Chapter Eight
Amiya
“A miya! What did you do to Lennon?” Avie asks as she barges toward me.
“Whatever do you mean?” I ask.
She glares at me suspiciously. “Don’t give me that innocent tone. He looks like he’s ready to rip something or someone into pieces.”
I shrug. “All I did was give him the best orgasm of his life,” I confess.
Her mouth drops open. “You did what? How? You’ve only been in town for eight hours,” she gasps.
“Not today. After your engagement party last year.”
Her hand covers her eyes, and she groans. “Oh my God, he’s Sebastian’s brother!”
“So?”
Her hand drops, and she glares at me. “So? I don’t want tension between you two.”
“Trust me, the tension was much worse before he fucked me into your couch,” I mutter.
Her eyes go wide. “My couch?”
I cut my eyes to her. “Oh, don’t give me that look. I’m sure that couch has seen lots of action,” I state.
She scoffs, then shrugs. “Maybe, but that’s not the point.”
“What is the point?”
“The point is that you are my best friend and Lennon is my soon-to-be brother-in-law. I need you two to get along, and you don’t have the best track record at maintaining relationships.”
“First of all, we banged, and we aren’t in a relationship. Second of all, I get along with everyone, even past lovers, so don’t get your panties in a twist.”
“Lennon isn’t like your other conquests.”
“And how do you know that? You barely know him yourself.”
“He just isn’t. He’s a man. A real man.”
“A real man? As opposed to all the fake men I’ve bedded?” I ask.
“Geezus, just promise me it won’t happen again,” she demands.
I glance over her shoulder to where the boys are seated by the fire.
“I wish I could, but you know how you said Sebastian does that thing with his tongue that makes you black out? Well, it must be a genetic phenomenon because I swear when he went down on me, I saw stars,” I tell her.
When a man is that good with his tongue, it cancels out, like, two red flags. Maybe three.
“I know. It’s insane, right? I mean, where did they learn how to—ew. No, I don’t want to think about that. Shit, I need a drink,” she blurts out as she heads toward the house.
“Oh, Avie, relax. I was kidding. I can handle Sebastian’s brooding big brother,” I say as I jog to catch up and wrap my arm around hers.
She doesn’t look at me.
“Come on. You know you can’t stay mad at me.”
“Yes, I can,” she grunts.
“Okay. I’ll promise to keep my distance if it will make you happy.”
“No. Well, yes. But I’m angry that you slept with him and didn’t tell me. That was months ago,” she whines.
“I should have. It just wasn’t a big deal, and I didn’t want you to make it a big deal.”
“It is a big deal, Amiya.”
“Not to me and not to Lennon either. Trust me. I haven’t heard a peep from him since that night. So, it’s safe to say that we got it out of our system.”
She stops and faces me. “If it’s not a big deal and it’s all out of your system, why the pissy looks and attitude?”
I give her a sheepish smile. “I might have been a little bratty earlier. I guess I’m not used to a guy not wanting a repeat performance, and it might have bruised my self-esteem a wee bit,” I admit.
“I knew it. You like him.”
I wave her off. “No, I don’t. My ego just got away from me for a minute. I’ll take full responsibility for that, and I’ll fix it.”
“Are you sure there won’t be any weirdness between you guys?”
I slash a finger over my chest. “Cross my heart.”
“And I don’t need to find one of you somewhere else to stay?”
“We’re adults. We can share a house. It’s not like we’re stuck in some cheesy romance novel, where there’s only one bed and we have no choice but to fuck like rabbits and fall madly in love,” I state.
She rolls her eyes. “Fine, but don’t ever hide something like that from me again, even if you do think it’s going to make me mad,” she demands.
“Promise.” I toss my arm around her neck. “Now, let’s go get you that drink.”
Lennon extends his hand for my keys.
After my talk with Avie, I went to sit beside him and bury the hatchet.
