Page 164 of Distant Shores
If she felt the same. Even a fraction of the same.
He was silent for several long seconds before he smiled.
“Good, Addy. That’s real good.”
42
IRELAND
Empty boxes were strewn around the kitchen counter, grease stains on the cardboard the only sign the pizza had ever existed.
If you didn’t count the four of us sitting around the table, groaning at how full we were.
Cole recovered first, springing to his feet and saying something about finding a sweet before working on finishing the photos.
I shot a disbelieving look at Adair, who just shrugged.
“I need to shower,” Delly said with a yawn. “I still smell like hairspray and Miss Lenny’s perfume.”
She offered me a high-five on the way out, and I took it, only feeling a little weird about it.
I guessed it was better than patting her.
“Hey,” Adair said quietly once it was just us.
He was sitting across from me at the table, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed in front of him, and smiling like…
Like he knew something I didn’t.
“What?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
His expression smoothed to a blank canvas, which was even more suspicious. “What, what?”
Cole dropped his laptop on the table between us, but I kept my gaze on Adair for a few more seconds.
Hmm.
“Guys, we have a problem,” Cole announced, plopping into the chair. “I need to edit out Lenora’s nipples. They’re… robust.”
“Why?” I asked dryly. “Those will get her the most dance card bids.”
“Because,dear Ireland,” Cole started, clicking on his laptop before turning it toward me, “I don’t wanna be complicit in whatever the name ofthiscrime is.”
He scrolled through photo after photo of Miss Lenny, and the sight was somehow even more shocking than it’d been in person.
Miss Lenny in a sheer button up that was slid down her upper arms, smiling coyly over her shoulder. Miss Lenny in the same pose… facing forward.
“Oh, how about that one?” I asked after several more. “Reggie is mostly covering her boobs. You’d only have to camouflage the one nipple.”
I glanced up at Adair, who couldn’t see the screen from where he was sitting. “Wanna come over here and offer an opinion?”
“I do not.” He pointed to the empty chair beside him and set his foot on it. “I’m busy resting my ankle.”
Cole laughed and copied the photo of Reggie, the senior Jack Russel, and Miss Lenny to a new folder. “One crisis down.”
“You’re gonna stay up all night doing that, aren’t you?” Adair asked.
“You know it, babe. It’ll haunt me until it’s done, and Miss Arizona is counting on me. As is her dashing nephewand maybe even his scary boyfriend too. It’s all very motivating.”
