by Melissa West
“Right, I recognize you from the wedding.” Zac walked over and shook Nick’s hand, but whereas most men stiffened or appeared in awe when meeting one of the insanely wealthy Hamiltons, Zac seemed undeterred. There was something more to the way they stared at each other, a story Becca couldn’t quite put together, and then she remembered the Hamiltons talking about another set of brothers in high school. Brothers from Crestler’s Key who played baseball, competitors of theirs. Becca wondered if those brothers were the Littletons, but before she could dwell on it, Zac bit his lip and turned to her, and she had to fight to keep from giggling like a little girl.
Clearly, it had been a long, long time.
“And you are?”
“Becca Stark. I’m a family friend.”
“Hmmm, too bad Kate hasn’t introduced us yet. I’m sure I would have remembered you.”
Becca grinned, and Nick cleared his throat loudly. “So, the class?”
“Right. Better get back to work.” Zac winked at Becca, and she grinned back, embarrassed but unable to rein in her response to him. It had been a long time since she was this attracted to someone.
Well, someone other than unattainable Nick.
There were no more than twelve to fifteen students in total in the class, and Becca surmised that meant she would get plenty of time with hottie Zac, and maybe she could test the whole flirting and dating thing again in an effort to forget the guy beside her, who by all accounts saw her as nothing more than the tomboy next door.
“All right, first let’s go over the basics. Scuba is actually an acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, though people use it so frequently these days that scuba describes the sport without having to detail its meaning. And though you might worry about your athleticism, scuba diving is one of the easiest activities out there. Children as young as eight can be certified.”
“Ha, see that. I’m good to go,” Becca whispered, and Nick rolled his eyes.
“We’ll see.”
“What was that?” Zac’s gaze fell on Nick, and Becca grinned wide as Nick’s jaw ticked. It was so rare for Nick to openly dislike someone that she found it amusing. She’d like to test just how far that dislike could go, but she feared what Nick might say, and it was only the first day of class. Surely she could get in a few lessons before Nick got them kicked out.
“Did you have a question, Nick?”
“No, no question.”
“Excellent, then do you think you could join me up here?”
Becca was on the verge of hysterics now as Nick glanced at her with wide eyes and a frown on his face. He wanted to make fun of the class, dis Zac as a “half ass,” but it was all blowing up in his face.
“Go ahead, Nick,” she urged.
With a quick glare at her, Nick slid out of his desk and stepped up to the front of the class. Instantly, Becca caught sight of someone behind her leaning forward for a better view, and she turned to see a pretty blonde, eyes locked on Nick, and Becca thought her interest was less in the lesson and more in the only eligible Hamilton left.
Zac motioned to the table behind him and the scuba diving equipment. “I’ll go through each piece of equipment and the correct way to put it on using Nick as a dummy.”
“Nick as a dummy,” Becca mouthed and Nick’s grimace deepened, only causing her to laugh harder.
“The most important pieces of equipment to consider first are your mask, fins, and exposure protection. Now we won’t make Nick here change into a wet suit.”
“You can,” the blonde said. “We won’t mind.” She smiled and Nick grinned back, and suddenly Becca was the one frowning. What was she thinking, bringing Nick here where eventually they would all be in swimsuits? Was she trying to introduce him to his next date? Or maybe whoever his brothers had been hinting about had his attention fully occupied.
A sinking feeling worked through her.
“The most important thing about the mask is that it fits snuggly.” He handed over a bright pink mask to Nick, who was very likely to kill Becca after this. “Go ahead. Try it on.”
Nick held up the mask. “You’re joking, right? This is way too small. And pink.”
A smile played at Zac’s lips, and Becca propped her chin up on her hand, enjoying the view of the two handsome men before her, each attempting to show their manliness. “It’s an exercise, go with it,” Zac said. “Unless you’re not manly enough to wear pink.”
“I’m manly enough. I’ll own this pink.” He attempted to slide the mask over his head and into place, fighting and struggling and grunting, but all he managed to do was get the mask onto his forehead, resulting in laughter from the class.
Zac chuckled beside him, and Becca thought Nick might shove the mask at him. “Sorry, man, don’t be mad. That was to illustrate a poorly fitting mask. Now try this one.” Zac passed Nick a new mask and he easily slid it on, and hell if he didn’t look all the more adorable as he grinned over at Becca. “Now the fins.” Nick slipped on a pair, and then before long Zac had him completely dressed in scuba gear.
“Think this is funny, do you?” Nick asked around his snorkel mouthpiece, sending Becca into hysterics.
“Yes. Very. In fact . . .” She reached frantically for her bag and pulled out her phone. “Say cheese.”
“Don’t you—”
“Too late.” She snapped picture after picture, before he finally waddled over to her and snatched the phone.
“All right, you can take it all off,” Zac said.
“I can help him,” the blonde called, and Becca ground her teeth together. She turned to tell her that he had help, but the woman was already by Nick, helping him remove each piece of equipment like she was slowly undressing him for things completely inappropriate in an elementary school classroom.
“Let’s take a little break and then we’ll go through the beginning steps.”
