Akara called it quits with Jenny. He’s the kind of guy that hates to end things the morning after, but Sulli saw Jenny.
And Akara Kitsuwon is in love with Sullivan Meadows. He just hasn’t fully accepted what’s right in front of his face yet.
The past few months, I’ve thought to myself: Banks Roscoe Moretti, you old fool, why don’t you play cupid and put these two dummies together? I’ve played Mother Goose to my first-ever client, young Xander Hale—my little chickadee.
Playing cupid can’t be that hard.
Except Akara hasn’t just dug in his heels. He’s cemented his ankles in the fucking core of the Earth. The more I try to chisel him out, the more I look over at this strong-willed goddess of a woman. In leagues with Athena and Aphrodite. Joyful, funny, tough-as-nails Sullivan Meadows. And I wonder what the hell I’m doing.
No one ever warned cupid of accidentally shooting himself with an arrow. Never been good with a bow, anyway. Should’ve seen this clusterfuck coming.
Because I love Akara.
I love him too much to ever fuck him over.
And Sulli—she deserves to be swept off her feet. Probably by Akara. He’s driven like her. He has money. A business.
He can offer her more than I can.
All I have is love to give, and seeing as how Akara can give that if he gets his head out of his ass, I’m going to come up short in the horse race.
I know that.
I know that.
Taking a deeper breath, I try to be okay with the state of things. Semper Gumby. Always flexible. I go where the wind blows me. Where I’m needed most.
Today it’s in an REI.
Akara and I stand at the end of a shopping aisle. Both our eyes are planted on Sulli as she searches through a bin of plastic camping plates. Out of earshot of our client, Akara whispers to me, “Why were you flirting with her in the Jeep?” If we weren’t friends, he’d have skewered me by now. And I’m not all innocent. I do enjoy busting Akara’s balls now and again.
“Better question is why you were flirting with her in the Jeep.”
He adjusts his earpiece. “I wasn’t.”
“That’s horseshit,” I whisper back, our eyes never leaving Sulli. “You threw a dirty sock at her.”
“You insinuated she was hot enough to fake-drown for.”
“She is,” I say. “Tell me fourteen-year-old Akara wouldn’t fake-flail in the deep-end hoping she’d dive down and rescue your ass?”
“I wouldn’t. Because when I was fourteen, she was eight.”
I grimace. “Alright, alright, that’s not where I was going, man. She’s twenty-one now.”
He whisper-hisses, “And I’ve known her since she was sixteen, Banks. She’s like a sister. I’ve told you that. It’s different for you—it’ll always be different.”
Yeah, I haven’t been her bodyguard for years. I’m not the one she really wants. I joined security right after the Marine Corps and became a bodyguard to Xander Hale. I’ve seen Sulli since I was twenty-two, but I didn’t know her. Didn’t spend time with her. Not like Akara.
I scratch the back of my head, frustrated, and I lean an arm against a shelf of tin can pots. “Maybe you should go find a mirror and reflect.”
His eyes flit to me. “Maybe you should go find some cotton swabs and clean your ears out so I don’t have to repeat the same shit a billion times.”
I nod. “Who wants to tell her we’re making a detour to Bed, Bath, and Beyond after this?”
Akara smiles.
I smile back before our gazes return to Sulli.
“She’s Oscar Mike,” I say, telling him she’s on the move in military lingo. She can’t hear us, but she’s tossing some plastic camping plates into a shopping cart and heading to the next aisle.
As we walk, a soft thump bangs against my temple. God, I could use a cigarette right now. A few minutes pass, and I’ve gone quiet next to a rack of sleeping bags.
“What are you doing?” Akara asks, more at my silence.
“The usual.” I put a toothpick between my teeth and bite down. “Waiting for my best friend to admit to his feelings.”
“Hey, while you’re waiting, you should go grab a canteen, some water, meal kits for a few dozen years—because it’s going to be a long fucking time.”
I lift my shoulder in a stiff shrug. “I have forever.”
He laughs into another smile. “Funny, so do I.”
My mouth curves up. “You’re almost as stubborn as my brother.”
“That’s not possible.”
Thatcher at least acknowledged his attraction to Jane. Akara won’t even admit to himself that Sulli