you?”
Though Max had worried about offending him, Elliott didn’t even look surprised, much less offended. “She was right.”
“Aw, screw her,” Max muttered. “You’re a great guy. You know how many women would kill to marry a guy like you? You’re totally stable. You’re hardworking and honest and—”
“I’m not plugged in, I work too damn much and I’m boring as hell.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit.”
Max scowled, shifting the duffel bag to his other shoulder. “You love your job.”
“Yeah, I love my job, but it can’t be everything. I always worked too much, but after the last flu crisis… I wasn’t even surprised when she left, man. She’d given me enough warning.”
Thinking of Rebecca, with her shiny black hair and bright blue eyes, Max shook his head. He’d first met her at his brother’s wedding rehearsal, and his initial impression had been positive. She was lively, a real firecracker, only slightly overwhelmed by the stress of pulling off a perfect wedding.
Six months later, Max had returned from another long stint on the water and found that her liveliness had shifted toward restlessness and impatience with Elliott. Her hostile remarks about Elliott working on weekends had been interspersed with pointed observations about Max’s work. Travel and excitement and weeks in exotic locations. She’d oohed and aahed until Max had been uncomfortable enough to leave early.
The truth was that life on the sea was utter boredom punctuated by moments of alarm. The tanned skin and windswept hair threw people off. But Rebecca hadn’t been interested in explanations. She’d only been needling her husband. Max hadn’t been surprised by the news that she’d left the day after their first anniversary. Apparently, Elliott hadn’t been, either.
Max cleared his throat. “You’re not trying to get her back, are you?”
Elliott surprised him by laughing. “Give me some credit. I know we weren’t right for each other. I just don’t want to make the same mistake again.”
“You dating somebody?”
“Would I be spending a week at the beach with you if I were?”
“Hell, you’ve already admitted to being bad with women. Wasn’t sure it would occur to you to bring a girl.”
“Bite me,” Elliott muttered.
“Again, better with a girl.”
The punch to his shoulder hurt like a bitch. Despite spending sixty hours a week behind a desk, Elliott wasn’t exactly a weakling, and they’d had plenty of practice whaling on each other as kids. Just as he had when they were young, Max laughed like it hadn’t hurt and pushed his younger brother hard enough to make him stumble.
The sound and smell of the ocean still pressed in on him, but with his brother’s laughter bouncing off the surrounding boats, Max decided maybe this vacation would be okay after all. But he’d stay on guard against disaster, just as he always did. The ocean had a way of serving up surprises.
“I THINK I’M DRUNK,” Chloe murmured. The clouds had drifted away, and she was floating in a pool of sunlight and alcohol. “When did we eat lunch?”
Jenn rolled her head and looked sleepily in her direction. “We were on the ferry during lunchtime. We forgot.”
“Huh. We should probably eat then, or this could get ugly.”
“Uglier than being drunk at 3:00 p.m.?”
“Way uglier. Should I fire up the microwave?”
Jenn groaned in answer and shook her head. “Maybe we should eat some big cheeseburgers to celebrate the start of our vacation. There’s a seedy bar just past the resort office.”
Though Chloe’s eyes had started to drift shut again, they popped open at the thought of bar food. “Really? We do want to start this week off on the right foot…”
“Exactly.”
Just beyond the blond halo of Jenn’s hair, Chloe spotted movement. Leaning forward a little, she slid her sunglasses down her nose and narrowed her eyes against the warm breeze. “Hello.”
“What?” Jenn asked before her mouth opened wide in a yawn.
The approaching men had come fully into view now, so Chloe relaxed back into her seat and pushed her glasses up to hide her eyes. “I think we’ve got neighbors.”
Jenn’s nose wrinkled. “Not those gossipy old ladies from the store?”
“Not even close.”
Her friend finally roused herself enough to roll her head in the other direction, and Chloe knew the moment Jenn spotted the two men, because she inhaled sharply enough to send a nearby seagull flapping away. The men were still too far off to have heard, but they were getting closer, obviously headed toward the cabin next door.
They both had dark brown hair and wide shoulders. Both wore cargo shorts that showed off strong calves dusted with dark hair. Brothers or cousins maybe, as the hard lines of their jaws were exact replicas, though one of the men was taller and had a dark tan that set him apart. The other wore cute wire-rimmed glasses and held his mouth in a far more serious line.
The tanned one turned his head in the direction of Chloe and Jenn, and he hesitated a bit over his next step, probably surprised to find he had an audience. Still, he didn’t look the least bit uncomfortable as he jogged up the steps to the porch, the movement smooth despite the big duffel bag thrown over his shoulder.
Before the men had even disappeared through the door, Jenn’s head whipped toward Chloe. “Holy smokes! Do you think it would be wrong to have a torrid affair with twins?”
“You think they’re twins?”
“Close enough that I could pretend.”
Chloe rolled her eyes, choking on laughter. “If you take both of them, who does that leave me with?”
Jenn sat up, dropping her bare feet to the floor as she took off her shades to meet Chloe’s gaze. “Are you interested? I’ll let you have both if you’re serious.”
“Why?”
“Because you need to cleanse Thomas from your palate.”
Blood rushed to Chloe’s face, though she didn’t know why she felt shy.
“You need to,” Jenn insisted.
“No one wants to date an infamous Bridezilla. I’m kryptonite to the male sex drive. After the first date, a man would expect to wake up and find me standing at the foot of the bed in a tattered wedding gown, rattling a pair of leg shackles.”
“So this is the perfect place. No one here knows who you are.”
Chloe shrugged and slipped her feet into her sandals. “Those guys aren’t from the island. For all we know they could be paparazzi.” She regretted her flip words when her friend’s eyes widened with alarm.
“You think they’re paparazzi?”
She glanced toward the cabin again, thinking of the healthy glow of the taller man. “No, I was just being rude. Those guys look way too healthy to be paparazzi. But as for dating…I just can’t do that.”
“So you’re never going to date again?”
Despite the humiliation burning through her chest, Chloe had to smile at the worry in Jenn’s voice. “It’s only been a month. I’ve got some new trust issues, Jenn. That’s what happens when your fiancé fakes his own death just to get away from you.”