Chapter 20
Alex

He couldn’t wait to get out of that Home Depot. Alex didn’t know if Faith was oblivious to how the salesclerk ogled her, or if she relished it because he couldn’t do or say anything about it.

She’d dragged him around that store for another hour. Alex had worked doggedly to get through Craig’s list, but Faith tended to linger. “You want this or this?” he’d ask her, as he held up two different lighting options.

Her answers were either immediately, “This one,” or “You choose.” Alex couldn’t accuse her of ignoring him since she answered all his questions. Yet her tone was frosty.

There were only a few items on the list that demanded much debate on her end. Thank God, Alex thought. It was like Craig knew better than to send a California girl into a home improvement shop with much wiggle room for choices.

Alex watched her as she started to head into the appliance section. Oh God.

“You know, you’ll get a better deal on appliances at Best Buy.”

“Oh,” she said but continued to check features and prices.

“Generally lower prices and free financing for something like eighteen months,” he said.

“I don’t need financing,” she replied.

That’s right. She’s rich as hell now. Alex didn’t know exactly how much the inheritance was, but it was basically an entire island. A tiny island and a rundown plantation, but still.

“Seriously, if I were you I’d wait till the Labor Day sales,” he said.

“That might be a good idea,” she agreed and angled the cart out of appliances.

Alex was in charge of what Faith called the building stuff. It included the literal nuts and bolts, wires, pipes, and materials that Faith didn’t care much about selecting.

“I think that’s it,” Alex said as he dumped the last of the shopping list into the cart.

“I’m not sure if I should look at paint here .”

“Craig said the local shop by his office was better.”

Faith sighed. “Fine,” she said.

By the time he’d loaded up the trunk, Caleb had blown up his phone with texts. Lunch? Caleb had asked at noon. LUNCH? repeated in three strings of texts by one.

Never take a woman to Home Depot, Alex texted back. He glanced at Faith in the passenger seat. Ate yet?

No. CBP. Our ETA is fifteen min.

“Hungry?” Alex asked as he slid into the front seat.

“I could eat,” Faith said. She rested her chin on her hand and stared into the distance.

Alex couldn’t get to the Crystal Beer Parlor fast enough. He wove through the streets of Savannah well above the limit, but Faith acted like she either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“ʼBout time,” Matt said as they sat down. He and Caleb had already finished one IPA each.

“This place is cute,” Faith said. She pulled her sunglasses on top of her head and smiled at Caleb and Matt.

Where had that cheeriness been earlier? Alex wondered. He made a huff and pretended to look at the menu, though he always ordered the same thing.

“Not as cute as the company,” Caleb said with a wink. “And I don’t mean you,” he said to Alex.

“Stop!” Faith said with a giggle. She slapped Caleb’s arm lightly. “Hey, look, they have fried green tomatoes for starters. Like the movie.”

“Yeah,” Matt said. “Or, you know, like the southern dish that everyone’s eaten for ages.”

“I already ordered some plates to share. The tomatoes, fried okra, and the onion rings.”

“Well, that sounds healthy,” Faith said with a laugh.

“Muscles and curves require a healthy appetite,” Caleb said. He winked at Faith. “Figured you’d know that, ma’am.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve figured a few things out,” she said. Faith bit her lip and looked unabashedly at Caleb’s biceps that burst out of his shirt.

Alex steamed behind the menu. Since when had Faith shifted all her attention to Caleb? Hell, he is an outrageous flirt even without her encouragement!

“What do you recommend?” Faith asked the table.

“Au poivre burger,” Caleb and Matt said in unison.

“Where’s that?” Faith asked as she scanned the menu.

“Got cracked pepper, peppercorn brandy, grilled onions,” Caleb said. “Trust me, try it.”

“Oh, what the hell,” Faith said. “And a beer, too.”

Alex went to the bar for a round, happy for any excuse to get away from Faith and Caleb. He took a shot of whiskey at the bar, even though the waitress cocked her eyebrow. “You have no idea what I’m dealing with,” he told her.

That made her smile. “I got you, baby,” she said and covertly poured the whiskey into a soda glass topped with Coke.

Back at the table, the group grabbed the beers from Alex and ignored him once again. Matt was buried in his phone, while Caleb and Faith had eyes only for each other.

“I think you’ll really like it,” Caleb told Faith as Alex settled back in.

“I’m nervous!” Faith said. “You shouldn’t have told me about the whole shark thing.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” Caleb said.

Alex half listened to their plans for diving while he let the whiskey and beer do their job on his empty stomach. I did tell her we were a mistake. Or that she was a mistake? Hell, he couldn’t remember exactly. Either way, it sure didn’t sound good, and it certainly hadn’t come out right.

“Stop it!” Faith said as Caleb pinched her thigh and imitated a shark. She giggled and put her hand on his forearm.

“Hey, now, I’m just giving you a preview,” Caleb said. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re Gonna have to do as I say on that boat if you wanna stay safe.”

“Okay, okay,” Faith said. “I’ll be good.”

“Not all the time, now,” Caleb said.

“But tell me how you got started,” Faith said. She took a pull of the beer. “Diving, I mean.”

“Oh, me and Alex were always in the water as kids,” Caleb said. “Swimming, snorkeling, everything. Dang near drowned each other all them summers. Remember that, Alex?”

Alex grunted in agreement.

“But I dunno, I got the diving bug when I was ʼbout sixteen I guess. Mama was happy to send me to the mainland for a month of scuba lessons for the summer. One less boy to deal with, she’d say. And that was that.”

“It just took a month?” Faith asked. “That’s not too bad.”

“Lots o’ people get certified on vacations,” Caleb said with a shrug. “But there are all kinds of levels.”

