by Abby Niles
“That’s more like it.”
“I’d heard you were dating a veterinarian a while back.”
“I thought we weren’t talking about exes?”
“My ex…unless your story comes with some serious baggage.”
“Nah.” Brody waved off the comment. “It was never like that. I wasn’t dating Julie as much as I was letting her use me to make her now-fiancé jealous.”
“What kind of woman—” She stopped mid-sentence when he held up his hand.
“She had no idea I was letting her use me. She had no idea she was using me. She was trying for an actual relationship. But I knew the minute I showed up on our first date and her best friend opened the door—there were some unresolved feelings there. So I decided to have a little fun.”
“What did you do?”
“Just made Tommy realize that he had a good woman beside him, and if he didn’t snatch her up, someone else would.”
“So you played matchmaker?”
He shrugged. “A little.”
“So, you’re a romantic.”
“Maybe a smidge,” he said, with another shrug and a half-grin.
The waiter returned with their food and placed their plates in front of them. The blackened fish smelled fantastic, but the hunk of medium-rare beef on Brody’s plate looked absolutely amazing. She should’ve ordered the steak, damn it. She cut into her fish with her fork and took a bite. Lemon with a spicy kick flooded her taste buds. It was definitely delicious, something she’d be glad she tried, but old favorites were old favorites for a reason—it was the steak that was making her mouth water.
Brody shoved a forkful of the meat into his mouth, closed his eyes and groaned. “Shit. This place knows how to cook a cow.”
Rub it in why don’t you. As she was raising her fork for another bite, Brody cut a nice-sized portion of his steak and put it on her plate. She froze. “What’re you doing?”
“I’ve watched you eye my meal since the waiter placed it in front of me. I’m sharing.”
Her mouth popped open in surprise. “You’re sharing?”
“Yep.”
She glanced down at her fish, then used her fork to cut a chunk off. Brody immediately shook his head. “No, thank you. I’m not a fan of snapper.”
“But you just gave me big part of your meal.”
“It’s okay, really. I want you to enjoy your meal.”
All she could do was stare at him. The gesture was just so sweet. Not that she’d never had someone do sweet things for her—Ryan had, especially the first few years of her marriage—but it’d been a long time since a man had worried about her needs first. Brody looked up from his plate.
A jolt hit her low in the stomach as his caramel-colored eyes met her gaze. Well, that was different. But it wasn’t scary. Honestly, it felt right. It made sense. She’d always felt a special connection with Brody—it would be only natural for attraction to seep in now that she was single.
The longer they stared at each other, the more the air between them thickened. “Thank you,” she finally said.
Brody swallowed and glanced away. So, he’d felt it, too. She couldn’t tell how he felt about it, though.
He popped another piece of steak into his mouth and chewed. “I thought we’d go dancing after dinner. What do you think?”
She didn’t like the way he was avoiding her gaze now. Yeah, that had been a weird moment. “That sounds like fun.”
“Maybe you can dance with a few different men tonight.”
He still hadn’t looked at her, and she slowly lowered her fork back onto her plate. “I thought you were going to give me some coaching tonight.”
His gaze darted up to her then skated away again. “I am, but I can’t see how dancing with me is going to be any help at all. Dinner has proved you’re too comfortable with me. Dating, especially first dates, are rarely, if ever, comfortable, especially at the start of the date. You need to practice with strangers.”
There wasn’t anything comfortable about what had sparked to life between them a moment ago. That had been excitingly uncomfortable. Why was he pushing her off on another man? “But—”
“I’ll be there. You’ll still be safe. If you start to feel overwhelmed we can come up with a signal, and all you have to do is give it, and I’ll step in. Sound good?”
She blew out a breath. Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe he hadn’t felt it. God knew, she was horrible at picking up on cues. Or…maybe he had, and it freaked him out so much that he was making sure to put distance between them. Either way, it was clear he wanted her to focus on other men and not him. Disappointment settled on her chest, which was crazy. “Yeah. Sounds good.”
“It’s a plan then,” he said. “They’re having a dance party tonight around the pool. I’ll stand watch, and you go mingle your hot ass off.” He popped the meat in his mouth and gave her a pressed-lip smile before he chewed.
“What about you?” she asked as she took a bite of the steak Brody had put on her plate. Though it tasted heavenly, it lay heavy on her tongue, and she had a hard time swallowing it.
“What about me?”
“Are you going to mingle your hot ass off?”
“I think I might.”
And if that didn’t just make everything perfectly clear. Brody had no interest in her as a woman. Not that it should surprise her. Hadn’t it been the way for years now with her own husband?
There had to be someone on this damn island that found her attractive, and not because she was two sheets to the wind. She planned to put everything she had in dancing tonight.
…
If he had to watch her dance with one more fucker, he was going to punch something. Brody raked a hand over his face, trying to rein in the jealous green monster that was pretty much screaming at him to go rip her away from the fourth man who’d asked her dance.
At dinner, his advice that Scarlett dance with others had seemed like a wise idea. Especially because, after all these years, it’d finally happened—the lingering, heated glance. He’d felt it all the way to his fucking balls, and he’d blurted out the dancing idea.
