Page 111 of Undeniably Enemies

I shake my head. “No. You’ve never been funny.”

“I have my moments. And I’m probably more sarcastic than funny.”

True. He might have always been sarcastic. But this is a different man.

“I told you I’m happy. Get used to it. It’s a new look on me.”

“I’m not sure I like it.”

He tosses his arm around my shoulder and brings me into his side so he can whisper in my ear, his hot breath automatically making me shudder. “Yes, you do. You like it a lot.”

Fine. I might like it. I might like it a lot.

Sundays at my grandparents’compound look like what most people would consider a family reunion. Most of my uncles and aunts are here, along with several of my cousins and closest friends. Football is on in the media room—Mason is playing in Cleveland—and a Disney movie is on in one of the lounges for Rory and Willow for when they’re not splashing around in the indoor pool. There’s a roaring fire blazing in the library along with some card tables and bourbon—that’s where my grandfather is parked. And the solarium is set up with a full spread of food and a full bar.

“When you said bring a few others with us, this isn’t what I thought you meant,” Jack murmurs, making me laugh.

“I didn’t do this. The Fritz women did this. Well, them and Katy, but she’s essentially a Fritz woman even if not by blood.”

I think much of this has to do with the fact that my grandmother not only fell but had surgery, and even though she likes to play the role of the elderly spry woman, it gave us all a scare.Octavia Abbot-Fritz is immortal—we like to imagine her that way—and when she challenges us on that, we don’t like it.

“At least now we don’t have to worry about anyone looking at us too closely.”

I hold up my espresso martini to him. “I’ll drink to that.”

“Me too.” He taps my glass and takes a sip of his beer. “But you know, I don’t feel right—” He gets cut off when my brother comes over and claps him on the shoulder.

“What are your plans for Friday?” he asks Jack.

“Uh, I don’t know. It’s only Sunday.”

“Good. So you don’t have any. That means you can meet the woman Alden wants to set you up with.”

It takes everything in me not to choke on my sip of martini and swallow it down. As it is, the alcohol burns, and I scowl stupidly. Jack is looking right at me as he answers. He’s not even trying to hide it.

“I already told you guys I’m not interested in meeting her.”

“As I recall, you said you’d think about it. Or something like that,” Alden jumps in.

“That was a few weeks ago. I’ve thought about it, and I’m not interested.”

Keegan slurps down the rest of her drink and sits on the edge of the sofa beside me. “Want another, or do you think it’s too much booze for a Sunday afternoon?”

“I definitely want another,” I tell her. You know, since my brother is trying to set up my boyfriend with another woman because he doesn’t know he’s my boyfriend. “Bring on all the booze.”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re still nervous about tomorrow,” Katy says on my other side, and now we’re surrounded. Bennett and Alden continue trying to get Jack to date this mystery girl I’m trying hard not to hate on principle.

“Jack, I’m telling you, she’s all fucking hot curves,” Alden exclaims. “You’ll love her.”

Vomit.

“You’re an ass. Who still talks that way about women?”

This is why I love Katy.

“She has a point. I would have thought you’d talk about her other attributes like her brain or sense of humor.”

“I did. None of you were listening to that part. All you heard was me talk about her curves. But you’re stacked like that,” Alden defends to Keegan. “And you have brains and a sense of humor. You’re the full package like this woman is, which is why I think Jack will like her.”

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