“I’m thinking about doing the salary match donation to your foundation.” Colm looked over the top of the newspaper with his sunglasses pulled down his nose. The deck of the boat was slick with the salty sea spray, and our fishing poles sat in their holds along the edge of the deck. After two hours, Declan and Heath were the only two still giving it their best. The seabass and bluefin were just not feeling it that day.

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not? After five years of taking care of Olive, I’m not freaking out about making us both destitute by the time we’re twenty-five. My parents would roll over in their graves if they knew I wasn’t keeping up their charitable ways.” While Declan, Heath, and Ford had attended Rittenhouse Prep on hockey scholarships, Colm and I had paid the full sticker price: a high school education that could buy a huge house in many parts of the country. When his parents died, between the insurance, the trust, and their savings, he and Olivia had been set for life.

“Awesome. I’ll have Randolph send over the gift agreement and you fill in whatever you want.” I’d originally started it as a tax protection, but seeing the reports from the foundation’s impact and getting letters from kids had turned it into something more. My parents were more than happy to sip champagne on a yacht circling the Caribbean and never think of anyone other than themselves. With their recent behavior, though, I thought maybe I should bring up the foundation to them. Maybe they’d surprise me.

“Good. I’ll have Olive do some volunteer work too. She’s always so noncommittal.” Colm tossed his cards into the center of the table, folding.

“It’s only because you baby her.” Ford collected the cards, and his fingers made quick work of shuffling the deck then passing out another set to each of us.

“I wouldn’t baby her if she didn’t need it.”

Ford shrugged.

“Are you three just going to sit there while we reel in the big fish?” Heath poked his head around the divider on the side of the deck where we’d set up our game.

“Is that what you mean by big fish?” I pointed to the end of his line.

“That’s the bait.”

“Sure…I bet the fish won’t mind if we sit this one out.” Colm picked up his cards and fanned out his hand.

The rest of the trip was complete with zero fish caught by Declan and Heath. After our poker hands had been played, Colm owed Ford a year’s worth of booze and one get-out-of-jail-free card.

“How long is this trip supposed to last?” I asked.

“Eager much? You’re the one who booked this the day after you got here.” Colm leaned back in his chair.

“That was when he was trying to avoid Avery. Now a whole five hours away and he’s ready to jump out of his skin.” Declan laughed, leaning against the side of the boat.

“We don’t have much time until she leaves. I don’t want to waste a minute.”

“What are we doing about the Fourth of July?” Heath yawned and shielded his eyes from the sun.

“If you guys will let me, I’d like to handle the party.” I kept talking over the groans. “You paid for the house, at least let me plan the party—nothing crazy, just us and some other people we’ve met down here, a bar, good food. They’ll clean everything up.”

“You had me at clean up.” Ford chuckled into the beer he’d been nursing the whole day.

“Nothing big, you promise?” Heath held out his pinky like we were eight.

“Totally.”

We carried back the cooler full of fish we’d bought from the store, ready to tell the ladies a harrowing story of our incredible seafaring adventure. Opening the front door of the house, the ‘Honey, I’m home’ died in my throat as I watched Avery’s head lean back in laughter right in front of the guy who just didn’t know to stay away: Noah. His hand was wrapped up in hers, and she was holding the back of his hand in her palm. I gritted my teeth. What the hell was she doing touching him? What was she doing letting him touch her?

The thump of the cooler on the floor drew her attention through the opening from the kitchen to the living room. Ford lunged to keep the lid on, and Avery’s head whipped around at the noise. Her laughter died and she dropped her hand from Noah’s.

My lips twisted into a grim line. Not even the smell of baking chocolate was enough to snap me out of it. What was he doing there? What were they laughing about? What had they been doing for the entire day while we’d been out on the boat?

Olivia hopped down the steps before coming to a skidding stop halfway down. The heavy footfalls behind her definitely didn’t sound like Kara or Mak.

“You guys are back.” Liv’s eyes swept over us all standing in the doorway before landing on Ford. “I thought you wouldn’t be back for another couple of hours.” She tugged the sleeve of her halfway unbuttoned shirt back onto her shoulder.

My eyes darted back to Avery. She’d hopped down off her stool and was moving quickly around the kitchen.

“Yes, we’re back. Eight hours is a ridiculous amount of time to be on a boat so we cut it short.” Colm crossed his arms over his chest. “What the hell is he doing here?”

Her eyes snapped to Colm. “Noah and Mason came over to visit. They brought over a regular bottle of bourbon and we were helping Avery make brownies.”

“You were helping her make them upstairs?”

“I got chocolate on my clothes.” She sputtered.

“I’m not buying it and you can get the hell out.” Colm lunged for Mason.

“Calm down, Colm.” Ford stepped up and put his arm on Colm’s shoulder.

He shrugged it off. “Like you have any place to talk about people sneaking around other people’s backs,” Colm snapped.

Their conversation floated into the background. My focus was on Avery. As I entered the kitchen, she kept her back to me, taking a tray of brownies out of the oven. Mixing bowls and trays covered the counter.

“Hey, Emmett, right? Man, you’ve been missing out. I’ve been eating up Avery’s sweet treats all afternoon, but I’m sure there are still some left.” He held out his hand for a shake, but I didn’t even glance down at it.

“Avery.” I kept my voice level, even with the vibrating anger pulsing through my body.

