Read Just My Luck for Free Online

rising to her cheeks. “We’re not announcing yet, because it’s still early, so don’t say anything, if you don’t mind.”
    “No worries,” Liam said with a smile. “That’s great news. Congrats.”
    “Benefits of retirement,” Drew said. “I’ll get to be here for this one. Change a few more nappies, eh.”
    “You’d better plan to change all of them, if you’re going to make up for all the ones you’ve missed,” Hannah teased. “I notice you didn’t retire until I got Jack toilet-trained. Very sneaky. And you’ll be here for all my morning sickness too. Sure you don’t want to rethink the retirement?”
    Drew laughed. “I’m sure. I’m ready to put in the hard yards.”
    Nate glanced at Ally where she had swung herself up to perch on the railing. “I can see you over there, imagining yourself being capsized. No worries. I’ll stay a safe distance away from you, keep you out of danger.”
    “Well, no, you won’t, mate,” Drew said. “It’s a double. Which means you’ll be in the back doing the steering. Because even though Ally did eat a fair bit of pavlova at Christmas,” he said with a wink at her, “I think you’re still heavier. See if you can keep from killing her, will you? We’d have a hell of a time covering that up.”
    Ally had to laugh at that. “Thank goodness for life jackets. And I did not eat that much pavlova.”
    “Oi. I have kayaked a bit,” Nate protested. “I kayak almost as well as I climb.”
    “Oh, boy. Maybe I should just assume the worst and wear my swimsuit,” Ally decided.
    “Maybe you should,” Nate said.
    Ally saw the way he looked at her, and got a little thrill despite herself. He wanted to see her in her swimsuit? Well, maybe he should wear his too. She didn’t have to like him to enjoy looking at him. Because he was so worth looking at. In a T-shirt, shorts, and jandals today, the Kiwi summer uniform. He wasn’t as tall or as heavily built as Drew, but he had an awful lot of chest, shoulder, and arm going on, was working that light-gray T-shirt pretty hard. Those were some powerful legs too, she thought, sneaking a quick peek. She’d never thought much about men’s thighs before, but wow, did he ever have some.
    And his face. The short light-brown hair over the rough-cut planes of forehead, cheekbone, and chin, the square jaw stubbled with a couple days’ growth of beard. The nearly ice-blue eyes, the way they had of focusing so intensely on whatever he was looking at. Whatever he was interested in.
    No, not exactly good-looking, she thought again, but all man. So, yeah, she had to admit it. She’d like to see him in his trunks.
     
    Kristen watched as Drew hefted the solid form of his two-year-old son into his arms. “Mind you listen to your Auntie Kristen, now,” he told Jack. “Do what she says.” He held the boy for Hannah to kiss as well, then set him down again. “Right, then. If everyone’s ready, we’ll be off.”
    “I fixed Jack a lunchbox, in the fridge.” Hannah turned back on her way to the car. “He likes eating from his box. And there’s plenty for you and Liam too. Quiche, sandwich stuff. Or you could fix a salad. Help yourself to anything.”
    “I think they’ve got it, sweetheart,” Drew said. “I’m guessing Kristen’s been making her own lunch for a good couple years now. And Mako definitely knows his way around the inside of a fridge.”
    “Go on,” Kristen urged, laughing. “Have a good time.” She picked Jack up herself, loving the weight of him in her arms, and saw Hannah cast a last anxious glance back before Drew shut the door of the ute behind her.
    Liam chuckled beside her as she and the boy waved goodbye. “Not sure who she’s looking out for more, you or Jack.”
    “I know,” Kristen sighed, setting the little boy on his feet again and seeing him squat down immediately to play with his trucks. Jack was always busy. “It’s kind of nice to come stay with her and be taken care of, even