Chapter 5

“It was nice of you guys to help carry all this stuff inside.” Jerry, for all his ex-football-player bulk, moved like a whirling dervish, putting everything from the boxes of food they’d stacked on the U-shaped granite counter into the fridge and cabinets.

Josh pretended to whack him on the head. Or actually tried to and Jerry was just too fast. Riley saw it as too close to call. “Dude. You bought it all, boxed it up, and are going to cook it for us. I think hustling the ice cream inside was the least we could do.”

Yeah, they paid Jerry to take care of the details of a houseful of busy men. But he was their friend, too. You didn’t kick back with a beer by the pool and let your friend make twelve trips in from the car on a ninety-degree day.

Beer. Pool. Not a bad idea to stock the fridge they kept on the back patio right now. Never one to leave a plan unexecuted, Riley pulled four six-packs into his arms and started around the island and over to the French doors at the opposite end of the airy great room.

“No, I want to thank you guys for helping. I need the excuse.”

That was weird. Jerry sounded like somebody had starched his boxers.

Griff reared back. “Excuse to do what? Because if it’s something weird like giving us foot rubs, I’m out.” Jerry had been on a learning kick lately, taking cooking classes, flower arranging classes, and feng shui. He was either trying to figure out his life path or just using his new skills as a way to pick up chicks. The five of them had a bet going about what weird hobby he’d try next. Even as he continued to scarf down the usually awesome results of Jerry’s cooking class, Riley’s money was on fencing. Just…because.

Barreling right on, Jerry said, “I’m gonna thank you by throwing Riley here under the bus with an embarrassing story.” And then he flashed a shit-eating grin.

Riley froze. No way was he leaving the room now. Especially since he didn’t have a clue what Jerry would say next.

“Jerry, you’re awesome.” Logan clapped him on the back of his yellow T-shirt, which featured a crab emblazoned with the Maryland flag. “Embarrassing stories are a great way to kick off a beach weekend. God, I’ve missed doing these with you guys. It’s great to be home.”

Yeah. Riley was thrilled, too, that Logan was back after months away rebuilding a village at the ass end of Kazakhstan. But he’d bought the guy dinner when he first got back. That should be enough. No need to let himself be humiliated just to entertain Logan.

Jerry spread his legs wide, like he was already on the paddleboards they’d all use in the ocean. “Do you remember when we ran out of olives at the brunch last weekend? I ran to the store to grab a jar.”

“This is a suck-ass start to an embarrassing story. It’d better ramp up quick,” Knox warned. “Grocery stores are boring. Unless you’re picking up girls. Which is pretty much an urban legend. I’ve discovered that women aren’t actually wild about being hit on in the produce aisle.”

“Maybe you’re doing it wrong.” Josh lifted his hands to chest level. Juggled them suggestively. “Did you have a pair of cantaloupes in your hands?”

Knox’s response in no way reflected his status as a Mensa member. “Dipshit.”

“Asshat.”

Jerry slapped shut the refrigerator door. “Don’t worry, the store’s not part of the story. On my way, I saw Riley. Making out with a woman.”

Shit. Riley set the beer back on the counter. Now that he knew where this was going? It was clear there’d be no escape. The guys yanking his chain? As inevitable as ball sweat during a workout.

Griff ripped open a bag of crab chips with his teeth. “That’s not embarrassing either. Unless she wasn’t hot.”

“Oh, she’s hot. You all agree on that.” Jerry paused for a beat, letting anticipation grow. His pause was long enough for Riley to start thinking up ways he could pay him back for this. Putting a pile of sand in his bed, maybe. “It was Summer.”

Four heads pivoted toward Riley in unison.

Griff’s mouth fell open. “No freaking way.”

“You can’t stand her,” Knox added, shaking his head.

“Niiiice. She’s a hottie.” Josh held up a hand for a high five, which Riley ignored. “Dude, you can’t leave me hanging. You scored, you get a high five. Follow the rules.”

Aaaaand, now it’d begin. He should know. Riley had poked and picked apart and teased the shit out of Griffin, Knox, and Logan once they’d gotten serious with a girl. Which was why he’d nip this in the bud with the truth. “I didn’t score. We kissed. That’s it.”

“You only kissed her once and stopped?” Logan scrunched up his face. “Was she bad at it? Too much Bloody Mary breath?”

That was the problem. Summer had been good.