The oven door slammed shut and Avery stood with her hands braced against the counter.

“Did you have fun fishing?” She dipped her hands into the sink filled with soapy water.

“We need to talk.” I wrapped my hand around her arm and dragged her with me from the kitchen into our bedroom. A trail of water followed us down the hall. I slammed the door shut and the entire wall seemed to shake.

“What the fuck?” I bit out.

She let out a defeated sigh. “Nothing the fuck about it, Emmett. Noah and Mason came over while the girls and I were baking.”

“Why were you touching him?”

“He hit his hand against the oven checking on a tray of brownies. I was checking to see if he needed something for the burn. He didn’t.” She crossed her arms over her chest. The spaghetti straps of her tank top were showing off way too much skin for me to handle.

“Where is everyone else? Olivia was upstairs banging that guy, and Kara and Mak are nowhere to be seen.”

“We better get triple brownie rations for this emergency supply run or someone’s getting huuuurt!” Mak’s voice carried down the hallway.

“They went to the store when we ran out of supplies. They’ve probably been gone for twenty minutes. You can ask them yourself if you’d like.”

The jump to distrust was automatic, reflexive after so many years.

“This is why I asked the ‘us’ question. You don’t trust me.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Her gaze dropped. “Mine. I can’t say part of it isn’t my fault, but it’s not all me.” Her eyes snapped back to mine, her deep browns pleading with me. “Some of that is you. I wasn’t doing anything. I’m saying it loud and clear for you. You can decide what to do with it from there. I wasn’t doing anything other than baking. He came by with his friend and that’s it.” Her eyes searched mine.

“Fine. I believe you.”

Her shoulders relaxed. That didn’t mean I was going to let some guy flirt with her, have him think she was someone he could take away from me.

I tugged her against me, running my fingers up her back. “I missed you.”

The relief was overwhelming. He believed me. “I missed you too.” I looped my arms around his neck. “I’m only here for a few more days.”

“Don’t remind me.” He groaned and closed his eyes.

“And you’ll start training in September, right? Maybe—” My words were cut off by the fierceness of his movement, like me mentioning us being apart had set him off.

He pushed me up against the door, unbuttoning my jeans with one hand and sliding them down below my ass. I wasn’t going to fight this. Kicking them off my feet, I gripped the hair at the base of his neck and yelped into his mouth when he lifted me, wrapping my legs around his waist.

When he sank into me in one smooth motion, I hissed at the sudden invasion and rolled my hips to get him deeper. Every time we came together was just as explosive as the last. The door rattled on its hinges.

He drove my legs higher with his hips, opening me even more. His fingers were up under my shirt, yanking down the cups of my bra until I spilled out into his hands. His fingers tweaked and twisted my nipples, drawing a hiss from my lips.

“Yes, Emmett, more.” I gasped against the side of his face. Holding on, I screamed as his strokes got harder and faster.

“So tight, Avery. It’s always so good.” His words were clipped like he was holding back.

“Em.” His name fell from my lips. I was close, the crest of the wave I was on nearly at its peak.

“Fuck yes. Let him know you’re mine. Tell him I’m the only person to make you come this hard.”

His words hit me like a surfer flung off their board by a rogue wave. What? I jammed the heel of my hand into his chest.

He winced, rubbing the spot. Good!

“Is this you staking your claim?” The anger bubbled up. His words were a bucket of ice water poured over my head.

Let him know you’re mine. Shame wrapped its iron grip around me, thinking about everyone out there listening.

He fell free from my body. It wasn’t the usual feeling of loss; instead I burned with humiliation. Knowing others could hear us when we were professing our feelings for each other was different than him drawing the words out of me as a warning to anyone who might dare to touch what was ‘his’.

I glared at him.

“Avery—” He reached for me, but I batted his hands away.

“Why not take me out on the deck and rent a fucking spotlight?”

Snatching my jeans off the floor, I shoved my legs back inside.

“Are you running back out there to pretend like this isn’t happening?” He buttoned his pants.

“No, I’m going out there to be with people who aren’t using me.” I wrapped my fingers around the doorknob.

“Do you know why I have trust issues? Why it freaks me out to see you touching another guy?” His voice was like a lash across my skin, harsh and stinging.

I froze.

“Because you killed me Avery. You ripped my heart out and shredded it. Do you know I’ve never made it more than three months with another woman since you? Never said I lo—” He exhaled. “I’ve never been able to let myself get attached to anyone else.”

I dropped my forehead against the door. His hand slid from around my arm to my hand, and my muscles tensed. I wanted to clamp my hands over my ears and run away, hide from all the things I’d done wrong, all the ways I’d wronged him and myself.

“There’s been no one else since you left me, no one to make me feel the way you do…to hurt me like you did.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “I know I can never apologize enough for what I did, but if we’re moving forward with whatever this is, you can’t keep doing this. I’m not cheating. I’ve never cheated.” I spun around, facing him, and his face was a mask of worry and remorse. The tension in my muscles eased away. “Hurting you is the last thing I want. I…I won’t lie to you about something like that. Absolutely nothing is going on with me and Noah. You and I are figuring this out together. There is no one else.”

He slid his fingers along my cheek and up into my hair. “There’s never been anyone else.” His lips collided with mine, demanding everything I had to give to him. Resting his forehead against mine, he stared into my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

I ran my fingers along the scruff on his chin. “I’m sorry too.”