Nick flipped over to his back, trying to find the sleep that he needed if he was going to be a human tomorrow. Make that today, since technically, the clock was ticking past two a.m.

He closed his eyes, desperate for the welcome bliss of sleep, but instead, he saw the stunned look on Anna’s face when he’d kissed her under that tree. Felt her body’s response to his embrace, tightening and pulling him closer, her fingers on the back of his neck, wrapped in the ends of his hair, and his body’s instant reaction to the sensation.

Good God. He threw off the blanket and sat up. This wouldn’t do. He had to do something else, something active and physical to get his mind off that woman.

Twenty minutes later, he was gliding in the cool, silky water of the Van Hollinses’ pool, swimming his ninth lap. Here, under the stars and the faint light of the moon, he was able to push away the lingering thoughts and memories and focus on the sound of the water around him as he glided through until he reached the end and turned around and did it again.

His breathing was measured and methodical, his libido and self-control firmly in check.

He reached the end of the pool, about to go under to flip around when he saw a pair of bare feet waiting on the edge. He looked up, blinking the water away in case it was an apparition.

Nope. It was Anna.

How long had she been there? Had his thoughts summoned her in the flesh or was this a mirage, a by-product of fatigue and fantasy?

“You could try to keep it down out here. Some people are trying to sleep,” she said before sitting down to dangle her feet in the pool.

Yep. Definitely real.

He wiped his hair back from his face and lifted himself from the pool to sit next to her, his breath loud from the exertion.

“Funny, but you seem to be the only person affected. Are you sure you weren’t spying on me?” he asked, staring at her long, bare legs, appreciating the sight of the smooth skin, the shapely calves, and the delicate arch of her foot.

“Of course not!”

Her denial stood in stark contrast to the guilty flush on her face, the biting of her bottom lip. It gave him a satisfying thrill to know that maybe he wasn’t alone tonight in his restlessness. However, he declined to push further, instead reaching for the towel behind her and using it to wipe the excess water from his chest and arms.

He risked another glance at her. Anna’s eyes were wide and curious as she watched the towel’s movement over his body, her lips parting—

“Actually,” she said, her voice an octave higher than usual, “I was thinking about how we never got the fifteen minutes you promised me as part of our deal. I’ve more than held up my end of the bargain today.”

“If memory serves, wasn’t the deal supposed to include naked karaoke?”

“Does it count that I felt naked, standing up there in front of everyone? I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so vulnerable, and that’s counting the first time one of my stories was published.”

He could relate. There was something unnerving about putting yourself out there for the public’s unfettered examination and opinion. It got easier, with time, but he was well aware that he cared a great deal about public opinion, probably more than he should. “Well, what would you like to know?”

From the pocket of her gray hoodie, she took out her phone, turning on the recording device and setting it down on a dry spot. “For starters, if you win the senate race, what are some of the issues that you’re interested in pursuing? What will your platform be?”

She certainly got down to business. No soft pitches to start the interview. Fortunately, he didn’t have to think about it. He easily listed a handful of causes that he wanted to bring to his fellow senators’ attention, including water reclamation, sustainable energy, and making higher-education grants and opportunities more available for low- to middle-income families.

Unlike when he’d ever brought these interests up to Sara—or Madison or Jennifer before her—Anna’s eyes didn’t glaze over. In fact, she pushed him on the issues and came up with questions that he hadn’t seen coming. She really was interested and he couldn’t explain how good it was to know this.

When the fifteen minutes turned into twenty, he didn’t care. Their debate was scintillating enough he’d have carried on another hour, but the yawn that Anna gave made him realize how late it was and that, as much as he’d like to spend the entire night talking with her, they both needed to get some rest.

“You’re exhausted. We should probably head in.”

She nodded. “You’re right, especially since we’re supposed to be up in”—she turned off the voice recorder and looked at her phone for the time—“four hours if we’re going to make the bus for the hot air balloon excursion.”

“You’re still planning on going?” He had thought she would have passed, after the night’s events.

“It’s one of the few things I’m looking forward to,” she confessed.

