Page 7 of My Ex-Best Men (Ex Marks the Spot #4)

***Claire***

“ I ’ll grab your stuff, Claire. Soph got you checked in earlier.” Will shot a look at Zane and nodded towards the front of the impressive hotel. “The office is that way.”

I looked anywhere but at Zane or Will. There was plenty to see with the beautiful hotel spread out before me.

Just two stories, it almost looked like a beautiful old home in New Orleans, with wrought iron detailed balconies and a massive wrap around porch.

There were plants everywhere and I found myself stepping slightly closer to Will.

It’d been a long time since I was in Florida but I hadn’t forgotten the way the local wildlife liked to hide in plants.

“I’ll find you later, Claire.” Zane winked and then strolled away, his leather scent going with him.

Will brought a softer scent with him as he moved even closer, the salty scent of the ocean breeze. I inhaled as deep as I dared and looked up at him. He was staring back at me with a curious expression on his face.

With my bags in one hand he wrapped his other arm around my waist to guide me towards my room. “Interesting. He must’ve been less of a dick when you dated him.”

A lizard skittered out from a bush and shot across the sidewalk in front of us. I stopped walking and practically formed my body around his. “You know what I’ve never seen on a sidewalk in London? A fucking lizard.”

Will’s arm tightened around me and his hand settled low on my hip.

The hold was intimate and it brought back a thousand memories of him holding me the same way when we were both so much younger.

We’d both made it a point to not ever be alone the few times we’d been in the same place over the years and I wondered if the tension had always been there, lurking just beneath the surface, waiting for a moment when it was just the two of us.

“Claire?” Will’s thumb inched under the bottom of my shirt to brush against my bare skin. “About Zane?”

I ducked my head and blew out a long breath. What in the world was happening to me? “Um… Yeah. I guess. I don’t really know anymore. He was my first serious relationship after…”

“Me.” Will stopped outside of room one-oh-five and put my bags down at our feet. “I guess not having to hide everything was a lot more exciting and fun for you.”

Staring up at the absolute hunk of a man, hearing what sounded suspiciously like self-doubt, I knew I’d fallen down a hole and was in some other universe.

I had to laugh, because while dating Zane had been exciting and fun, dating Will had been thrilling and invigorating in a whole different way.

“I think we both know that you and I shared plenty of exciting and fun times, Will Callahan. If you’re fishing for compliments, though, here’s one for you.

You look even more like a Greek god now than you did a decade ago and I think I hate you a little for it. ”

His smile stretched wide as he planted his hands on the wall behind my head and leaned into me. “If you knew what I was thinking you’d slap the shit out of me, Claire. You’ve grown up since the last time I let myself look at you.”

My heart hammered away in my chest and the idea of tipping my head back and offering myself up to him was blaring in my head but I knew better.

I wasn’t a kid anymore. I couldn’t do stupid things and excuse them anymore.

I wrapped my arms around myself to keep my hands off of his body and pressed my forehead to his chest for a stolen moment. “Where’s your sister?”

He groaned and stepped away. “I’m guessing the pool.”

“I’m going to find her and rip her a new one for not telling me that my ex was coming to the wedding.” I saw his mouth twist in annoyance and sighed. “Two of my exes. But it’s not like she knows about you.”

He looked out across the porch to the beach and ocean beyond. I’d been so caught up in looking at him that I hadn’t even noticed the view. “Have dinner with me tonight, Claire.”

I’d been weak to nineteen and twenty-year-old Will.

Thirty-year-old Will Callahan was a nuclear weapon.

The way he tipped his head down just slightly and smiled while flashing those bright blue eyes at me?

It was a knockout. I bit my bottom lip for a moment to try and hide my smile but it was useless. “Sure.”

He slid a key card from his pocket into my hand and stepped back. “Seven?”

I nodded and then my conscience kicked in. “Dinner as two old friends catching up, though. Okay?”

He quirked an eyebrow at me and shrugged. “Sure.”

I watched him walk away because I was a masochist and liked torturing myself via my ex’s tight ass. He’d grown up in ways that made all of my lady parts sing. It wasn’t good. Not with the way he was looking at me and my documented lack of self-control when it came to him.

I rushed inside my room and hung up my dress before slathering myself in sunscreen and heading out to find my soon to be murdered best friend. She had a whole world of hurt coming her way for surprising me with Zane. Zane, whose shirt I was still wearing. “Shit.”

Like Will had guessed, his sister was at the pool, sunbathing on a lounger in a pristine white bikini.

Her tan skin glowed and her long blonde hair was tied up in a bun that looked like a bow.

She was the picture of relaxed beauty but as soon as she heard movement and looked up to see that it was me she turned into the same nut she’d always been.

“Claire!” Jumping up, she stumbled over her towel and I had to catch her before she went headfirst into the pool. She didn’t even react, she just threw herself into my arms and hugged me so tight that I struggle to breathe. “You’re here! You’re here and I’m losing my mind! I’m getting married!”

I laughed with her and took in the moment with her.

She really was like a sister to me. She’d been my best friend since I was ten and my parents died, leaving me to move to Florida to live with my Grandma Bertie and her insane brother, Uncle Sal.

Soph had been there for me the day I stepped onto Florida soil and I owed so much of my sanity to her.

I held her back just as tightly and inhaled her cherry blossom scent.

“Where’s your bathing suit? You need to be in the sun immediately. London has turned you pale, babe.” She pulled back to look at me and her eyes filled with tears. “Dammit, Claire. You’re too far away. I miss you.”

I groaned as my own eyes burned. “Don’t make me cry. I’ve just had the day from hell. My luggage is missing so I have no bathing suit. And as much as I love you, I also am so angry at you right now. Zane Wilson, Sophia? Really? You didn’t think to mention that my ex was going to be in the wedding?”

“I swear that I didn’t know until today, C.

Jake planned it as a surprise. He was just going to have Zane play a surprise song for me at the end of the ceremony but I guess two of his groomsmen ended up having to bail.

Zane volunteered. If I’d known he was coming I would’ve warned you.

” She dragged me with her towards a private bungalow on the other side of the pool.

“I have extra suits. After finding out Zane’s coming you definitely need some sun to cheer you up. ”

“Not coming, Soph. He’s here. We flew in on the same flight from London and I just spent two hours in the truck wedged between him and Will. Also, he changed my seat to first class so I had to sit next to him.” I groaned and felt like stomping my foot. “It wasn’t good.”

She didn’t reply until she had me in her honeymoon suite with a bikini in her hand. “Okay, first of all, I’m going to need a minute to freak out over the fact that Zane Wilson made you sit with him on the flight. Second of all, you have so much to tell me. Put this on.”

I looked at the bikini and scowled. “Over which boob?”

“Don’t be dramatic. Just put it on. And explain to me why you’re wearing a man’s shirt.”

I just groaned.