THE BEAT OF the music pulsed through the air, competing with the din of the crowd dancing and mingling at Rock Bottom Bar and Grill. Levi’s siblings and several of their childhood friends were sitting at a table by the dance floor. Archer hadn’t left Indi’s side all night, and he’d never looked happier as he joked with his buddies Brant Remington and Grant Silver, Jules’s fiancé. Jock and Daphne were holding hands, chatting with Leni, Sutton, and Grant’s younger siblings, Keira, Fitz, and Wells. While Levi was thrilled that three of his siblings had found love, there was only so much nuzzling a guy could take when he was struggling with things he shouldn’t be thinking about.
He excused himself to get a drink and ordered at the bar. A cute brunette was making eyes at him, trying to catch his attention. There were plenty of beautiful women there, but Levi’s focus was riveted to the gorgeous off-limits blonde dancing with Bellamy and Jules. Tara might be the epitome of sweet and careful in her daily life, but when she danced, she morphed into a pure cock-hardening seductress. He didn’t think she even realized it. It was like she became possessed by the music, moving sensually in a clingy off-the-shoulder yellow top that stopped just shy of her low-waisted, curve-hugging skinny jeans, giving Levi—and too many other men—glimpses of bare flesh and her sexy belly button. Heat sparked beneath Levi’s skin, simmering hotter with every rock of her hips.
Fuck.
He told himself to look away. But he couldn’t. He didn’t want to. He’d always kept a protective eye on her, so why was his mind going places it shouldn’t? Places it had tiptoed over the years but he’d been quick to shut down and deny?
His damn brother had him analyzing more than Tara’s interactions with him. He had Levi questioning his own motives and noticing her in new ways, and it was irritating the hell out of him.
The bartender brought his drink. Levi paid and headed back to the table, where three separate conversations were taking place. He didn’t bother trying to catch up, his gaze moving back to Tara just as the song ended and she and the girls headed for the table. Ryan Lacroux, the most lusted-after policeman on the island, stopped them to chat. The guy was raising his drug-addicted brother’s young son, and with his short dark hair and chiseled features, he looked like he belonged on magazine covers. In other words, he was a walking aphrodisiac for single women, and there was no mistaking his appreciative glances at Tara, which sent a hot streak of jealousy through Levi.
He gritted his teeth against the unwanted emotion. Was Ryan one of the reasons she wanted to focus on her personal life? He looked around at the other guys who were checking her out, wondering who else might be on her radar, and his hands fisted, his gaze returning to Tara as she walked away from Ryan. She glanced at Levi and smiled, a familiar jolt of happiness radiating between them. She lifted her hand in a familiar waist-high wave and wiggled her fingers, just like she usually did. There was no seduction in her eyes, no flirtatiousness in her smile. He wasn’t missing cues.
He was just an idiot.
He wasn’t usually impressionable. He was in control of everything in his life. He had to be, for his daughter’s sake. How he’d let Archer’s or his sisters’ comments—or my own overthinking—awaken something in him that had the power to totally screw up his daughter’s world was beyond him. It was time to shut that shit down for good.
“Hey, bro,” Archer said, drawing Levi’s attention to his arrogant smirk. “Thinking about what I said last night?”
“Yes, and you were dead wrong. Don’t screw with people’s lives anymore, got it?” Levi warned. Their siblings and friends were watching them with interest, but after that morning’s group text, he decided it was best to ignore them and the rising temperature as Tara approached the table. Determined not to act any differently than he usually did around her, he pulled out a chair for her. “You were looking hot out there, blondie. I had to beat off a few guys who were prowling their way over to you.”
“Thanks.” Tara’s baby blues filled with mischief. “But I didn’t know you swung that way.” She giggled as she slid into the chair. Bellamy, a petite brunette with her hair cut in a jagged bob, sat on her other side. Bellamy was an up-and-coming lifestyle influencer, and she also worked part time for Jules.
“What’s everyone looking at?” Jules asked as she sat next to Grant. She wore her long golden-brown hair loose, the sides pulled into a fountain on the top of her head, making her look more like a college kid than the adult business owner she was. Jules owned the Happy End gift shop in town.
Bellamy wiggled her shoulders, looking down the length of the table at the others. “They just can’t believe the hottest girls in the place are sitting with them.”
Everyone laughed.
