Colby knew he’d somehow already screwed up. Regan was giving him the same sideways look she had when she’d come to his house to visit Lara in high school.

“It’s a…no-pressure…date thing…” Colby stammered.

A delicate brow arched on Regan’s angled face. “Yeah.”

His gut shriveled. But her reaction was okay, he had almost two weeks to show her that he’d grown up—moved past the computer geek, or…almost past that.

“This way!” Lara said, waving her arm and starting up the docks.

Colby watched dumbly as the three women headed toward one of the many sandy pathways that mapped the island. Regan still walked tall—shoulders back, steps even. He knew that somewhere in college, she’d gone from dance to yoga, but both practices had done her body well. Toned legs, flat, broad shoulders that only athletic people had…The women’s feet hit the sand before he jumped forward to catch up.

He sprinted over the familiar thick boards of the dock.

“You two must be tired,” he said when he reached them. He’d wanted this place to be spotless, but there just hadn’t been time. “I haven’t had a chance to do much to the small bunk houses yet, but—”

“Wait.” Regan stopped and turned to face him. “You work out here or something?”

Lara snorted. “No, he—”

But Colby held his hand up in hopes his sister stopped talking. She did. Regan didn’t know. He thought everyone from back home knew. How had that not come up when Regan had called his sister worried about not having a date? No, no…This could be far too much fun. “Yeah. I work here,” he lied. Well, mostly, he did do a lot of work on the island. She didn’t need to know that he owned the patch of land. “Trying to get this place ready for the tourist season. Should be pretty busy after Thanksgiving.”

“Huh.” She shook her head. “I figured you’d be doing computer programming or something.” Her eyes drifted to his chest, and he felt himself flexing under her stare.

Lara gave him a wide-eyed look of why aren’t you telling her? But he ignored his sister.

He laughed. “I do a little of that, too.”

“Huh,” Regan answered, a puzzled look on her face.

“What?”

“I just didn’t…” She loosely gestured the length of his body. “I don’t know…”

“Bathroom?” Kylee asked, a pleading grimace on her face.

Right.

“Yeah.” He jogged around them, praying his sister would keep her knowledge to herself.

He’d put them up in the nicest of the small cabins, but even the nicest ones were still worn, old, and in need of a serious facelift--or to be torched, so he could start over.

The row of small “bungalows” rested above one of the smaller beaches—all of them connected by a worn boardwalk.

He had managed to paint the exteriors in softer versions of Caribbean colors—yellow, coral, baby blue, pale green…and he’d added simple white trim. But, he knew they still needed help. Paint only went so far.

Colby stopped at the door of the coral house and took a deep breath before opening the door. This was one of only two bathrooms he’d re-done so far. The other nice bathroom belonged to the suite set aside for the bride and groom—a little house on the far side of the island.

“Here you are.” The place was nice…mostly. White bedding on two double beds. A few hooks on the walls, tiny dresser, and the door to the miniature bathroom.

“Looks amazing!” Kylee said as she raced for the bathroom.

Regan collapsed to sitting on one of the small beds. “Thank you. Or thank whoever is paying for all this. My bedroom at home has all the boxes from my apartment stacked on two sides, so even without the gorgeous setting and perfect weather, this would be a treat.”

She was staying with her parents? “What happened to your apartment?”

“Hoping for a job on Lake Michigan,” she explained. “My lease was up, and if I get the job I’d have had to move so…”

Of course Regan would be thinking all things through before acting, as always. “Smart.”

“Anyway,” she said glancing toward the closed bathroom door. “Thank whoever’s sporting this.”

“You said that, and I’ll pass it on,” Colby said. “We have a bit of a barbeque get together tonight on the wide, covered dock next to the harbor house. You should come. Wedding in two days, and I think you were the last official guests to arrive.”

“Yeah…” Regan trailed off, her voice still sounding distracted.

“How’s the family?” he asked. “Mom, sister…”

Regan blinked a few times. “Sister has a new doc, and Mom’s…I guess okay.”

“I worry about them,” he said, and he meant it. Her family had always been great to him. They’d had more than their fair share of issues. Regan’s mom’s MS and even Sydney, Regan’s little sister, whose bi-polar disorder wasn’t always under the best control.

Regan’s gaze flitted to his briefly. “Good to see you again, Colby.”

Good wasn’t even half of it. “You too, Ree Ree.”

She smiled a little at her old nickname. “Best place to swim?”

“Back side of the island, if you don’t mind a bit of surf. When you leave the end of the boardwalk here, turn right instead of left and stay on that path until you hit the beach. There are a few turns, but don’t take those.” Was there a way for him to “accidentally” end up out there shortly? “The beach is a great curve, which gives it a bit of protection from the open ocean. The water on that side is deeper, so the blue is darker.”

Regan’s eyes darted around the room a bit. “Darker blue. Turn right. No other turns. Thanks.”

“I’m still so happy you’re here!” Lara gushed. “Mind if I join you for a swim?”

Regan hesitated just long enough that Colby knew she’d probably rather be alone, but there were other guests on the island, so alone wasn’t much of an option.

“That’s be great,” Regan finally said. “I’ll meet you back there.”

“You just come down to the Harbor House, and then I can show you the way!” Lara flipped her thumb under the strap of the swimsuit she wore under her dress. “Still suited up. Always suited up out here, am I right, brother?”

Colby shrugged. “Never hurts to be prepared.”

A corner of Regan’s mouth quirked up. “What a boy scout you are.”

A laugh bubbled up Colby’s throat. “Ah, there’s always a downside to knowing someone so long.”

He backed up and pulled his sister with him. “See you later. Hope Kylee’s feeling better. We can bring in another fan if that helps.”

“Thank you,” Regan said and Colby forced himself to close the door.

The second he turned back up the small boardwalk, Lara slapped his chest with the back of her hand. “Why would you not tell her?”

Colby shrugged. “I don’t know…I guess…” He wanted Regan to like him without his money. Plenty of people had suddenly become his best friends once he’d made the deal for his COLLEGE LIFE app, but before then, they’d harassed him for being the pale kid who spent hours in front of his laptop.

“I think it might help your cause if she knew you owned the island, little bro.”

“I can’t believe it didn’t come up when you two were planning.” His bare feet hit the sand. He only bothered with shoes when constructing or going to town.

Lara let out a sigh. “Well, you know we don’t talk all that often, and I assumed she knew anyway. Everyone at home knows, although, I guess she hasn’t been back there for all that long.”

“Do you two not talk because of the LaChelle thing?” he asked. LaChelle and Lara had been friends, and when LaChelle and Matt had met…Matt was sunk. He and Regan had split not much later.

“When I introduced them, it wasn’t so they could date.” Lara released a sigh. “Matt and Regan were both already wondering if they should still be together. I don’t get why she’s still upset.”

“Maybe she’s not.” Hopefully she wasn’t. If Regan was still upset about her college ex-boyfriend, his chances with her were a lot smaller. And…with him having years and years of being the dorky little brother, he already had a lot of ground to make up.