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“I’m not flirting. That’s just how I am with you.” The smile was audible in his voice. “Can we meet up somewhere?”

“Someone might see. And we won’t have time for…anything…tomorrow. We’ll be with them day and night, and then guests start to arrive, and then the wedding’s the next day.”

“I see alone-time opportunities.”

Shards of moonlight rippled on the waves in the distance. If they bumped a few things around, and… Wait, no. This was ridiculous. The real world was settling back on her shoulders. Julia Stone, as always, reined in the flights of fancy.

“Wow, long pause,” Carson said. “Don’t second-guess us, Jules. I mean it when I say I can’t get enough of you. I want you a hundred ways, in dozens of different places. You don’t have to admit you want that, too, but I’ll be here waiting for you when you can, okay?”

“Okay,” she said. “Good night, Carson.”

“’Night.”

She clutched the dark phone. No one had said anything like that to her in her entire life. Plain, honest, and hot. Energy frizzled under her skin. If Carson was here, her reserves would melt like chocolate under his gaze.

She blew out her lips.

Unfortunately, she was alone and the television did nothing to drown out the noises emanating from the bedroom. Nope, nope, nope. She grabbed the pillow and blankets stacked on the sofa and took them outside to the patio’s chaise longue.

Tonight would be lovely under the stars.

* * *

As Carson rose from the lobby couch, he grinned at his phone like a dope.

We’re here , Julia wrote.

They’d been apart for twelve hours, and he hated it. He missed her jokes, her teasing, her firm opinions, her scent. The golden flecks in her eyes that glittered when she was amused.

Her touch.

So even though their family would cockblock him all day, he’d be with her.

That was all that mattered. He shoved his phone into his pocket, then collected a small bag from the couch.

Julia left behind a few things in their room.

Scrunchie, lip balm, toothbrush. He’d picked up a bag of the cookies she’d devoured on the plane, too.

Outside, the thick, muggy air swallowed him. Early-morning LA was humid like this, but it burned off by nine. Belize’s damp dome, however, lingered. He didn’t mind it the way he had that first day. Must’ve been getting used to it.

Julia waved as he approached the minivan. Her simple greeting boosted his mood to the stratosphere.

He opened the passenger door and slipped inside. “How’d the paperwork pit stop go?”

“Great.” Julia jerked her thumb toward their parents. “We officially have everything they need to get hitched in Belize.”

“Congrats!” He twisted toward the rear seats.

Michelle seemed fine, but Dad’s color was off.

He clasped his phone, his thumbs worrying the rough bumps on its case.

This was the same expression that had blipped on his face during the engagement party—the one he’d blamed on a renovation project.

Carson bought that explanation, but Dad never brought project drama on a vacation.

“Everyone sleep okay?” he asked.

“No, but for the best reasons,” Michelle said.

Julia pinched the bridge of her nose. “Mom.”

“Don’t be such a prude, Julia.” To Carson, Michelle stage-whispered, “She’s cranky because she slept on the patio last night. Trying to be like her sister, I suppose.”

“It wasn’t to be like Alex,” Julia merged onto the road.

The city’s candy-colored buildings were different from LA’s reflective skyscrapers.

Same with the people out and about on foot and bikes, heartily greeting each other on the street.

Running errands with Julia had been like that—the florist, the chocolate-shop lady, the horny pirate—they’d all greeted her with hugs and warmth.

So different from the fake-nice air kisses to which he was accustomed.

Julia flicked her gaze to the rearview mirror. “I slept outside to give you privacy.”

Aha. That was a perfectly organic opportunity.

“If you want…” Carson swiped his fingertip along the window frame, doing his best to feign nonchalance. “I still have a spare bed at my place.”

There, that was subtle.

“Oh, she couldn’t possibly stay there,” Michelle said. “Our friends start to arrive this evening. When do you relocate to our hotel, Carson?”

Damn. “Tomorrow.”

“Danny arrives tomorrow, too.” Dad squeezed his shoulder. “Aunt Charlotte’s grateful you’ve taken your cousin under your wing.”

Danny was the only passenger who didn’t sue him after the accident.

He’d felt protective of the guy ever since.

So when Aunt Charlotte asked if Carson could hire and mentor him, he’d agreed because he owed her one.

He’d started Danny on back-of-house event work.

Nothing client-facing, because they needed to work on the way he presented himself.

“Is this the Danny who went to Bronson with us?” Julia’s tone was light, but her plastic smile and stiff grip on the wheel ratted her out.

She was pissed.

