Page 54 of Lady Luck

He cast his gaze out to the Gulf, his brow twitching when he seemed to settle on a response. “Bewildering.”

I relaxed, nodding against my bent legs when his eyes, filled with understanding, met mine again.

No, it wasn’t possible to explain my grandmother to someone, but at least he hadn’t been caught under her spell, automatically putting me in a defensive position.

I didn’t want to defend.

I wanted to rest.

As if abiding by my wishes, my full stomach and the subtle sway of the boat worked their magic in perfect harmony, and I started to doze.

21

VINH

The deck was in full sun now, the exposure making the scars along my forearm glimmer as I drowsily counted one, two… seven boats drift by.

Bree was dead to the world, curled into herself on the chair, only having moved once to readjust so her head rested against the back of the chair, her lips parting as she got comfortable and fell into deeper sleep. Sunbeams filtered through her hair, highlighting the lighter strands that had escaped her ponytail and were partially covering her freckled face.

So beautiful.

And exhausted.

The deep shadows under her eyes told a story that I both craved and dreaded to know. Not because I would, or could, think any less of her. No, it was because if I thought any more of this woman—who I was only just starting to know—then I was in danger of catapulting from a still-somewhat-removed–lie–enchantment to full-blown infatuation.

And I wasn’t sure how dangerous that would be. I’d never felt this way before. I had nothing to compare it to and no experience-based contingency plans.

I’d been in casual relationships over the past few years, but there hadn’t been enough to lose for me to bother running a risk analysis.

And I’d been running one for Bree Faust before I even knew any of her names.

The door slid back open, and Liem sashayed through it and headed straight for Bree on soft feet, lightly draping a throw blanket across her sleeping form when he reached her. I frowned as a foreign feeling of possessiveness unfurled in my chest and expanded the longer I watched Bree snuggled up with what must have been one of Paul’s left-behind blankets.

The memory of her wearing my jacket and walking beside me with her hand tucked neatly in my arm had played on a nearly constant loop in my mind, making it easy to recall it now as a means to ease the sudden, inappropriate urge to rip the blanket off her and replace it with one of my own.

Liem’s was very obviously burning a hole in the side of my head, so I directed my attention to him, lifting my eyebrow in defiance and praying to Poseidon that my thoughts hadn’t been written plainly across my face.

His wink wasn’t reassuring.

Seeing that he was dying to share his commentary, I lifted myself out of the chair and gestured to the cabin door.

He followed me in, and when we reached the small indoor booth that served as the dining room, I turned and leaned my weight against the table before gazing at Liem expectantly. “Go on. You know you want to.”

He glanced toward the slightly ajar deck door, his face turning from a smug I know more than you to puppy on the street needs a home and it just started raining pout the longer he looked. “It’s taking everything in me to not go out there and whisper, ‘Can I keep you?’ in her ear like an aggressively fabulous half-Vietnamese ghost.” His pout deepened. “But the only things holding me back are that I don’t think it would be well received and I’m kind of hoping you will do something in the same spirit. Soon, ideally.”

I snorted at my smitten brother. “No, going full Casper on her wouldn’t have the results you’d hope for, and there’s also more to it.”

A lot more, based on the two occasions we’d spent time together outside of today.

Keeping my voice low so it wouldn’t carry, I continued, “She has a lot going on in her life.”

“Isn’t that true for most people, though? I mean, look at you.”

I furrowed my brow, triggering a monumental eye roll from Liem.

“I know you think that I take after Dad, but I have a lot of Mom in me too. If you don’t remove that confused look from your face, I’ll do it for you,” he huffed and made good on his threat by poking me in the forehead.

I reared back, slapping a hand over the assaulted area.

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