Great.

Perfect.

Which made Riley feel obliged to spill the rest of the truth. “Not once. Twice. It happened again at her store.”

“You dragged me over there so you could have a makeout session?” Griffin flicked him on the side of the head. “Not cool, Ry.”

Agreed. That would’ve been downright skeezy. Riley would’ve kicked his own ass if that’d been the case. He jerked his head away, eager to clear the air. To not start the weekend with Griff’s nose out of joint and his foot up Riley’s ass.

“No way.” He thumped his knuckles against the speckled brown granite for emphasis. “I went to the store to suggest a truce to Summer. So we don’t drive you guys all bat-shit crazy with our bickering this weekend. And I took you along, G-Man, so that I wouldn’t be tempted to kiss her a second time. You were supposed to be my reverse wingman.”

There was a beat of silence. One more. Then Griff flicked him again. But this time it was done with a one-sided lift to the corner of his mouth. “You could’ve clued me in.”

His relief came out in a long whoosh of air. “I didn’t think I needed to. Why the hell would you leave me alone with a woman I hate?”

Fingers in his ears, eyebrows raised, Griffin answered, “Because I didn’t want to stand there listening to you two tear each other apart as usual.”

It made sense. Which was precisely why he’d brokered the truce for this weekend.

“Love and hate.” Knox steepled his fingers and then tapped them together like an evil mastermind plotting world domination. “There’s a very fine line between the two. I think you just crossed over. What with the spit-swapping.”

Riley always, always made sure the facts were straight. It didn’t matter who was talking or what the consequences. So as much as he didn’t want to add fuel to his friend’s mocking, the truth had to be spoken.

“It turns out? I don’t hate her. When we stopped fighting and started talking like normal people, it worked. Summer’s a lot smarter than I gave her credit for, even if she does have a mouth on her.”

“A mouth made for kissing, apparently,” Logan said under his breath as he grabbed the chips and emptied them into a wooden bowl.

“No more kissing.” Riley heard the volume of his statement jack up to a near-yell. So he dug out two more bags of chips. Banged the cabinet doors until he found more bowls. He had to do something, anything rather than just stand there talking about the hot woman he was trying so damned hard to ignore. “Just because I discovered she’s not the Antichrist doesn’t mean jack shit. Summer Sheridan drives me up a wall. She’s reckless.”

“Spontaneous,” Griffin countered.

Well, of course he’d defend the woman. She was his almost-fiancée’s best friend. But Riley had more ammunition. “She thinks ‘plan’ is a four-letter word.”

Knox counted out four fingers, then held them up. “Do I really have to state the obvious?”

“Fuck off.” Riley pawed at the chips. Noticed that a bowl of bacon clam dip had appeared next to them, thanks to Jerry, who never missed a trick. He tunneled the wavy chip through the thick dip. Then went back the other way in a curlicue pattern, stalling for time. Stalling while he figured out how to make his friends understand that Summer was as dangerous to him as going helmetless was for a motorcyclist. “She doesn’t worry about the future.”

Barking out a laugh, Logan said, “Almost nobody on the planet worries about the future as much as you do, bud. Except for maybe fortune-tellers.”

Riley tried to come up with other examples of how wrong they were for each other. Instead, his brain turned on him, providing only images of her dark lashes dusting her golden skin when he kissed her. How her top dipped low in between her breasts, revealing a deep valley he wanted to lick his way down. The wistful tone in her voice when she’d talked about wanting to be respected for her intelligence rather than her looks.

He abandoned the chips to walk over to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Riley looked out across the patio, past the pool to the dunes and the glint of ocean blue beyond them. He and Summer were like the ocean beating against the dunes. Riley wasn’t sure who was the ocean and who was the dunes in the scenario. But he knew that the constant beating against each other, the endless abrasion was bad for both of them.

Deliberately, Riley turned his back on the outdoors and what it represented. “We’re all wrong for each other. She annoys me every time she opens her mouth.”

“Unless you’re sliding your tongue inside it?” Knox hinged over the counter and lolled his tongue out.

A tongue that still had chip crumbs on it. Gross. Every once in a while, like now, it felt like the five of them still hadn’t left high school.

Which was awesome.

Laughing, he came back over, scooped, and crammed a dip-laden chip into his mouth. Because this whole conversation was moot. Summer was handled. They had a truce. Now all he had to do was keep his distance.