“I can’t say I’m of the same mind.” When she glanced at him curiously, he expanded, “I have a bit of a hang-up when it comes to…heights.”

She laughed. “You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was. Been afraid ever since my dad first took me and Dax skiing up in Big Bear when I was ten years old. I screamed my head off until the lift reached solid ground again. It was not a pretty sight—or sound.”

She held her stomach as she laughed. “Poor you. What I wouldn’t give to have seen that. I bet that put a damper on your big ski trip. Was your dad disappointed?”

His dad’s embarrassment and then anger when Nick surprised him—and the woman he was with—when he’d arrived earlier than usual back in their suite was forever etched in his mind. “In more ways than one,” he said before he could stop himself.

“You couldn’t have been the first kid to have that reaction.”

He sighed and leaned back as he tried to decide whether he was ready to share this with Anna, when up to this moment, he’d never told anyone. Not Dax and especially not his mother. But something about this woman made him feel like he wanted to help her understand more about him. “It wasn’t so much that I chickened out on finishing my lesson with the instructor he’d hired as it was that I walked in on him in a…somewhat compromising position with one of the young interns from his office.”

“No,” she said, raising her hand to cover her mouth.

“I think that was Dad’s sentiment, too. It was the day that the image I had of him as this great, admirable man cracked a little.” As was the belief he’d held that family, their life, was perfect. He saw a lot of things differently after that day.

She placed her hand over his. “I’m sorry, Nick. That’s rough. Did…did you ever talk to your dad about this? Or talk with anyone? I mean, that’s a lot for a ten-year-old kid to process.”

He shook his head. “Didn’t see any point. Dax was barely six at the time, and he wouldn’t have understood things. And my mother…well, I started to once, but I swear she knew what I was going to say and headed me off before I could get the words out. After that, however, I noticed things more, like how frequently he would stay late at work or would go away on weekends for work.”

“Do you think your mother knew about his affairs?”

“I’m pretty sure she did, but it’s not something that we ever discussed. Frankly, the whole thing was depressing.” Nick tilted his head up toward the sky, staring at the sea of stars that twinkled back at them. “Look at that. You never see that in the city. You know,” he said when she remained silent, her attention now on the sky above them, “we talked about this earlier. About whether I want my marriage to be like my parents’. And I want to clarify. There were good things about their marriage. They were usually united when it came to raising Dax and me, and there was no end to the family vacations and family dinners we had that I still have fond memories of. But I like to think that when I finally commit myself in marriage to someone, mutual respect, trust, and fidelity will be part of the package.”

“At the very least.”

He glanced over to find her smiling softly at him. He couldn’t stop looking at her. At those wide blue-gray eyes that reminded him of the sea on a stormy day, fathomless and mysterious but also beautiful. At the subtle curve of her jaw. At the soft plushness of those lips that he’d tasted once and he knew he needed to taste again.

Before he could second-guess his decision, Nick leaned over and kissed her lips more softly this time, careful to keep his hands grounded firmly under him. Instantly, her eyes fluttered shut, something she’d done the last time he’d kissed her, and he wondered what she was thinking or if she was capable of thought—much like him.

But unlike before, when the fierceness of the rain had brought out an equally fierce and intense reaction in him, this time he began slowly, leisurely, as he savored the sensation of her lips, the touch of his tongue to hers, tentative at first before she opened her mouth and welcomed him in. He wanted to wrap his hands in her hair and hold her face against his, but he made himself go slow, his hands remaining at his sides.

Anna held no similar compunction as she raised her hand to his chest. The area where she touched—as well as a few other areas that were making it impossible to think straight—flared hot and alive. Nick’s need for this woman, the sensations she brought him, was almost overpowering.

Despite his promise to keep it easy and simple, his hand lifted to hold on to her waist before gliding farther down to the curve of her hip and along the back of her upper thigh. She shivered against the light touch but didn’t pull away, if anything tightening her leg against his.

She was going to kill him.

He would give anything to lay her out under the moonlight, to strip that sweatshirt off and let his gaze roam her body, followed by his hands, his mouth…but something reined him in. Told him that he didn’t want to rush this. With Anna, he needed to take his time.

