“I went by your house to check on your brother,” his mom was saying.

“Tell me it wasn’t a pile of rubble.”

“No, no. It looks like Brian’s taking care of things. I was impressed.”

“No evidence of wild drunken headbanging riots? Did you lay eyes on my dogs? Were they skeletal? Or carved up and sacrificed to some pagan god?”

She laughed. “They were fine. Brian said to tell you he would have a bucket of ice waiting for you when you got back. He said you’d know what it meant, and I hope so, because I don’t want to know.”

Well, well. Brian was going to be sorely disappointed. Evan grinned, tipping his chair back on two legs. “Yeah, he’s just being typical Brian.”

“Are you outside? Is that rain?” his mom asked.

“Yeah.”

“Ah. Sorry you’re having bad weather.”

He gazed down on the beach, where the waves continued to roll in through the gray haze, and palm fronds jiggled and danced with water drops. “Today is the first time we’ve had it. It hasn’t been so bad. We’ve just been lazing around waiting for it to clear up.”

“Surely you can find something to do? Don’t let Kelsey get bored,” she chided.

“I’m not, don’t you worry about that. She’s laid back like me.”

“So you are having a good time with her?”

“I, uh…I don’t think I quite expected to have such a good time.”

There was a pause. “Why do I get the feeling by those few words that other things have happened you didn’t expect?”

Evan laughed. “I knew I wouldn’t get anything by you. Not that I wanted to try.”

“Evan Giovanni Ross!” Her words dissolved in a string of Italian that made him cringe. He wasn’t normally the son who caused Gianna to revert to her native language in anger. “I knew this would happen.”

“What? You like Kelsey, don’t you?”

“You know I adore her. I love her. That is what bothers me.”

“Why?”

“Because if it doesn’t work out with her, then you’ve really lost something. We all have.”

“The thought of that scares me, too. But I can’t go back and change what’s happened here.” He drew a breath. “I know I don’t have a great track record, but I’m trying. I tried with the last one, remember?”

“You didn’t want to marry Courtney.” She sighed heavily. “Sometimes I don’t know what it will take to get me grandbabies.”

Here we go again, he thought. “Mom, I’m not deliberately trying to stand in your way of that. But hey, you never know, maybe it’ll take a woman who’s already been in my life for ten years, who I know I have a good time with, and who”—rocks my whole world in bed—“already knows me better than anyone else.”

“But your best friend’s ex?”

“Ex-best friend’s ex. I don’t have any notions of loyalty toward Todd Jacobs anymore.”

“I know, Evan, but you were best man at their wedding. Don’t you think that looks bizarre?”

“I really don’t give a damn. Come on, Mom. You did crazy things for love, didn’t you? You moved to a whole other country for my dad.”

“If it’s love, then you have my wholehearted blessing.”

Man, she’d pounced on that. He turned and looked through the glass doors, worried for a moment that Kelsey might be able to hear him. He didn’t want her to think he was having to defend their relationship to his mother. There was no doubt in his mind that once the potential scandal they would incite blew over, his mom would be overjoyed for him and Kelsey to be together.

If it ever had a chance to go there. Kelsey still had hang-ups. He saw them all the time. There was something she was afraid of, and it made her not want to open up to him. Hell, it was probably like his mother had insinuated. Why would Kelsey give her heart to him when, judging by his past foul-ups, there was almost a one hundred percent chance he would take it and run? He couldn’t sustain a relationship.

But he’d sustained theirs so far. She’d been the one person he couldn’t imagine living without. The months they’d spent hardly speaking, both of them humiliated and heartbroken, had torn him apart. He’d wanted them to heal over their time together, not slash open all new wounds. But at least she hadn’t seemed fazed by the news that Todd and Courtney had broken up.

His mom finally wished him well and hung up, so he wandered back into the living room, his damp pajama pants clinging to his calves. Kelsey was in the kitchen cleaning up, wearing one of his shirts and nothing else. It was stark white against her tan skin, long-sleeved, and reached almost to her knees. She’d rolled up the sleeves and only fastened a few of the buttons, so the V at her throat left just the first swells of her br**sts exposed.

She looked at him and smiled, wiping off the counter. Maybe she was bored. They hadn’t been messy. “What is it?”

He’d been staring. “Just admiring my shirt.”

“Oh.” She laughed, glancing down at herself. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“How could I? It looks better on you than it ever could on me. In fact, you should only wear my clothes from now on.” He approached her and drew her close. Her arms went around his waist, and he gently smoothed her hair back with both hands, gazing down at her upturned face. Her eyes matched the skies outside. Stormy gray.

“You’re wet,” she said, stroking the bare skin of his back.

“You’re beautiful.”

Kelsey’s soft pink lips curled. “How is your mom? I haven’t seen her in a long time. I guess the last time was…well, when I saw her out having lunch with Courtney.”

“When was that?”

“Oh, way back. Before. You know.”

“Yeah. She’s fine. She sends her love, and asks you to please keep me in line.”

“How am I doing so far?”

“I think I’m pretty well lined out, don’t you?” He pulled her closer so she could feel exactly what her nearness did to him, and she giggled and swatted at him.

“You’re insatiable!”

Only for you. “You’re not tired of me already, are you?”

“God, no.”

“Good. Because you know, rainy day, nothing to do, stuck here all morning…I can think of lots we could do right now.” He trailed a finger down between her br**sts, and her eyes closed.

“Are you sure this is something we should get into?”

His movements stilled, and he stared at her until her eyes slowly opened. Maybe she’d heard him after all. “I think it’s a little late for that question. What’s on your mind?”

“I know you said nothing we do together could be wrong, and I want to believe that, but…”

“How can it be wrong, honey? We’re both free to do whatever we damn well please.” He looked her hard in the eyes, trying to delve in there, trying to get to the heart of her protests. But she managed to elude him every time. “Aren’t we?”

“It’s all so messed up. You’re my best friend. This was supposed to be your honeymoon with another woman. You were our best man, and that in itself to me screams strictly off limits. There’s just so much…”