When Kade woke the next morning, the haze cleared quickly from his brain, and he remembered where he was. He threw off his covers, literally jumping out of bed, feeling like a little kid. He had Felicity on the island. He thought of the first day on the island when he was little with his brother. They were always the happiest to go dust off their sand toys. He threw on his swimsuit and flip-flops and rushed out of his room.

He thought of how almost dazed Felicity had seemed the night before. It had been a huge thing for him to bring her here. His grandmother had been right—he didn’t bring women here. He hesitated before knocking, a million questions running though his mind. Why was she different? Why had it been so important to bring her?

He thought of walking on the beach last night with her, her hand in his, their bare feet lightly pushing into the sand, the moon bright. Her red hair was a stark contrast to the white loveliness of her skin as he kissed her again and held her. He wanted to be with her more than he’d ever wanted anything else. She was different. From the start, he’d known she was different, but now, it was like every complication in her life only left him liking her even more.

He could sense, because of her heart condition, she held back. It almost seemed like she thought if she touched him or got close to him she would hurt him. He didn’t like it. So what? Technology was improving all the time, right? And look at her, she seemed so healthy.

He’d dated lots of women in the past. It’d been fun, and it had worked to date lots of women a lot better than it had ever worked to get serious with one. He found most women bored him.

He thought of what Felicity would say if he actually told her that. She would probably throw daggers at him with her eyes. He grinned and knocked on her door. But there was no answer.

He knocked again. Still, he couldn’t hear anything. Slowly, he pried the door open and looked around. Nothing. Worry coursed into him. Where was she? He looked at a clock on the wall, only seven in the morning. He rushed from her room and to the kitchen, but there was only Henry.

“Boss.” Henry pointed out the window.

He saw her, standing on a paddleboard. He rushed out to the dock, thinking it was funny she was just balancing on the ground without being in the water.

Her simple one-piece swimsuit with a red halter-top hugged her figure lovingly.

Beauty. Pure beauty. Her hair was loose, and she had a paddle in one hand and was bracing herself, as though she was out on the water.

Her head came up, and their eyes met at the same time.

She laughed. “Go away, Kincaid. I wanted to practice first.”

His heart nearly stopped. She was so beautiful. He wished for a better term to describe her. He laughed and ran to her. “What are you talking about?”

He couldn’t stop himself from putting his arms around her and kissing her.

He felt her give in to him, press herself against him.

Everything about him wanted this woman in so many ways, on so many levels. His relationship with her was new, but felt so much deeper than any he’d had before.

Pulling back, she laughed.

“What are you laughing at?” He picked her up and put her over his shoulder, running into the water.

They fell in together, splashing in the warm water.

She giggled and popped up, pushing back her hair. “You can’t manhandle me.”

He was already next to her, pulling her into him again, kissing her. “I think I can.”

He felt her surrender.

As their lips met, life felt complete. It was just like the moment when he was releasing a perfect spiral and in his gut he just knew X or Ace would catch it. The moment between certainty and the perfection of the end zone.

“Wait.” She stopped kissing him and tugged back.

“What?” He loved the feel of his arms around her. He loved how she fit perfectly with him. Her height, not too tall, but not short. He loved the feistiness of her. He—it hit him like a ton of bricks—he really did love this woman?

It rocked him.

Softly, she pressed her lips to his neck then pulled back and searched his face. “I just had to do that.”

Everything inside of him hummed with desire for her. He let out a laugh. “Slow it down, Song.”

She stared up at him. “I wanted to thank you.”

He didn’t understand. “For what?”

Reaching up, she carefully put her hand on his chest.

He tensed, feeling his heart kick up speed. Every part of him felt sensitive to her touch.

“For not giving up when I pushed you away.”

The sincerity of her words meant everything to him. He thought about her, about everything she’d been through. About how she put off such a tough exterior, but when it came down to it, her heart was fragile in more ways than just physically. “I’m not easily pushed aside,” he said quietly.

She beamed at him. “Such an understatement.”

Gently kissing her, he forced himself not to get lost. He needed to ask this. “I know you don’t want to talk about this, but I want to know more about your heart.”

She didn’t respond.

He felt her tense and held her tighter. “Don’t shut down on me, Felicity.”

Her green eyes fluttered.

“I’m in this, and I want to know what you hold back from me. I want to know everything, the good and the bad. I want to know the field.”

Looking extremely annoyed, Felicity quit pushing against him. “I need another surgery soon.”

This stunned him. He loosened his grip, and his mind whirled in confusion. “When?”

