CHAPTER 4
BROOKE
I always relished the stillness of the morning.
Though, as I sat at my laptop, a sense of dread came over me while I stared at the blinking cursor.
The coffee pot in my room was filling the hut with its glorious perfume as the sun slowly rose up over the water. The crystal-clear mirror of the ocean was unwavering.
It was early, too early for anyone else on vacation to be up, which made it the perfect time of day to try and get some writing in. I wanted nothing more than to finish a book and get it published. It was the perfect story: a woman seeking love in all the wrong places, who finally comes to find that the only person she really needed to love was herself.
Something witty and fun, but also relatable, tugging at the heartstrings of readers.
Leaning forward, I managed to pound out another paragraph before the coffee pot beeped.
I got up to make a cup as I leaned against the wall. Nassau Island was picturesque, and the perfect place to write my first novel to publish. I wanted something that would introduce me to the market in the light I wanted to be painted. I wanted to write books that people could relate to, books with characters they could understand and lessons they could carry with them. I wanted to give advice they could take for whenever they needed it.
I didn’t want to write for the money or the fame. I wanted to write to pull people from their lives and delve with them into truths we don’t always want to admit to ourselves.
And in the process, what I wanted most was to discover more about myself.
After finishing my cup of coffee, I sat back down and stared at the page. An opening line and one paragraph, and I didn’t know how to continue from there. Why in the world was this so hard? In college, I could rattle three hundred pages away in a month.
No problem.
Writer’s block had never been an issue, but now it seemed to be a major struggle. The one thing keeping me from writing what my fingers wanted desperately to communicate.
I leaned back into my chair as the sun rose above the water. People were beginning to stir and now the mirrored reflection of the ocean was muddled with vacationers diving in. The island was coming alive with children and families, and it forced my mind back to the other night.
Back to Kevin and his kids and that mouth-watering dessert.
I’d had so much fun. Even though that wasn’t the purpose of the outing, I did enjoy my time with Kevin. I’d forgotten how easy it was to talk with him, how safe I felt whenever I was around him. The conversation was light-hearted and easy, and his children were little carbon copies of him. Sydney, with that confident sass and Daniel with his sincere expressions.
Despite what I chose to focus on, my time with Kevin hadn’t been all bad.
I closed my eyes and slipped back in time to college, to the first time I’d seen Kevin in that bar. His chiseled jaw and high cheekbones showcased his dominance, but it was his large hand that caught my eye. It dwarfed the glass he was drinking from and made me painfully aware of other things that could dwarf me if I had the chance to get underneath his clothes. His chest pulled at the shirt he was wearing, and his shoulders were swollen with muscles.
Even as I sat in my chair in my bedroom, heat surged between my legs.
I’d fallen for him quickly in the three months we’d known one another, which was new territory for me and something I’d never done before. I’d had my share of flings as a wild college girl, but I’d never allowed myself to fall for any of them.
But I did with Kevin.
It was hard not to.
He was hot, he was driven, and he was an older man and capable of showing a twenty-year-old wild child how a real man treated a woman. You know, except for standing her up for multiple dinners.
But what had really drawn me to him was his intelligence. Once I peeled away the cocky layers and the incessant need to throw his money around, I found an intelligent man who was self-made, confident, and well-spoken. His body was something for my eyes to behold, but his mind was something for my heart to behold. Whenever he was around, our conversations never ceased. He was genuinely interested in my college career and I was genuinely interested in his business.
That was the paradox of Kevin. When he’d been good, he’d been very, very good. But when he’d been preoccupied with work, it had seemed like I didn’t exist. After being stood up one too many times, I’d broken it off, and what had really hurt, was that he hadn’t fought me on it one bit. He had simply said nothing as I walked away. Then six months later, a wedding announcement popped up in the local newspaper. Kevin was engaged to a woman named Sarah, and that was that. I had been nothing but a fun last fling before he had found a suitable wife for a billionaire entrepreneur.
I wondered where his wife was, since he and the kids appeared to be alone on the island.
Were they history?
Did he screw that up the same way he screwed us up?
