Page 10 of Mr. Dangerous

“Naomi Anne.” My voice came out sterner than I meant, but it made her stop in the doorwayandturn.

She came back to the island, hesitated, but then blurted out, "I'm trying to do a fundraiser for my kitten rescue. It's the season where we have a lot of expenses and so I've been organizing this clambake on the beach. Low key. Beer. Music. But the venue I'd booked on the beach backed out in favor of a paying gig, and they were my catering plan too, so it's abigmess."

"A clambake? If you're going to go through the trouble of putting on an event, why not something a little more high-end? Higher donationperhead?"

She crossed her arms, her chin thrusting slightly. "So you're an expert on fundraisersnowtoo?"

Yes, that's what rich people do. They convince other rich people to give their money away." I thought, involuntarily, of Mitch, and one of his little Mitch-isms that made you wonder if he really was that big a bastard or if he was just playing up the part:the rich don't stay rich through theirgenerosity,son.

"Alice would say I should take lessonsfromyou."

"Alice?"

"My sister. Really? I remember the names of your fifteen brothers and you don't remember Alice? She used to come over here sometimes when she was sick and sleep in one of the guest rooms while Mom cleaned until we were old enough to stay homealone."

"Really? I don't remember that. That'sawful."

"Yeah," she said. "It was. So I don't know the high-faluting way to run a fundraiser, sorry. I'm just going to do it my way. Lowkey.Fun."

"You should listen to yoursister.”

"Do you rememberhername?"

"Alice. You justsaidit."

"I thought you might have forgotten itbynow."

"Nah. There's no forgetting the Papadopolousgirls."

She popped her hands onto her hips. "You mispronounced mylastname."

"Say it forme,then."

"Pa. Pa. Do. Po. Lous." She enunciated it strongly; it sounded exactly like what I'djustsaid.

"Yeah, easy." If she wanted to pick at me, I could playalong.

"Really? That’s tough? You speak Arabic,don'tyou?"

"Among otherlanguages."

"What otherlanguages?"

"A little French, a littleSwiss."

"Of course,"shesaid.

"What do you mean, ofcourse?"

"You're so all-around James Bond-y. I'm sure the girls swoon for you, big muscles and those tailored clothes anda littleFrench."

She was leaving out the money, but that was certainly a factor in why some of the girls swooned. I thought Naomi was the opposite, though; my money was always a problem, even when we went to the same highschool.

I leaned towards her and murmured huskily,"Vouzsemblezamer."

"What doesthatmean?"

It meantyou seem bitter, but suddenly I didn't want to push Naomi that far. She was looking up at me with those big hazel eyes. She probably had her own reasons for feeling that way. Plenty of people had reasons to hate the Delaneyfamily.

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