“Summer is a bad mistake waiting to happen. And you all know I spend my life avoiding bad mistakes. Nothing else will happen between us. Period. We’ll play nice here at the beach so we all have a good weekend together, and that’s it. No more kissing.”

Knox pulled his wallet out of his seersucker shorts. Tossed a fifty-dollar bill onto the counter. “I say he doesn’t last the night without making another move on her.”

Wordlessly, his friends all added their bills. Fuckers. Riley couldn’t believe they had no faith in his self-control. “Fine.” His solitary bill fluttered to the side of the others. “I’m in, you bastards.” But when Jerry started to add his money to the big pile, Riley grabbed his arm. “No. No way. You outed me, you have to be on my side.”

“But that’s a sucker bet. I’ll lose.”

Unbelievable. Thanks to his abundance of caution and triple-checking and forward thinking, Riley didn’t make mistakes. Ever. And he never took risks. Getting together with Summer again would be both. How did everyone not see that?

“No you won’t. You’ll rake in the cash from these lowlifes, who clearly don’t know me at all.” He stuffed the cash into a coffee mug and slammed it onto the windowsill next to the potted herbs. “Now, can we talk about the Foundation for five minutes before the girls get here?”

Griffin hitched up his cargo shorts and sat on a lattice-backed barstool. Then he shot both his index fingers at Riley. “If it’s you announcing that you filed the paperwork, sure.”

Who else would’ve done it? “Yeah, we’re all official in the eyes of the IRS.”

With an exaggerated wipe of his brow, Knox said, “That’s why we put you in charge. Although you could’ve given that over to an accountant, you know.”

“Once everything is established, I will. There are some intricacies I need to work through and wrap my mind around. We’ll be raising money for charitable purposes, but also to spend on lobbying efforts to change laws. That’s more complicated.”

“But we’re good?” Logan asked. He straddled a stool backward.

“Yeah. It’ll take a shit ton of research, though. Looking at statistics from all over the world. Figuring out how and where our money can make the most impact. And figuring out how to jerk at the heartstrings to make people respond. That’ll be the killer.” Not to mention the most pivotal part.

Backing away until his ass hit the window, Knox said, “Don’t look at me. I know numbers and computer code. Period.”

Griff waved him off, too. “I’m not good at expressing myself. Just ask my girlfriend.”

“Obviously.” It was petty as shit to twist the knife in an already festering wound. But Ry couldn’t resist doing it after the way Griff went after him about Summer. “You won’t even tell her that you love her so much that she’s gotta marry you.”

“I did that to put the ball in her court. Fuck it.” He threw his hands up. Which happened to be completely in time to the music Jerry had going on the Bose speaker by the stove. You know you make me wanna shout…“I’m not going to keep explaining it to you idiots. It made Chloe happy, telling her that she needed to propose to me. And if it makes her happy, I file it under a good decision.”

“Yeah?” Ry crossed his arms over his chest. “How’s that working out for you?”

Instead of getting pissier, Griff leaned back with a smirk. “I’m getting sex every night, which is more than you can say.”

Too fucking true. That had to be why he’d reacted so strongly to kissing Summer. Both times. It’d been a while since his last hookup. Summer pushed all his buttons—the bad and the good. It was that simple. He’d take Josh tomorrow night, head up the road to Dewey Beach, and they’d bring home the hottest girls in the bar to scratch the lust itch.

“Speaking of, we need to rearrange the bedroom assignments.” Josh glared at Knox. “I don’t want to listen to Knox and Madison banging the headboard into the wall all night long.”

“Sounds like maybe we could consolidate. Riley and Summer could end up sharing a room.” Knox pointed at the mug-o-cash.

Hell, no. “I’m taking a different floor from wherever you put her.” Which would also be a plus in executing Operation Screw a Stranger. “Getting myself completely out of temptation’s way. That’s the theme for this weekend—to stay as far away from Summer as possible.”

Josh shot him the often used You’re overthinking the fuck out of this look. “Really? My plan is to drink beer during the day, stuff my face, and then switch it up to wine with dinner.”

“Not all of us have lives that revolve around food and beverage,” Riley countered.

“Maybe you should. Spending every day thinking about food makes me way more cheerful than you are most of the time.”

“I’ll be plenty cheerful as soon as we hit the beach. I just need to check in with work first.”

