Brett.
There’s no mistaking the way he moves. No one else carries himself with such utter confidence.
I open my mouth to call out. But the other man turns his face toward him.
Jake.
Tall, blond, and beautiful. Leaner than Brett, hair a lighter blond, a face that’s almost too pretty to belong to a man.
I gasp.
Bretttoucheshim.
He grazes his fingers along the edge of Jake’s jaw with something almost tender.
Jake doesn’t stop him.
I swallow. If Brett turned his head, he’d see me. Standing. Watching.
He doesn’t.
He’s engrossed in this moment. Completely engrossed.
He leans in.
And he…
He kisses Jake.
BrettkissesJake.
Not a friendly brush or a drunken dare. Not a joke.
It’s long.
Lingering.
The kind of kiss that changes things. The kind of kiss you don’t give to just anyone.
My chest goes tight.
I step back. The sand shifts under me like it wants to pull me under and end the moment before it really sinks in. But it’s too late. The image is already seared behind my eyes.
I want to scream. Or laugh. Or cry.
But instead, I turn.
And I walk.
I don’t know where I’m going, only that I can’t stay here. I can’t be the woman standing in the shadows while the man she loves kisses someone else.
Not again.
I make it back to the concrete path before my hands start shaking. I press them flat against the wrought iron railing, try to breathe through it.
I don’t cry. I won’t. Not for this. Not for him.
But that kiss…
