“I almost lost it when that barmaid came back with our drinks and Braden dove under the table,” Cam said, sitting down across from Jess and biting into a ginormous sandwich.

“I was picking up a coaster!” Braden said defensively. “And avoiding any interaction that might have made Gabrielle unhappy.” He brought over a pitcher of fresh lemonade for us to share and settled down in a chair next to me.

“You were down there so long I thought you were involved in an interaction that would have made her very happy,” Adam joked. I felt myself blush thinking about how happy he made me down on his knees later that night.

“There’s an idea for one of your novels,” I said to Lily. “The hero disappears under the table at a club to hide from somebody and does naughty things to the heroine while he’s down there.”

“That doesn’t sound like a scene from a legal thriller,” Braden said suspiciously.

“Yeah, what was that Derek was saying last night? That he likes your books because women find them stimulating?” Drew asked Lily. “I can’t see the chicks he hangs out with being John Grisham fans.” He gave her an amused but intrigued smile.

“She also writes romance novels, erotic ones,” I explained, snapping out the lustful fantasies I had just been having about Braden doing naughty things to me secretly.

“You’re kidding!” Adam said, looking like he didn’t believe it.

“Her books are very popular!” Jess said. “She’s developing quite a following.”

“Romance novels? Yeah, probably with sad lonely women who want to dream about Fabio sweeping them off their feet,” Adam joked.

“Fabio? What decade are you living in?” I asked scornfully. “Lily’s books are seriously hot. Girlfriend here writes mommy porn.” I fanned myself as a visual aid.

“They’re not that steamy,” Lily said dismissively, laughing and rolling her eyes.

“Are you kidding? You need potholders to read them.” Jess laughed. I noticed that Cam was giving Jess some very interested looks. He seemed to like her literary side and I had a feeling that he might want to form a little book club of two.

“Derek likes them,” I added, giving Lily a significant look. “That should tell you something.”

“That scene in the last one with that you know …” Jess began, and she actually blushed. Cam was starting to look a little flushed himself. I was pretty sure that Lily had a future fan in him, as long as he could read her books with Jess.

“I know exactly which one you mean!” I laughed. “I never really thought that was sexy until I read that scene! Now, I might want to try that myself.”

“Wait! Try what?” Braden asked, suddenly looking extremely interested. “Maybe I need to check this out,” he said, taking out his phone. Actually, she might have a whole fan club!

“You won’t find them online under my real name. I write those books under a pen name. One that my friends won’t disclose!” Lily said, giving Jess and I a threatening look.

“Oh come on!” Cam said with a laugh. “You girls can’t say all that stuff and then tell us we can’t read it ourselves!”

“Yeah!” Braden agreed. “That’s not fair.”

“How hot could they really be?” Adam scoffed, rolling his eyes. “How do you research your naughty books, Scheherazade?” he asked with a sarcastic smile.

“Why?” she asked, glaring at him.

“Just curious. After all, you write books about lawyers even though you’ve never practiced law. I assume that you haven’t done all of these sexy things you supposedly write about either. How do you even know you’re getting it right then?” he asked, holding her gaze.

“Why are you so fascinated?” I asked.

“Maybe he wants to help her with her research,” Jess teased.

“At least then her knowledge would be authentic,” he said in a slightly seductive tone, never taking his eyes off of Lily. Jess and I shared a surprised look and I noticed that Mark and Braden did too. Was he teasing her or was he actually flirting? I had a feeling he might not know himself.

“What makes you think it’s not authentic now?” she asked, fixing him with a steady gaze. That stopped him. The two of them shared a look that was seriously charged and he looked away first! Wow. If they ever got together I had a feeling it would be explosive. Jess and Cam broke the tension when they started joking around about all of our attempts to thwart Derek.

“I loved it when Drew and Mark got all defensive and started trying to be as heterosexual as possible,” Jess said with a laugh.

“You know it’s funny, but I don’t recall ever discussing condoms with my male friends,” Cam joked and Drew sunk down in his chair and covered his eyes.

“Yeah, well I didn’t love it when I looked over at Derek when we were dancing and he thought I was checking him out! I wanted to run and hide,” I said, feeling mortified.

“What in the Hell was that dance you were doing with him, Gabrielle?!” Jess asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

“It wasn’t a dance!” I said emphatically. “I slipped and my foot flew out from under me and shot into the air. I lost my balance and fell backward.”

“The next time you go out you might want to wear, uh, more layers,” Lily said tactfully.

“That high kick didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination,” Jess added.

“Oh my God,” Braden said, burying his face in his hands.

“Oh shit,” Drew said with a laugh and winced. Adam and Mark completely lost it. To his credit, Cameron managed to contain himself, although I could see that it was difficult.

“Thanks for sharing, girls,” I said in a deadly tone of voice, feeling my face turn Harvard crimson and accidentally stabbing my hand with a fork. Luckily, it didn’t break the skin.

“Braden didn’t love seeing crazy stalker girl again,” Adam noted, wiping tears from his eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she were the one who was following you.”

“No, the guy following me didn’t have boobs like watermelons,” I pointed out.

“Are you really sure there’s somebody following you?” Mark asked. “I mean, you saw somebody outside in a crowd at night who may have been looking at you and you saw somebody for a couple of seconds on a busy sidewalk. Other than that it’s just weird feelings you’ve been having. And there’s a lot of power behind suggestion when it comes to this stuff, as we all know.”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted with a sigh. “Maybe Felicity did leave the notes for whatever reason and when I said someone was following me for real it just freaked her out. Maybe this really is nothing.”

“Well, she might be easy to freak out right now,” Jess said. “She’s probably got a lot on her mind lately with her mom being busted for running sex parties and all.”