Becca peered around to get a better look at the other people taking the class. It was half men and half women, all ages, and, like her, the women were all ogling their instructor and his assistant, Nick. She could only imagine how crazy they would go once they saw him in swim trunks or a wet suit.
Then her gaze turned to Zac, and she realized she’d get to see him in swim trunks or a wet suit, too. Maybe she could survive this after all.
Zac clapped at the front of the class, and everyone returned to their seats as he passed out various sheets of information on anything and everything related to diving. Finally, after half an hour of this and Becca’s mind fuzzy from a thousand details she felt sure she’d never remember, he said, “I think that’ll do it for today. Same time next week? We’ll let you all dress up like Nick here.” He patted Nick’s back and Nick stiffened.
“Stop it,” Becca mouthed, and he shook his head a little.
“The class after next, we’ll take to the pool. Remember, you have to complete the online training before that class or you can’t get in the water.”
Everyone thanked him, and Nick stopped in front of Becca’s desk, his mouth open to say something just as Zac stepped in front of them. “Sorry about that, man. Hope I wasn’t too rough on you.” He laughed, and Nick fake laughed back. Ah, the male ego at its finest.
“Nah, this isn’t my first rodeo.”
Zac’s eyebrows lifted. “You’re certified?”
Nick stood taller. “Certified at twelve. Been diving ever since, though it’s been a few years since my last dive.”
“So why are you taking the class?” Zac’s eyes drifted to Becca and back to Nick. “Oh. I didn’t realize you two were—”
“We’re not.” Becca stood quickly, narrowly bumping into Nick, which resulted in an annoyed head shake, but hey, she couldn’t have the only prospect she’d had in months thinking she was already taken.
But then Nick threw an arm around Becca territorially, and she thought she might kill him, friendship be damned. A woman had needs, and a man like Zac could absolutely meet those needs. “Nah, Bec’s my bestie, and I di
dn’t want her diving with an amateur.”
“She wouldn’t be with an amateur.”
Nick sized Zac up and down. “No offense, man; I’m sure you’re skilled. But I think I’ll go through the training with her all the same.”
“Even though you’re certified?”
“Even though I’m certified.” Nick’s gaze leveled on Zac. “Is that a problem?”
Zac’s eyes found Becca’s then, and she felt sure her face was a thousand and one shades of red. Two thousand and one. She. Was. Going. To. Kill. Nick! What the hell was he doing? “Money is money, right? You want to pay for it, I’m not complaining.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“All right, then. See you next week, Becca. Nick.” He nodded to the overly domineering, half-crazy man beside Becca and then left the classroom. As soon as he was out of earshot, Becca turned on Nick.
“What the hell was that?”
“He was making a move on you. The instructor. On a student. I couldn’t allow such morally depraved behavior.”
Becca’s head twitched. “Yet you let that blond chick flaunt her goods all over you.”
Nick tossed up a hand. “Hey, I’m not the instructor and she’s not my student. And besides, she just offered to help. I didn’t ask her to. Why didn’t you help? Oh, that’s right, you were too busy drooling over Instructor Z.”
“He’s Kate’s brother. Shouldn’t you be nicer?”
Nick considered it for a second, then shook his head. “Nah. Alex would’ve supported me on this.”
“Alex? Your brother Alex? Mr. All Over Anything That Walked before meeting Kate? Yeah, I don’t think so. Zac is his brother-in-law. I think he’d tell you that you were being an ass.”
They were outside now, rain pouring down in sheets, soaking everything and further clouding Becca’s thoughts and mood. “You can’t just bully every guy interested in me. And I don’t even think he was. He was just being nice.”
“First, I don’t bully every guy. And second, he wasn’t being nice. Guys aren’t nice. They only want one thing. Zac only wants one thing.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“It’s not. Every guy you’ve ever met wanted to get in your pants.”
Becca was fuming now, her hands in fists at her sides so she wouldn’t be tempted to deck him. How dare he? How dare he! “Really? Every guy? You’re a guy. You want to get in my pants?”
“Hell yes! Every single time I see you!”
Nick jerked back. What had he just done?
“Um, what I meant to say was—I was just proving the point that—I didn’t mean me, as in literally me.”
“Right. Of course you didn’t.” Becca’s eyes dropped to the floor, then to the rain. “Look, I’ve got to hit that consignment shop for Reagan.”
“Bec . . .”
“It’s fine. I get it.”
“I didn’t mean to . . .” Nick ran a hand through his hair, then over his face. “I don’t know why I said that.”
She stared at him as though she wanted to ask him a question, a question he didn’t want to answer. Not today, not ever. But then she released a breath and tightened her hold on her bag. “I’ll see you later, Nick.”
And then, before he could say or do anything else to royally screw up this day, she darted into the rain, disappearing around the edge of the school and out of sight. He waited until her Highlander pulled out of the school parking lot before slowly walking to his car, careless of the rain. Or the water he’d trek into his car. Or anything other than the fact that he’d spent all his adulthood hiding his true desires for his best friend only to blurt them out in a fit of jealousy.
He was such an idiot.
Sure he needed a distraction, he did the only thing he could do when he felt as lost as he felt right that second—he headed to the office, where the silence and comfort of work could help him think.
