Page 55 of Hot Saltwater Kisses

“Indeed.” Des hesitated, so brief it barely registered. “It’s been an honor to serve them.”

God, he made it sound like they were about to pack their bags and leave. Not so.One more week.

“They’re not gone yet,” I said, then wished I hadn’t. I wasn’t supposed to care.

Maybe Nia sensed my discomfort because she reached out to squeeze Des’s shoulder. “Hey, how’s your brother getting around?”

“Better by the day,” Des said. “Still on crutches, but he’s back at the market stall.”

Nia smiled. “That’s good to hear. Send him my best, yeah?”

“Will do.” Des gave us a friendly nod before he offered us a ride on his golf cart. We declined and parted ways with him, quiet until the whir of wheels on wood had faded.

“So,” Nia said then. “Kyle.”

I shot her a sideways look. “I don’t like him.”

“My, what green eyes you have.”

“Fuck off.” I softened the words by throwing an arm around her shoulders and hugging her close. “Come on, how would you feel if some pretty girl suddenly showed up for Tom?”

I expected Nia to shrug it off. Instead, she was quiet for a beat, frowning at the canopy of leaves above us. “Surprisingly, not very good.”

Whoa. I drew us to a halt and turned to stare at her. “Oh my God, Nia. Did you catch feelings?You?”

“Fuck off,” she echoed me, face scrunched into a pained grimace. I got it, so I decided not to push her.

After a minute, we started walking again towards the dive center, towardshome. So what if this would be the first night since the beach bar that I didn’t share Logan’s bed? I didn’t need him. I didn’t needanyone.

I’d learned my fucking lesson.

Yeah,so Kyle truly was a dive instructor. Fine, whatever. That was no damn reason to interpret ‘buddy check’ as an overzealous pat-down of Logan’s… everything, really.

“Control your face,” Nia muttered from behind me.

I did. Or at least tried to.

“Groping,” I said in response just as Kyle flung his arm around Logan’s neck and hauled him in, laughing right into Logan’s ear like this was some frat party and outshouting the music was a necessity.

I maybe kind of hated Kyle a little.

I hated Kyle alot.

Just my luck that I was scheduled for a bar shift that same evening, and Logan, Tom, and Kyle had opted to chase dinner with a round of drinks, or three. They’d picked a lounge booth near thewater, laughter spilling out because oh, right,theywere on vacation while I was just the hired help meant to make it a good one.

And Kyle kept fuckingtouchingLogan. Kept leaning into him with a quick grab of the forearm, heads bent close. Logan showed the loose, happy sprawl of the pleasantly tipsy, cheeks tinged pink and buttons of his shirt undone down to his ribs, damn near magnetic in the dusky hues of the setting sun. I wanted to… I justwanted.

Instead, I smiled and weaved between tables and served drinks when I desperately needed one myself.

At least Logan still seemed to remember my existence. I caught him watching me several times, his gaze hot and heavy like maybe I wasn’t the only one who’d missed… who’d misseduslast night. But each time, Kyle would draw Logan’s attention away with a word and a touch, and I was the only one still looking.

Low curl of tension in my gut, pressure at the base of my spine.

Thanks to Leroy covering their section, I dodged all direct interactions for most of my shift. My luck ran out when the bar slowly emptied and Leroy left me to deal with the place on my own. I adjusted the stupid,stupidblack silk scarf around my neck, grabbed three menus to serve as my flimsy shield, and approached their table.

“Gentlemen.” I kept my voice as steady as my expression. “Anything else I can get you?”

Logan looked up like he was surprised to find me there, elbows leaned on his thighs. A slow, drunken smile spread across his face, and he reached out to curl his fingers warm around my wrist. “Sit down with us.” His words ran together into a low, sliding drawl. “Just for a minute, yeah?”

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