Page 8 of The Other Plan

He was talking about me. I struggled to exhale the breath I held, realizing that after all these years, Carter still remembered me. Honestly, after the way things had ended, I figured he’d probably never given me a second thought. I’d spent years recovering from the heartbreak. Hell, I still hadn’t recovered, and I figured he’d long forgotten my name.

But he hadn’t. And he’d even remembered the slight hazel hue to my brown eyes most people never noticed.

“Well, she’s probably better off without you,” Jo quipped, and my eyes widened as I imagined Carter’s doing the same. “Just kidding,” she added with absolutely no conviction.

Carter’s laugh echoed in my ears, and I hated the way it still made my stomach flutter. It was as sexy as the man himself.

“You’re probably right,” he said between laughs.

“Have a nice night.” Jo continued her cool breeze directed at the man who’d damaged her only sister.

“Here. I’m going to tip you upfront for tonight, so I don’t have to keep pulling out my wallet.”

Just a few more moments, and he’d go. I started counting the seconds until I could breathe a sigh of relief.

“Whoops,” I heard him say, and my eyes widened as a twenty-dollar bill fluttered to the grass beside me.

“No! I’ve got it!” Jo shouted, her body pitching backward.

Every muscle in my body tightened, and Carter’s hand appeared beside my thigh. As his head emerged around my wine barrel fortress, his eyes widened when they locked onto mine.

It may have been a decade since I’d stared into those eyes, but it didn’t matter. As I sat there in the grass holding my breath, I felt the same way I had the first time I saw him, but back then, I’d been sitting in the sand instead.

I’d only been twenty-one and off on my first spring break when he’d jogged out of the ocean, the muscles of his toned, tanned body flexing as he’d lifted his surfboard and carried it toward me. My mouth had gone dry while I’d watched him approach like he was moving in slow motion. Then he’d pushed his chin-length wet hair out of his eyes, and they’d locked onto mine. My world had slammed to a stop when our gazes had connected, and somehow, I’d known in that moment that my life would never be the same. And it hadn’t.

I’d never recovered from our romance... and my heartbreak.

Sometimes I wished he’d never walked over, flashing me that smile that weakened my knees while saying hello. With every shiver of regret, I would wish I’d never gone to the beach that day and met him or that he’d kept walking past instead of stopping to introduce himself and starting up a whirlwind romance lasting all eight days of my spring break. Eight incredible days spent in his arms; promises of forever whispered into my ear while we floated together on his surfboard. We were young, but the feelings I’d had for him felt anything but naïve. Maybe it was just the perfect romantic setting in paradise with a gorgeous man who’d said all the right things, but they’d felt real. Powerful. I’d loved him... or at least I thought I had. We’d fallen for each other so fast and hard that I hadn’t even hesitated to say “I love you too” when he’d whispered those words in my ear. But after his betrayal, I’d tried to convince myself all these years that it was just puppy love, it meant nothing, and to just get over it. But no matter how hard I tried, my feelings for him just wouldn’t disappear... and no one had evoked anything close to them since the last time he’d kissed me, promising to make our last night in Hawaii one to remember.

And it had been. But not in the way I’d hoped.

Instead of meeting him back at my room to go out to a luau, I’d gone there to find him in bed with Janine, the girl I’d been assigned to room with by the spring break tour company. Instead of a romantic last night where we would figure out how to make our long-distance relationship work, I’d raced out of the room and spent it in tears on the beach before flying home the next day and never seeing him again.

And just like that, the floodgates opened. I remembered the way the tears had stung my face while I’d sobbed over him. Recalling the anger and hurt I’d felt in that moment vanquished all the feelings for him that started awakening as his green eyes stared into mine while I sat frozen and exposed behind the bar.

“Jenna?” he gasped, his shocked gaze locking with mine for several long moments. Time stood still as my pulse whooshed through my veins.

I narrowed my eyes and lifted my chin. “Hey, Carter. Long time, no see.”

CHAPTER THREE

CARTER

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Even though I’d know those eyes I stared into anywhere, I still struggled to believe that Jenna was staring back at me.

Impossible to believe, actually.

I’d walked over for a cocktail and found the woman who’d annihilated my heart hiding behind the bar instead. As my brain started to catch up and process this unexpected discovery, I blinked several times before finding my voice again.

“What are you doing here? And what are you doing down there? Are you hiding?” I fired off questions at the woman who looked even more beautiful than she had the last time I’d seen her ten years ago.

“I’m not hiding.” She lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders. “I was... resting.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Resting? On the ground? Behind the bar?”

“I needed some quiet.”