Page 13 of Don't Be My Valentine

Oh no. This was bad. We shouldn’t have done that.

Movement at the tree line, farther back along the shore, caught my focus, and I frowned. What was that?

A dark figure stood between the thick leaves hanging from the trees, unmoving. The light didn’t stretch that far back, and I squinted, trying to make out if it was a person or just a trick of the eyes. I wasn’t exactly in the best state of mind.

I’d just kissed my best friend’s brother, twelve years after I’d sworn I’d never speak to him again, let alone touch him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked quietly. “You’ve gone stiff.”

“I could swear…no, it’s probably nothing.”

“Tell me.”

I stepped out of his embrace. “Nothing, it’s just I’m sure there’s someone standing right there. See?” I pointed toward the figure, and Matt joined me in looking, tilting his head this way and that.

The figure shifted, and the certainty solidified. Whoever they were, they slipped away between the trees.

“Probably just someone on vacation,” he said softly, but there was a hint of something in his voice. Concern?

The silence expanded, and the waves brushed against my ankles.

Matt caught my hand, but I slipped it away. “We should probably head back to the hotel,” I said, avoiding the elephant in the room. “You know, Em will want to know where we are.”

“Sure.” He offered me his arm again, and I took it. We walked, the waves washing our feet. No amount of water, however, could wash away what we’d just done.

God, help me resist this man. I refuse to fall again.

Chapter Six

Matt

The stranger standing beneath the trees had triggered a thought. A concern. I needed that info from Paul ASAP. The sooner I knew that Cruz wasn’t in the Bahamas, the sooner I’d relax about stupid shit like that.

Probably, it had just been someone chilling under the trees, and Summer pointing had made them uncomfortable. But there’s always the chance.

Better to get back to the hotel. Rejoin the others. Safer. Both for her and for me. Christ, at this rate, I’d be in a perpetual state of blue balls. Not the sexiest thought. Good. I’d need to get rid of the erection before we got back to the bar, no mean feat with Summer on my arm, smelling and looking like heaven.

“We probably shouldn’t arrive together,” Summer said, slipping her arm from mine and taking her shoes from me as we approached the front steps. “Emilia might get suspicious.”

A pang of guilt stabbed through my stomach. Shit, she was right. This was Emmy’s week, and she’d always been protective over her friendship with Summer. And the “family” aesthetic she’d prized ever since our mother had died.

I clenched my fists and released them slowly. I still wasn’t over that. And, apparently, I wasn’t over Summer either. Bullshit. It’s just physical, that’s all.

“Look,” I said, “you’re—”

A scream rang out before I could finish the sentence, and one of the bridesmaids from the party emerged from the front of the hotel, clinging to a groomsman. It was Chastity, the bottle blonde. She’s squeezed herself into a dress that was a size too small, and she appeared to be in the throes of drunken debauchery.

“Looks like they found us before we found them,” Summer said, hurrying toward the front steps.

My sister emerged as well, arm-in-arm with Scott, the two whispering to each other, occasionally stumbling and giggling at their mistake. Happy. That was good, though a part of me couldn’t fathom what it would be like to share that much with another person.

Summer skedaddled over to my sister, and Emilia threw her arms around her, apparently too mellow to care about where she’d been.

I approached with caution.

“Matty!” Emilia called. “There you are. Oh my gosh, you have to come with us, right now.”

“Where are you going?” I asked, already disapproving on the concept of them going anywhere in this state.

“To the cabana! There’s one down on the beach. Come on, let’s go,” Emilia cried, pointing ahead.

“Shouldn’t you two go up to bed and get some rest?”

“No,” Emilia said and poked me in the chest. “And if you think you’re going to tell me what to do during my bachelorette party, you’ve got another thing coming.”

Summer laughed.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, as Emilia and Scott led the party down a long winding path and out onto the sand.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Summer said. “It’s just funny to see a big man like you getting told off by your sister. Especially since she’s so tiny.”

“Big man, eh?” I grinned at her.

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

“I don’t need to. You just did.”

Torches had been pegged in the ground, leading toward a distant cabana. Music drifted across the sands, a low thumping of sound. A bar had been set up and a dude in a neat hotel uniform waited, mixing drinks and pouring them out into cocktail glasses.

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