When Tom came out of this brother’s room and saw she was missing, he cursed. “She’s gone!”

“Where did she go?” Will pulled up his phone. “Trina said she agreed to ask you. That’s why I gave Trina our room number in the first place.”

Tom ran to the door and opened it, but no one was there. Angry that Emily had left, angry that he’d been so unprepared for her to show up, and triple angry that his brother was orchestrating all of this, he pushed his brother hard as he walked back into the room. “I don’t know, idiot. Maybe if you would have prepped me to see her, I wouldn’t have left her waiting.”

Will crossed his arms and eyed him calmly. “You’re hulking out right now. Calm down.”

“Why? Just because I take my brother on a vacation, and he repays me by telling my ex my room number and then leaving!” He was shouting, feeling out of control.

“You only brought me because you didn’t have a woman—and now,” Will said, as if he just thought of it, “now you’re going to have to face all those tour pictures by yourself. You’re going to be the Kent brother who can’t get a woman to come with him to Hawaii.” He jerked a thumb to his chest. “And I won’t be there to distract everyone with my good looks.” Will huffed and turned back to his room. “I got a plane ticket for this evening, bro, so you’re going to have to deal with all of this.”

“Oh, shut up, Will.” Tom huffed, pacing the room. The truth was that Tom couldn’t care less about those stupid pictures. But the more he paced the room, the more he thought about Emily standing there asking him to be her date. Man, the woman had guts; he would give her that.

Now, he thought about doing all the excursions without Will, and yes, he thought about being in those stupid pictures by himself. In Hawaii. Ugh. All these insecurities, all these regrets, all this confused happiness at seeing Emily coursed through him. “Man.” He went to the patio again, holding onto the handrail, and let out another breath. “Man.”

Tom thought about the way she’d looked just now, playing with her grandmother’s ring on her right index finger. She’d loved her grandmother. Her grandmother had been born in December, and her birthstone a blue topaz. He’d been there the Christmas her grandmother had given it to her. His mind raced. How many times had he thought of Emily? Missed her? Wanted her?

Tom could tell that his brother was hovering by the door behind him. He faced Will, making a decision. “Fine. Go.”

“I am going. Flying out on another red-eye. Kill me now.” He sighed.

Tom brushed past him, heading for the shower.

“So what are you going to do, bro?” Will asked, tagging along.

“I can’t believe you did this.”

Will laughed, then crossed his heart. “She chose to come ask you all on her own. That should mean something to you.”

Tom shook his head. “Go,” he snapped, retreating into the bathroom.

“Wait. Wait.” Will caught the bathroom door before Tom closed it. “So what’s the deal, bro?”

“I’m going to give her what she wants,” he said, his voice controlled now. All his years in the Army and as a firefighter had prepared him for a crisis like this.

“What does that mean?”

“I’m going to be her date, but I’m going to ask for something in return.”