The little bungalow that Jace shared with Charlie had gotten a lot smaller with the addition of Audra, the woman who had agreed to marry the team’s former XO for God knew what reason. Marriage was so adult. But then Charlie was in his mid-thirties, and Audra was… well, Jace didn’t know her exact age, but she had a doctorate, so she’d gone to school for a billion years. She had to be close to thirty if not staring at the backside of it.

So, okay. Jace had to concede that Stella might possibly have a point about the differences between what people in their twenties and people in their thirties thought about doing with their lives. Which still wasn’t a good enough reason to ignore solid chemistry when it whacked you upside the head. Couldn’t two people get down and dirty without worrying about whether they had the same life plan?

Or was that the crux of the issue? She wanted to get married and have a serious relationship, which she could never imagine doing with Jace. Well, until right this minute, he couldn’t have imagined it either. But it didn’t sound horrible at all to wake up to the same woman over and over again, not when it was Stella.

As Jace hung out with his roommates the next afternoon, he pretended he wasn’t watching Charlie and Audra nuzzle each other instead of paying attention to the movie they’d queued up on the ancient TV. The pair of them were so goofy in love. It was kind of sweet and kind of cringe-worthy sometimes, like it was all Jace could do to stop himself from telling them to get a room. But mostly it was cool that they were so happy, and you could tell it was the real kind of love that lasted. Like Jace’s mom and dad.

Permanence. It appealed to him a lot and not just when it came to a job. When you found a place that fit, you tended to want it to last.

Audra was the reason Charlie had dragged them all to the Caribbean, not that he’d shared that with any of them until much later. Jace hadn’t even asked the first question. When Charlie said jump, Jace didn’t ask how high. He jumped. That was the power of Charlie’s in Charge mode, though the dude shrugged it off like he wasn’t doing anything special.

It was. Jace wouldn’t have left the Navy if Charlie hadn’t personally asked him to go in with him and four other guys from their SEAL team. Their XO had spun a tale of crystal-blue water lapping at white sand, eternal sunshine and a crap-ton of tourist’s dollars. The six of them had built an excursion company based out of the resort on the other side of the island, but it had taken a while to get it off the ground, which was how Jace had ended up in Freeport at the Crow Bar looking for a way to keep himself fed.

Someone pounded on the bungalow door, breaking apart the lovebirds. Jace heaved off the couch to see who it was, but the door popped open before he could get there. Dex Riley blew into the bungalow, tension etched into every last cell of the former sniper’s body. You did not mess with the man when he was in this kind of mood.

“Emma’s not feeling right,” Dex said, and before the entire sentence left his mouth, both Charlie and Audra shot to their feet. “We’re both worried about the baby. I need to take her to the emergency room on Abaco, but I’m supposed to do a snorkeling group in like twenty minutes. A big one.”

“I’ll come with you,” Audra offered instantly, her own concern for Dex’s wife and their unborn baby springing into her expression.

“Rachel’s already taking her to the boat, so no need. But I appreciate the gesture. Charlie, I hate to ask if you can cover my excursion. I know it’s supposed to be your day off and—”

“I’ll do it,” Jace broke in, earning surprised double takes from everyone in the room. “What? I can snorkel.”

“Yeah. You’ve just been… busy lately,” Dex said with a shrug.

“Not that busy.” He’d done a parasailing excursion, what, like last week? Or maybe it had been the week before that. Racking his brain, he had a bad moment when he couldn’t remember. Wow, when was the last time he’d been out with the team?

The glances Dex and Charlie exchanged put an exclamation point on the squirmy feeling in his gut, and all at once, it didn’t sit right that everyone was so shocked he’d be willing to take an excursion group out in the name of the company he co-owned with men who’d kept him alive for six years in the worst hellholes on earth.

“If you’re serious, I would appreciate the pass,” Charlie said. “Audra’s leaving for Miami tomorrow to do a seminar. I was really counting on spending the day with her.”