“You got any more of that coffee?”
I turned my gaze to Morgan and was shocked to find her dressed in her bathing suit.
“Going somewhere?” I asked.
“Yep. To the beach, once I’m caffeinated,” she said. “Heard from lover boy yet?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Cut the shit. I know you gave him your number last night.”
I grinned as I took a sip of my coffee.
“No. I haven’t heard from him,” I said.
“Just guard yourself, Brooke. He already broke your heart once.”
“I know. I was there,” I said.
“You enjoyed spending time with him last night, didn’t you?” she asked.
“I did. It was a crash-course in reminding me exactly why I enjoyed being around him.”
“I’ll admit, I can see what you saw in him. He seems like a good guy deep down, not to mention great with his kids. But, we’re here to get over bad boyfriends. Just keep that in mind.”
“Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten,” I said.
Morgan took a seat next to me and, like clockwork, my phone began to ring. I looked at the unregistered number calling me, and Morgan threw me a haphazard grin. She watched me, waiting to see what decision I would make.
She rolled her eyes when I reached for my phone.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Brooke. It’s Kevin.”
“Good morning,” I said.
“Wasn’t sure you’d be up.”
“So you decided to call anyway? What if I had been sleeping?”
“You sleep like a log. You wouldn’t have picked up.”
“You don’t know that. I might be a light sleeper now.”
Morgan started laughing as I shot her a look.
“I called to see what you guys were up to today,” Kevin said.
Silence fell on the phone call as Morgan looked at me with a curious eye.
“Um—we’re going swimming,” I said.
“Where at?” Kevin asked.
“Just off the pier,” I said. “Why?”
“Well, maybe the kids and I will see you guys out there.”
“Maybe,” I said.
I hung up the phone and dodged all of Morgan’s questions. My mind was still spinning the sound of his voice around like a song. I peeled off my pajamas and slipped into my bathing suit, then slathered sunblock onto my skin.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Ready,” I said with a nod.
The two of us dove into the water from the small porch of our hut and swam out into the ocean. I looked over and saw Kevin’s vacation home in the distance. I saw him bobbing up and down in the water while Daniel and Sydney were having a blast sliding down the waterslide. Soon the current was pushing us over to their side of the beach.
“Hey there, stranger!” Morgan said.
I shot her a look as Kevin whipped around.
“Fancy seeing you out here,” he said, with a grin.
“The kids look like they’re having fun,” I said.
“They love that waterslide. I knew they would when I found the house.”
“I wish I had a waterslide like that growing up,” Morgan said.
“You can go down it, if you’d like,” Kevin said.
“Oh, hell yes,” Morgan said. “See you losers later!”
I shook my head as my friend swam off to go indulge her inner child.
A cheeky grin slid across Kevin’s face as he looked me over. It was all I could do not to blush from head to toe under the weight of his gaze.
I utterly hated how he could do that to me.
“Did you catch the sunrise this morning?” he asked.
“I did. It inspired me to write a whole new paragraph in a book that’s going nowhere.”
“One paragraph is better than nothing.”
“But it isn’t nearly the kind of pace I’m used to. I haven’t been blocked like this since my freshman year of college.”
“What did you do then to get rid of it?” he asked. “Maybe it’ll work this time.”
“I don’t think drinking and fucking is really something I can afford to indulge right now.”
I turned my eyes up toward his and saw him staring down at me. His eyes were darkening, shadowed with the thoughts running through his head. I knew that look. I’d seen it many times during the three months we spent together.
The blood was rushing through my ears, drowning out any sounds as his eyes danced between mine. I had to get out of his trance. I had to pull myself away from him. I couldn’t allow myself to fall for him again.
If he didn’t have time for me before, two kids weren’t going to make it any easier.
I cleared my throat and pulled my gaze away, breaking the moment. I watched Morgan come down the slide with her hands in the air, followed quickly by the two kids. They were splashing around and dunking her, and Morgan was going along with it, faking like she couldn’t get away as the kids roared with laughter.
“She’s always been good with kids,” I said.
