Colby had a crazy busy day ahead of him, but his swim with Regan and the sharks the day before was all he could think about as he helped finalize the wedding setting. LaChelle’s family was all around him, adjusting flowers on the metal arch he’d bought for the beach. He knew that other families would expect more from him, and he really had only some idea of how to run a solid business that catered to people on vacation. It’s not like he’d had money for years and had spent time on islands like this.

His sister was right. He needed a manager, but he also needed more people to help him build, and get some fun fire pits on the beach, some great community areas between cabins, a map of the trail system…After this wedding, he had to take a step back and really figure out what his plan of action might be. He had to get organized. He’d bought this place, Lara had mentioned it to LaChelle, and here they all were. But he needed time before he did more than offer simple rooms for friends wanting a vacation in the Bahamas.

“Looks so good!” Matt hollered from down the beach. “I gotta get dressed for the main event!”

Colby gave him a wave before finishing setting up the wireless speakers for the ceremony music. At least they were cool with having all the festivities on the main beach near the Harbor House.

“How are you hanging in?” Lara asked, sweat dripping from her forehead. “I’m not sure there’s a shower long enough to make me feel human again.”

“Late afternoon.” Colby shrugged. “Ceremony is in an hour. It’ll be cooler as the sun sets.”

“Hmm.”

They walked side by side back toward Colby’s place.

“How’s Regan?”

He thought of her excited face the day before as she swam with him. So far, the sharks had proven perfectly safe. He wasn’t quite sure how to handle having them once he opened the place up to guests he didn’t know.

“I see…” she trailed off.

“See what?” He pulled back and peered down at his sister. “I didn’t say anything.”

“That dazed look on your face said it all.”

He’d been curious if the way he felt about Regan was still there. It had been years since he’d spent any real amount of time with her. He caught glimpses when she’d come home to her parents’ house during college, and he happened to be around. But now that she was here, and different, but still her…Yeah, he was just as sunk as he’d been in high school. Almost more now that he was so close. The almost two-year age gap felt a lot simpler now that they were in their mid-twenties. “I really like her, but…”

“But you’re starting a thing here, and her friend said she’s up for a big job on Lake Michigan. You’ll only be in Chicago a few months out of the year, Colby. That’s a tricky thing for a girl.”

He was very well aware. “Not helping, sis.”

She slapped his back. “Just tellin’ ya how it is.”

He tugged at her blond hair. “I’d say thanks, but I’m not sure how I feel about your advice yet.”

“Well…” She shrugged. “All I can say is that setting up a better relationship while she’s here can’t hurt. Unless you totally fall for her and she ditches you.”

Laughter tumbled out of his mouth, but it was born more from nerves than anything else. “Go shower. I’m gonna take a quick dip to rinse off, and then I’ll be ready.”

Lara made a face. “So, you’ll smell like ocean?”

“Everything here smells like ocean.” He winked before stepping inside his small house, Lara right behind him.

She headed for the shower, and once he heard the water slapping against the tile, he conceded that taking a shower might not be the worst idea. He was Regan’s date, after all.

Picking Regan up at her cabin was probably a bit overkill, but the last thing he wanted was for her to forget that he was her official date to the wedding. Not that it mattered so much, but no…no, it did matter. He wasn’t going to waste this opportunity.

His khaki pants and belt felt so foreign after almost two months in board shorts. The collar of his button-up shirt felt like a dog collar—stiff and almost unbending. He pulled at his shirt before knocking.

“Oh good!” Kylee said as she pulled open the door. “I’m trying to talk sense into her, and she won’t listen.”

Oh, no.

“It’s fine,” Regan said, but all Colby could do was stare.

Two thin straps crossed her back, and that was the only material he could see until the curve of her back met the pale fabric. His breath hitched.

Regan turned to face him. “I brought another one that covers more skin, and now that this is on, I feel like it’s too sexy, or—”

“You’re…perfect…” he stammered. “I mean, it’s perfect, the dress is…um…great.”

Both women snickered.

“Boys are so easy,” Kylee said as she moved to the mirror, and adjusted her hair.

The front of Regan’s dress had a high neck, accentuating her shoulders and arms. He swallowed.

“I brought these.” Regan held up a pair of sandals with thick heels. “But I’m thinking I’ll just end up taking them off and going barefoot, yeah?”

Colby looked down at his bare feet. “That’s the conclusion I came to. Sand will always get in, and then your feet get rubbed.”

“Well…” Regan stared down at her feet. “I guess that dresses this down a little.”

Kylee patted her friend’s cheek. “You’re gorgeous. And I don’t wanna be late. Also”—Kylee turned her attention to Colby—“your date’s here.”

“Well, doesn’t that feel official.” Regan stepped up to him, some spicy, vanilla scent coming with her. “You ready to take me out?”

So very ready.

But there was no way he was going to make Kylee feel like the third wheel. He held out an elbow for each woman, and they each took an arm. “Luckiest guy tonight,” he teased.

Regan squeezed his bicep and he gave her a smile in return.

Her strawberry blond hair was piled on top of her head and her lashes framed her shining eyes.

“You know what I’ve been telling myself all day?” she asked as they walked.

“What’s that?”

“I can swim with sharks. I can do anything.”

A pang of a wish that Kylee wasn’t on his other arm hit him as he thought about how easy it would be to give her a sideways hug and a friendly kiss on the cheek. That’s okay. They still had later.

No chairs were set out for wedding guests; instead they slowly gathered around the bride and groom, who stood under the arch. LaChelle’s parents stood shoulder-to-shoulder, prepared to officiate.

Kylee scooted higher on the beach where she could sit, her hand resting on the small bump of her stomach. Colby couldn’t imagine the worry and excitement that would come with having a spouse carrying his child.

Both Regan’s hands clasped his bicep, and he forced away the urge to flex again. The ceremony started with LaChelle’s mother talking about friendship and love. Matt practically glowed as he held LaChelle’s hands.

Regan rested her cheek on Colby’s shoulder.

“I don’t want him, you know?” she whispered. “But when your first love takes such a big step, it sorta makes you feel like you’re being left behind.”

There had to be some kind of response to this…And then, one of the quotes his mom used to spout came back to him. “Comparison is the thief of joy. We’re all on our own journey, Regan.”

Her chin rested on his shoulder now, her breath caressing his face, and her nose almost touching his cheek. “You, Colby, are wholly unexpected.”

He turned his face slightly, just enough that it would take almost nothing for her lips to touch his cheek. For his lips to touch hers. “Is that a good thing?”

Instead of the kiss, she squeezed his arm again. “If we lived closer, yeah, it’d be a good thing.”

If we lived closer.

What was he thinking?