Fail. Carson’s stomach clenched. How had he not thought to prep her for Danny’s arrival? While his own bad behavior in high school had been rooted in immature complicated feelings, Danny’s had been an inferiority complex swizzled with booze and wanting to impress Carson.

Too much to say in front of their parents, though.

“That’s right,” he said. “He’s changed a lot in ten years, too.”

“I hope so,” she said under her breath.

Crushed oyster shells crunched under their tires as they pulled under a freshly painted Stone Adventures sign. A+ marketing. They’d used a classic adventure-themed font from old-timey movies.

Julia parked next to Alex’s red Jeep. Three newish minivans and an older golf cart served as Stone Adventures’ fleet.

“Oh, she still has Jasper.” Michelle sighed.

“Jasper?” Jim asked.

“The golf cart,” Julia explained. “My dad named his cars. Alex continued the tradition.”

They unbuckled and marched into the small colonial-style turquoise building. As Alex glanced up from the laptop behind the counter, a smile spread across her face.

“Hey, family,” she said.

“You’ve spruced this place up, Alex.” Michelle surveyed the space. “Love the color choices and the new signage.”

Carson and Dad read the framed articles on the wall: Tripadvisor Best of the Caribbean, Condé Nast Honorable Mention, and a human-interest piece in Amandala .

He whistled. “This is great press.”

That was how his company had taken off—Thirty Under Thirty and Best Of articles. Great press led to bookings, which translated to sustainable business growth. If Stone Adventures was on that same trajectory, Alex might be able to hire Julia sooner rather than later.

Then Julia would move here.

He rubbed at the twinge in his chest.

“Thanks. I’m excited we’re catching on,” Alex said. “Business has been great these past six months. Bo’s revamped the website and our social media accounts, and reservations are booking weeks in advance. I even hired Espy as a full-time assistant to help me keep up.”

Julia’s shoulders stiffened. “So you are hiring, then?”

Oh, that bothered her. He shoved his hands into his pockets to stop himself from massaging the tension from her neck.

“For clerical work. Part-time.” Alex turned to Michelle. “You remember Espy, Mom?”

“She’s tough to forget. I assume she’s no fan of mine?”

“Not even a little.” Alex laughed. “She’s made herself scarce. Before we head out on our adventure, I need you to sign waivers.”

Alex twisted a mounted tablet toward them.

“I wouldn’t sue my own daughter.” Michelle scrawled her signature on the display.

“Bo likes adhering to insurance requirements.”

Jim signed his next. “This whole building is yours?”

“Yep, and the beach adjacent to it. We have big plans for the plot if we can secure funding. Julia—come check this out.”

Alex opened a slide deck on her laptop.

“What is—oh!” Julia’s eyes lit up when Alex paged to an illustration of a mid-sized hotel.

Her enthusiasm was palpable, the kind she’d need to sustain her through their start-up years if she joined the family business. That was how he was five years ago, how anyone creating a new business had to be to have a shot in hell at success.

These sisters? They had that energy.

“Is that what I think it is?” Julia bounced on her toes.

Alex nodded. “If revenues keep pace, we’ll be able to break ground in a year. We have room for eight beachfront cabanas.”

“The business is doing that well?” Michelle asked. “It was a dead-end fifteen years ago.”

“Belize is more popular than ever.” As Alex advanced through the deck, Julia widened her smile. “I shook up the business model to provide a variety of tour options.”

“Wait,” Julia said. “Go back to the overhead shot.”

Alex clicked back three slides. “Here?”

“Yes. Eight cabanas is great, but…” Julia hovered her finger over the screen. “If we build two piers, we get twice the cabanas. We have riparian rights extending a hundred meters, right?”

“Hell yes .” Alex slung an arm around her sister’s shoulders. “You’re a genius, Julia. We double the cabanas without acquiring more land.”

“We could qualify for unique-stay status if we embed clear panes in the floor to see the marine life.”

With the enthusiasm lighting up their faces and their curly heads nearly touching as they pointed to various places on the screen, the sisters resembled each other more than Carson realized. Alex might’ve been more brash, but Julia could be just as adventurous.

Julia lifted her gaze from the screen, and the smile she gave him stole his breath.

This was what she was meant to do.

She was an excellent event planner because she was great at everything she set her mind to, but this planning, ideating, building… It would be a crime if she didn’t move here and work with Alex at this crucial initial phase.

The contradiction hollowed out his chest. He couldn’t convince Julia to move to LA to explore this thing between them and encourage her to move here, where she was happiest.

Where she was home.