It’d been one of dumbest suggestions to come out of his mouth.
But the sexually charged moment had been mutual. It was one thing for him to deal with a one-sided attraction to Scarlett. But having her share in it made everything a whole lot harder. Add in the fact that she looked so goddamn beautiful with the ocean behind her and her blond hair blowing gently in the wind, and for the first time ever, he worried he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her. Worried he was going to do something he couldn’t take back. And it scared the shit out of him.
Because he would not be the man she used to get even with her husband. She had just found out Ryan had been cheating on her. She wasn’t in her right mind.
But he was.
And he refused to be a regret of hers because of something she’d done in the height of fury. If that meant he had to use every goddamn bit of inner strength to make her believe he only saw her as his best friend’s wife, then by God, he would. Even if it killed him to push her to flirt with other men.
He scrubbed his face with his hand.
Why did it have to be Scarlett? Why couldn’t he feel this way about any other woman on the planet besides that woman?
It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried. He’d dated. Did the same damn thing Julie had done to try and get over Tommy. But Julie’s situation had turned out differently. She was in love with her best friend, and Tommy had eventually opened his stupid eyes and had fallen in love with her.
Maybe he needed to try a little damn harder. Maybe he needed to have his own fling to keep himself occupied while he was trapped on this godforsaken island with Scarlett.
Yeah, that definitely sounded good.
He scanned the area. Tiki torches outlined the perimeter of the pool, and everything was cast in a slightly orange glow. A lot of the people here were already coupled off, having come on a weekend getaway with the
ir husbands or boyfriends. But there was still a pretty good selection of single ladies, all bronzed from the sun and gorgeous. Not a damn one interested him.
His gaze strayed to Scarlett, who was sober as sober could be but having a grand ol’ time with Mr. Doofus. Brody had coined that name when the guy had come up to her. He was definitely not one of the pretty boys who walked around like a puffed up peacock. The guy seemed more of the stereotypical accountant type—wire-rimmed glasses, super polite, gentlemanly…or, as Scarlett would put it—safe.
It grated on Brody’s fucking nerves.
God, this had been a horrible idea. He just wanted to get this night over with, go back to the room, and have a beer—alone. His cell phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out, glancing at the name.
Ryan.
The bastard had been calling Brody back since last night. He hadn’t answered. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to say to him, and he was too angry right now to have any sort of conversation with the dickhead. He had no proof that Ryan had used him to cover his cheating, but he was beyond furious at being lied to. Happy marriage, my ass.
He would eventually have to confront his friend. Maybe give him a serious smack on the back of the head for being a fucking moron. Maybe that would knock some sense into the idiot.
His phone dinged indicating a text message, and Brody rolled his eyes.
He swiped his thumb across the lock screen then pressed the message icon.
Stop dodging my calls.
Working his neck from side to side, Brody clicked the phone off, shoved it back in his pocket and refocused on Scarlett, who was now slow dancing to an old eighties ballad with Mr. Doofus. She had her arms looped around his neck, and he had his palms resting respectably on her hips. She was looking up at him, and they were talking. Seemed to be an easy conversation.
Fucking great.
It was one thing to watch her with her husband. But a new man was excruciating. Was this how Tommy had felt while Brody dated Julie? He’d known Tommy would get jealous, which was why he played up more attraction to Julie than he’d really felt. But a part of him now felt bad for the guy.
Because this sucked. It gnawed. Ached. Made him want to snatch her away. No wonder Tommy had eventually decked him good.
He sure as fuck could knock the shit out of this guy, and he wasn’t doing a damn thing.
Dude. Distract yourself.
“You’re Brody ‘The Iron’ Minton, aren’t you?” said a soft, feminine voice.
He glanced over to find a petite, pretty brunette in a slinky black dress, eyeing him. He smiled. Yeah, he could work this.
“At your service.”
She smiled. “I thought so. You have on long sleeves so I couldn’t see your rad tat for confirmation.”
Wherever he went, his sleeve was a topic of conversation. He was damn proud of the piece. The artist had taken his love for comic books and inked a realistic layout of his favorite Marvel superheroes over his entire arm. “Since you know about my tattoo, I’m taking it you’re a fan.”
“Hell yeah, I’m a fan.”
She was a little younger than he preferred. Probably early twenties. Probably still in college. But definitely perfect distraction material.
“Who’re you here with?”
“Girl’s trip.” She waved at a group of five ladies standing in the corner, who giggled as soon as he glanced over. “We’re living it up some before we all go our separate ways again in a few weeks.”
“College?” he asked.
“Yes! How did you know?”
“Lucky guess.”
“Well, I’m the designated spokesperson for the group. The rest of them are too shy for their own good. But we saw you standing here alone, we’d love it if you’d join us, maybe take some pictures with us. Rita has a boyfriend who’s a superfan of yours, and he’ll be jealous as hell if we come back with evidence we hung out with the great MMA fighter.”
Brody chuckled. At least his fans still believed he was great, even if his coach didn’t. Besides, he’d wanted a distraction. This sure as hell was going to keep him preoccupied.
“Sure. I’d love to.”
