Page 258 of Under Her Skin
‘Jessica Wood, you are a nymphomaniac. No, we haven’t, we’re just dating fornow.’
‘Will he be your plusone?’
‘To thewedding?’
‘No to the circus. Of course to thewedding.’
She rolled her eyes at Jess’s wide grin. ‘You are a pain in the butt, girl. I don’t know. I mean, I enjoy Clem’s companybut…’
‘His name is Clem?’ There was a catch in Jess’s voice and Amelia’s eyebrows shotup.
‘Problem?’
Jess shook her head. ‘Sorry, it’s just, it reminded me, Clement is Jules’ middlename.’
Amelia patted her hand. ‘And about a million other men’s first name. Anyway, Clem is a blue-eyedblonde.’
‘Does he live on theisland?’
Amelia nodded. ‘I actually ran into him a few weeks ago, the day we went to the farmer’s market. I had hoped to introduce you but he said he had togo.’
‘Nexttime.’
Amelia droppedJess off at home and she walked through the house, looking for Theo. He was in the garden playing with the dogs. Jess stood at the French windows watching them, smiling. Dressed in a simple vintage tee and jeans, Theo looked like a catalog model but acted like a kid, teasing the two barking dogs, throwing their toys for them tofetch.
Oh, you are my love, she thought, watching his athletic body as he twisted and ran with the animals. He looked up and saw her, and the biggest smile stretched across his face, it made her weak. He jogged over to her and kissed herhello.
‘So much for spending the morning working,’ she grinned at him. He shrugged good-naturedly.
‘What’s the use of being the big boss unless you can blow off work once in awhile?’
He followed her inside, watched as she grabbed a pitcher of cold lemonade from the chiller. She smiled at him, pulling an errant leaf from hishair.
‘Big kid. Talking of which, your mom has a newboyfriend.’
Theo nodded. ‘She toldme.’
‘And you didn’t mentionhim?’
Theo shrugged, pulling her to him. ‘Seen it all before. I wouldn’t say my mom’s mercenary about her love life but she’s not interested in candy and flowers. Very few people make the cut after the thirddate.’
‘She seems pretty keen. Even mentioned doubledating.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘God, please no.’ Jesslaughed.
‘I thinks she was kidding.Anyway…’
‘Anyway?’
She slipped her arms around his waist and relaxed against his hard body. ‘I’m actually reallytired.’
‘You sick?’ His hand went automatically to her forehead but she shook herhead.
‘Nope, just tired. I think everything is catching up withme.’
He stroked his big hands down her back. ‘Wanna gonap?’
Upstairs, she changed into her sweats and curled up on the bed. It wasn’t more than a few minutes later when Theo and the dogs were snuggled up with her and she smiled to herself. This right here is all that matters. Theirfamily.