Truth is, I’ve thought about him a lot since our little rendezvous. He’s even starred in a few of my fantasies lately. And the fact that he’s been radio silent, even though I added my contact information to his phone while he was in the bathroom that night stung. It’s not like I expected him to call and profess his undying love for me or anything, but I figured I’d get a dirty text or a dick pic at the very least.
At one point during the holidays, I considered going into Avie’s phone to get his number so I could send him a scathing message or initiate a naughty exchange—whichever I decided at the moment—but I thought better of it.
He’s not interested.
End of story.
I hand him my keys, and we say our goodbyes to everyone. He places his hand on the small of my back and leads me through the gate to my car.
We ride in silence through the darkened streets to the cabana.
“What’s your favorite color?” I ask him out of the blue.
His eyes cut from the road to me. “Why?”
“I figure if you and I are going to be friends, we should get to know each other better,” I say.
“We’re going to be friends, huh?”
“Yes, we are. For Sebastian and Avie. Now, answer the question,” I insist.
“Blue and gold.”
“That’s two colors,” I point out.
“Yep. The colors of the Navy.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Okay. I’ll allow it. Favorite cocktail?”
“IPA.”
“That’s not a cocktail,” I note.
“I’m not a cocktail kind of guy. I like beer and an occasional whiskey, neat.”
“Favorite food?” I continue.
“Seafood.”
“Which seafood?” I press.
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“Salmon, shrimp, lobster, crab?” I tick off choices on my fingers.
“Yes.”
I laugh. “Favorite place?”
He considers the question for a moment before he speaks. “I don’t have a favorite place.”
“Oh, come on. You’ve been around the world with the military, right? You can’t think of a favorite place?”
He shakes his head. “No. I have favorite moments. Favorite people. So, I guess my favorite place is wherever I am in the moment with those people,” he says.
I like that answer. I feel the same way. Places are only memorable if you can enjoy them with people you love. Like Hawaii. It was magical, but I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much as I did if Avie hadn’t been there to experience it with me.
“What about you?”
His question pulls me back into our conversation.
“Me?”
“Yeah, it works both ways, Legs. If we’re going to be friends.”
“My favorite color is teal. Cocktail is anything colorful and sweet. My favorite food is chunky peanut butter and honey sandwiches. And my favorite place is Sandcastle Cove—at the moment at least.”
“Peanut butter and honey sandwiches?” he asks in surprise.
I smile. “Chunky peanut butter,” I correct him.
“I figured you’d be more of a lobster and caviar girl,” he says.
“I like those, too, but the question was my favorite. My grandmother used to make the sandwiches for me when I was little, and nothing compares to them.”
“You’re close to your grandmother?”
Teasing wisps of memories from my childhood swirl in vivid color. My grandmother and I cutting flowers in her garden. Her teaching me how to make her famous chicken and dumplings from scratch. Me sitting at her feet on the front porch as we snapped green beans waiting for the mailman to pass by.
“She’s my person. Well, she and Avie are my people. I don’t need many. I don’t want many,” I reply.
“Why?”
“Because every person who is important to you eventually breaks your heart,” I say honestly.
“How’s that?”
“You lose everyone you love. By some petty, selfish mistake one of you makes or they simply get sick and die. Either way, they will be a loss you have to endure someday,” I answer.
“Or you’ll be one they have to,” he finishes my thought.
“Exactly.”
“That’s a grim outlook, don’t you think?”
I turn in the seat and lay my head against the leather as I watch him. “No. It’s realistic.”
His eyes dart to me as a yawn escapes me.
“Hang on. We’ll be home in a minute,” he says softly.
Home.
My eyes flutter shut as the word rattles around in my head. I don’t really have a home anymore. I don’t consider my apartment a home. It’s just a place that holds my belongings. Home was Grandma’s house. Him absentmindedly calling the cabana that makes me smile. The thought of picking up and following my best friend to settle in Sandcastle Cove has crossed my mind more than once in the past year.