Darren knew exactly what Bailey was doing. She was avoiding him. He’d been trying to find her since he’d woken up. She wasn’t in her bedroom, she wasn’t anywhere in the house, and after breakfast and waiting for Trinity to leave to go shopping for a while, he was done waiting for her to show back up on her own. He knew she was embarrassed. Hell, he knew it was completely his fault, but it didn’t mean he was interested in letting her ignore him. He’d been up for two hours now, and he was anxious. He was also nervous.

He made his way down to the cabana that belonged to their rental house. It was a platformed deck with a pergola-style roof structure, woven with heavy waterproof fabric. There was a wide lounger the size of a king-sized bed with an adjustable head. The mattress was white linen, and it was soft. The head of the bed was raised at the moment, and it obscured his view. He didn’t know if she was on the lounger or not, but he’d been waiting for two hours for her to return, and he was out of places to search.

He was wearing only a pair of jeans and flip-flops, and it wasn’t until he rounded the side of the lounger and saw her curled up looking out to the water that he realized perhaps he should have at least put a shirt on. Her eyes glancing to his stomach quickly before she could stop herself confirmed that fact. It wasn’t as if she’d never seen him without a shirt. Hell, they’d been on the beach in Galveston for nearly a week, of course she had. But she’d never seen him naked before, and he was guessing shirtless was just a reminder of what she’d witnessed last night.

“How long are you going to avoid me?”

Her forehead wrinkled as she looked to his eyes before glancing back down to his stomach. “Forever?”

He chuckled quietly. He wasn’t at all amused; he was more terrified of what had happened than that, and he was trying to loosen himself up as much as her. “Bailey, you have to talk to me.” He sank down on the oversized lounger facing her, forcing her to look at him. But she couldn’t. Her eyes moved off to the side of them and down the beach. “Please.” Her eyes teared, and she brushed away a tear from the corner of her eye. It was painful to see what he was responsible for doing to her.

She was wearing a black bikini top and a pair of short white shorts. He was having a hard enough time keeping his own eyes where they belonged, and as she glanced quickly to him and caught his eyes studying her small breasts, her stomach muscles clenched and her shoulders wriggled under his invasive stare. He forced his eyes back up to hers, and he caught the furious blush on her cheeks.

“It can’t be like this with us, Bailey.” He leaned forward, rolling over to lounge next to her, shoulder to shoulder. “Game.”

“Darren.” She was warning him, but he wasn’t about to listen.

“How do you feel? Tell me. Close your eyes if you have to, but don’t hide from me.”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She did close her eyes. “Humiliated, embarrassed, mortified.”

“Come on, English major, you can do better than giving me three words that mean the same thing.” He turned to look at her, and she managed to open her eyes and give him a small smile.

Another deep breath later, and her eyes closed again before she took another stab at it. “Awkward, pathetic, stupid, immature, ashamed . . . and really, really embarrassed.” He reached for her hand, squeezing gently.

He opened his mouth, not bothering to close his eyes, and he watched her, waiting for her to look at him. “Guilty, frustrated.” She met his eyes as he spoke, and he forced himself to hold her eyes. “Cruel, inappropriate, indecent, so fucking sorry.” They stared at one another for a moment.

“I win. Eight to six. Thanks for playing.” Her voice was quiet as she spoke, but he saw the first glimpse of a smile—small, but a smile.

“Bullshit. Tie.”

“How do you figure?” Now she was perking up. She was competitive if nothing else.

“You only get credit once for embarrassed, humiliated, and mortified because they mean the same thing. Rules, dear Bailey, are not something I’m willing to set aside even for you.”

“Did you know I was watching?” Her eyes were suddenly off studying the water again, and Darren suddenly couldn’t breathe. He sat up, letting his own gaze move to the water. He was hoping something, anything, would save him from having to answer this question, and as Jess hollered out to him from farther up the beach, he let out a deep, steadying breath he hoped Bailey wouldn’t notice.

“Hey!” he hollered back to her, wasting no time calling her over rather than dealing with a question he wasn’t ready to answer. “What’s up, Jess? How’s the head?”