Everyone groaned. “It’s a vacation, Ry. Three days. Take a break.”

“There’s a lot going on.” He kept it deliberately vague because they’d just piled on him about Summer. Riley wasn’t up for another gang bang of negativity—which was probably what would happen when he mentioned how he’d been putting in a ton of extra time and his boss was still riding him about doing more. And breathing down his neck on everything he did do.

“Dude, you investigate traffic accidents. Not to be heartless, but cars crash every damn day, whether you’re paying attention or not. So put on your trunks and come outside.”

“Wait for us,” Chloe hollered from the hallway. Madison, Brooke, and Summer were right at her heels in a flurry of slapping flip-flops. “I intend to outlast all of you on the beach. It’s my personal goal for the weekend.” She handed a plastic bag to Jerry, as did each of the women in turn.

Knox frowned. “What’s with the bags? I told you we had the food covered.”

Madison slipped under his arm and kissed the line on his forehead. “We passed a dozen farm stands on the way here. We picked up everything we need to turn your excellent wine into sangria.”

“And I got watermelons,” Summer announced. It was the last thing Riley needed to hear. It flashed him back to Josh’s joke about melons. Which sent his gaze dipping right to that shadowy dip of cleavage revealed by her tight black tank top. Right where he wanted to lick…

Josh thumped the melons with his fist, then nodded his approval. “If anyone’s for a seed-spitting contest, don’t bother. Logan’s got loft with his spit you wouldn’t believe.”

“There’s not a lot to do in the jungle at night. I honed my game.” One arm wrapped tight around Brooke, Logan leaned over to ruffle Madison’s hair. “Hey, Sis.”

For a man who’d been deathly scared a month ago to meet his surprise half-sister, let alone hug her, it was huge progress. Good thing, since she was engaged to Knox. That tie might mean more to Logan than the fact that they shared DNA. He was trying, anyway. Trying to figure out how to make up for them missing two decades–plus of inside jokes and laughter and, well, the closeness he shared with the ACSs. His blood brothers.

Summer lifted her hair off the back of her neck. Which promptly sent Riley into a tailspin of need. Need to blow across her nape to cool her down. Need to twist that hair around his hand and then use it to pull her close. “The watermelon gets thrown in a blender with vodka. Simplest drink ever. It’s summer in a glass.”

“What did we miss?” Brooke asked. As the newest addition, she was still feeling her way with the group. They all liked her. She just seemed more at ease with the other girls than with the guys. Logan had asked them to go the extra mile this weekend to make her feel included. Riley would freaking jump at the chance. Seeing as how it gave him extra time to not be tempted by Summer.

Logan stroked her cheek with the side of his thumb. “We were just talking about getting the Foundation off the ground. And convincing Riley that he shouldn’t spend all weekend working.”

“Maybe if some of you helped him with the Foundation stuff, he wouldn’t need to work.”

She delivered the verbal spanking so blandly that it took a second for Logan to wince. “Ouch. Touché. Except he’s good at it and we’re not.”

“Well, I had a brilliant brainstorm that should solve both problems.” Chloe swung her arm like a pendulum until it pointed at her best friend. “Summer can help.”

“Help with what?” Riley quickly asked. Shit. The implicit sneer in his words came out way more condescending than he’d intended. Sheer habit.

“The mission statement for the Foundation. The white paper. The speech. She’s great at that stuff. Channeling emotion into motivation.”

This time Riley’s condescension was as intentional as wearing red when he went to a Nats game. “I get that you’re good at convincing people to buy dresses that’ll burn up their credit card. But this is a little more targeted.”

He had to give her credit for sticking to their truce. Better than he just had. Summer just beelined to the chips and started wordlessly snacking. Which made Ry feel about two inches tall for not having taken the high road himself.

In a patient tone, Chloe said, “Summer gives motivational speeches. About how lives are affected by random acts of violence. How one moment can change a life forever. How education and planning can save lives.”

“That sounds right up your alley, Ry,” Griffin said with a harder-than-necessary elbow to the ribs.

It didn’t add up. A pageant girl who, yes, did more than just play with dresses, but what about that made her inspiring? “Where’d all this knowledge come from?”

With a pointed clearing of her throat, Chloe said, “Riley, you mean when you Googled me, you didn’t do the same for my friend?”