They laced fingers, and Audra leaned on Charlie’s arm, her long red hair falling on his sleeve like a waterfall. No wonder they’d been so cozy on the couch a few minutes ago. They were making up for an impeding separation. If he did the snorkeling excursion for no other reason than that, it was a good one. Charlie and Audra were great roommates and deserved a few hours alone.

“It’s no big deal.” Jace jerked his chin at Dex, who was nearly vibrating out of his skin over his sick, pregnant wife. “If Dex takes the other boat, I can’t go to Freeport until he gets back anyway. This is my company too. Go. Take care of Emma.”

Stella would understand if he was late for his shift. He texted her a short explanation and got an immediate response: Hope it’s nothing serious. Not a word about her missing bartender, and the omission put its own squirmy feeling in his stomach.

Some days it was harder than others to convince himself that she needed him. Was that one of the needles he needed to move to get her to see him by her side permanently?

Dex nodded his thanks and hightailed it out of the bungalow. Jace turned to see Charlie quietly watching him. Charlie’s blue eyes were nearly the color of ice, but somehow he always managed to infuse them with warmth. Even when the guy in his sights didn’t necessarily deserve any grace.

“Been a while since I heard you refer to Aqueous as your company,” Charlie said. “Hyland said you were talking about leaving. I’ve been waiting on you to come to me about it.”

That big blabbermouth. Jack was on Jace’s list for squealing to Charlie about what Jace had said in a fit of temper the other day.

“Why do I feel like I’ve been called to the principal’s office?” He grinned but faltered as Charlie didn’t smile back. This was not a subject either of them wanted to be talking about, clearly.

Jace respected the hell out of his former lieutenant, and his opinion mattered more than anyone else’s. Enough that the warmth and the squirmies pulled at something inside and he couldn’t blurt out the truth at gunpoint.

“I’m not leaving.” Jace waved that off with the flick of his fingers. “That’s crazy talk. I’m just going through some crap. Trying to figure out some stuff. When I do, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, this is still my gig. I’m sorry if I made you question my commitment.”

Charlie nodded and stepped out of Jace’s way as he strode to the bedroom to change for the excursion he’d just volunteered for. Guilt churned through his stomach at the lie he’d told his friend and roommate. He did think about leaving the team. All the time. Telling Jack Hyland that had been a lot easier than admitting it to Charlie’s face. But the truth was much more complicated.

What was he supposed to say? Yeah, thanks for keeping me alive all those years and then bringing me on board at Aqueous. But I think I’ll pass. Later. He owed Charlie his loyalty. But Jace didn’t fit here. It was a catch-22 he wasn’t dealing with well.

His attraction to Stella was tied up in all of it too. Much more so than he would have said a month ago. Now that he’d let himself start to think of her and the bar as a combo deal, the stakes were even higher to figure out how to make it all work. This was his life, and he’d bend it to his will come hell or high water. And then he’d figure out how to tell Charlie.

Jace strolled down the dirt path that passed for a road in the little dot on the map the locals called Town. It was largely inhabited by staff who worked at the resort on the other side of the island, which was accessible by a walking trail through the dense foliage that grew up in the center of this little piece of paradise. Jace rarely walked to the resort though because he lived on the water, and he traveled back and forth between Duchess Island and Freeport by speedboat.

Dex had taken the boat Jace normally used, leaving the larger one tied up at the tiny dock that Aqueous Adventures exclusively used to house their crafts. They needed another boat, but the dock barely supported the two they already owned, and Charlie hadn’t yet worked through the necessary permits required to build a bigger dock. That required approval by Jared Anderson, the owner of the island, and since the billionaire was also Audra’s ex-boyfriend as well as Charlie’s former friend, Jace assumed the blood was bad enough between the three of them that Charlie wasn’t going to be successful at getting that approval anytime soon.

Which wouldn’t matter if Jace wasn’t always gone with the boat.

Geez. Maybe he should have eaten something. The way his stomach kept rolling over couldn’t be good. Especially not if he planned to be out on the water for two hours with a snorkeling group.

Jack Hyland, the aforementioned blabbermouth, and Miles Lynch had beaten him to the boat.

