“So that’s it? Just let it go?” he asked skeptically, miming tossing trash into a garbage can.

She nodded. “Yes, especially since if I’m picking up on the ex-vibes, you can bet Casey is too. Maybe that’s why she said you should just be friends.”

Once more, he nearly froze in place. His sister was turning on the light-bulb in his brain left and right today. “You think Casey assumes I’m not over Joanna?”

“I can’t imagine she’d operate under any other assumption, considering how you sometimes act. I know dealing with your ex-wife can hurt, but part of letting go is choosing to let go of all of it. Not just the emotions, which you shed a while ago, but all the residual pain. The anger and the pride too.”

Those were his reliable companions. His armor, and his safe harbor too. They’d served him well, and protected him from falling for any woman who might hurt him.

Until now. Those twin emotions hadn’t held him back when it came to Casey. They hadn’t rescued him from wanting more with her than he’d ever wanted from anyone. But perhaps they had held him back from actually having the guts to go for it.

“You really think she’s crazy about me?” Nate asked, returning to a simpler matter.

Kat rolled her eyes, then held up her thumb and index finger to show a sliver of space. “Maybe a little.”

He dropped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “A little? C’mon. Feed my ego.”

“Ha. Never. I will never feed your ego. Besides, I already fed it when I told you she feels the same way you do.”

If she felt the same way then he was the luckiest son-of-a-bitch in the world. But now he’d have to figure out the hardest part—how to put his heart on the line. Knowing something in his head, and being able to act on it were two different things.

26

In the air . . .

There wasn’t a chance of a private conversation on the plane. They were nowhere near alone. Sharing the jet with Michelle’s brother, Davis, and his wife, as well as Clay and a pregnant Julia, and also Michelle’s best friend, Sutton, and her husband left them with no privacy.

Maybe that was for the best, since Nate hadn’t figured out yet what to say, how to say it, or even how to deal with the way his heart raced just from looking at Casey. The noise in his head from being near her and all of these people at the same time didn’t make the situation any easier. Never had he been so eager for a flight to end. But this was a humdinger of a plane ride—they flew across the Atlantic Ocean, rode over Europe, and then soared above the Middle East en route to the island paradise. The eight of them passed the long hours sleeping on and off under soft blankets, playing Scrabble, watching The Italian Job, and reading.