She checked out the dress in the mirror one last time.
“I like it, I’m pretty sure Kristin will approve, and I think I saw a tie back at that last shop that would match it.” Crossing her fingers behind her back, she hoped she could find something there that would work, anyway. And that she could keep him distracted enough to make the purchase.
“Does that mean we’re almost done?”
She laughed. “You sound pretty hopeful about that.”
“Let’s find a tie and find someplace to eat. I’m starving.”
“After the tie,” she warned, handing the dress to the shopkeeper and moving to the counter to pay. “Don’t get distracted by the thought of food. I know how you are when you’re hungry.”
“Hangry,” he corrected, but his grin belied his claim. “I get very hangry.”
“Mm-hm. And I don’t want to see you when you’re hangry. Come on, Hulk. Let’s find you a tie so I can feed you and get back to my beach chair.”
While they were at it, she would pick up her own special seduction dress.
Then she could start figuring out how, precisely, she could seduce him into another one night stand.
Even if, on some deep level, she knew that she really wanted more.
She shook the thought away.
I’ll take what I can get.
And I know I can get Grant, at least for a night.
Somehow.
“Look, that café has outside seating.” Grant pointed at a bright green, corner building situated almost at the end of the street, underneath the looming cruise ship. Ava’s earlier excitement at its proximity hadn’t waned as they had moved through St. John’s downtown area, and he had taken every opportunity to move them closer to it.
“I love it here. I need to travel more.” She used her phone to take more pictures of the ship.
Her delight was infectious, and her wonder at every new thing she saw made him smile.
Oh, hell. I’m in trouble.
He should have realized it after their one-night stand. But he had been too panicked at the thought of Seth’s reaction to his best friend defiling his baby sister to consider the full implications of what had happened.
Since then, he had been too busy avoiding her to think about why they had ended up together that night.
Now, as he pulled out a café chair for Ava to take a seat, he couldn’t stop thinking about it, even as he carried on a superficial conversation about the giant cruise ship looming over them.
It’s not like I’m the one-night stand type, after all.
No. But he had pretended to be, primarily to avoid the realization that he actually cared about Ava as more than his best friend’s little sister.
After he ducked out on her the next morning, he had waited for an angry call from Seth. At the time, he’d been glad not to get one.
Now he almost wished he had. At least then he would have had to face up to what he’d done.
And what was that, exactly?
Been an absolute prick to the woman you’re in love with, just to avoid having to admit how you felt.
If he’d been alone, he would have banged his forehead against the table.
I am going to have to find a way to talk to her about this.
But not now. Not at a table at an outdoor café in the Caribbean. Not while the sun was shining down on her face, its brightness matched by the happiness reflected in her smile.
Coward, some inner voice chastised him.
I will do it, he promised himself. Before we leave this island, I will talk to her about what happened that New Year’s Eve, and I will do everything in my power to make things right with her.
With the woman I love.
Four
Ava closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the ocean waves only a few yards away, on the other side of the manicured hedge that separated the hotel bar from the path to the beach.
“We have a license to get married anytime, and the gazebo is reserved for Tuesday afternoon,” Kristin announced, pulling out a chair across the table from Ava and dropping into it. “It was crazy. There was a line at the Ministry, and a notice that one member of the couple had to be in Antigua for fifteen days before we could get married. For a horrible minute, I thought we were going to have to find a way to put the whole thing off, but then Seth took over, and he had all the paperwork ready to apply for a special license. He had already talked to the people in the office and had it perfectly planned.”
For the first time, Ava saw Kristin turn a besotted glance toward Seth, who returned her smile and sat down as well, setting drinks down in front of all three of them.
That’s the look I’ve been waiting to see her give my brother. I needed to know that she’s as much in love with him as he is with her.
“Seth’s the organized one in this relationship?” Grant drawled as he pulled out a chair of his own and settled in. You’re doomed.”