Page 24 of The Wedding Hoax

“You’re supposed to be enjoying its rays. The warmth?” Simone’s mouth hung open in shock. “You’re talking like an alien right now.”

“Ugh. Beach people. Always so obsessed with your precious sun.” I pretended to hiss as I pulled sunscreen out of our bag, and Simone broke out into a laugh.

“Oh my God. You’re completely ridiculous.” She reached for the sunscreen and squeezed some into her palm.

She then held out her hand in front of me. “You want me to do the honors?”

“Yes. Please.” I didn’t hesitate, quickly pulling off my shirt. “When I try to do it myself, I always miss a few spots.”

“Well, this is one of the perks of being married. Complete sunscreen coverage.” Simone laughed again as she started to spread the sunscreen along my chest. Her cheeks turned red as she worked her way down my stomach, her fingers seeming to knead against my abs.

“You all right there? Or are you having flashbacks of last night?” I couldn’t help myself.

“Nope. Never even crossed my mind.” She handed me the bottle of sunscreen. “Your turn.”

Her face was stoic as I rubbed sunscreen all across her chest, taking extra time under and around her breasts. But her façade started to crumble when I ran my fingers across her stomach, letting them get dangerously close to the edges of her bikini.

“Let me get your back!” Her tone was frantic as she yanked the sunscreen out of my hand.

A few moments later, we were lying next to each other underneath the sun.

“Did you ever build sandcastles as a kid?” she asked as she turned to look over at me. “I know you weren’t much of a beach person but—”

“I supervised.”

“Supervised?”

“Sean would build them and I would make sure they were up to code.”

“That sounds like you had a little clipboard or something.”

“I did. And a little highlighter, too.” I grinned. “Our parents thought I was taking everything way too seriously, but Sean loved it. It made building sandcastles feel important.”

“That sounds like such a good memory.” Simone sighed. “It makes me wish I grew up with brothers or sisters. The closest thing I’ve ever had to anything like that is Taylor.”

“That might’ve been for the best. The sweet moments are great, but the rivalry? The fighting? It can be pretty extreme.”

“Is that why you and Sean aren’t close anymore?”

“Who says we aren’t close?” I chuckled again. “I think that’s just how it is when you’re brothers. There’s always going to be some underlying competition.”

“Especially when the family business is at stake.”

“Exactly.” I nodded. “How about you? Were you a sandcastle builder?”

“I supervised, too.” She smiled. “My dad was the expert sandcastler. I just handed him the right tools and made sure the tide didn’t ruin the whole thing. He made it feel like it was the most important thing in the world, being his right-hand girl.”

“That sounds like a pretty good memory to me.”

“It is.” Simone looked away from me, suddenly focused on the waves that were lapping at the beach’s shore. “How cold do you think the water is right now?”

“Probably pretty cold, but I have no intentions of finding out—”

“Let’s go!” Simone shouted as she grabbed my hand, forcing me off my blanket.

“Hey! Hey! What the hell?” I protested as Simone pulled me toward the water.

But the big grin on her face was like a spell on me, and I let her pull me in.

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