I saw Kevin’s eyes whip over to the shoreline. He started waving at someone and began walking toward the shore, leaving me behind to bob with the waves.
Guess some things never changed.
I swam up to Morgan coming down the slide again. The kids latched onto me this time, swimming around me and splashing me with their tiny little hands. The four of us played in the clear waters while Kevin talked with someone on the shore, then I heard my name being called out.
I turned and saw Kevin motioning to me before he yelled at me to bring the kids.
Who does he think I am?
His fucking nanny?
Morgan’s eyebrows hiked all the way to her head as I took the hands of his children. I swam to shore with them and we came out of the water.
At this point, I was painfully aware of how Kevin was looking at me. I was trying not to look at him. Trying not to stare at the lines of muscles that disappeared underneath his swim shorts. I tried not to stare at the small line of hair that traveled from his belly button and disappeared under the waistband.
I tried not to take in the sculpted muscles of his back as I approached.
“Kids, this is Gianni. Gianni, these are my kids. Daniel and Sydney.”
“Nice to meet you both,” the man said.
He had a thick Italian accent. With salt-and-pepper hair that was slicked back, he wore a tailored suit despite the sweltering island heat.
Something about him didn’t sit well with me. His eyes raked up and down my body and I tried to ignore him, as the kids clung to my legs.
I could almost feel the nervous tension coursing through their little bodies. Clearly, this man made them uncomfortable.
“And who is this beautiful young woman?” Gianni asked.
“This is a friend of mine. Brooke.”
“How do you do?” I asked.
“Much better now that I’ve had a chance to look upon such beauty,” Gianni said.
I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes right in his face. He was laying on thick and I could hardly suppress a laugh. Guys like him never ceased to amaze me. I felt the kids press themselves into me a little more, and I gathered them to me.
Their obvious discomfort was starting to translate to me and I wanted nothing more than to get the kids and myself away from this smooth-talking lothario. My protective instincts were kicking into high gear. “Kevin, I was wondering if I could talk with you for a second,” Gianni said. “I’m sure your nanny can watch the kids for a little bit.”
“I’m hardly a nanny,” I said, offended by the thought.
“Girlfriend?” he asked, a spark of interest in his eyes.
“He already had that chance,” I said.
“I told you, she’s a friend,” Kevin said, looking slightly annoyed. “And yes, we can talk. Kids?”
“Yeah?” they both said.
“Why don’t you guys show Morgan and Brooke those flipping tricks you were trying out yesterday?” he asked. “I bet they would love to see them.”
My eyes darted over to Kevin before I turned and walked away with the kids, their feet scurrying to get back to the house.
I took the kids down the waterslide once before Kevin was back in the water with us. Whatever it was, the talk must have been short. I felt awkward all of a sudden, like something more was expected of me, when I was simply trying to enjoy my vacation.
The more I thought about, it the more annoyed I became. “Brooke, could I talk with you for a second?” Kevin asked.
I looked around for Morgan and snickered when I found her chatting up some buff guy over by his hut.
“Sure,” I said. “What’s up?”
“I’ve got a meeting on the books with Gianni for tomorrow.”
“I thought you were on vacation,” I said.
“It’s just a quick meeting. No more than a couple of hours.”
“Business always calls,” I said, not bothering to hide the disdain from my voice.
“Look, it’s not like that. I made a commitment to have this meeting with him. That man runs the largest banking institution in Italy. Scoring him could open up an entirely different sector of my company.”
“And you want me to babysit. On my vacation,” I said.
“It’s just for a couple of hours, and I’ll pay you for your time. It’s just that I didn’t come out here equipped to have my children watched.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t be conducting business on your vacation with your children. I’m sure you only get one weekend a month with them, right?” Now I was fishing, trying to determine exactly what his marital situation was.
I watched something flare in his eyes and it caused me to take a step back. He stared at me, saying nothing, until I felt compelled to speak again.
“Two hours?” I asked.
“Give or take,” he said flatly.
I’d pissed him off.
“Okay,” I said.
“Be here around eleven, please,” he said.
It almost sounded like a command.
I must’ve really stepped on his toes.