Reluctantly, he pulled his lips from hers, exhaling a sigh of near frustration. Her eyes opened slowly, the desire in their cloudy depths bringing a sharp tug of need low in his gut. It reaffirmed his decision to slow things down.

She seemed to be of the same opinion as she suddenly realized her position and, pulling her leg away, scrambled to her feet. “That was…” She raised her gaze to his again, appearing nervous. Uncertain.

He smiled. “Amazing. And something we’re going to explore another time, I assure you.”

“I was going to go with something more like…impetuous. And best not to ever happen again.”

Yeah. Sure she was. But he could let her have that and as much time as she needed to come to grips with the fact that something was happening between them. Something she wasn’t going to be able to run from.

“Whatever you say.”

She leaned down and grabbed her phone and returned it to her pocket. “I had better try and catch some sleep. Six a.m. is coming alarmingly soon.”

He nodded, unable to keep the smile from his face. “Sweet dreams.”

She walked away, her arms wrapped around her as if warding off a sudden chill.

And his heart, for the first time in a long time, felt light.

Hopeful.

* * *

Anna arrived downstairs a full fifteen minutes before the designated time, which was a first for her. She knew that, with as little sleep as she’d had the past few days, caffeine—and a lot of it—would be her best friend.

She was almost to the kitchen when the sound of raised voices reached her, angry whispers that sounded like Dax and…Sara? She slowed, curiosity overriding courtesy as she strained to hear what they were talking about.

“I owe Janie the truth,” Dax was saying. “Let her make the decision whether it was insignificant or not.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Sara said in a sharp tone that Anna had never heard before. “There’s no reason she has to know at all. I’m not going to tell her, if that’s what you’re worried about. And if you cared for her as you say you do, then you wouldn’t want to hurt her by telling her about something that has been over for years, especially when you two are supposed to be getting married tomorrow.”

“I let you talk me out of telling Janie about us two years ago because I believed that you were right and whatever you and I did in those early weeks when we all met up in Mexico had no bearing on my new relationship with Janie. I thought telling her would ruin any chance I had of making a go with her. I let you talk me out of it again when you and Nick started dating each other, reminding me that you and I made a mistake and there was no use bringing up the skeletons from the closet when it would only hurt those we loved. But now—” His voice cracked, and he took a minute to continue. “I don’t think that Janie and I can build a solid foundation together, a new life as husband and wife, when our foundation is built on a lie.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Dax,” Sara said, this time laughing at him. “You never lied to her about anything. I never told her about our summer camp romance, and I never told her we were hooking up those late Mexican nights after she’d been strolling arm-in-arm with you on the beach moments before. You never were put in the situation where you had to lie. Don’t be so melodramatic.”

“An omission on something as important as this is the same as a lie.”

There was the sound of a hand slamming down on the counter. “Damnit, Dax. You’re going to ruin everything. Have you thought about who is going to get hurt the most here? Janie. She will be losing her faith in not only you but also me, her best friend. And once Nick hears about this, he’s bound to be hurt, too. To hear that you—his own brother—deceived him about screwing his ex-girlfriend.”

Anna was shocked. Who knew that the quiet, supportive Sara had been hiding this secret from everyone, most of all her purported friend?

“Come on, Sara. Let’s be honest here. The only person you’re really concerned about in all of this is yourself. You’re worried you’re going to lose your best friend, sure, but most of all you’re worried that whatever chance you had of reigniting something with Nick, of getting into his good graces again and being welcomed back into the St. Claire circle of influence, will go up in smoke.”

“Janie will never forgive you, Dax. If you do this, if you tell her that you were professing your early love to her while slipping away to see me and that you’ve been keeping this from her for two years, she’s going to dump you and any future you were hoping to have with her.”

“Maybe. But she has the right to know everything about me, the good and the bad, before she commits herself to me. I’m sorry that this is going to hurt the people I care the most about, but the sooner you resign yourself to this happening the better, because nothing you can do or say is going to make me change my mind again.”

There were footsteps on the stairs above her; someone was going to break up this little chat any minute—and see Anna standing not so innocently outside the door.

