ZEV BRADEN DIDN’T know which was worse, seeing the woman who had captured his heart in second grade with another man or knowing his family had betrayed him by leaving him in the dark about her attending his oldest brother’s wedding. Beau had gone all out to give his new bride, Charlotte, a fairy-tale wedding at Sterling House, the Colorado Mountain inn she’d inherited. He’d built a wedding tent that brought the enchanted forest indoors, with miles of white silk draped over an artfully built frame of tangled branches and decorated with tiny white lights and strings of faux pearls. A crystal chandelier hung from an ornate iron tree in the center of the tent, and flowers spilled out of lush centerpieces. It was an intimate setting for their large family and close-knit friends. But at that moment Zev didn’t feel quite as close to his beloved family as he normally did. He and his five siblings enjoyed giving each other a hard time, but they had always had each other’s backs.
Until now.
He took another swig of tequila, chewing on that thought.
He should be celebrating the discovery of a lifetime this weekend. He had spent the last several years, and tens of thousands of dollars, searching for the wreckage of pirate Garrick “One-Leg” Clegg’s ship, the Pride, which sank off the coast of Silver Island in 1716. Two days ago Zev had discovered three concretions—hard masses that develop when metals start to disintegrate and combine with salts present in ocean water, forming a conglomerate that cements rock, sand, clay, and any nearby artifacts—at the site where he believed the ship had gone down. An X-ray of the masses had shown what appeared to be iron and silver artifacts and coins. Zev had given the largest concretion, which weighed nearly one hundred pounds, and the supporting X-rays and documentations to his attorney to begin the legal process of having the vessel arrested, which would hopefully grant him exclusive salvage rights to the sunken ship and all artifacts he hoped to find. But instead of celebrating his history-making discovery, he was downing tequila to dull the ache of seeing Carly Dylan again.
The Pride was supposed to be their discovery. They’d become obsessed with the sunken ship when they’d seen a documentary about it in third grade, and their interest had only grown over the years. They’d even made plans to spend the summer after their freshman year in college searching for the wreckage. When they were kids, Carly had been his fellow adventurer, troublemaking cohort, and best friend, and as they’d matured, she’d also become his lover and, he’d thought, his future.
But that was before…
Zev spotted Beau and their brothers Nick and Graham heading his way. Traitors. He stared them down as they approached. He and his brothers were all tall, broad shouldered, and athletic, but Zev and Beau had something else in common—the torturous past that had changed both of their lives.
Goddamn Beau. If they weren’t at his wedding reception, Zev would be tempted to knock the big-ass grins off each of their faces.
“I know you’re celebrating your discovery, but if you keep sucking down that tequila, it’ll be the only thing leaving you flat on your back tonight,” Graham said with a smirk. He was the youngest of Zev’s siblings. Graham and their brother Jax could be Beau’s doppelgängers, with short brown hair, meticulously manicured scruff, and serious eyes, while Zev and his older brother Nick wore their hair longer, and Zev let his scruff go long stretches without a thought, much less a trim.
Zev offered the bottle of tequila to Graham, chewing over the fact that he’d had to learn about Carly’s living there, her close friendship with Beau and Charlotte, and the fact that she’d catered desserts for the wedding secondhand when he’d overheard a conversation during the reception.
“No thanks, man. The only thing I want knocking me on my back is my beautiful Sunshine.” Graham glanced across the lawn, where their twin siblings Jax and Jillian were chatting with Graham’s wife, Morgyn, aka Sunshine.
Zev’s attention was quickly drawn past Morgyn and the others to the woman who had haunted his thoughts and starred in his every fantasy for as long as he could remember. When he’d first seen Carly before the ceremony, stunning in a sexy peach dress that showed off her long legs and slim waist, their eyes had connected with the heat of summer lightning, and Carls had slipped from his lips like a secret