I stood near a window on the second-floor balcony at The Sloppy Iguana and had just taken a sip of my beer when I peered down to the street and watched a motorcycle roar up to the curb, stop, and park.

I nearly choked as I watched the rider slide his long legs off the sleek, black machine and pull off his helmet.

Holy hell, it was Leo.

Beautiful. He was simply beautiful.

Tonight, he looked raw and strong. He wore faded jeans, an unbuttoned black-and-white plaid shirt over a white-T-shirt, and black boots. His appearance had always captivated me.

With my heart slamming around my chest, I watched him stride toward the entrance, then disappear from view.

I didn't think he'd actually come tonight.

I sighed and walked over to the other part of the balcony, which overlooked the beach and sunset. Dread started to settle in. Why had he showed up after practically throwing me out of his bakery? I'd barely had time to say goodbye.

It was going to be near impossible to stay away from him.

It was all so strange, him throwing me out, because our kiss had been phenomenal. Epic. What had gone wrong? Did he not like the way I kissed anymore? Did my breath stink? Was he no longer attracted to me because I'm bigger now?

A black mood settled over me as I watched him enter the Iguana's second-floor bar balcony area. Lord. Just looking at him made me unsteady. His shoulders somehow looked even broader tonight.

The balcony was packed, mostly with older business owners, people my mom's age I'd known my entire life. Basically Leo, Catalina, and I were the youngest people here.

I watched as Leo laughed and chatted with a group of people at the entrance. He mingled easily, exchanging business cards with three men in Hawaiian shirts, then stopping to chat with a woman in a tiny, tight, forest green dress. The way that woman beamed at him was unsurprising. Every woman here had probably already noticed him.

It wasn't like there were legions of hot guys on Palmira.

Leo continued to work the crowd, and I found myself entranced. He exhibited more self-assurance than he had while working the oven in his bakery, yet his words that floated over were humble, a quality I'd found in short supply with most guys. I recalled how his voice cracked while talking about trying to save his dying friend, and I admired him for staying sane and self-assured in the face of such horror.

How had he avoided being damaged from all he'd seen? What had he seen in the war? Too much, I was sure.

But it didn't seem to matter. From beach to bakery to bar, Leo was sexy and confident in any situation. Unlike me. I felt awkward, ill-prepared, and stuck in the past.

I met his gaze as he spoke to the owner of the island's surf shop, and he grinned. I turned away quickly, embarrassed to be caught staring. Why did he have to have that smattering of sexy stubble across his chin and jaw? He was too handsome and too tempting. His stunning slate-colored eyes, his wry smile and long legs...they all made me second-guess everything.

I replayed the previous evening's kiss in my mind and decided no good could come of this. I'd all but thrown myself at Leo. Men lied, and he had a track record of vanishing when it suited. My consideration of any attempt at something casual with Leo was a crappy idea. Better to just be friends.

Without benefits.

I turned away from the crowd, my eye twitching and pulsing. Setting my glass on a nearby table, I took my phone out of my bag and snapped a photo of the sunset. Better to focus on the natural beauty of the beach than Leo, who was practically setting every woman in the room on fire with that sexy smile. It reminded me of how easily Jacob had worked rooms like this.

Scowling into my phone, I posted my sunset picture to Instagram. Photos on social media were a great way to promote the hotel, I'd discovered. I then checked my other social media accounts, because burrowing into my phone was safer than facing reality. More than a hundred people had liked a photo I'd posted of the hotel's neon sign, and they'd surely love the sunset.

Catalina appeared and joined me at the window. "You're going to miss this when you leave the island."

I shrugged. "I will miss it if I leave. But that's a big if. I'm not sure I want to sell the hotel."

"Have you broken that news to your sister? She seems to have her mind made up. She mentioned you were considering grad school in New York—which would be awesome, because then you could live with me."

I snorted. "My sister's good at making up her mind and ignoring what other people want. I'm not sure if I wanna to go back to school. She'd like me to go, but I love it here. And you know how meh I've always been about New York when I visit you."

"Yeah, you're a beach girl. I remember when you came that weekend last summer and gagged when we saw that guy pissing himself on the subway."

I laughed, but my mood was sour. I wished Nicole would quit trying to parent me. It had gotten worse since Mom's death. I tried to remind myself it was Nicole's nature to fix things and direct others' lives, but sometimes, my sister was too much. Especially lately.

"I do need to have a talk with my sister," I muttered, more to myself than Catalina.

"Well, duh. I don't know why you two would want to sell. I mean, it's been in your family for what, three generations?" Catalina sipped her beer.

"Four." My family had been among the first settlers of Palmira, back before Florida was even a state.

"You look hot tonight, Jess," Catalina said, changing the subject and nodding toward my cleavage, which was on display thanks to my blue-and-white silk maxi dress with the V-neck and fluttering handkerchief hem. "Way to accentuate the positive. Hey, who's that guy in the plaid with the hot body? God, there's a lot of new people on the island."

I tapped at my phone, trying to focus on anything but the conversation of Leo, who was still chatting with a group of women.

Catalina seemed to notice. "Wait, is that your Leo? He kind of looks like the guy in those photos you showed me in high school, and Lord have mercy, those muscles. His shirt is practically ripping at the seams. Hot."

I tried to be simultaneously casual and not make eye contact with him again. "Yeah. That's him. I made the mistake of inviting him last night when I saw him."

Catalina moved closer and lowered her voice. "Maybe it wasn't a mistake at all. He's single, right?"

"Of course he's single," I shot back. But a pang of anxiety ran through me. I'd only assumed he was free. Would he kiss me if he had a girlfriend?

It hadn't stopped Jacob. I'd looked for a ring on Leo's finger the night before, but it was possible he had a wife or girlfriend in New Orleans. Maybe bakers didn't wear rings because they'd get them caked with flour.

Surely he wasn't married. He was only twenty-three. But sometimes people got married young when they were in the military. I'd read that on some website somewhere. And we'd talked about getting married, back when I thought I was pregnant with his baby—back when we were practically babies ourselves.

I sipped my beer. "I don't know. No idea. Don't care. I'm sure he has lots of girlfriends. He was in the Marines. Probably has a few women all over the world, right? I don't know a decent man from a douchenozzle. Not after Jacob. So I don't care."

"Whatever." Catalina made a little flashing gesture with her fingers and thumb. "I can see right through you. You care so much, there's practically a neon sign on your forehead that blinks 'I CARE.'"

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