Page 44 of Enemy Daddy Next Door

So I can get to know every single part of her. From the hollows of her heart to those of her body.

I’m determined to make her mine as much as I’m determined to be hers.

“Can you help?! I’m stuck!” Jessica cries out, waving her hand.

“Guess I was too optimistic with those fifteen minutes, huh?” Amy says and starts to get to her feet. “Shall we?”

I smile. “Definitely.”

We spend the rest of the afternoon crafting a sandcastle and splashing in the tide. I try not to stare at Amy’s beautiful, bikini-clad body. However, it’s her smiles that encapsulate my heart. Yes. Plural. One she keeps for herself, one for Jessica, and one for me.

I need that smile as long as she’ll let me have it.

13

AMY

It’s a perfect August night for a barbecue. The backyard is teeming with people. Old friends and new have come out for my twenty-fifth birthday party. All my sisters, their friends and partners, Dad’s friends old and new. Even Victoria Neville, Grant’s sister and world famous supermodel, has managed to slink in although conspicuousness is not really her strong suit. She’s poised under a lacy parasol, big sunglasses over her eyes that make her look like a bug.

Of course, the one person that matters, or should I say the two, have yet to make their entrance.

I’ve been seeing Hunter (and Jessica) for nearly a month now. And somehow, he keeps surprising me in the best ways. Though we are accompanied by Jessica on most of our dates (okay, all) I feel closer to him than ever. We have gone to dinner, the movies, walks, mini golf, hikes; the list is endless. Ever since our first beach date, he’s made time for me.

And Jessica has been a good buffer. Apart from being such a dear, precious child, she has assured me that Hunter isn’t just in this for my body.

He wants more.

And, almost perversely, that’s made me want more from him.

From the longing gazes over bonfires in his backyard while we make s’mores with Jess (while my family was out, of course) to the subtle brush of his hand or stolen kisses while Jessica isn’t looking, my body has sunk further and further into desperate need for him.

And tonight, on the night of my twenty-fifth birthday, I think I’m ready for more.

If he’d only show up, that is.

“I’d like to make a toast!” my dad shouts out over the din of people chatting and music bumping.

I immediately flush. “Dammit, Dad.”

Dana laughs and pats my back. “Honey, it’s tradition.”

Dad loves toasts. He makes them at every birthday or family event. I, on the other hand, hate them. He always manages to embarrass me.

My sisters crowd around me as we watch Dad try to gain the attention of the crowd, though he’s flustered.

Victoria, who is only a few feet from him, sticks her fingers between her lips and whistles. “Hey! Attention, people!”

Of course she’s able to hypnotize an entire room with her beauty. That settles the crowd down quick.

Dad flushes. “Thank you, Victoria.” He clears his throat and then begins. “Thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate the twenty-fifth birthday of my youngest, Amy.”

If it weren’t for my sisters holding me up by the elbows, I’d sink into the earth from embarrassment. Don’t know why I don’t mind having a crowd of kids listen to me reading, but when it comes to adults looking at me, I’m flustered.

“Well, I’ll make it short and sweet so we can all get back to celebrating,” Dad says. “Amy, I remember the day you were born –”

“—Like it was yesterday,” my sisters all say in unison.

Dad looks surprised as if we don’t do this every frickin’ time. “I got to start coming up with new speeches, huh?”

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