Shame constricts my ribs and my breath comes out in short, uneven gasps as I stalk back towards the party. When I reach the main cabana, I pause. Look behind me. Gabe is right where I left him, jaw clenched. His hazel eyes meet mine and narrow in challenge. And then, to my frustration, he slowly lifts his hand and crooks his finger at me. Like he actually expects me to dance back down to him and finish what we started.

The nerve of that man.

I should’ve known better than to let my guard down. I haven’t had sex in over two years, and his hands and lips felt so good, so right, that I allowed things to go too far. I’ve only been with one man since Ryan, and that was a mistake. I had slept with one of the guys from my unit. Eric couldn’t keep his “conquest” to himself, so my entire platoon knew what happened. After that, I swore off men since the Army was basically my life and I worked with every guy I knew.

And now, after being home less than two hours, I’ve gone and gotten off with the enemy. The combination of alcohol and pure, unadulterated hormones got the best of me. I lost my mind and hopped on the Lust Bus: Destination Gabe Carter.

I squint in his direction one final time. He responds by holding his palms up and pressing his lips into an impatient line. Screw him. And screw the butterflies beating around in my chest even more. I grant him a tight smile and a flip of my favorite finger before I turn away to search for Lani.

Gyrating bodies move in time to the music the DJ is spinning as I scan the crowd. It takes me a couple of minutes, but I eventually find her, wedged between two beefy tattooed men. Spotting me, she grins and waves me over.

“There you are!” She wraps one arm around me, pulling me close as she sways a bit. “I’ve been looking for you all over. This is Ku and Tane.” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, proud that she’s found a guy for each of us. “They moved over from Maui right after Christmas and just started working here. Boys, this is my friend I was telling you about.”

I know it’s rude as hell, but I don’t bother introducing myself to the guys. I don’t have it in me to fake a smile and act interested. Not when my brain and body is still on fire, thanks to the cocky asshole who hosted this party. I keep my focus solely on Lani. “I need to leave.”

“Leave?” She wrinkles her nose. “But we just got here.”

I fight hard to not roll my eyes. We’ve been here long enough for me to get myself into deep shit, and I’m anxious to escape before Trouble himself comes to find me again. “Trust me; it’s time for me to go. I’m exhausted.”

Okay, that’s a little white lie. I was exhausted when the plane touched down, but now every inch of me is awake. I’ll save my humiliating story for the morning when Lani’s sober and has wise words of advice instead of the drunken wisdom she’ll bestow on me in her current state. Knowing her, she’ll tell me to find Gabe for a happy ending.

She examines my serious expression and sighs. “Okay, okay, you can go but there’s no way I’m letting you leave alone.” She turns back to her dance partners and offers them a dramatic pout. “Sorry, boys. Rain check on the rest of this dance.”

She pats them each on the chest before she twists around to face me, loops her arm through mine and pulls me back in the direction of my family’s hotel.

We trudge across the sand and she rattles on and on about how the two guys back at the party were the first decent-looking co-workers she’s had in months. I pretend to listen. Inside, I’m a ball of rage, remembering how I allowed Gabe Carter to nearly fuck my brains out on the border of our properties. Just the thought of that man and his arrogant grin erupts a fire deep in the pit of my stomach, and I flinch because it’s not just from anger. There’s no denying he’s very talented with his hands, but nothing more will ever happen between us.

As we reach the pavement of the parking lot and head toward her Jeep to grab my carry-on, a familiar voice calls my name.

“Maggie, wait up!”

Both Lani and I freeze in our tracks. She immediately turns, but I need a minute before I face him. I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath, counting to ten. Balling my hands into fists, I pivot around. “What do you want, Ryan?”

His smile weakens and he just stands there, dark eyes apologetic, as he drinks in the sight of me. I study him too, horrified that I’m suddenly comparing him to Gabe Carter. “I thought maybe we could talk.” He shoves his hands down deep into the front pockets of his shorts, the muscles in his forearms flexing as his gaze darts from me to Lani. “Alone.”

