Page 30 of Enchant Me

“You should join us at the beach later,” I tell him after I’ve pulled him out of earshot.

“I need to work on this.”

“Does Ryan know?”

His brow furrows. “Does he know what?”

“That you don’t trust him.”

Frustration flashes in his eyes.

“All I’m saying is that I trust you and you trust Ryan. He’s the best at what he does. Let him do it. You deserve the downtime.”

He sighs, then pulls me close and kisses my forehead, and for a moment, I think I’ve won. “Last night you said you trusted me to keep our family safe.”

“I do. But Ryan —”

“Nikki. Don’t push me. Not on our family’s safety.”

“I don’t like seeing you worried,” I admit, which is true, but not the entire truth. The real truth is that I’m worried, too. But if Damien were to come with us to the beach, I could console myself with the lie that I’m overreacting.

Damien, however, immediately puts that fantasy to rest. “I am worried,” he says. “And you and I both know I have reason to be. I can’t wave a magic wand and make it all better, but I can do this. I can work with Ryan to secure our home so that my wife and our kids and our friends can go enjoy the beach with minimal worry.”

I exhale, defeated. Because he’s right. I can’t just push all of this aside, no matter how much I might like to. No matter how much I know it hurts him to have his past at the epicenter of this new harassment.

“You’re right,” I say, hooking my arms around his waist, then brushing a kiss over his lips. “I’m selfishly wanting to ignore the whole thing. You’re being the strong one and dealing with it, and I love you for it.”

“I love you, too,” he tells me. “Now go have fun. Later tonight you can thank me properly,” he adds, making me laugh even though I’m not at all opposed to that plan.

Moments later, I’m heading to the playroom so I can help Sylvia gather the kids, but she’s already got them suited up and ready. All except for Jeffery.

“He wants to stay here with the guys,” Sylvia tells me.

“Girls have cooties?”

She laughs. “No. He thinks Ryan is cool, and he wants to hang out and help ‘do security.’ His words.”

“Hey,” I say, “under the circumstances, the more help the better.”

We both grin, but there’s an undercurrent of truth there. As much as I wish I could hide behind denial, I want my home secure.

Since the bulk of our beach toys are at the bungalow, we manage to round up the kids and get underway faster than I expected. Ronnie’s our leader and she even takes personal charge of Bradley.

“Gregory packed mimosas, right?” Jamie asks as we follow the kids down the path to the bungalow. “I haven’t poked around in there yet.”

“I’ll fire him if he didn’t,” I say dryly, then add, “He knows you well, James. I have a feeling the baskets are packed with fruity drinks of both the child and adult variety.

“And thank goodness for that,” Sylvia adds. “By the way, Cass texted that she’s running late, but she’ll join us soon.”

“Oh, good,” I say. I met Sylvia’s lifelong BFF years ago, and she fast became one of my favorite people.

“Is Bree coming?” Jamie asks.

“I invited her, but she already had plans.”

“Too bad, but fine. More mimosas for me.”

I laugh, then hurry to catch up with my kids, who have already reached the bungalow and are bouncing on the patio, urging me to hurry up and get the sand toys and other beach paraphernalia.