Page 24 of Vacation Friends

She paced from the table, phone to her ear.

As she did, Maddie glanced at Brody and flushed.

She hated the reaction, but the man had saved her life, so maybe the response was completely normal. Perhaps she was experiencing a touch of savior complex with him.

Or maybe it was like your body craving a nutrient you were deficient in.

She craved security that Josh couldn’t—or wouldn’t—give her.

As she glanced at Brody, another surge of attraction gripped her.

Why did she feel drawn to this man? The feelings were inappropriate.

She was engaged. And Brody had a girlfriend.

She wasn’t the cheating type.

She shoved her feelings down. Just because she felt attracted to the man didn’t mean she would act on that temptation.

For now, she would simply try to keep boundaries in place.

She was curious, however. There was something interesting about the interactions between Adrienne and Brody.

Something that felt stiff.

Maddie couldn’t put her finger on exactly what was bugging her. Perhaps the two of them had simply gotten into a disagreement before dinner. Maddie had found herself in that position many times before.

She shouldn’t read too much into it.

“I think it was a valiant effort you made out there this morning when you tried to save that man.”

She came back to the present at the sound of Brody’s voice.

“Thank you. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move, but thank you.” she shifted. “So you were special forces? I always imagine those guys being super intense.”

Brody seemed almost too easygoing.

“A lot of people think that,” Brody said. “The truth is, you have to be a little crazy. I think that fits me. Crazy in a good way . . . at least, I hope. As a matter of fact, my friends used to call me Easy Go Crazy Bro.”

She smiled at the nickname. “I guess that’s where your background in surfing comes from? The crazy side?”

“If I could have made a living at it, I would have. But I needed a more stable career, so I joined the military. In some ways, it was more stable. But when I nearly lost my leg on my last mission, I decided that was it for me.”

“Almost lost it?”

He pulled his fully intact leg out from under the table. “Someone must have been watching out for me.”

She smiled at his words and wondered if he believed in a higher power. That made her instantly like him.

Brody shifted. “We talked about a lot tonight, but you never said what do you do for a living.”

“Up until the past six months, I worked for the state investigating elder abuse.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Is that right?”

She nodded. “My granddad was mistreated while in a nursing home, and I vowed I would fight to put more protections in place to stop the same thing from happening to others.”

“Sounds noble.”

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