“Yeah, well fuck you, too,” she mumbles just loud enough for me to hear. She gives my arm a reassuring pump and slowly backs away. “I’ll meet you in your room, okay?”

I start to follow her, but I know that talking to him is unavoidable. I might as well get it over with now, while I’m still worked-up from what happened with Gabe. “Okay,” I whisper to Lani, my eyes focused on his. “I’ll be in soon.”

She leaves, and an awkward silence wraps around Ryan and I as we stand alone in the moonlight.

After a long time, he steps toward me. Apology carved on his features. Arms stretched wide like he’s going in for a hug. I shake my head and move in the opposite direction. “Your chance to do this was over years ago.”

He drops one arm to his side and carves his other hand through his messy dark hair. “That’s really not fair, is it, seeing as how you ran away and didn’t give me a chance to explain myself or apologize to you.”

“You’ve got an explanation for screwing my cousin?” I lift my chin and suck in my cheeks. His cheating isn’t something I want to rehash since it took me years to get over it, but I’m not going to let him make me feel bad for leaving. “No, I don’t think there is. I don’t want an explanation and I don’t need you to apologize for getting caught. I’ve moved on.”

“With Gabriel Carter? You don’t honestly expect me to believe that show you put on back there was real.” He cocks his head and jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “That guy doesn’t do relationships, and you, Maggie, are definitely the relationship type. You’re not a girl that’s willing to sit back and just be some piece of ass for some washed-up baseball player.”

“Don’t pretend you know anything about me. I’ve changed.”

He offers me a bitter laugh. “People don’t change—not really. When you’re ready to sit down and talk about things, just know I’m here.”

“And just know that’s never going to happen. Like I said, I’ve moved on. There’s nothing you and I need to talk about.”

He opens his mouth to say something else, but I can’t stand here and listen anymore. He’s pouring salt on a wound that’s been slowly mending itself for the past five years. Ryan crushed me, but in an odd way he also made me stronger. Running away and joining the military pushed me in more ways than I could’ve possibly imagined. It taught me to not be afraid and face the things that scare me. For the most part, I haven’t veered away from a challenge since I moved off this island, but seeing him again reminds me of that weak girl who allowed others to step all over her.

I refuse to let him have that kind of power.

“You need to leave.” I draw my shoulders back and point toward the party. “Now.”

“Fine.” He holds his hands up in surrender. He starts to leave but then he backpedals. “Just … promise me you’ll stay away from Carter. I don’t want to see you get hurt again. Your parents need you, and I would hate to see you take off again because of something that asshole did.”

This. Coming from the man who cheated on me. I cross my arms over my chest and force a tight smile. “Thanks for your concern, but I can take care of myself. Goodbye, Ryan.”

He takes another step back, in the direction of the Elite party. “I’m serious, Maggie. That guy is trouble.”

I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of admitting he’s right, so I keep my mouth shut as he stalks off into the darkness. Little does Ryan know that I have no intention to ever have anything to do with Gabriel Carter after tonight.

* * *

It’s only a quarter past eight, but I can’t sleep. I stayed up chatting with Lani into the wee hours of the morning, and once she passed out, I spent way too much time reading up on the douche next door and his short but eventful pro-baseball career. Physically, my body is exhausted, but the time change has my internal clock all screwed up.

I roll over and sit up, pausing on Lani who’s still sleeping off all the liquor she drank last night, before I scoot off the bed. I make my way over to my bedroom window. My family’s apartment is on the first floor of the hotel, right over the lobby. My view of the ocean is limited, but if I crane my neck just right, I can check out the swells. It’s been forever since I felt the rush of riding my board over the uncertainty of Mother Nature’s greatest accomplishment. The sea is as beautiful as it is dangerous, and it’s one of the things I missed the most about being away from home. Surfing will have to take a backseat today, though, because I hear movement in the hallway. No doubt it’s my parents.

Grinning like a kid on Christmas morning, I slip on a pair of PT shorts poking out of my bag then hurry across the room and throw open the door.

