Seemed Gabi and Margaret were getting along well enough as the evening moved from dinner to drinks at the island’s after-hours club.

Surprisingly, Alonzo retired without Gabi at his side. He noticed the two of them talking in rather heated tones outside the restaurant before Alonzo excused himself.

Instead of opening up to him, Gabi moved to Margaret’s table and sandwiched herself between the three of them. Before long, his sister’s smile returned and Michael took her to the dance floor.

Jim found Val hovering in the corner and slapped a hand to his back.

They shook hands, each of them trying to squeeze harder than the other. “I’m leaving in the morning,” Jim told him.

“When will I see you again?”

“Gabi’s wedding?” They both looked at the dance floor. “Is there still a wedding?”

Val thought of Michael Wolfe and his “friend,” who sat by watching the other man. Then Gabi started dancing with someone else.

“I’ll let you know,” Val told his friend.

Jim chuckled and walked away.

Val watched Jim tap Margaret on the shoulder and invite her to the dance floor.

He swung her out and pulled her close, whispered something in her ear.

She pushed him away, laughing, and continued to dance.

Val didn’t consider himself a jealous man, but damn it, Margaret was changing that.

They were quite the entertainment, the petite, pale blonde and the robust, dark blues singer. Seemed everyone was watching them dance, enjoying Jim’s moves and Margaret’s demure attention to her dance partner.

Val had to admit, they were engaging.

Then the song ended and Margaret did the unexpected.

She smacked a kiss right on Jim’s lips, leaving him stumbling back, holding his chest. Val was too far away to hear the exchange, but several people around them started to laugh as Jim gave her a playful smack on the ass and walked away.

Val moved in, caught her before she could leave the floor. The song was slower than the others, affording him the right to pull her against his frame. “You’re killing me, cara. Do you know that?”

“Jim is harmless,” she said close to his ear.

“The man has been married to five women. Dated women as young as you.”

The sway of her hips against his reminded him how much he wanted her. He sucked in a breath of control.

“I won’t be his next anything, Masini.”

He knew that. Was more secure than that. So why did he release a breath as if he’d just broken the surface of water in need of air? “Are you really leaving on Monday?”

Their quiet dance floor conversation kept him straining to hear her words, except when he felt her breath against the lobe of his ear. That was a torture all on its own.

“And I’m taking your sister with me.”

He backed away to see if her eyes lied. “Really?”

She nodded, moved closer to talk to him. “Do you ever leave the island?”

Not often, but he did have people here he could depend on to watch over things in his absence.

“Occasionally.”

Between Val, Jim, Michael, and Ryder, Meg was having a hard time sitting down. Gabi was dancing just as much and from the look in her eyes, having a great time doing it.

The lack of alcohol the night before made the bourbon Meg had been drinking go straight to her head. She excused herself to the ladies’ room between dances. It was when she took a wrong turn and ended up down a service hall that Meg realized she needed to switch to Coke. She rounded two corners before realizing she wasn’t walking toward the music, but away from it.

“Whoa. Steady there.”

Meg wasn’t sure what startled her more. The man stopping her in her path, or his clothing.

“I got turned around.”

It was hard to see his features under the hoodie.

Why was he wearing a hoodie? It wasn’t cold.

He pointed a finger at her. “You’re the one kissing everyone.”

“Excuse me?”

The man, who was taller than she was and had a good fifty pounds on her, moved closer.

Meg backed away.

“You shouldn’t be back here.” His sour breath brushed against her, his tongue licked his lips.

Funny how panic sobered you. The stranger was too close, too shadowed to describe, and much too quiet for Meg’s comfort.

The corridor to the left was empty, so was the one to the right. For the life of her she couldn’t remember which way she’d come from.

She felt her lungs constrict.

The stranger moved a half foot closer. Any more and she’d scream.

He placed a hand on the wall behind her, pinning her in on one side. “Back off, Margaret.”

Isn’t that my line?

“Best you leave before you get hurt.”

The man placed a finger to the shadow of his hoodie and shushed her. Then he was gone.

There were times in your life when you were given a free pass. Like a run through a red light you simply didn’t see and no one smashed into you . . . or a poke into an electronic device that wasn’t unplugged, yet you’re still standing with straight hair to tell about it.

This was one of those moments.

And Meg knew it.

Her lungs, however, didn’t.

And her inhaler was in her purse, sitting on the table.

She took a few steps and found the hall spinning. Instead of fighting it, she slid down the wall and lowered her head.

Slow, deep breaths in, slower breaths out.

“Gabi?” Val motioned his sister to the table. “Margaret’s been gone for some time. Can you check on her?”

Though his sister’s smile was brilliant, he couldn’t remember seeing her eyes so glossed over.