“Fine,” she said. “One million dollars.”
He choked. “Are you insane? Wait, don’t answer that. I already know.”
She crossed her arms. “I still don’t get why you are here.”
“The question is why are you here?” Lucas asked.
“I’m working. Your turn.”
“But servers are supposed to be nice,” he said. “And sweet. And subservient.”
She lifted the pitcher of OJ threateningly, and he raised his hands in surrender, laughing, the bastard. “Okay, okay, cease fire! I’m working too. I’m Cedar Ridge staff. Well, not staff staff. I’m the resort’s attorney. I’m just here making sure everything’s going well.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re a Cedar Ridge attorney?”
“Yep.”
She blinked as she processed that. So Lucas worked for Cedar Ridge too. And Jacob hadn’t mentioned it. Not once. “Since when?” she asked.
“Since the Kincaids hired me, shortly after our divorce.”
“All of them?”
“All of them who?”
“All the Kincaids,” she said. “You work for all of them?”
“The five siblings, yes.”
“Including Jacob?” she asked, heart in her throat.
“Well, no.”
Sophie let out a shaky breath. Okay. Okay, so this wasn’t any big deal. She knew Jacob couldn’t have had anything to do with hiring Lucas, as he hadn’t even been in town at the time. And he must not know even now. Otherwise he’d have absolutely told her. One hundred percent, he would have told her—
“Didn’t meet Jacob again until he came back to town.”
“Again?” she asked.
“We went to school together.” Lucas cocked his head and studied her closely.
Sophie turned away. Lucas was a people reader, and he was a master at it too. But he simply turned her around to face him again. “You’re her,” he said slowly, understanding dawning in his gaze. “The one he’s been seeing.”
She closed her eyes.
“And he didn’t tell you about me.” He laughed. “Oh, that’s good. That’s really good.”
Which was funny because Sophie kind of felt the exact opposite. She’d trusted Jacob with pieces of her that she hadn’t ever trusted Lucas with. And he’d shaken those pieces up and tossed them out, leaving her once again feeling like a tumbleweed in the wind. Heart in her throat, she walked away.
“Does he know you’re crazy?” he called after her. “’Cuz I can tell him for you if you’d like…”
She increased her pace, blood pressure somewhere around stroke level. She moved toward the kitchen canopy to drop off the pitcher of juice and ran right into Kenna.
Kenna stopped short and took in her expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Uh-huh.” She looked past Sophie, caught sight of Lucas walking across the beach socializing, and stilled. “I’m going to guess your idiot ex got to you before my bigger idiot brother.”
Deciding she was mad at anyone named Kincaid, Sophie went straight to the donut tray and grabbed a leftover jelly donut, and on second thought also took a bear claw. It was a double-fist sort of day.
“Just do me a favor,” Kenna said. “Don’t leave until Jacob can explain.”
Not willing to make any promises, Sophie stuffed the jelly donut into her mouth.
“Right,” Kenna muttered. “Okay, you know what? New plan. You don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
Sophie was mowing her way through her second donut when she felt her heart rate double and the nape of her neck get warm.
Jacob.
She turned and faced him, not appreciating her body’s response. Her brain sent the rest of her a memo that she was no longer allowed to be attracted to Jacob. On any level.
Her body rejected said memo and did a little quiver at the sight of him in board shorts and T-shirt advertising the resort. No shoes. Bedhead hair—which should have made him look ridiculous but instead made her inner ho sigh in pleasure. And then that inner ho remembered him pulling her to the edge of his bed and then kneeling on the floor, her legs on either of his shoulders as his mouth drove her straight to heaven.
Dammit.
“Woke up without you,” he said. “Didn’t like it.”
“Yeah, well, you’re going to have to get used to that,” she said, and stuffed the last of the bear claw into her mouth so she could cross her arms. It wasn’t easy to maintain her pissy dignity with her mouth full, but she gave it her best shot.
Jacob nodded slowly. “I’m getting that. We need to talk, Sophie.”
She had to ignore how the sound of her name on his lips always made her ache. Needing something to do with herself, she grabbed the last donut. “I’ll go first,” she said. “Were you laughing at me this whole time? Was it all just one big joke between you and Lucas?”
He studied her face a moment and then set down his coffee. He started to take the donut from her hand, stopping when she let out a sound that might have been construed as a growl. Changing tactics, he reached for her free hand instead.