Looking miserable, she shrugged. “I need to get in and consult with the doctor, but after the last surgery I got, they said it would be roughly ten years before I would need another.”

Letting her go, but keeping her hands in his, he tried to tamp down his frustration. “Why haven’t you gone in?”

Anger flashed into her eyes. “I’ve been a little bit busy trying to help my mom and take care of some bratty …” She trailed off, and tears swelled as she looked down. “The truth is I’m terrified of what the doctor will say.”

Worry coursed through him. “What do you mean?”

She looked up at him then hesitated and shook her head. “The surgery might not work, Kade.” She exhaled and looked away.

He felt like he was staring down the field and trying to figure out how to play this obstacle. “So, you need a heart?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, but I don’t want another surgery. I can’t…”

Uncertainty was something Kade didn’t like. “Not good enough.”

Sharply, her head snapped up, and their eyes met. “You have no idea how many failed surgeries I’ve been through. How hard it was for my parents.” Tears bubbled in her eyes.

His heart beat rapidly, but he realized he couldn’t handle Felicity with force, as his father had handled him and his brother. He softened and carefully put his arms back around her, thinking of how she’d said she loved to be in his arms, to feel safe. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out together, Song.”

For a moment, she relaxed into him. He held her, and he realized this relationship was so different than every relationship he’d had with a woman because she didn’t treat him like the “bratty, selfish, billionaire” he was. He frowned and held her close. It was also different because it was the only time he’d ever wanted to protect a woman from the harsh world, more than he wanted to protect himself.

Out of the blue, Felicity pulled back, a smile on her face. “I already built a castle earlier. I don’t think you can build a bigger one." She took off running out of the water and down the beach.

Watching her go, he couldn’t believe this was actually happening. He was falling in love with her. He took off in a mad dash and let out a whoof as he landed next to her castle.

She held a bucket of water she was going to mix with more sand, but at the last minute, she turned on him and dumped it.

“Ahh!” He yelled, the cold shocking him.

She laughed and took off again.

He was quicker and caught her easily, putting his hands around her waist and pushing her into the ocean. “Can’t get away from me now, Song!”

She didn’t try to fight that hard, and he didn’t actually throw her in the water, more or less just got them out there and they both jumped into it.

She splashed him and swam a bit away.

All the memories of his brother and him here assaulted him. Of him and Anthony coming and going.

Suddenly, she was next to him. “Okay, Kincaid, your turn, what are you thinking? What’s with that faraway look?”

He didn’t know if he liked that she could tell he was thinking something.

“It’s not so fun, is it?” she asked, and he noticed she had a tiny scar next to her lip he’d never noticed before. “Someone pushing you all the time, demanding they know you. The real you.”

She was right. He didn’t like it.

“Kincaid.” She demanded.

He let out a sigh. “Fine. I was thinking about Anthony.” He pointed to the castle. “We used to go up there and pretend we were going to throw each other off.”

She turned to look with him. “Your fear of heights.”

The walls were more than twenty feet high, and he thought of the fun and the fear of it.

A derisive laugh came out of him. “Dang, I miss him.” He shook his head. “I can’t even imagine never being here with him again.” He sighed. “Bringing our families here, seeing our kids play.” He turned back to her, searching those beautiful, green eyes. Happiness surged inside of him. “Maybe little redheaded kids.” He shrugged. “You could live in the castle with Prince Charming.”

Immediately, her walls went up. She turned away from him and scoffed. "I can’t believe you haven’t brought any other women here.”

He put his arms around her, and he was glad she didn’t move.

“What else about Anthony?” She asked.

He exhaled. “Sometimes I feel like he's already gone. Dead. Like these memories are of a dead brother because we don’t have any modern memories. We have nothing anymore.”

Surprising him, because he’d always been the one to initiate affection, she turned in his arms and kissed him gently on the lips then trailed her lips sweetly down his neck.

A slow smile filled his face, and he pointed at her. “Remember, it’s in the contract I can’t fall in love with you, so you better make sure you don’t fall in love with me.”

Immediate annoyance rippled across her face. “I got it handled, Kincaid.”

He laughed and took her hand and pulled her with him as he climbed out of the water and sat on the beach, still thinking of his brother.

She sat and relaxed. “Why don’t you end the feud or whatever? Why don’t you make it right if you want to make it right?”

Frustration coursed through him. “I’ve thought about it a million times, but something else always happens. Of course, during the season, both of us are consumed with football, the next game, practices, the press, the competition. Our father.”

“Why has your father allowed this?”

