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One arm is entirely covered in tattoos.
Caden’s gaze burns into me, molten, like blue-gray lava. It feels like my heart is about to beat straight out of my chest. I feel an ache between my legs that I can’t stop because even as my brain rejects this man, my bodycraveshim. It doesn’t care that he hurt me. My body only remembers his touch.
I think Linda May is saying something. The sounds around me are muted, dim. Caden makes a sudden movement, like he’s about to stand.
I have a panicked instinct to run.
“Charlotte! Isla!” Noah calls to us and the volume of the world turns up so sharply, it’s disorienting. He’s waving us over.
“What do we do?” I hiss to Charlotte, turning away so Linda May won’t hear.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” I moan.
“We can’t just stand here.”
Linda May pops her head into our conversation. “It’s Caden Everton!” she whispers excitedly.
“Yes, Lin, we deduced that,” Charlotte says.
I realize I can’t act weird. No, more than that—I don’twantto act weird. Who cares if Caden looks hotter than a blowtorch and has biceps for days?
Okay, that’s not helping.
But Magnolia Bay ismyhome. This is my chance to prove how far I’ve come.
I press my thumb to the diamond on my ring finger and square my shoulders.
“Come on,” I say. “Let’s get a drink.”
Charlotte snaps her fingers three times in approval. “I’m loving this energy,” she murmurs to me as we stroll over to the bar. “Hey guys. Caden, holy shit, when did you get back in town?”
“A few hours ago,” he says.
Oh god. His voice. I’d forgotten its potency—deep and rich and warm, like melted chocolate. I could lick it off my fingers and still want more.
I press my thumb into the diamond again. I see Noah looking back and forth between us, clearly gauging Caden’s reaction the way Charlotte is gauging mine.
“Hey ladies,” Jake says, coming over with two glasses of cab franc, my and Charlotte’s usual. “Look who finally came home to roost.”
“I’m not home,” Caden says and there’s a chill in his tone. “I’m only here for the summer.”
The news sets a strange tug of war in my chest.
“And to what do we owe the honor of your presence?” Charlotte says, handing me my wine. I wish she hadn’t—my hands are shaking. I take a large gulp, hoping to calm myself and reduce the damage if I spill it.
“Caden is here to play junior detective,” Noah says, grinning in that easy way he has. Caden’s frown looks carved out of stone. There’s somuchof him now—surely there wasn’t always so much of him. He blocks out everything else in the room like an eclipse.
“I’m looking into my mother’s death beforethey,” Caden jerks his head at Noah, “shove it into a drawer in some basement.”
I’m stunned. And impressed? And angry. There are so many feelings swirling inside me, I can’t parse them out clearly.
“Care to make a wager on that?” Alistair is saying to Noah.
He laughs. “I learned my lesson about betting with you, Al. No thanks.”
Alistair turns to Charlotte. “Would the lady care to take the bet? I’ll give you good odds.”