“Now that everyone’s here, I’d like to make a toast.” Jock lifted his glass, looking at Archer. “Until last year, I didn’t think I’d ever have a chance to hang out with everyone like this again, much less toast Archer’s engagement.”
Archer’s jaw tightened, emotions swimming in his eyes.
As Jock went on about brotherhood and friendship, Levi’s thoughts traveled back in time to years ago, when Jock’s pregnant girlfriend, Kayla, who had also been Archer’s best friend, was killed in a horrific accident. Levi had watched his brothers’ relationship shatter, leading to a decade-long rift between them that had affected everyone in their family and had only recently healed. Levi had been about seventeen at the time of the accident, and he couldn’t fathom loving anyone so deeply that losing them would change everything about himself and tear him away from his family. But the minute he’d held Joey, he’d understood. Those bigger-than-life feelings had hit him like a sledgehammer, and he’d vowed to do everything within his power to keep her safe and bring her up right. He was proud of himself, too. He’d always been careful about who he let into Joey’s life, and he was raising a happy, confident little girl, despite her mother’s continual disappointments.
Tara leaned closer, whispering, “Jock’s toast is beautifully sincere. You can tell he’s a writer.”
Jock had written a bestseller before the accident, but he hadn’t begun writing again until Daphne had come into his life. It was funny how certain people influenced others. Joey had several adults she looked up to, but Tara had become her person. The one she trusted with her secrets and called first when she had news to share or a problem Levi couldn’t help her with. He’d bought Joey an iPad so she could keep in touch with her mother, and while he knew she and Amelia messaged from time to time, he also knew Joey and Tara messaged and video chatted several times a week. He realized he spoke with Tara often, too, and she was also the first person he called when he had news about Joey, but he wasn’t about to start picking apart what that meant.
“Here’s to Archer and Indi,” Jock said, and cheers rang out.
Tara held up her glass, clinking it with Levi’s as she cheered, “To Archer and Indi!” She turned to touch her glass to Bellamy’s.
“I’m happy for you guys, but I still can’t believe Archer is engaged, much less to my best friend,” Leni said.
“We have you to thank, you know,” Indi said. “I told you on New Year’s Eve not to let me end up in his bed, and you were too busy to reel me back in.”
Leni rolled her eyes. “As if anything could have stopped you two.”
“I think someone’s drugging the drinking water around here.” Wells pushed his glass of water to the side with a distasteful look, and chuckles rose around the table. He was tall, dark, cocky as hell, and usually on the prowl.
“You might be onto something.” Keira’s eyes narrowed as she looked around the table at each of them. “I think it’s Jock.”
“Hey. My husband would never drug anyone,” Daphne, a voluptuous blond, exclaimed.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Think about it.” Keira flipped her light brown hair over her shoulder. “First you two fall in love and move to the island. Then Grant and Archer fall, one right after the other? Two of the broodiest guys on the island? Something fishy is definitely going on.”
Brant smacked the table. “Sign me up for ten cases of that water, because I’m looking for Mrs. Right.” The blue-eyed, dimple-cheeked boatbuilder was one of Jock and Archer’s closest friends. “I always thought I’d be the first to fall in love.”
“I thought it would be Fitz,” Levi said, referring to the clean-cut, sandy-haired charmer sitting across the table. Fitz ran the Silver House resort with his parents.
Fitz scoffed.
“Not me.” Sutton looked at Levi. “I thought you would be the first to settle down.”
“I am settled,” Levi said.
Leni arched a brow. “She means with a woman.”
“Joey and I have a great woman in our lives.” Levi put his arm around Tara. “Tell ’em, T.”
“I am pretty great,” Tara said with a shrug.
“Pretty great? You’re flat-out amazing,” Levi said.
“I don’t know about that.” Tara lowered her eyes, looking adorably embarrassed.
“I do,” Levi said at the same time Jules and Bellamy said, “Yes, you are.”
“No offense, Tara, but I don’t think his sisters were talking about an aunt slash babysitter,” Keira said.
“She’s a hell of a lot more than Joey’s babysitter,” Levi said in a tone sharper than he meant to use, but he didn’t want anyone thinking that was all she was to them.
Tara looked at him curiously.
“Is she?” Leni taunted.