“We have an excursion,” Miles called the second he caught sight of Jace. “You can’t take the boat to Freeport.”

“I know. Dex had to take Emma to Abaco, and Charlie’s macking down with Audra at home, so I’ll be playing the part of Dex for the next couple of hours. Lucky for you, I’m easier on the eyes. You’re welcome.”

Miles and Jack glanced at each other. There were way too many of those uneasy, waiting-for-the-punch-line expressions going around.

“What is with everyone?” Jace asked, not at all happy how much effort it took to keep his voice light. Usually he had no problem maintaining a smile. What was to hate? He got to spend the afternoon hanging out at the coral reef Miles and Jack had built out of a boat they’d hired Lale to sink, and he’d make it to Freeport later tonight at some point. He vaulted into the boat and occupied himself with finding a seat so he didn’t punch the next person who looked at him crossways. “You need a third, don’t you? I have just as much time in the water as you guys. I earned the trident.”

That had come out a little more irritable than he’d have liked. The entire afternoon had been one big trial by fire thus far and didn’t look to be getting any easier to navigate. And he hadn’t even brought up the fact that Jack had tattled to Charlie, which still churned through Jace’s gut alongside everything else.

“No one is questioning whether you were a good SEAL,” Miles returned easily. It took a lot more than a bad-tempered teammate to rile him, though what it did take would remain a mystery since Jace had never even heard him raise his voice. “Yeah, we have twelve in this group. We’re happy for the extra help.”

“Happy,” Jack echoed. “And perplexed. Do you still work here?”

“Yeah. Do you?” Jace jibed back with a magnanimous wave. “The boat, she does not drive herself to the other side of the island. It’s excursion time. Chop, chop.”

The scowl on Jack’s face meant he had more to say, but he opted to keep his mouth shut, a rarity. Miles settled into the passenger seat, and they fell into silence as Jack throttled the engine to motor away from the dock. The trip to the resort side dock took about a minute and a half, not long enough to break the tension but long enough for Jace’s stomach to settle, thank God. The last thing he needed was to immediately contradict the claim that he could handle himself on the water as good as the next guy.

Jace threw himself into the middle of the gaggle of snorkelers with gusto. He liked this part of the gig, mixing it up with tourists, meeting new people. There was a group of four ladies, all first-timers, all married and here at the resort for a girls’ getaway. This was his bread and butter, and he homed in on them for special attention that they tittered over. He never wore a shirt when he did excursions, largely for comfort, but females as a whole appreciated it, and he worked hard to look good. No point in covering it up. He liked to think of it as bonus scenery, and the ladies in his smaller, self-appointed group were not shy when it came to eating it up.

He walked them through the equipment basics, helped them get their masks adjusted, and did it all without any inappropriate conduct because they were married, which he respected. And he didn’t actually want to flirt with anyone else besides Stella. Would she find out if he did? Probably not. But it was the principle of the thing. Plus no matter how chill the ladies in his group were—even if they were unmarried—they had no shot at holding his attention. Only the redhead in Freeport could claim that.

Funny. It had never occurred to him that Stella and Audra were both redheads. And he saw both of them nearly every day. What did that mean? Nothing other than he and Charlie had similar taste in women?

As he helped the last of his ladies into the boat from the dock, Miles elbowed him.

“Did you get your face out of the blonde’s cleavage long enough to double check all their equipment?” Miles asked with an obnoxious brow waggle. “And I mean their masks, not the equipment you specialize in.”

With a distinct shade of red hazing his vision, Jace elbowed Miles back. Hard. In the ribs. There was a small measure of satisfaction that came along with the whoosh of Miles’s lungs expelling their contents. But not much. Didn’t do a thing to diminish the red haze.

“My face wasn’t in the blonde’s cleavage, but thanks for the vote of confidence anyway,” Jace returned with a tinge of fire heating his tone as he stepped closer to the center of the dock where the boat full of tourists couldn’t hear their conversation. “I don’t do that anymore. If you didn’t get the memo, I can tattoo it into your thick skull.”

