your night off,” I said sarcastically. “Since you don’t have a woman to spend time with, Tom. Your days off are free.”
“Free as a bird, bro,” he said lightly. “I’m not like you. I don’t wanna be tied down. I like to keep my options open in case some pretty little tourist walks in the pub.”
“So, you’re looking to get wifed up with the photographer,” Connor said when we were alone at the bar.
“What gave you that idea?” I asked, trying to keep it casual.
“For one thing, Brendan’s engaged to her best friend. For another, she’s moving down here to work with Elise which is mighty convenient for a man who wants to get to know her better. And you might as well have your phone glued to your palm since she’s been gone. I’ve never seen you this excited about anything. Not when you survived Hell Week. Not when your dive business opened. I’ve known you since you were born, Mick. You look like a goddamn teenager right before Prom.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Con. I’m glad you love your wife and kid. More power to you, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the O’Shea’s are looking for the old ball and chain,” I told him.
“Little brother, that’s bullshit and you know it. Brendan couldn’t ask Elise to move here fast enough. He was ready to settle down. Just because Karin came with Elise like a free side of fries doesn’t mean you didn’t want her here. The night you met her, you were a goner.”
“I wasn’t a goner,” I said gruffly, and Connor laughed at my denial.
I walked off and left my empty beer bottle. I was too wired to sit still anyway. I had missed Karin terribly while she was in New York finishing up a project. She was a freelance photographer who’d agreed to join my brother Brendan’s fiancée Elise as the staff photographer at her new advertising firm on the island. She would still do freelance work, I expected. Karin wanted to travel all over. She had a huge list of places she wanted to go and specific day and night shots she wanted to capture. When we’d Facetimed one night, she showed me her notebook. It contained a huge list of countries, cities, specific locations, time of day, and the manual camera settings and filters she wanted to use for each. Her enthusiasm was contagious. I was glad she had agreed to move to the island permanently, but I knew the travel bug would bite her sooner or later. She’d want to explore the surrounding islands, check out rock formations and waterfalls. I knew she had Belize and Costa Rica on her list for this year, although her real goal was to get to Europe and photograph those old churches and monuments. Was it my fault if I got a little carried away and imagined taking her there?
She’d been so busy that I hadn’t been able to talk to her in the last couple of days. We’d fired a few texts back and forth, but I couldn’t wait to see her. Those mischievous dark eyes, that silky dark hair, and her skin like sweet caramel. Sparks had flown between us the minute I saw her. I’d rushed up the night of a bonfire when Brendan had startled the two girls as they arrived. My brothers and I had run to the rescue, thanks to our ingrained military training. I’d laid eyes on Karin and I was done for. By the time I’d reached her, she was no longer startled—just half pissed off and half-amused and that was her default setting.
My brothers had assumed when she and I went to my cabin for a few minutes that we’d hooked up then and there. They weren’t far off from the truth, but we hadn’t had sex until a few nights later. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to either. The second she’d smirked at me on the dark sidewalk, a roll of her tanned shoulder shrugging at the commotion, I’d gone hard as steel. When we were introduced, she had licked her lips. It was like she’d owned me from that moment. My whole body went taut and I saw her recognize my reaction, the laughter in her eyes, but the molten want as well.
We’d gone into my cabin for some made-up reason like getting ice or whatever. As soon as the door was shut, without even turning on a light, we were all over