Page 38 of Revival

“You said you met at your vet clinic, not Vegas. Why the dice?”

She grimaces. “Because we were lucky to find each other?”

I scrunch my nose at her. “Mistakes were made, Kitten. That’s okay. It’s an easy place to hide a tattoo. Where did he put his?”

“It’s over his left pec.”

“Now that’s a mistake.” I laugh.

“It’s big too. I don’t know what the hell he was thinking if he was just going to cheat on me, but I consider it his karma until he covers it up or lasers it off.”

“Serves him right. He’s going to look at that tattoo every single day in the shower and regret what he did to you.”

“You can’t possibly know that.” Her fingers rake through her hair as she fixes her ponytail.

Yes, I can, I want to tell her.

Because every time I look in the mirror, that’s exactly how I feel.

7

Cortney

“Areyou sure you’re having a good time?” my eldest brother, Lee, booms in my ear.

I adjust my woven sun hat and bury my feet in the warm sand. “I told you I’m fine.”

“Not going to lie, you have us worried.”

“Lee—”

“I know we couldn’t stop you from going.” He cuts me off. “It’s just you’re alone and so far away.”

“Women travel solo all the time.” I bite my lip with the lie. My mind flashes to Spencer. Specifically, how good he looked today in that fitted long-sleeved athletic shirt and shorts. I haven’t told my family he’s here, and I don’t intend to. There are old wounds there that have only festered over the years.

Healing my own wounds is enough. I don’t need to navigate theirs too. Not when nothing is even happening here.

I conjure an image of what Spencer is doing, and I can’t help the warmth spreading south of my bikini bottoms.

When he announced he was going to shower, I hightailed it out of the room. After today, I’m rethinking this little arrangement between us. Just the memory of our flirting sends a shiver down my spine. The kind that speaks to secret flings and mutual orgasms.

“You’ve never been this far before.”

“Time to cut the cord, I guess,” I mutter. “Put your wife on the line. You’re being a buzzkill.”

Voices murmur in the background before Juniper chirps, “Hey, girl. How’s the beach?”

“It’s glorious.”

Turquoise waters lap calmly at the sandy shore. The sun beats down from high overhead, bringing heat to my skin and deepening my new tan.

“I’m so jealous. We’ve had nothing but rain since you left. I think you jinxed us.”

“I can’t even tell you how glad I am not to be there.”

“What did you do today?”

“Right now, I’m sitting in a lounger, watching the ocean and breathing in the salty air.”

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