Miles registered that with his legendary calm, crossing his arms over his chest and retreating farther toward the resort end of the dock, which only pissed off Jace more. Too good to fight back or too chicken?

“Hey.” Jack stepped between them, his fingers nipping in right at Jace’s sternum as he pushed.

The man had no shot at actually getting Jace to step back, but then he didn’t really think that was Hyland’s goal. If he was smart, it was to keep Jace from ripping Miles’s face off.

“We’re all friends here,” Jack said.

“I would have said the same,” Miles allowed with a grimace as he fingered his side. “Until I nearly got coldcocked by Custer’s elbow.”

“I saw,” Jack cut in tersely and jerked his head toward the boat where the twelve seagoers were finding seats amidst their own chatter. “And we’re lucky the customers didn’t. Back off. Settle your dispute at recess or after school.”

What, like he was a child? That was over the line, and the churn in his gut swirled up anew as he scowled at the guys he’d served with for years and years, often for hour upon boring hour as they swapped stories, gum, lookout positions. He would have called them friends as well as teammates, but as they all stared each other down, he wasn’t so sure he liked either one of them right this minute.

“Don’t you start with me now too, Hyland.” Jace took a step back as Jack’s fingers had gotten a whole lot more uncomfortable against his bare skin, and while he didn’t actually think the other man could take him, Jack was extra-imaginative when it came to solving problems. No reason to give him a challenge in front of a crowd.

“Too?” Miles muttered. “I wasn’t starting with you either. You’re the one who flipped out.”

“Because you—both of you—dog on me all the time. It would be nice once and a while if you pulled your head out of your ass long enough to notice that I’m not that guy anymore.” Not just specific to Hyland and Lynch either. All the guys liked to try to get a rise out of him, and if they weren’t doing that, they were scouting around for him to bring them a beer. That had long been their dynamic, and he was sick of it. “I’m not a kid or a player.”

What a coincidence. He was also trying to convince Stella of that exact same thing.

“No one said you were,” Miles protested. “I’m sorry, all right? It was a joke. I will never again mention anything to do with blondes.”

The apology was so sincere it took every ounce of wind out of Jace’s sails. They had a job to do, and pulling attitude wasn’t going to get it done. Plus it was possible that he was taking out his frustrations with a certain redhead on some convenient targets.

“All right then.” Jace nodded. “I might have overreacted.”

Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “Might? You were two heartbeats away from cracking one of Lynch’s ribs. That’s uncool, dude.”

The point was not lost on him. He had twenty pounds on Miles and an axe to grind that could have been handled a lot better. “Yeah. I’m not… Just yeah. I’m sorry too. Let’s do the thing.”

The water would burn off the rest of his mad and maybe provide some clarity as to why he’d had so much trouble keeping a good mood in place while on Duchess Island. At Stella’s, no problem. She made him smile no matter what, but at home—forget it.

That was why he’d started looking for a place to live in Freeport. But they were all really expensive, and if he gave up his share of Aqueous, bartending wasn’t going to cover a shoebox in the city. A bar manager, on the other hand, might have a lot more leeway in the funds department. Assuming he could actually act like the grown-up he claimed to be and then actually present a case to Stella for why she should give him the job. Given his record with her so far, the right time hadn’t come yet.

Jack and Miles gave him a wide berth as they took the group to the south side of Baroness Cay where the artificial coral reef stretched off the coast, bright with colorful fish and a few unfriendly crabs. Fine. Whatever.

Jace had always felt like the odd man out on the team. Even back in Iraq. He’d liked being a SEAL, had poured his heart into it but never really connected with the life like Blake had. His brother was still deployed, still bleeding for the trident on a daily basis. Yeah, it was a bit of a blow to find out the guy he’d shared a womb with, a hell-raising childhood—maybe even a girlfriend or two—and basically every other experience the universe could throw at them didn’t want to leave the Navy. Jace had left Blake behind and followed the team to the Caribbean, hoping to find a place that spoke to him.

So far, only the Crow Bar felt like home.