But I did with Kevin.
It was hard not to.
He was hot, he was driven, and he was an older man and capable of showing a twenty-year-old wild child how a real man treated a woman. You know, except for standing her up for multiple dinners.
But what had really drawn me to him was his intelligence. Once I peeled away the cocky layers and the incessant need to throw his money around, I found an intelligent man who was self-made, confident, and well-spoken. His body was something for my eyes to behold, but his mind was something for my heart to behold. Whenever he was around, our conversations never ceased. He was genuinely interested in my college career and I was genuinely interested in his business.
That was the paradox of Kevin. When he’d been good, he’d been very, very good. But when he’d been preoccupied with work, it had seemed like I didn’t exist. After being stood up one too many times, I’d broken it off, and what had really hurt, was that he hadn’t fought me on it one bit. He had simply said nothing as I walked away. Then six months later, a wedding announcement popped up in the local newspaper. Kevin was engaged to a woman named Sarah, and that was that. I had been nothing but a fun last fling before he had found a suitable wife for a billionaire entrepreneur.
I wondered where his wife was, since he and the kids appeared to be alone on the island.
Were they history?
Did he screw that up the same way he screwed us up?
“You got any more of that coffee?”
I turned my gaze to Morgan and was shocked to find her dressed in her bathing suit.
“Going somewhere?” I asked.
“Yep. To the beach, once I’m caffeinated,” she said. “Heard from lover boy yet?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Cut the shit. I know you gave him your number last night.”
I grinned as I took a sip of my coffee.
“No. I haven’t heard from him,” I said.
“Just guard yourself, Brooke. He already broke your heart once.”
“I know. I was there,” I said.
“You enjoyed spending time with him last night, didn’t you?” she asked.
“I did. It was a crash-course in reminding me exactly why I enjoyed being around him.”
“I’ll admit, I can see what you saw in him. He seems like a good guy deep down, not to mention great with his kids. But, we’re here to get over bad boyfriends. Just keep that in mind.”
“Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten,” I said.
Morgan took a seat next to me and, like clockwork, my phone began to ring. I looked at the unregistered number calling me, and Morgan threw me a haphazard grin. She watched me, waiting to see what decision I would make.
She rolled her eyes when I reached for my phone.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Brooke. It’s Kevin.”
“Good morning,” I said.
“Wasn’t sure you’d be up.”
“So you decided to call anyway? What if I had been sleeping?”
“You sleep like a log. You wouldn’t have picked up.”