“Who’s Beth?” Keri asked.“The bartender at your wedding.”“Oh, that’s right. How could I forget whenmy husband almost got thrown out of our ownreception for trying to hire her like a hooker orsomething.”“What’s a hooker?” Bobby asked.Keri’s island tan flushed pink. “Oops.”“You put it on the end of a fishing pole,dummy,” Brian explained.Bobby frowned. “Uncle Joe tried to hire aworm?”

“For each full day you stick it out with the Kowalskis, you get to ask me one question.”Keri, unlike Joe, did have a poker face and she made sure it was in place while she turned his words over in her head. “When you say the Kowalskis, you mean…”“The entire family.” The dimples were about as pronounced as she’d ever seen them. “Every one of them.”Her first thought was oh shit. Her second, to wonder if People was hiring.”

“She said you were probably plastic and Uncle Kevin said he’d give you a feel and let her know and then Uncle Joe punched him in the shoulder and said the only thing he’d feel is his A-S-S getting kicked if he tried.”

“The waitress tapped her pen on the tab. "So do you guys know what you want?"And then he did it, just as he always had whenever he'd been asked that question―he looked straight at Keri with blatant hunger in his eyes and said, "Yes, ma'am, I do.”

“Oh yes, Sean Kowalski. Your amazing kisses have made all rational thought fly out of my besotted brain. If only you could fill me with your magic penis, I know we'll fall madly in love and live happily ever after.”

“Let’s see if I can synopsize our situation,” he said. “I never give interviews. You want an interview. No, strike that. You need an interview, because the rabid jackal you work for has made it clear your job is on the line. Am I close?”The sizzle receded to a tingle. “You’re in the ballpark.”“I’m not just in the ballpark, babe. I’m Josh Beckett on the mound at Fenway. If I don’t give you what you need, you’re hiding behind palm trees waiting for drunk pop stars to pop out of their Wonderbras.”And that pretty much killed the last of the lingering tingle. “Payback’s a bitch and all that, right, Joe?”The dimples flashed. “Isn’t it?”

“Cuando Keri vio a Joe caminando hacia ella, con sus manos en sus bolsillos y sus hoyuelos visibles desde la luna, ni siquiera podía articular todas las cosas que quería decirle.Se conformo con-: Tú no me vas a hacer buscar garrapatas, Joseph Kowalski.-Demonios, nena, no vayas aplastando todas mis esperanzas en el primer día.- Era Keri la que se sentía como una idiota pero era Joe el que se estaba sonriendo como uno- Veo que encontraste a Terry.- No voy a montar uno de esos.- Señalo a los remolques de los vehículos todo terreno.-¿Vez ese nuevo rojo brillante? Ese es tuyo, nena. Y no me digas que ya olvidaste las reglas.Como si pudiera. Las Reglas habían sido entregadas a la casa de sus padres antes de que ella se hubiese levantado de la cama esa mañana.”