“Max must have loved that,” Jaslene says.
Shit.
The women around me and in the kitchen all snap their heads in my direction. In fact, I’m almost certain the combined force of their movements caused the rush of air that just breezed past me.
I blow out my cheeks and massage my temples. “It really wasn’t a big deal. We stayed the night and came back the next morning.”
“Glad it worked out, then,” Natalia says nonchalantly as she stands. “Well, since you and Jaslene are both here, do you think we could talk about some last-minute ideas for the wedding?” She motions with her googly eyes and exaggerated arms to the rooms upstairs. “Some of it has to do with what I’m wearing, so Paolo can’t be around for the discussion.”
I raise my face to the ceiling, well aware that she’s planning to fish for information about the trip to Virginia. Natalia is my closest cousin, but she’s also volatile and unpredictable. Plus, she’s the member of my family most likely to divulge decades-old family secrets when she’s tipsy, so it’s always wise to tread carefully around her. Jaslene, on the other hand, is discreet and never judges anyone except herself. Her presence alone will make Natalia less jumpy, so I’m glad she’s around.
I sigh. “Okay, let’s head up to your old bedroom.”
“Don’t take too long,” Tia Viviane calls out after us. “We’ll be eating soon.”
Natalia takes the steps by twos. Jaslene and I climb the stairs like well-adjusted adults operating at normal speed.
Inside the bedroom, Natalia jumps on her old bed, landing on her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. “Spill. And make it interesting.”
Jaslene sits in a desk chair and simply waits for me to talk. Before I can close the door, Rey slips inside and holds up the wall.
“I want to hear the gossip, too,” he says, waggling his brows.
I blow a raspberry at him and claim my spot next to Natalia’s head. There’s no magic to sharing what happened, so I just open my mouth and pray for the best. “Max and I went to Virginia to check out a wedding venue, my car battery died, there was no room at the inn, we bickered, a person who was running a couples retreat overheard us and invited us to participate in counseling, we accepted, faking that we were a couple so we could take the only available room, and then we had sex. That’s it. That’s what happened.” I gulp in air after spewing my verbal vomit. “Oh, we also might have agreed to continue seeing each other on a non-permanent basis. Questions?”
Rey rolls his eyes. “Straights make everything unnecessarily complicated. Good luck. Use condoms. I’m out.”
He saunters out the door and shuts it behind him. We resume our discussion as if Rey never entered the room.
“Exclusively?” Jaslene asks.
I shake my head. “What?”
Jaslene takes my hand. “Did you and Max agree to see each other on an exclusive non-permanent basis?”
I ponder this as they stare at me. Natalia, for her part, is disturbingly quiet.
Now that I think about it, Max and I didn’t really say all that much. It was enough to say what our relationship wouldn’t be rather than what it would. “We didn’t discuss exclusivity,” I say. “I guess I should talk to him about that.”
Natalia smirks at me, then says, “Unless there’s another brother, in which case you’ll want to keep your options open.”
I give her my active bitch face. “You know, I can arrange to have a swarm of bees released at the end of your ceremony.” I put out my hands as though I’m weighing options. “Butterflies. Bees. What’s the difference, really?”
Natalia sticks her tongue out at me. “Whatever. Don’t forget I’m paying you.”
“At a deep, deep discount, so don’t get too cocky,” I say. “You get what you pay for.”
I’m kidding, of course. Natalia’s getting the same treatment I give to my regular, paying clients. The benefit to me is that I get to say things to her I’d never say to anyone else, which is more than enough to justify the reduced rate on my services.
Jaslene scoots forward in the chair. “Lina, do you think the pitch next month will be affected by the fact that you and Max are doing”—she waves her hands in front of her—“whatever you two are doing?”
I raise a brow at her. “In a negative way, you mean?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. In any way, I guess.”
“If anything, I think it’ll help,” I tell her. “We were at odds from the beginning. I mean, I claimed I wasn’t going to cooperate from the outset. But now? Now we’re working together toward a common goal. That’s actually the easy part.”
“What’s the hard part?” Jaslene asks.
I sigh. “Making sure Max and I don’t get stupid and think this can be more than a fling.”
Jaslene frowns at me. “But why can’t it be? You and Andrew are no longer together, so what you and Max do is none of his business.”
She’s not wrong. Andrew and I parted ways a long time ago, and it was his choice, not mine. My current relationship shouldn’t be any of his concern. Still, I’m not coming between two brothers whose relationship is already strained. Plus, I’d never sign myself up for a lifetime of needing to interact with my former fiancé. It would be so awkward—for Max especially. And his parents? My God, what would they say about all this?
Natalia expels a dramatic breath. “Goodness, could you imagine what dinners with your in-laws would be like?”
“Exactly,” I say. “And even if Max weren’t Andrew’s brother, he’d still be too . . . everything. I’m off-balance when I’m around him. Prone to say and do things I usually never do. He’s just not the man I envision spending my life with.”
Jaslene narrows her eyes. “You don’t want Andrew, but you want someone like him, right?”
“Now you’re getting it,” I tell Jaslene. “I need someone as far from provocative as I can possibly get. Anyway, I’m not sure why this conversation went as far afield as it did.”
“I know why,” Jaslene says with a secret smile.
“Look at you,” Natalia says to Jaslene. “Sittin’ there like some oracle and shit.”
I stick my hand out and bob my head. “Well, care to share?”
Playing the role Natalia’s cast her in, Jaslene straightens and waves her hands around, adopting a majestic voice. “Because despite all the reasons you and Max shouldn’t be together, you yourself admitted that limiting your relationship to a fling would be—and I quote—the ‘hard part.’ What does it tell you when you already need to be reminded of that fact?”
Natalia tilts her head and nods. “She has a point.”
I jump up and smooth my hands down the front of my pants. “It tells me I’m a careful person, that’s all. You should expect that from me by now. So, I bet it’s time to eat. Ready to head back down?”
Natalia and Jaslene grin at each other even though I don’t recall saying anything amusing.
* * *
The front doorbell rings just as we’re getting ready to dig into dinner. Rey returns with Marcelo in tow, and our family friend takes the empty seat next to Tia Viviane. He nudges her with his shoulder and she winks at him. Yeah, I’m certain those two have seen each other naked.