Page 47 of Sweet Love at Bayside
“Oh, I love breaking rules,” Serena said.
Desiree introduced the three of them, then popped inside to check on the customers. When she came back out, Mira had a troubled look in her eyes.
“I’m a mother,” Mira said. “Breaking rules isn’t really my thing.”
Violet scoffed. “Are you kidding? Naughty mommies are the bomb.” She eyed Serena. “I think it’s time we dare these girls into finding their inner badass.”
“We’re going to get alongsowell.” Serena rubbed her palms together. “We could dare them to get arrested.”
Mira and Desiree said, “No,” in unison.
“No arrests,” Violet said, and Desiree breathed a sigh of relief. “Something simple but different for them. Crotchless underwear.”
“Yes! Crotchless!” Serena squealed. “At Rick’s goodbye party in two weeks. That’s the perfect send-off for two lovers. But you have to come, Violet.”
Desiree felt like she’d been body-slammed.Rick’s goodbye party.How could they already be planning to say goodbye when she felt like they’d just found each other? She crossed her arms against the longing taking hold and forced herself to focus on the thought of wearing crotchless panties around Rick and how thrilling it would be.For both of us.She imagined letting it “slip” that she was wearing them and Rick being unable to control himself. A thrum of excitement rushed through her, pushing the longing to the side. Oh yeah, she would wear those panties for him.
“Think I’d miss seeing my sister squirming like a schoolmarm in those sexed-up panties?” Violet shook her head. “No way.”
Feigning her best annoyed expression to cover her newfound riskiness, Desiree said, “YouknowRick has spent the night all week.” She lifted her chin and said, “I am perfectly capable of owning my inner bad girlwithouta dare.”
“You can’t even say badass,” Violet pointed out.
“I don’t have to be trash-mouthed to be a bad…girl.”
“I can say ‘badass,’ but I can’t go crotchless at a bonfire,” Mira said. “My son, Hagen, will be with me.”
“Is he looking up your shorts?” Violet asked.
“Well, no, but still…” Mira’s voice trailed off.
“Mira!” Serena waggled her brows. “Think of the payoff afterward. I want to do it, and I don’t even have a man!”
Desiree was imagining all the ways she could taunt Rick. He’d lose his flipping mind! But she wasn’t going tobeton their sex life. Instead, she decided to turn it around on Violet. “I don’t need a dare.”
Violet’s eyes widened in surprise.
“I’m going to do it anyway, but I’m not tellingyouwhen,” Desiree added. “That’s private. But…since I’m going to do it anyway, you have to stick to a schedule for a week. Seven solid days of showing up on time to a fair and equitable work schedule.”
Violet rolled her eyes.
“What’s the matter?” Desiree taunted. “Not badassenough to handle it?”
RICK PUSHED TO his feet, wiped the sweat from his brow, and gazed down at the beach, where Matt and Hagen were busy creating another elaborate sandcastle. Matt had been a professor at Princeton before getting a major publishing contract and falling in love with Mira. He’d chosen to write full-time and remain at the Cape, rather than going back to teaching. Every time Rick saw how happy their family was, he thought about how much his father had missed out on. But today he turned those thoughts on himself. He’d spent more than an hour on the phone with his partners earlier. The battle between them had become so contentious, Rick found himself wondering why he was fighting so hard to go back. He’d invested well, and had more than enough money to live on. But he’d built his business from the ground up, and walking away would mean leaving a piece of himself behind. A big piece. The successful, prove-he-could-do-it-for-his-father piece.
“What do you think?” Drake called out to him.
It took a moment for Rick to realize Drake was talking about the patio they’d been working on for the past two days. His eyes swept over the earth-toned stones covering the width of the recreation building and spilling out in a wavy pattern toward the beach with a built-in fire pit on the far right. He imagined playing his guitar and sitting by the fire with Desiree on a cold winter night. Maybe they could swing up for the holidays together.
“We did a heck of a job,” he answered.
“Dad would have loved this.” Drake pointed to the fire pit. “Can’t you see him sitting over there with one arm around Mom, telling some story about his days as a fighter pilot?”
Rick laughed, remembering his father’s penchant for embellishing. “The man could lie like a rug.”
Drake motioned in the direction of Matt and Hagen. “I’m glad Hagen’s got Matt. Mira’s a wonderful mother, but there’s a difference between a father and mother, and their relationship with sons.”
“Single parents bring up kids all the time. Look at us.”