“Oh, I heard something about that,” Adam offered. “Looks like all three of your friends are going to get off, no pun intended, with a slap on the wrist. Probation deals and misdemeanor charges all around, even for the Main Line Madame.”

“I knew it,” Braden said cynically. “In another year nobody will even remember it.”

“I would think that Cole’s political career might be somewhat shortened though,” I said.

“He’s got business investments on the side. I’m sure he’ll be able to survive,” Cam put in. “In fact, they all do, I think. I heard them discussing it at the fundraiser before Marla got expelled.”

“If she had business investments why was she a call girl?” I asked.

“Who knows?” Braden said scathingly. “Probably because she can never have enough money. If Cole also had an inheritance, she would probably be after him.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

After lunch we all headed toward our rooms to get ready to hang out by the swimming pool. Braden looked yummy in his swimsuit. More importantly, though, he looked relaxed and content. We didn’t make it downstairs immediately.

“Braden, you’re looking mighty happy lately,” Mark said knowingly when we eventually arrived down at the pool.

“I am happy,” he said, giving me a warm look and lightly brushing a thumb over my lips. In fact, my lips had just made him very happy.

I grabbed his hand and kissed it and then went off to join Lily who was enjoying the water. She and I hung out together and chatted and eventually Drew came in and joined us. He spent some time joking around with us for a little while and then went off to swim a couple of laps. I glanced up at Braden and smiled.

He and Adam were involved in some kind of animated discussion. The two of them really did make a nice contrast aesthetically. Braden was all blonde beach boy and Adam was all tall dark and handsome. Not that I was looking, but he was built pretty nicely too. He was about six two himself and he obviously worked out. I wouldn’t blame Lily for being attracted to him, and something told me that deep down she was.

“So what was that with Adam earlier?” I asked her quietly, returning my attention to her.

“What was what?” she asked innocently.

“Him saying that if he helped you research, your books would be authentic? That almost sounded like an offer.” She looked away and turned a little red.

“It sounded like his usual brand of arrogance to me,” she said dismissively. She wasn’t going to admit it. Either that or she didn’t realize that the feeling was probably mutual.

“Where does all this animosity between you two come from anyway? I know that you grew up together but did he pull your braids or steal your bike or something?”

“No!” She laughed. “Although he did lock me in the boys’ bathroom once. He just used to tease me, along with a bunch of other girls. And then we all got older and they eventually started giggling and flirting when he did it. I, on the other hand, eventually started giving it right back to him. He just doesn’t know what to do with a woman who doesn’t worship the ground he walks on.”

“Well, I could see how that might be disconcerting for him.” Privately I thought that it could also be rather intriguing for him which may have been why it was disconcerting.

“There was one incident that really seemed to escalate things. I accidentally walked in on him making out with, and feeling up, Shari Edelstein at his Bar Mitzvah.”

“Who?”

“Shari was the popular girl who all the guys wanted. When I walked in and caught them together in the stairwell, she slapped him. Apparently, he recovered. It didn’t stop him from being lowered from the ceiling in the Las Vegas style review he put on at the party.”

“Oh my God!” I laughed. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“He sang ‘I Did It My Way.’ Complete with showgirls!”

“You know, I could see Adam doing that.”

I looked around more carefully at the others. Mark, Cam and Jess seemed to be engrossed in some funny conversation while giving Bruno lots of love and tossing his ball to him. Braden was still talking to Adam while occasionally watching me with what looked like a combination of amusement, affection, and lust. Adam, in turn, frequently stole glances at Lily, who was looking very good in her hot pink bikini. Wait – did she say showgirls?

Eventually the rest of them decided to join us in the pool and Drew and Braden set up a net so that we could play water volleyball. Let’s just say none of us is ready for serious water volleyball competition. It quickly became a contact sport, the way we played it.

At one point I smacked into Drew who caught me in his arms and then asked me if it was good for me, earning him a glare from Braden. Jess jumped up to hit the ball and wound up on top of Cameron who was also going for it. It was rather humorous watching them try to extricate their slippery limbs from each other while laughing their asses off. I had a feeling that Cameron would be going for something else very soon. He seemed to be enjoying the extrication process immensely.

Then Lily jumped back quickly and crashed into Adam who instinctively put his arms around her to catch her, and after a tense moment they retreated to opposite sides of the pool like oil and water. Yeah, that one was just a matter of time too. I hoped that they both survived. I had a feeling that it would soon just be Mark and Drew, with some scantily clad club girls, the Phillies, a case of Bud and a box of Trojans.

Later we sat and dried out in lounge chairs, listening to music while Braden and Drew brought out cold beer for everyone. The male majority voted for classic rock and so we were listening to the Rolling Stones. Braden had put out a soft towel especially for Bruno next to his water bowl and he was blissfully napping in the shade. This was good, very good. No crazy shoplifters or elderly potheads or na**d drunk drivers, just my good friends, my beautiful Braden and my dog.

“So, Lily, why won’t you tell us your pen name?” Mark asked with a cute smile.

“Because I don’t think you’re true fans of the genre,” she answered.

“Fans of romance novels or fans of real erotica?” Adam asked, giving her an intense look that seemed to hit her like a wave of heat.

“She’s not talking about porn, Adam,” Jess said, rolling her eyes.

“Did I say porn? I was just asking her if she was referring to novels by Nora Roberts or novels by Nabokov.” He took a swig of his beer. He could even manage to look cocky sitting in a lounge chair. He was like the King of Swagger.

“Adam’s a big Nora Roberts fan,” Mark deadpanned which made Braden and Cam laugh out loud. Adam glared at them malevolently.