It was a question Kade had been asking himself his whole life. “Dad says he hates it, and he tried to make it all seem okay. But at the same time, he feeds into it, telling us things about the other. Things that tick us off.” He sighed and closed his eyes for a second, wishing he could push it all aside. Wishing he could rinse his mind of all the bad of the past few years.

“Tough love,” she said.

“What?”

“Your father, I’ve done research on him. There’s this article about him, about how his father was hard on him, whipped him.”

Kade knew this, but he didn’t really think about it much. “Okay.”

“Your father whips you in a different kind of way. There was an interview with your father where he said he’d done everything he could to make you boys tough.” She shook her head. “It’s not right, but I would bet your father would think everything he did made you the best.”

Of course, he knew his father thought he was right. He thought he was right about everything. “I don’t know.” He sighed. “I have so many regrets with my brother. I told you about the woman, but after we talked the other day, I also thought of something else.”

She waited.

“In high school, he got a high ankle sprain. It was my senior year and his junior year, but see, he was the starting quarterback.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah.” Turmoil filled him. “Part of me was happy he was down because it meant I moved up. But my dad was awful to Anthony, yelled at him all the time. He said Anthony was lazy and continually razzed him about the ankle sprain and how he was weak because of it.” He sighed and felt awful. “We’d lost our mom the previous year, and Anthony and I had been tight. Really tight. I was the older brother, so I’d tried to lead out and be strong. When all of this happened, I abandoned him.”

“What do you mean?”

Kade thought about his father’s tongue-lashings. “I should have stepped up. I should have stopped my father, but I didn’t.”

For a few moments, it was quiet between them.

“I should have protected my brother from my father. I’ve always felt badly I didn’t do something.”

Felicity played with his hand, covering and uncovering it with sand. It felt so good. Finally, she looked up and met his eyes. “I believe in you. You can do this. You can handle it. You can fix things with your brother. Just talk to him. Tell him this.”

It kind of stunned him that she knew him, and she was saying this. He’d never spoken so freely with someone about his problems before.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “Just feeling grateful right now. Thanks for listening. I think talking about this with you is just want I needed.”

His words started a warm glow in Felicity that made her brave enough to be honest. “I’m happy to help. I have to admit I like the fact you might need me, too. Because … I kind of like having you around.”

He grinned at her reference to him needing her. Keeping his eyes locked on hers. “That’s good, cause you’re not getting rid of me.” He leaned down and kissed her.

Loving how eager she was to kiss him back, he pulled her down to the sand so they were side by side.

The sun was warm, but not too hot. The waves rolled onto the beach next to them. He closed his eyes, listening to birds chirping and deciding he could do anything with Felicity next to him.

Pulling back after a few moments, she stared up at the sun.

The quiet moment broken, he quickly moved and started the process of burying her feet.

He worked getting her all buried while she giggled. At the end, he noticed her just staring at him.

“Hey.” He flounced back next to her buried form.

Her eyes danced with happiness.

“I should probably put sun screen right here.” He tapped her nose.

She giggled some more.

They stared in each other’s eyes and more and more he was determined that this woman would be his.

He unburied her and found himself kissing her again, holding her, getting back into the ocean with her and splashing around.

At one point, he was holding her and noticed she had gone quiet.

“What are you thinking?”

She shrugged. “About my dad. A vacation we all took to the beach before Jimmy passed away. It was a lot better then.”

He frowned and hugged her to him.

“I just wish …” She sighed. “My momma says I need more grace in my life for my father.”

Chills washed over him, and he thought of her sweet mother. How she was humble and grateful and how she liked his rabbi, priest, and cowboy jokes.

She looked out into the ocean. “Momma says I need to have grace for Jimmy dying. I need to have grace for myself and my heart condition, and I need to recognize God’s grace in my life.” She blinked. “Momma says grace is something God gives you. The thing between right and wrong, sin and death, that thing that’s intangible but puts you closer to him when you may not deserve it.” She blinked, and he saw tears in her eyes. She put a hand on his face. “I think you’ve brought more grace into my life, Kincaid, then I deserve.”

Emotion was in the back of his throat, gently he kissed her forehead. “Ah, you deserve me.”

She laughed. “And your humility astounds me.”

He laughed, too and kissed her head again. “All I know is I want to spend the rest of my life deserving you.” He gently squeezed her tighter and then pulled back, staring into her eyes. “We’re going to figure everything out with your heart, then come back to this castle and live happily ever after.”

She put her cheek against his chest. “I hope so.”

All he knew at this moment was his bachelor days were done.