record time, licking the sticky vanilla residue from her fingers as she goes.
“What? When?”
“Last night,” she states casually. “I was going to pee and on my way back inside the bar everyone was drinking in, I took a minute to watch the ocean roll in. I saw you. You were off to the side behind the bar and your white shirt caught my eye. I saw you with Eden. You were all over each other, Henry. You were staring into each other’s eyes. You were touching her, and she was touching you. But best yet, you were smiling at her in a way I’ve never seen you smile at anyone. And that look in your eyes? It’s the way Keith looks at me right before he tells me he loves me.”
Well, damn. I don’t even know what to say to that. Instead I sigh, taking a sip of my coffee.
“So now that I know, will you tell me all about it?”
“No.” I glance over at her, smirking as vanilla starts to drip. “You better eat that quick, babe. It’s about to melt everywhere.”
“I know,” she says, licking at it furiously. “I’m working on it here. I’ll lick, you talk.”
“That sounds dirty.”
She laughs. “It does, but it isn’t. Drink your freaking coffee that I’m no longer drinking thanks to this pregnancy and tell me your shit, Henry. All of it.”
So I do. I explain everything that’s been going on over the nearly three weeks we’ve been here. And in that time, Maia finishes her cone, wipes her hands, and scoots in closer to me like I need the comfort of a good friend, which maybe I do.
“You’re never going to be able to keep that promise to her. No way in hell.”
I scoff indignantly. “And how would you know that?”
She leans over the arm of her chaise and drops her head onto my shoulder. “I know this because you’re the male version of me and I’m the female version of you. When we confide in each other, it’s like talking to ourselves. Our brain just works the same way.”
It’s true, and because of that, I smile like crazy. “You’re more stubborn than I am.”
She laughs, nudging into me. “That’s such a lie. We’re both equally as stubborn.”
I kiss the top of her head, scooting closer to the edge of the chair so she has an easier time resting on me. There is that old cliché that men and women can never be friends because sex will ultimately always get in the way. Well, Maia is gorgeous. She is tall and voluptuous and blonde, and my dick has never noticed her. Not once. Even when we first met, and I was teasing her about dating her. That’s all it was. Teasing. And an easy way to get a rise out of Keith.
“All I’m saying is I know you and you’re going to break that promise. Same as the one you broke with Keith.”
“Thanks,” I deadpan.
“Any time. But you need to tell her you want to continue seeing her when we go back home. Ending it in three days is madness and stupid and just plain wrong. Promise you’ll do that, Henry.”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
She snorts. “Why on Earth would I do that? You’re happy. She makes you happy. No way in hell I’m letting that go.”
“Dammit. I knew I should have sat next to Jasper and Gus.”
Maia laughs. “I didn’t give you the choice.”
She didn’t. She started screaming my name like a hyena, waving me over. She’s lucky I love her as much as I do. I don’t suffer this shit for just anyone. “Can’t we just sit here and enjoy the sun and not talk about anything serious. We’ve got, what, three more days of this vacation?”
She scoffs, righting herself and leaning back in her seat, tossing an arm behind her head as she glares at me. “Yeah. Then we go back to warm and sunny California. Real freaking hardship for all of us. I’m not joking on this Henry.”
“Maia. Please. Just stop. Can’t we talk about normal stuff? Or nothing at all would even be better.”
“That’s not really how I operate. And I know you know that. When do you plan on telling Keith you’re in love with is sister?”
I groan. Loud. My head falls back as I stare up at the cloudless sky while rubbing my agitated hands over my face. “Will you quit it. I mean it, you can’t know about this Maia.