Page 44 of Kiss Me, Darling

I shrugged. “You should have called my bet if you wanted to know.”

London laughed hard and Erik’s eyes popped open. “She’s right.”

Scott scowled. “You didn’t have it.”

“Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t.”

He shook his head. “What’s happening here? Has Calusa Key changed you?”

“It changed you, so maybe it changed me, too.” I definitely felt freer to try new things. I wasn’t sure if it was the island itself or the changes between us, but I liked it.

We paused the games for more snacks and to move everyone left to one table. Halfway through the move someone came to the door.

And that someone was the surprise guest. At least I assumed so based on his resemblance to Erik and the horrified look on Berlin’s face.

“Hey man!” Erik jumped up from the table. The brothers shook hands and hugged loudly.

I never understood the whole back thumping thing. Didn’t it hurt?

Anyway, Zoe also ran over for a hug. Meanwhile all the color drained out of Berlin’s face and London hovered nearby looking a lot like she was ready to block an exit if Berlin tried to run.

Then Jack waved at the room and froze, hand in the air, as his eyes fell on Berlin. Then the color drained out ofhisface.

And all of us stood around awkwardly watching it all happen.

He blinked and blinked. She was frozen, jaw hanging wide open.

I had a bad case of second hand embarrassment that was bordering on crippling when London leapt into action. “Jack! It’s been ages! I’m so happy to see you!”

She hugged him, but he remained very still.

She bit her lip. “So this is awkward. Maybe we should let you two catch up?”

Berlin went full-on fury. “You did this on purpose.” She stood up so fast the chair went flying. “Hi Jack. Bye Jack.” She waved and then started for the back door.

London went into a panic. “Don’t leave!” She ran after her sister, who spared no words in letting her sister know exactly how she felt.

Jack still didn’t move. And then he bolted out the front door after Berlin.

We could hear him shouting for her to stop, and then after that, they were out of earshot.

“Well that was awkward as fuck,” Chris said. “What the hell just happened?”

Erik shook his head, looking at Ben. “London set this up, didn’t she?”

Ben nodded. “She sees it as returning the favor. Berlin, Paris, their mom, and Grams set us up with the house renovation.”

This all made so much more sense now. London’s family made sure Ben was on tap to renovate Gram’s house in the hope it would reunite the childhood sweethearts. Since it did, indeed, work out well, London must have thought it was worth trying the same tactic on Berlin.

Only this was a very different situation.

Erik groaned. “I give her points for good intentions but this is going to be ugly.” His gaze locked with Zoe’s. “It’s probably going to be a long night.”

Speaking of which, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to have another sleepover at London and Ben’s. So I tugged on Scott’s arm until he bent down enough for me to whisper in his ear. “Can we sleep next door tonight?”

He nodded quickly. “Hell yeah. I don’t want to be anywhere near London tonight.”

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