“You know she is.” Levi stared down his troublemaking sister. “I couldn’t do all I do and raise Joey without Tara’s help.” He met Tara’s gaze. His arm was still around her, and he pulled her closer. “I hope you know how much Joey and I appreciate everything you do for us.”
“Of course I do,” she said sweetly. “Leni just likes to get you riled up.”
“I’m glad you realize my sister is an A-class pest.”
Leni flashed a cheesy grin.
“All I know is, if you’re going to settle down, it’s got to be with the right woman.” Grant took Jules’s hand and said, “Nobody has ever rocked my world the way my Pixie does.” Grant had lost his left leg from the knee down during a covert mission for the military and had returned to the island a changed, disgruntled man with a short fuse. Somehow Jules, a cancer survivor who spread happiness like confetti, had pulled him from the dredges of despair and showed him how beautiful life could be.
Jules was looking at Grant like he was holding a litter of puppies. “Aw, babe, you rock my world, too.” She leaned in and kissed him.
“See? It’s all about connection,” Indi added.
“In and out of the bedroom.” Archer winked at Indi and smirked at Levi, eyeing his arm around Tara.
Tara’s eyes widened. “We’re not…”
Fucking Archer. “And you thought Leni was the only troublemaker.” He lowered his arm from around her.
“Being friends is important,” Daphne said. “You’ve got to be able to talk and laugh as much as you…you know.”
“I sure as hell know.” Jock kissed her temple, and Daphne blushed.
“All three of you newly matched couples make love look pretty darn good,” Sutton said.
Levi was thinking the same thing. Maybe seeing his siblings happy and in love was making him see Tara in a new light, too.
“They make it look sickeningly good, but I’ll still stick to my cupcakes.” Keira owned the Sweet Barista, a coffee shop and bakery.
“I’m with my sister on this one,” Fitz said. “Life’s short. Why not enjoy as much frosting as you can before closing the bakery?”
“Hear, hear.” Wells lifted his glass and took a drink.
Levi had been of a similar mindset before he’d found out Amelia was pregnant, but that news had changed everything. Suddenly the warnings his father had given him about sex having lifelong ramifications had become his reality, and he’d begun measuring his every move against what he wanted his child to learn from him. He couldn’t be sleeping around if he wanted Joey to look up to him the way he looked up to his father.
“Hey, Levi, speaking of frosting,” Fitz said. “Leni claims you’re not hooking up with any of the single Venting Vixens. What’s up with that?”
“You could at least hook us up with some of them,” Wells encouraged.
“They’re his friends, Wells, not his enemies,” Leni chimed in. She and Wells had dated in high school, and he had a permanent strike against him for cheating on her.
Keira and Sutton chuckled.
“Seriously, Levi. I don’t know how you do it, man. I love Jules, but I would not willingly put myself in the middle of a hen party.” Grant stroked his beard, his shaggy hair brushing the collar of his Henley.
“I could totally hang with the ladies,” Brant boasted. “I love to talk, and I love women. It’s a match made in heaven. All I need is a kid.”
“You could borrow Hadley,” Wells suggested.
“No, he cannot,” Jock said.
“I know you’re joking, but don’t mess with single moms,” Levi said. “They’ve got enough on their plates.” A few of the Venting Vixens had gotten divorced. Parenthood was not for the faint of heart. He didn’t need to be married to know that it could bring couples closer together, amplify their differences, or overwhelm an already-precarious marriage.
“As a former single mom, it’s nice to hear a guy sticking up for single mothers,” Daphne said.
“I’m just telling it like it is. Those women saved my ass so many times. I value their friendships.” He glanced at Tara, who had also saved his ass on numerous occasions when it came to Joey.
“I get it now, biker boy. You fought similar battles. It’s like a brotherhood but with women.” Grant took a swig of his drink.
“Exactly,” Levi said.
“Speaking of parenting.” Keira looked across the table at Jules, Bellamy, and Tara. “We saw you chatting up a certain delicious single daddy.”
Levi rolled his shoulders back and puffed out his chest. “I’ve been called a lot of things, but I think I like delicious the best.”
The guys chuckled.
“It’s a good thing you’re good-looking, because that big ego takes you down a notch,” Tara teased.
“Damn,” Wells said.
“That’s okay.” Levi stretched his arm across the back of her chair again, grinning arrogantly. “I’ve got something even bigger that keeps me on top.”
