“Come.” Zach waved for Brandy to shut his door and follow.
Inside the gift shop, Zach lowered his fedora and slunk behind a rack of stuffed penguins. When Brandy didn’t follow, he reached into the aisle and hauled the man into the covert spot.
“What are you—”
Zach fingered Brandy’s mouth. Hot breath tickled his skin. “I guess we’re not taking a penguin tour.”
Zach whispered. “I’ll introduce you to Matthew and Mark after I’m done making your loins burn.”
More hot breath seeped over his knuckles.
“Stop spluttering. We’re in stealth mode.”
“I’m honest to God so confused. Also deeply curious.”
Zach peered over a plush penguin head to where Georgie was in deep conversation with a customer. “That there might just be the woman of your dreams. She’s sexy, smart—”
“Georgie?”
“Wait. You know her?”
“We’ve met. What with her brother being engaged to mine.”
Zach turned to him slowly.
“The last time I assumed you were embarrassed, I got it very wrong. Why are you flushing, Zachary?”
“How have you not fallen in love yet?”
Brandy stared at him for a very long second. “I wouldn’t say that.” He pivoted, gesturing over the penguins toward the counter. “I’m guessing you don’t know her as well as I do?”
Zach smarted. “Hey, I see her every time I meet Noah here after a penguin release.”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sure you two have wild conversations, but perhaps not long ones.”
“They might not be long, but they’re deep.”
“She has a boyfriend.”
Zach peeked at Georgie again, laughing with her customer. Dark-haired, tall, attractive . . . and he was scooping down to kiss the top of her head. “This isn’t right, Brandy. He’s twice her age!”
“Is an age gap really such a big deal for you?”
“That is not a gap. He could be her father.”
“Well, you’ll be happy to hear he is. That’s Darcy Tilney. Cameron’s fiancé’s father.”
Zach snorted. “Jesus. Next you’ll be telling me you have connections to that guy.” He pointed toward a customer in a bright floral shirt around Brandy’s age, who was gazing at—Georgie? “Oh God, he’s the boyfriend.”
“Not hers.”
Zach lifted his face slowly to Brandy’s, allowing the man to glimpse his incredulity. He deserved to see it at this point, quite frankly. Not that Zach would necessarily have been able to mask it. He wore his emotions like sleeves sometimes. The rest of the time, they were a burning beacon over his head.
Brandy curved an arm around his shoulders and did another ‘there, there’ pat. “Bennet. Age gap there too.”
Zach swung his gaze from lean, floral-shirted Bennet to the straight-backed Darcy. They were looking at each other, their lips curved at the corners. Love. Obvious.
Also . . . controlled. Mature. They didn’t look that much different in age.
Why did they kind of look . . . familiar? “You know, now I think about it, they might have been at Finley’s wedding?” He’d been superiorly distracted that night. “Annnnd they’ve spotted us.”
“So they have. Let’s introduce you to everyone properly.”
After they’d all traded hellos, Zach beckoned Georgie to the corner of the room, under a ceiling hung with wooden albatrosses. She wheeled after him and lifted a brow. “How long have you and Brandon . . .”
“What? Oh. Just over a week. Look I was thinking maybe, like, we can have a few longer conversations? You know, deep ones. Like, if you’re seeing someone and who they might be?”
Georgie grinned and rocked a brow. “What brings this on?”
He stared across the gift shop. Brandy was chuckling at something Bennet and Darcy were saying, his whole posture turned toward his friends or sort-of-family. He had such a genuine presence; he always acknowledged who he spoke with. Attentive. Caring. Generous. Witty.
Zach smiled. “I want to put more effort into my relationships.”
Putting effort into his relationships meant sneaking around with Jack. Like, not sneaking sneaking. But Zach didn’t want to dangle what he’d found in Brandy’s face, so that afternoon they adventured—on the back of Jack’s motorbike, on the beach, playing guitar, staring into the fading sun debating the meaning of life—on the sly. All made a heck of a lot easier since Brandy had been called in to work.
Instead of come-ons, there were chocolates. Instead of fallen clothes, teasing kisses. Instead of shoving him into a taxi, Jack escorted him home.
Sunday—Brandy sadly called in to work again—Jack showed up at his door with a puppy tucked into his leather jacket.
Zach cuddled her against his chest, burying his face into soft fur and floppy ears.
Jack grinned, a leather-clad god against a backdrop of soft greens and windswept flowers. “Mum’s lab had three last month.”
“She’s found homes for them?”
“All but this one. You can have her if you’d like. No charge.”
“I would love that—”
The full effect of Jack’s smile was lost as Zach and the pup were hauled bodily into the house.
Noah swivelled him around, pale as the kitchen tiles around them.