“Morning!” she sang as she walked into the kitchen, pretending she didn’t see Dax turn away to collect himself or Sara’s face furious and red. Anna bit back the impulse to confront the woman for the deception that she’d played against Janie and Nick. Dax hadn’t been any better, though, even if he was finally coming to his senses. With cheerfulness she didn’t feel, she smiled at them both.

“Morning, Anna,” Dax said, his head dipped down in shame. Rightfully so. “You know, I’m going to take these mugs of coffee up to my fiancée and see if I can cajole her into sleeping in a little longer. Janie won’t admit it but I know she’s exhausted, and her excitement caused her to overestimate how much this wedding was going to take out of her. Would you mind explaining to everyone why we’re not there?”

Was Dax going to have the heart-to-heart with Janie now? And if so, would there even be a spa day or rehearsal dinner or…wedding?

But all she said to Dax was, “Of course. Go, shoo.”

She watched as Dax walked away, his shoulders hunched over, before meeting Sara’s gaze and asking, “How did you sleep?”

Sara looked at her uneasily, as if trying to decide whether Anna had heard any of the conversation. Anna kept her smile easy as she poured herself a cup of coffee and waited.

“Not very well, to tell you the truth. In fact, I think I might take a page out of the groom’s book and stay in my room and veg until it’s time for our spa appointments.”

“Absolutely. Great idea,” Anna said and followed Sara’s progress out of the kitchen from the rim of her mug. She heard a brief greeting in the hall as the woman crossed paths with someone.

Not just anyone, if Anna wasn’t mistaken. Nick.

Despite the conversation she’d just overheard and the heartache she felt for her sister, she couldn’t help but grin shyly at Nick as he walked in.

The sun had barely popped up over the eastern ridge, bathing the kitchen—and his face—in its first light. He looked tired, his usually clean-shaven jawline sprinkled with stubble. His hair was still wet, as if he’d just climbed out of the shower before slipping on those soft, faded denim jeans and the long-sleeved bluish-green tee shirt. There was definite fatigue around the corners of his eyes, but his eyes were bright and alert, particularly as he caught a glimpse of her alone in the kitchen. His face broke into an uncharacteristically broad smile, and her heart did a strange tap dance inside her chest.

He didn’t hesitate as he walked deliberately toward her, his eyes burning with the same need he’d shown last night, even as he’d sent her along to bed like a little girl. Without a word, he took the coffee mug from her hand and pulled her to him, cupping her head in the palm of his hand so he could better access her lips, his minty breath mixing with hers. And even though she’d cursed him last night for the mix of emotions he’d caused, now, back under the warm expertise of his mouth, her resolve to keep far away from his lips today quickly melted away and she was only too happy to wrap her arms around his shoulders. To push herself up on her tiptoes so she could access the back of his neck better as she tousled his hair in her fingers, blissful in this solitary moment.

Was this what it was like to have someone in your life you truly cared about? To look forward to their smiles, their touch, their kisses, even the bristly roughness of their unshaven jaw against your chin? If so, she could definitely get used to this.

The obnoxious sound of honking, coming from the front of the house, brought them apart.

“Looks like the bus is here,” Nick said. He looked around the kitchen as if realizing for the first time that they were alone. “Where is everyone? Janie said six thirty sharp, and I swore I heard Dax earlier.”

If he knew what was good for him, Dax was on his knees begging—no, groveling—for Janie’s forgiveness, promising to make it up to her for the rest of their lives.

“Um, you did, but Dax said to go along without them. Something about letting Janie sleep in.”

“Yeah, I just saw Sara and she was heading back to bed, too. Does that mean it’s just going to be the two of us?”

He appeared entirely too hopeful as he smiled at her, and she laughed, resting her hand on his chest. She enjoyed the feeling of being able to touch him, of feeling his heart beat under her palm without needing to offer an explanation for the intimacy. “Unless you know how to operate a hot air balloon—and with your fear of heights I find that hard to believe—then I wouldn’t exactly say we’ll be alone.”

“Let’s get out of here before anyone else changes their mind. You brought along earplugs just in case?”

She grinned. “I figure I’ll throw you over if the screaming gets to be too much.”