“Really?!” She clapped her hands excitedly. “That’s so super cool of you!” Then she turned to her friends and yelled, “He said yes!” which got a peel of squeals from the group.
The attention pumped him up. Scarlett had kept him from worrying about his career and what he was going to do when he got home. Now these girls would keep him from overthinking about Scarlett.
“My name is Whitney, by the way.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Whitney.”
He followed her to her friends and was immediately enveloped by five gorgeous women talking over each other. He politely listened to their gushing over his last fight, how much they were fans, and how jealous their boyfriends would be. He posed for pictures with them and then asked a person nearby to get a group shot of all of them.
For the most part he was distracted, but he did his duty to Scarlett and kept an eye on her. Not that she seemed like she needed it. She and Mr. Doofus were now sitting in a booth, chatting away.
He refocused on the girls, allowing them to tell him their life stories until he felt a tug on his shirt. A glance around brought him face-to-face with Scarlett. Immediately, his heart jumped, and, like he had thousands of times before, he cursed the instant reaction.
“Looks like things are going well with you,” he said.
“I can say the same thing about you.” She eyed the girls. “I didn’t know the cheerleader sorority type was your kind of thing.”
The comment caused a ripple of pleasure, and he narrowed his eyes. “Am I detecting a bit of jealousy, Scarlett?”
Shrugging, she glanced off to the side. “Perhaps. They make me feel old.”
Old? Yeah, she might have a few years on them, but that was it. Her beauty could never compare to any other woman’s—or at least he’d yet to find one who did. “You shouldn’t feel old.”
She sighed and met his eyes. “I miss being that age. Young. Just go with the flow. No worries.”
“Yeah. Me, too.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to barge in. I think I’d like to call it a night.”
He shifted his body more toward her. “Why? I thought you and Mr.—uh, the guy you’ve been dancing with—were hitting it off.”
“Yeah. I did, too, until his girlfriend texted him and asked where he was.”
Brody grimaced. “Damn.”
“Why are men such pigs?”
“We’re not all pigs.”
“A vast majority of you are.” He caught a sheen of her eyes as she crossed her arms protectively over her chest.
She was so new to the dating game again.
“Give me a minute, and I’ll walk you back to your room.”
“No,” she waved her hand. “I just wanted to tell you where I was going. You stay and have fun.”
“Absolutely not, Scarlett. I wanted you to dance with other men,” he forced out. “Just give me a second.”
He stepped back to the women and said his good-byes to a chorus of disappointed groans. When he turned back to Scarlett, she had her fingers linked together and was looking anywhere but at him or the women. It wasn’t hard to pick up on how uncomfortable she was. Nothing about tonight had gone the way it was supposed to.
And it was his fault.
He was supposed to be showing Scarlett a good time, letting her think she was reacquainting herself with single life in a comfortable, safe way. Instead, one moment of freak-out, and he’d thrown her to the wolves, and because of that, she’d had another bad experience with another piece of shit man.
He stepped up beside. “How about a walk on the beach?”
She glanced up at him, a grateful smile on her face. “That would be nice. Thank you.”
And this would be his biggest test yet.
She’s off-limits, Minton. Remember that.
…
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Scarlett stopped at the edge of the soaked sand and let the water lap up over her feet as the waves came in and out. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back and let the ocean breeze flow over her.
Tonight had sucked.
She couldn’t believe it when that guy pulled his phone from his pocket and muttered, “Shit, she woke up.” Then he’d looked up at her. “Sorry. I thought my girlfriend had drunk enough to be out cold for the night. Gotta go.”
That was it. He hadn’t even seemed ashamed of what he’d done, just worried he was going to get caught. Was this what she had to look forward to?
Were men even capable of being faithful?
A slight touch to her wrist caused goose bumps to rise on her arms, and she glanced over at Brody.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
They’d been walking on the beach for ten minutes. Her strappy sandals dangled from his hand. Such a gentleman. At least he was one of the good ones. So there was hope that all men weren’t jerks.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Just a little defeated.”
“You can’t let one incident get you down.”
“I know, but after everything”—she shrugged—“I just needed something to go right.” She scrunched her nose at him. “Does that make sense?”
He nodded. “It does, but looking for anything more than a fling here really isn’t practical.”
She turned toward him. “I’m not looking for a fling, and I’m definitely not looking for a relationship. I just wanted to remember what it was like to flirt.”
“Well, didn’t you? It seemed like you and that guy were having a good time.”
“We were. I was comfortable around him. He made me laugh. He was attractive.”
Brody’s jaw tightened, and he turned his attention to the large expanse of black water before them. “Then, you got exactly what you were looking for, Scarlett.”
If she looked at it that way, she guessed she did. When it came to being single, she wasn’t sure what she wanted. She sure as hell wasn’t ready to jump into a new relationship, but she couldn’t lie and say that finding out that guy had a girlfriend hadn’t thrown her completely.
This showed how messed up she was. She couldn’t just appreciate what had happened tonight without focusing on the end result. Yeah, the ass had a girlfriend. But she’d smiled, flirted, and danced, all without a drop of alcohol in her system. She’d proven that she could do it. That was what she needed to take from tonight.