“And what level would you say you’re at?” Faith asked.

“The level where I oughta know better than to take a beautiful distraction out on the water,” Caleb said.

“A distraction!” Faith said. “That’s hardly complimentary.”

“I s’pose that depends on who you ask.”

“Matt, do you hear this?” Faith asked.

“Huh?” Matt said as he tore his eyes away from the screen.

“What’s so interesting in that phone, anyway?” she asked.

“I’m surprised you’re not on yours. Isn’t your firm bombarding you with emails?”

Faith sighed. “I think they’ve given up on me for the summer. I’m pretty much a glorified virtual administrative assistant at this point. As long as I log the documents daily, they’re happy.”

“That doesn’t worry you?” Matt asked. “What about job security?”

“I don’t know,” Faith said. “I was stoked when I first landed that job. But now? Maybe . . . maybe law isn’t for me after all.”

“Awful young to decide that,” Matt said.

“Better now than later, right?” she asked.

“I suppose.”

“You can always come work for me,” Caleb said. “I could always use a hot assistant.”

“There’s no way I’d be your assistant!” Faith said. “We’d never get any work done.”

“You don’t think? How come? What you imagine we’d be doin’ instead?”

“Oh, I don’t know . . .”

“C’mon, you can’t leave a guy hangin’ like that.” Caleb nudged. “Gimme some ideas.”

“Some ideas for what we’d do instead of work?”

“Sure.”

“Probably fight off sharks and start drinking way too early.”

“There’s no such thing as drinkin’ too early. Especially since, well, you know what they say.”

“No, what?”

“The more you drink, the better I look,” Caleb said with a wink. “And the whole lowered inhibitions thing don’t hurt, either.”

“Right, like you really need help looking better,” Faith said.

“Why, is that a compliment, Miss Capshaw?”

“You take it however you like.”

Alex couldn’t take much more of this. Matt might be totally oblivious, but it felt like he was the fifth wheel on a date that was headed straight for a hookup.

I can’t be mad at her. Or Caleb, he reminded himself. Caleb’s clueless, and I might as well have told Faith that I regretted having anything to do with her.

“That’s so bad!” Faith’s giggle burst through his thoughts. He didn’t even want to know what was so bad that Caleb had said or done.

Shit. But just because he’d backpedaled, that didn’t mean he wanted to sit around and watch her flirt with his brother. The two of them were putting on a show that was too embarrassing to bear.

“Excuse me,” she said. “Ladies’ room before the food arrives.” Alex had to lean back to let her out, and as she passed him her ass was right in his face. The same sweet ass he’d kissed and nibbled on just a few days ago. Those shorts were so tiny, he thought he could still see a hickey between her thighs.

“Damn,” Caleb said as Faith made her way to the far end of the restaurant.

Alex realized they both ogled her ass as she swished away.

“They don’t make ʼem like that round here,” Caleb told Alex.

“Maybe you don’t look hard enough,” Alex said.

“You’re one to talk,” Caleb retorted. “You just literally had the finest thing I’ve ever seen in your lap and didn’t do a damn thing about it.”

“Maybe I don’t feel like going to battle with my brother for a piece of ass,” Alex said. He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, but it was too late now.

Caleb didn’t seem bothered by it. His face lit up as the waiter arrived with their order. “Excuse me, y’all,” Alex said as he got up. Caleb and Matt didn’t even seem to notice.

He headed straight toward the restrooms. Faith waited in line for the women’s restroom. Jesus, she is hot. “I need to talk to you,” he said. The older woman behind Faith gave him a hard look.

“Right now?” she asked.

“Yes, right now.” He took her elbow and led her out the back kitchen door.

“Hey, y’all aren’t s’posed to use that!” the woman hollered as the door slammed shut.

“What the hell are you doing?” Faith demanded. Finally, some kind of emotion.

“What am I doing? What do you think you’re doing?”

“Uh, trying to pee,” she said. “If, you know, I hadn’t been interrupted.”

“You know what I mean,” Alex said. He wanted to tell her to stop toying with Caleb, but the words wouldn’t come together in his mouth.

“What, do you want to tell me again how hooking up with me was a mistake? I got the message, Alex,” she said. “You weren’t exactly subtle about it.”

“Look, I get that you can flirt with whoever you want, okay? But my brother is off limits.”

Faith laughed and rubbed her hands along her bare thighs. “Then you tell him to stop flirting with me. Okay? I’m not going to be rude to him just because you don’t know how to act after a one-night stand. At least he’s nice to me.”

That stung, but Alex knew she had a point. But one-night stand? Is that what she thought it was? “That’s how he is with everyone,” Alex said. His effort to brush it off landed flat.

“Oh, is it now? You’re telling me that he’s just being friendly? How much do you want to bet that I can get him to kiss me?”

Alex went tense, and Faith noticed.

A smile crept across her face. She crossed her arms over her chest.

Even with the rage that bubbled inside him, he couldn’t help but notice how it pushed up her ample cleavage.

“Huh?” she asked. “You like games, don’t you? That’s how this whole thing got started.”

“You wouldn’t,” Alex said.

Faith looked at him closely. Whatever considerations and calculations she made, he couldn’t gauge. “No,” she said finally. “I wouldn’t. But not because he’s your brother. It’s because I slept with you, and I’m not ready to move on just like that. Not all women are your late wife, you know.”

Alex looked at her. At her lips. Maybe she is right.

Faith took two steps toward him and closed the distance. Her arms still crossed, she raised up on her toes and kissed him just beside his mouth. With an unreadable expression, she turned and walked back inside.

Alex looked after her, flabbergasted. I bit off more than I can chew this time, he told himself. Did it the first time I had a dirty thought about that woman.