his seat and closed his eyes.

“Are you tired?” I asked. A dumb question, considering he probably got three or four hours of sleep before the flight. A sly smile formed on his lips.

“Don’t worry, little Spencer. I don’t plan on sleeping.” He reached over and placed his hand on my knee. Then slowly slid it up my thigh. I was wearing jeans, so it wasn’t like he could get too wild.

“What do you plan on doing? Flirting with the flight attendant?” I asked with an innocent smile. He didn’t answer. His phone distracted him. I glanced at it. A message from Chloe. Seconds later a picture of her son appeared on Tyler’s screen.

It wasn’t news to me they had something going on between them, but it still surprised me how his entire expression and posture changed when he saw that picture. He stared at it for a few beats, then turned off his phone and tucked it back into his pocket.

“That’s Chloe’s son, right?”

“Yes.” His voice was firm and meant to show me that he didn’t like me asking about them. But I had to. At least once.

“Is he your son?”

He looked straight into my eyes and shook his head, pure horror on his face. Then he leaned as far away from me as possible and barely talked to me the entire flight back home.

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