We lay on the bed together, her head resting on my chest while I ran soothing lines of comfort up and down her arms with my lips pressed to her temple. She’d been speaking about things for a good hour on and off, switching from struggling to get out her thoughts to suffering in silence repeatedly. I let her deal with things however she needed to. Truth be told, I was still in shock a bit myself, imagining how I’d feel if I’d never had Sammy growing up, only to be told now, at that stage in life, that she existed.

Cheated is the word that came to mind over and over again. The same word Danni had used earlier.

“I bet she’s super pretty,” Danni said in one of her calmer moments.

“She shares your DNA. I’d say it’s a given,” I mumbled against her head.

“I wonder if that’s why she’s gone to the press? To try and gain some publicity so she can get into modelling.” She paused, her finger drawing patterns on my stomach, as she got lost in her thoughts.

“Would that bother you?”

“I don’t know. I’d have preferred her to reach out to me privately. No one likes the idea of their families dirt being spread across the world for everyone to see, but…”

“But?”

She tilted her head back and looked up at me through innocent eyes. “We don’t know what things my parents might have put in place over the years to silence Kacey and her mum.”

“You think they’ve had some kind of gag order hanging over them both?”

“I think anything is possible, don’t you?”

I shrugged half-heartedly. “I guess so.”

Dropping her head back down, she continued to trace lines over my skin, her breaths lazy and warm against me.

“Danni?”

“Yeah.”

“This could be a good thing for you in time. You’ve always loved my relationship with Sammy. Maybe, just maybe…”

“... I could have a real sister of my own.”

I kissed the top of her head and closed my eyes, wishing I could take any pain she was feeling away from her completely. “Out of every bad thing comes something good.”

“Even if we struggle to see it at first.”

“Exactly.”

She fell asleep in my arms, and the weight of her silence lulled me into my own slumber before either one of us had any time to think about getting dressed or eating food. This life we were living was thrilling, adventurous, exciting, true… but it was also unpredictable and tiring.

Hours later, the two of us stirred, when the sky had turned to night without us noticing, and the Puerto Rico beach below was bursting with life. I glanced over at the digital clock on the nightstand to see it was two in the morning already.

Shit!

I jumped up, accidentally knocking Danni who glanced up at me with wide eyes, taking a minute to adjust to her new surroundings.

“Sorry, baby,” I muttered, rubbing her arm as I felt a coolness run down my spine. “Shit, it’s the early hours of the morning. We haven’t eaten. We haven’t unpacked. We haven’t even…”

She smiled a lazy smile at me before she flopped down on the bed again, pulled the thin sheet over her and snuggled into her pillow.

“Go back to sleep, Marcus. We’ll deal with the rest in the morning.”

The morning. Right.

The morning was set to bring a whole heap of new challenges our way. I guessed sleep was important. We might not get any for a few more days.

Reaching over for my mobile phone, I switched it on and shot a quick text to my little sister, needing someone over there to know what storm was about to tear through our names.

I woke five hours later to the sun streaming through the thin curtains, and our sweaty bodies pressed tightly together. My arms were wrapped around her as though I hadn’t wanted to let her go, not even in my dreams.

When I opened my eyes properly, I was relieved to see Danni smiling back at me, all traces of hurt from the day before now gone.

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey.” I grinned, groaning as I stretched out my legs and rolled my head to the side.

“You hungry?”

“Starving.” I smirked.

“I’ve called room service already. I figured you’d need a lot of filling up after running on empty all of yesterday.”

“I was running on adrenaline, Dan. That was enough to see me through. That and my need to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m okay.”

“There’s my girl.” I pulled her to me, and she pressed her lips to mine.

“You might want to check your phone,” she mumbled as our mouths bumped together. “Since you left it on last night, it’s been vibrating along that nightstand for hours now.”

“Ugh, Sammy,” I groaned as Danni rolled off me, my head sinking back into the pillow as I stared up at the ceiling.

“She works fast.” Danni climbed off the bed, completely naked, and my eyes followed her around like they were seeing her for the very first time.

“I texted her through the night and gave her a bit of a head’s up. You know how her and Mum can get. I didn’t want them having a complete meltdown before we woke up. The five hour time difference is a killer for those two.”

“Always thinking of everyone you love.” She glanced at me over her shoulder before she disappeared into the bathroom.

“Especially you,” I called out.

She laughed softly, and I sagged with relief that some sign of my Danni was already back with me. Rolling over onto my side, I reached for my phone and glanced at the screen. Thirty-six missed calls and twelve text messages. All from Sammy, bar one, which was from Alex that read:

And that was that.

Sammy, however, proved to be a different scenario completely. I called her back, resting my free hand on my forehead and staring up at the ceiling while she practically shouted in my ear about what she was going to do to Danni’s father. She’d seen a picture of Kacey online, apparently, and was now letting off steam about that.

“She looks so young, Marcus. It’s not right. None of this is right. Why has she done this to Danni? Why would you want to piss off your sister who doesn’t even know she’s your sister yet?”

“I don’t know, kiddo.” I sighed.

“I want to strangle the little witch for this.”

“We don’t know what she’s gone through. We don’t know the hand she’s been dealt, so until we do, let’s at least try and refrain from tearing holes into young women, yeah?”