Tara sipped her drink, eyeing him playfully. “I see you took your parents’ advice to heart when they told you to dream big.”
Everyone cracked up, including Levi.
“For the record, Levi,” Keira said, “you are a hot single dad, but you’re also like a brother to most of us, so can we please get back to Ryan, the hottest cop and pop around?”
Levi ground his back teeth together as jealousy clawed at him again.
“Ryan is hot,” Bellamy agreed. “And he was totally checking out Tara.”
Fucking hell.
“He was not,” Tara snapped. “He was asking about the pictures I took of him at the carwash.”
“Shirtless pictures of him all wet and lickable,” Bellamy added with a waggle of her brows.
“Would you stop?” Tara said.
“What? He was.” Bellamy’s gaze moved around the table. “And that’s not all. Two guys asked Tara out at the carwash. Two!”
What the hell kind of torture was this? If Levi didn’t know better, he’d think Archer had put Bellamy up to saying that just to mess with him. But Tara was gorgeous. Of course guys pursued her. He was just about to ask who had asked her out when Tara, Jules, and Bellamy squealed and popped to their feet, shouting, “‘Friends!’” in unison as the song by Marshmello and Anne-Marie rang out. Levi knew it well. It was one of Tara and Joey’s favorites.
“Dance off!” Jules hollered, pulling Grant up beside her, causing an uproar of commotion as Daphne and Indi tugged Jock and Archer toward the dance floor, and Bellamy ran around the table yelling, “Who’s not my brother?”
Bellamy grabbed Brant. “You’re mine!” She yanked him to his feet, dragging him out to dance.
As Keira grabbed Leni and joined Sutton in goading Fitz and Wells into dancing, Tara beamed wordlessly at Levi and held out her hand. She was so cute, knowing she didn’t have to ask.
He took her hand and rose to his feet. “All right, blondie. Let’s show ’em how it’s done.”
They’d danced together so many times, he knew her moves by heart, and they fell easily into sync on the crowded dance floor. Tara’s hips swayed, her hands snaking over her head, graceful and sexy. Levi grabbed her by the hips, drawing her closer. Their bodies swayed and rocked as they had a hundred times before. Only this time, he was acutely aware of her softness brushing against his thighs and chest.
Jules danced over to them, singing, “Get that friend shit out of your head,” and danced back to Grant. She considered herself a music aficionado, but she always got the lyrics wrong.
Tara and Levi shook their heads and fell right back into sync. Tara whisper-sang the lyrics with a taunting look in her eyes, singing about making it obvious that they were only friends. She danced even more seductively, turning in a slow circle, one arm above her head, her shoulders and hips begging to be touched. She turned toward him again, smirking. You little siren. He mouthed the lyrics about her having no shame for looking at him like that. She continued turning up the heat with her sinful dance moves, which he matched beat for beat. They’d always danced like that, knowing it was safe and done only in fun.
When the song ended, they stayed on the dance floor, dancing to the next song and the next, eyes trained on each other, bodies grazing, hands brushing. This felt different, personal, intimate. They danced so long and close, everything around them faded away, until Tara was the only thing he saw, her eyes at half-mast, glossy blond curls swaying over her breasts as she lost herself in the music. He itched to feel that hair tangled in his fist, to feel her naked body moving against him.
He needed to get back to that safe zone. To stop seeing her as a sensual woman and close the door Archer had opened, but no part of him wanted to.
The song “Better” by Khalid came on, and Tara wound her arms around his neck with an easy smile. She rested her cheek on his chest, her breasts pressing against him, sending heat slithering south. She felt so good, he held her tighter, wondering how he’d danced with her so many times without being lured in by her femininity. How long had it been since he’d felt the magnetic pull, the bone-deep ache of wanting a woman, not just needing relief? He was playing a dangerous game he couldn’t afford to lose. She tipped her face up, her sweet, trusting eyes gazing at him, and he didn’t see Joey’s aunt or Amelia’s sister. He saw a beautiful, sensual woman, and he had the overwhelming urge to lower his lips to hers and taste her sensuality, feel her energy from the inside out. Fuuck. While she was dancing like they’d always done, he was slowly losing his mind, having trouble deciphering reality from fantasy. The only thing he knew for sure was that she felt incredible, and he wished the song would never end.