“Good, now that I’ve gotten half a bottle of Motrin in me.” Jess was smiling again, and she finally looked glad to be alive rather than wishing she were dead. Jess crawled onto the lounger on Bailey’s other side but propped her feet up on the raised head of the bed. She instantly turned to Bailey’s feet. “You need a pedicure; your feet look disgusting.” That was Jess. Outspoken even to her best friend. Of course nothing Jess said could ever offend Bailey.

“Yeah? Well, you need a face-a-cure.” Bailey smirked at Jess as she reached over and pinched her leg.

“What the hell are you two doin’ down here? Thought you were making out for a minute.” Darren was suddenly holding his breath again, but given the sudden tension in Bailey’s shoulders, she was too. “Sooo. . .” She got tired of waiting for a response that wasn’t going to be coming. “What are we doing tonight?”

“Seriously, Jess. ’Cause you didn’t have enough fun last night? Maybe you two should take it easy tonight.”

“I was thinking we could go out.” Jess was begging with her eyes, but they weren’t aimed at Darren. She didn’t give a shit if her older brother wanted to go out or not. Instead her eyes were pleading with Bailey. Bailey had that unsure, questioning look on her face, and he was siding with her at the moment.

“Come on. I didn’t even get to enjoy last night because you guys cheated at quarters and never let me win. It’s not my fault I got drunk and passed out.”

“I’m too old for this shit,” he muttered.

“And I was asking Bailey to go, not you. You can have a whole evening of nothing but you and your brain-dead girlfriend. Bailey and I are going out without you.”

“There isn’t a chance in hell you two are going out alone. No.” Bailey was sitting silently watching them.

“Then I guess you’ll just have to act younger than your age, go with us, and have a good time. Feel free to leave the brain-dead girlfriend here.” Jess stood and smirked at him, pulled the sarong from her waist, and started for the water. Bailey remained by his side for a moment, awkwardly fidgeting, before she finally stood and peeled her white shorts down her legs as he watched.

“You could come with us tonight. Might be fun.” He had no doubt it would be fun with Bailey there. He enjoyed spending time with her just a bit too much. Always had, even when they were kids. They’d always talked easily, laughed a lot, and been close. He used to think of her as an extra sister who he actually got along with, and then she became the cute teen he avoided because she was too young to have a crush on. Now she was just the pretty young woman who was still just a bit too young but who he very much had a crush on. He didn’t even bother trying to keep his interactions with her to a minimum because he just plain didn’t want to. And on spring break when Jess had begged him to go in with her and Bailey on a vacation house they couldn’t afford on their own, what was a big brother to do? He also didn’t much like the idea of Jess and Bailey being in Galveston alone. They might technically be adults, but it did not mean they acted like it. He wasn’t at all sure he did either, for that matter. He was certain of it, in fact, after the night before.

He watched her black bikini-clad ass walk down to the water’s edge. She stood with her legs shoulder-width apart, and he studied the perfect proportion of her legs. She had fit legs from years of running. They ran together at least a few times a week on campus, so he was very familiar with her build. Her bottom was as tight as her legs, and his groin was tightening with every passing second. He didn’t just like spending time with her too much; he just plain wanted her too much to. It was entirely physical; it was also entirely more than just that.

She glanced back once, catching him staring at her. From that distance she couldn’t possibly know he was staring at her ass, though he wasn’t sure it really mattered; he was just plain staring at something he had no business staring at. He climbed up from his spot, thanking God she was too far away to see his raging hard-on, and he headed back up to the house as she joined Jess in the water.

Trinity nearly caught him with his dick in his hand when he gave into the temptation of letting his mind wander away to Bailey for a while. And it wasn’t just Bailey. It was naked Bailey, aroused Bailey, willing and wanting Bailey. She’d watched him fuck his girlfriend for a reason last night, and while alcohol might have played a part on both of their accounts, there was more to it than that. She wanted to see him, she wanted to watch, and it was her want that was driving his arousal as he stood in the bathroom staring into the mirror as the shower heated up.

Trinity wrapping her hand around the length of his shaft from behind him was an unwelcome interruption. “Looks like someone’s been thinking about me.” Her hand was gliding up and down along his hard length, but he was struggling to deal with the feel of her hand on his skin.