“Uch. Always so fucking reasonable,” she grunted.

“Language, woman. I’m your big brother. Have some respect.”

“My big brother who has screwed two of my best friends. Don’t you start with me about respect.”

I laughed. “Yeah, well, you’re now screwing mine, so I think you better shut your mouth before it gets you into trouble.”

“Oh, shit. You’re right.” She blew out a breath. “What’s wrong with us, Marcus?”

“Can’t help who you fall in love with, kid.”

“Right.”

I frowned, pressing my mouth into a flat line before speaking. “Hey. For a young woman in the midst of new love, you sure don’t sound too happy.”

“I’m happy.”

“Is that enough?” I dared myself to ask.

“Yeah.” She stayed silent, and so did I, neither one of us speaking for quite some time until the lack of noise choked her words out of her. “Ever been so afraid of losing something because you know you’d never get over?”

Right on cue, I heard Danni start to sing in the shower… badly. “Every day.”

“Does it ever make you act like a little bitch when you don’t mean to?”

I thought about it, wanting to answer her as honestly as I could. “No. No, it makes me go the other way, actually. I tend to pull them too close, not push them away.”

“Seems we differ on one thing after all then.”

“Sam… if Cameron thinks you’re pushing him away, he’ll walk to save you the struggle. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“I can’t offer any advice on your relationship because only you know what’s going on in your head. But I’d bet my own happiness on the fact that Cam loves the shit out of you, and all you have to do is talk to him. Don’t try to show off. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Don’t try to act too strong. Be the girl he fell in love with. Be you, be true, and talk to him.”

“But it’s so silly… the things I’m feeling are so sil—”

“Nothing you feel is silly,” I cut her off. “The first time we fall in love is always the time when we make all our mistakes. Look at me. Look at Nat and Alex. Look at anyone who has ever fallen head over heels. We panic, and we fuck up. It’s normal. Just… talk to him. Do what you’d tell me to do: quit being a baby and handle your life, sis.”

“You’re right.” She sighed.

“I am? Well… that is a shocker.”

“Screw you, arsehole.”

We joked back and forth before she let me hang up, just in time for my woman to walk out of the bathroom, fresh-faced, hair ready, wearing a beautiful mint-coloured sun dress that hugged her in all the right places.

“Wow,” I mouthed as she stalked closer.

“I’m ready for my close up, Mr. Anderson.” She climbed onto the bed, straddling my waist smoothly before she leaned down to create a curtain of hair all around us. She smelled like shower gel, shampoo, and some god-fucking-amazing perfume. I wanted to eat every inch of her… twice.

Running my hands up and under her dress, I found my favourite thing quickly and held onto her arse cheeks. “God, you’re a vision.”

She huffed out a small laugh and ran her nose along mine. “Thank you so much for being my strength yesterday.”

“The pleasure was all mine.”

“But I’m ready to return to my former self now.”

“Danni, you don’t—”

She pressed a single finger to my lips, cutting me off and smiling a shy smile. “I know I don’t have to pretend, so I’m not going to. I have questions. I want answers. I have this niggling, churned up feeling in the pit of my stomach that probably won’t go away until I get to stand in front of my father and slap the shit out of him.”

“Now that I can get on board with,” I mumbled behind her finger.

“But all that can wait. I’m going to go to my photo shoot in El Yunque forest today, and the man I adore is going to be with me the whole time. He’s going to stare at me like he wants to eat me, and I’m going to flirt with him and cock tease him all day long, enjoying every second of turning him on from a distance. I’m not even going to look at my phone. I’m not answering any questions. I’m going to hand over power to you for the day because I know you’re stronger than I am right now, and that’s okay for me to admit because we’re a team, goddamn it.” She grinned. “And then we’re going to enjoy our few days on this stunning island like we planned to because one day our adventure will be over and we’ll be settled in a nice house with kids, too grounded by the love we have for them to fly off around the world. And we’ll love every minute. But for now… now we’re going to live for us. Just us. We’re going to visit La Coca Falls. We’re going to climb Yohaku Tower like we planned to. We’re going to take a thousand pictures of us kissing. We’re going to eat in the best restaurants there are. We’re going to shop like no one knows us. We’re going to walk hand-in-hand around the Botanical Gardens. We’re going to sunbathe on that beach right out there, swim in the ocean, lay in the sand, drink way too many cocktails, and we’re going to enjoy every single second of it.”

“And your parents…?” I dared myself to ask, just needing to hear it once.

“Can wait. They’ve made me wait for eighteen years to find out that I have a sister. They can wait a few days until I’m ready to let them find out how I feel about it all.”

I searched her eyes for any sign of uncertainty, but all that shone back at me, clear and unafraid, was her determination and her happiness.

“And this new sister of yours?”

She blinked once, slowly and controlled before she opened her eyes. “I’ll meet her one day. I’ll talk to her soon. Just not yet. Now it’s time for us to be happy. The rest of the world can wait until I’m ready to let them in. One day she’ll be a part of my life. Just not today, and I’m not going to feel guilty about that.”

“Hell no.”

“She got to decide when I found out. I get to decide when I react.”

“Hell yes.” I grinned.

“We’re here to make memories. Let’s get on with that, shall we?”