Mom’s across the hall with her fingers poised a few centimeters from their doorknob. The second I clear my throat, she goes still. Slowly, she lifts her gaze to mine and blinks. Several times. “Maggie, what in the—”

“And here I was thinking you were room service,” I tease but don’t give her time to speak before I throw myself in her arms. She smells like Dial soap and hibiscus perfume, like home. I breathe in her scent as she tightens her grip around me. “I missed you.”

Mom’s short—even smaller than my five-foot-five—so she has to look up to meet my gaze when she leans back. Everyone says I look like my mother. I definitely inherited my deep tan and dark hair from her Samoan heritage. My green eyes, though, definitely came from my dad.

“Is everything okay?” She fusses with the hair flowing over my shoulders, smoothing a strand down over the “A” on the right side of my Army tee shirt. “When did you get in? How long are you—”

“Everything is fine. I got in last night.” I pause for dramatic effect then wiggle my brows. “And I’m here for good—I signed my discharge papers yesterday. Surprise!”

Once again, her eyes bug. I laugh as I reach around her and finish unlocking the door to my parents’ suite. From the far end of the hallway, I hear the sound of my father’s motorized chair headed in our direction. I dart into their foyer, press my fingers to my lips and wink at Mom. Dad’s going on about the tropical storm that’s set to hit the island next week, so he doesn’t take in her expression until he comes to a stop just outside the door.

“Lia … what’s wrong?” She responds to his question by darting her gaze toward the inside of the room, where I’m standing and waiting to surprise him. He lets out a low groan and a curse under his breath. “Please, please don’t tell me it’s flooding again in there.”

My heart lurches. Flooding again?

“Lia?” he gently probes, and she jerks her head to each side to stop him. But he’s already said plenty. Apparently, the plumbing is just another issue they’ve kept a secret so I wouldn’t have to worry. Swallowing hard, I take a step forward and put on my best smile.

“No flood,” I whisper. “Thank god, because I’m a shitty plumber.”

Several emotions cross his features. Resignation, probably from thinking they were about to have another bill they couldn’t afford, rapidly turns to shock. And then there’s confusion, excitement, and sheer happiness. No matter how worried I am about the fate of this place, about my parents’ financial situation, I can’t resist smiling when my father casts that megawatt grin.

Mom always says it’s the first thing she noticed about him twenty-five years ago, when they met at Sandy Beach while he was stationed here as a young Marine. That and his Brooklyn-accent and the big ass chip on his shoulder. It must not have been too much of a turn-off because they were married four months after they met and had me less than a year later.

“I missed you, old man,” I say, and he laughs at the endearment.

“Old, my ass.” He shakes his head and laughs again. “I should’ve known this would happen when you called last week just to talk about surfing. I’ve got to say this is the best surprise I’ve had in a long time, kid.”

He’s out of his chair with his arms around me before I can protest. When I left O’ahu five years ago, the MS had progressed to the point that he only needed a cane. The walker followed a couple years after that, and he’s been using the motorized chair for the last nine months. He’s never complained. I talk to my parents weekly, and not once have they complained. About anything.

There’s a million and one things I want to say to them, but when I draw away from Dad and he’s settled back in his chair, I’m not ready to ruin the reunion. Not yet, when this is the first time I’ve been home in years and there’s a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that I shouldn’t have left. So I smile.

“How about I cook you guys breakfast?”

* * *

The early sun shines down on me as my fingers curl around the wax while I prep my board the next morning. It’s been a few seasons since I caught a wave, but the beaches in North Carolina can’t hold a candle to this. I’m so excited to get out there I can practically feel the sting of the waves at my back and the spray of the salty water in my face.

I’m about to pick up my board, when a shadow falls over me. The presence of someone looming over me courses a tingle down my spine. I turn to find none other than the one man I was hoping I’d never see again. The one man I wish I hadn’t allowed to make me come. For the past two nights, all I’ve dreamt about is that I hadn’t ran out on him—that I had stayed and allowed him to finish. The dreams were so vivid, so real, that I was still horny for him when I woke up this morning.

“What do you want?” I force out between my teeth, hating that it sounds so winded.

This being neighbors shit is going to get old really fast.