“After you shamed me about it? Nah, I quit. Cold turkey.” She’d oh-so-politely ripped him a new one about doing so when they first met. He’d declared girlfriends of the ACSs—and their friends—a Google-free zone.

Summer tapped long, delicate, red-tipped fingers against her sternum. “I was in the shooting. With Chloe.”

Well, wasn’t that a kick to the nuts!

Chloe was a survivor of a mass college shooting. She didn’t talk about it. He’d found out about it when Griff started dating her and, yeah, Riley had done some research on the woman turning his friend inside out and upside down. They’d had a conversation where she filled in a couple of details, but she’d never mentioned that her best friend had been there as well. It wasn’t improbable. Knowing they’d been friends since college, he could’ve even done the math and at least wondered if Summer had been hit as well.

Except he’d never bothered to think about Summer before this week.

Aside from thinking about how she bugged the living daylights out of him. The more he stopped bitching about her, and knee-jerk blowing up at her? The more Riley was discovering the hidden depths of the gorgeous brunette with zero regard for safety or planning.

Logan stepped forward. Squeezed her triceps, then let go. “Summer, I’m so sorry. You look like, uh, you came out okay?” He gestured at the acres of skin revealed by her cropped shorts and halter top.

“I lived. Thanks to Chloe.” She grasped her friend’s hand tightly. It said a lot that she was still so quick to show gratitude after almost ten years. “And then, eventually, I healed. When I change into my bikini, there will be a few scars that show. You’re all allowed thirty seconds to gawk, and that’s it.”

Riley still couldn’t believe that she’d kept something so enormous, so much a part of her very soul, a secret. Especially when he was used to the women he met at bars blabbing everything he never wanted to know about themselves, from their cat’s birthday to their last random hookup.

“You never told us.” And, yeah, it came out as an accusation. Like she’d been hiding her true identity from them. Because maybe if he’d known about all her different and interesting pieces from the start, he would’ve…well, Riley wasn’t sure what he would’ve done differently. But he would’ve liked the chance to try not to have been such a big dick to her.

She shrugged a shoulder. A move that sent the black strap slithering down her arm. Damn, that was hot. “You never asked. Anything about me. Griffin knew.”

“I did, too,” Knox interjected. The self-righteous, secret-keeping asshole. “But then, I talk to Summer, because it’s what I do with beautiful women. Or what I did, before landing this bundle of gorgeousness.” He drew Madison to his side and gave her a huge, smacking kiss that drew a groan from Josh.

“Can we at least limit the noisy PDA? Keep that shit on the beach where it’s covered up by the crash of the waves?”

Chloe tapped her fingers on Riley’s forearm. “The point is, Summer’s got loads of experience. She knows what buttons to push to make the biggest impact.”

“Great.” Griffin clapped his hands together. Like it was a done fucking deal. Like Riley had no say in having Summer foisted on him. Like Griff didn’t remember that Riley was trying like hell to keep his distance from this sexy, strap-slipping girl. “That sounds like exactly what we need. We can handle the big picture and number crunching, but the emotional pull isn’t our thing.”

“We’d really appreciate your help on this, Summer,” Logan added.

Of course he’d folded like a cheap deck of cards. The guy was overwhelmed right now, getting a crash course in how to run his family foundation. He probably thought Summer being dealt in would keep Riley from trying to mine him for ideas.

Asswipe.

Riley had to do something to stop the Put Summer on the team train. Clearly it was inevitable. Clearly he’d be an idiot to refuse her help. He just couldn’t stand here another second and deal with it.

Desperate, he figured a change of venue would change the subject. “There’s still plenty of time to hit the beach before lunch. How about a game of volleyball? Change and meet on the beach in ten minutes?”

Claps, squeals, trash talk, and an almost instant clearing of the room was the response. Riley let out a big sigh of relief. And then almost jumped out of his skin when Josh poked him between the shoulder blades.

“That was stupid.”

“What?”

“Suggesting volleyball. You know that’ll put Summer in a bikini.” With a wicked grin, Josh slowly drew his fingers together into a pinch. “Bet it’ll be a teeny, tiny one, too.”

“Shit.” She’d be hot as hell.

“For someone who brags about thinking four steps and two outcomes ahead? You’re kind of off your game when it comes to planning against risk, aren’t you?” Josh laughed the whole way out of the room.

“Stupid” was right. How was he supposed to hide a raging hard-on in swim trunks?