It took less time than it should to get there, but as he pulled into the parking lot, his blood turned to ice. Because parked in his normal spot was Trip’s truck and beside it was Alex’s old Corvette, then to the left of that a black Mercedes with an out-of-state tag.
All the heat in his body dripped from his head down to his toes as he parked a few spaces away from the threesome, hoping he was wrong and that this wasn’t a meeting at his office without him.
He unlocked the main door and hit the number three once in the elevator. Each second felt more painful than the last as the ice running through his veins thickened, making it harder and harder for him to move, to breathe.
Finally, the elevator doors opened and Nick exited to a dark floor. Dark except for a small light shining out from the farthest corner from the elevator. He started toward the conference room, only to stop as Trip’s voice hit his ears, and then suddenly the cold in him turned to scalding rage.
Nick stepped into the doorway, not bothering to knock; after all, this was his office, his conference room. Sure enough, Trip and Alex were seated at the conference room table across from William Compton, who’d shown up in this very same room the day before. Hadn’t Nick sent him away? Hadn’t he told Trip that he wasn’t interested? Hadn’t he been clear?
“What’s this?” Nick asked from the doorway, unwilling to enter the room, to enter whatever traitorous shit was going on there.
“Nick . . .”
“What the hell is this?”
“Let’s discuss this outside,” Alex said, standing.
“Let’s discuss it right here. Right now. What the hell is this?”
Trip lifted his head. “You weren’t willing to hear William out, and we felt there was more to be discussed before he left town. So here we are.”
“Meeting behind my back.”
“We’re just discussing the offer.”
Nick shook his head. “This isn’t your decision.”
At that, Alex walked over. “It isn’t only yours either. We need to talk about this with open ears and truly consider the best course of action for the company and our employees. I don’t think you’re doing that right now, and if you stop to think about it, you’ll see I’m right.”
“No, there’s nothing right about what you’re doing here. Nothing right at all.” Nick turned on his heels and stormed out, grateful that his brothers let him leave without a fight. Because right now he was too angry to have this conversation, too hurt, and he didn’t like the direction his thoughts were headed. He had no idea what he might say, and though his brothers deserved to hear his rage, he didn’t want to say something he couldn’t take back.
Some words couldn’t be unsaid, but in that moment he was praying that some could.
He needed Becca, and the last thing he wanted was to have started something with her that he couldn’t and wouldn’t finish. Besides, she wanted nothing more than friendship with him, so even if he’d said everything he was thinking, so what? It would mean nothing and do nothing other than destroy their friendship.
Still, the expression on her face before she left flashed in his head, confusing him. It was like she was disappointed, like she had hoped he wanted her the way Zac and every other man on the planet wanted her.
But what sense did that make? None; none at all.
Jumping back in his car and slamming the door harder than he should, he took off, eager to get some distance away from his brothers so he could think. He told himself he was going to drive around for a while, clear his head, but he tended to head one place when he felt this lost, and before he’d even realized what he was doing, he found himself pulling down Becca’s road.
The rain had let up to reveal clearer skies, and as he parked, he contemplated leaving without getting out of the car. She was clearly upset with him, and he wasn’t in a position to make anybody feel better about anything. So why was he there? Because he was a selfish asshole who needed her, and despite whether or not she wanted to see him, he’d come. Unannounced.
He should leave, and he was tempted to, until he saw Becca’s form appear b
ehind her screen door.
Resolved that he couldn’t leave without saying something, he pushed out of his car and kept his head down as he started toward her. He couldn’t look up and see the hurt on her face, not yet, not when he was so close to hightailing it out of there, and she deserved for him to be better than that. She deserved the best version of him.
Finally, he took the two steps up to her door and lifted his gaze at the same time she stepped outside. His eyes locked on hers, on the hurt there.
“I thought you were supposed to go shopping?”
“I no longer felt like it.”
“Bec, I . . . I don’t know what to say.”
She crossed her arms. “You said a lot already.”
“I’m sorry about Zac.”
The hurtful expression deepened. “That’s not what I want you to be sorry for.”
Nick studied her, at the slight redness in her eyes. “Have you been crying?”
“No.” She swiped under her eyes and then fidgeted with her T-shirt. “I just woke up.”
“Just woke up?” He took a step closer. “You’re lying. You’ve been crying. But why?”
She shook her head, her bottom lip trembling, and Nick wanted to cut out his own heart for causing her this pain.
“I didn’t mean to do this. To upset you. I don’t even know what I said. I mean the in-your-pants thing. I know that was crude and I shouldn’t have said that. And of course you’re more to me than that. You’re my best friend. I would never . . .” He stopped as tears filled her eyes again. “Bec?”
“Can you just leave?”
He stared at her.
“Please. I’m not feeling well and I’m tired. I just want to curl up in bed and rest. I have to be at work early in the morning.”
“I could stay, make you something?”
“No.” Then she did the one thing he hated most. She put on a fake smile and tried to laugh, but no laugh had ever sounded less like Becca’s laugh. “You know you can’t cook. Besides, I’m fine. Really. I just want to rest.”
