"He knew your job was on the line. Right?"

"Well. No. I never really told him that."

"Oh. Okay. So throwing you under the bus was just an accident then."

Brooke's stomach tightened. Just then the waitress appeared with all their food, lifting it from her big tray to the table. Brooke gazed at it, her desire to eat having vanished. "Why'd we order all this?" she asked, reaching for a napkin.

"He did throw you under a bus," Fraya insisted. "He should have known that doing something like that was going to reflect on you."

"This isn't about me."

"Like h.e.l.l it isn't! You're my sister. I don't care about Dylan Sch.e.l.l. I mean, I do, but...you know what I mean."

"I know. And thank you." Her heart softened and she smiled at her big sister. "Yeah, he was acting stupid and selfish. He does tend to be a bit self-involved. But as he once pointed out to me, that's how he got where he is." An ache settled behind her breastbone. "But he's done a lot of good things since we've been back. He really charmed people at the charities we got him working with. The kids love him, and he's genuinely interested in the oceans and doing what he can to help protect them now. He works so hard at his sport, he really does, and he deserves to win."

"Oh no. Oh no no no."

"What?"

"You were sleeping with him!" Fraya leaned across the table to whisper the words. "Weren't you? Are you falling for him?"

"Don't be silly!" She tried a laugh, but her face was tight and it came out sounding like a choked sob.

"Oh no! Brooke! What happened?"

Brooke dropped her head into her hand, ignoring the food. "Okay, yes. We slept together. It started in Tahiti. We were trapped in the hotel during that storm, and there wasn't much else to do."

Fraya burst out laughing and Brooke looked up and caught her eye. Amus.e.m.e.nt tugged her lips too.

"That sounded kind of lame, didn't it?"

Fraya nodded, eyes dancing.

"He's really hot," Brooke said softly. "And actually really, really nice. And we were hot for each other. And it happened. And then...we came back here, and he wanted me to be a date at his friends' wedding-which is a whole other long and crazy story-and so I did because I'd said I'd do anything to make it easier for him to come back to San Amaro. He didn't want to come," she added. "I forgot that part."

Fraya shook her head slowly. "Whoa."

"So I met his friends and went to the wedding and we slept together again and it was really...amazing." She swallowed, her throat tight. "But it turns out he's actually still hung up on this friend..." Okay there were some things she wasn't going to share with Fraya. Not that she didn't trust her, but private things about Corey and Matt and Dylan were...private. "And he just wanted me there so she'd think he's over her. Which is when I realized what a mistake it had been to sleep with him, and then my boss said he wanted me to sleep with him, and I felt like he was pimping me out or something, and then there was no way I was going to sleep with him again, and Dylan and I kind of argued and I was flirting with Josh and Dylan was jealous and...that's what happened last night."

"Oh holy s.h.i.tb.a.l.l.s," Fraya breathed, sitting back and gazing at her wide-eyed.

"I know, I know. I'm an idiot. I knew what he's like-a charming playboy who travels the world surfing big waves, partying and drinking and s.e.xing girls." She paused and added a touch bitterly, "Sometimes more than one at a time."

Fraya made another choking sound.

"I have no idea why I thought I could sleep with him and come out of it unscathed. I know I was all kinds of crazy for doing that." She caught Fraya's eye again and held up a hand. "Don't judge me."

"I'm not," Fraya murmured.

But then memories flooded back like waves onto the sh.o.r.e-the warm admiration in Dylan's eyes when he looked at her, when he touched her, when he told her she was beautiful. When he'd made her face herself in the mirror as they made love so she could see herself, and how s.e.xy and beautiful she'd felt after that.

And not just s.e.xy memories taunted her, but also memories of him laughing and teasing the kids from Daytrippers, so generous with them of his time and experience. Him sitting there seriously discussing the perils of the oceans with people. Him at the wedding, flirting with old ladies and making them blush, him at her parents' place talking to her dad and brother and nephews about the physics of surfing and jumping into the pool with all his clothes on.

And then last night, when she'd made those awful comments to him about not being over Corey, and the flash of hurt she'd seen in his beautiful eyes. Pain shafted through her thinking of that. Because she'd hurt him. And also because-she was so afraid it was true.

Frack. Her head thunked down onto the diner table. She wasn't just falling in love with him. She was already there.

Chapter Twenty-One.

The phone woke him. Dylan reached out a hand and slapped it around, found his cell phone and closed his fingers around it.

He peered at it in the dim hotel room, found the talk b.u.t.ton and punched it. "Yeah."

"Dylan. It's Holden."

He grunted and rubbed his eyes. "What?"

"Where are you?"

"In bed."

"Are you alone?"

"Sadly, yes."

"Not sadly, jerkoff. What the f.u.c.k were you doing last night?"

"Last night?" Dylan closed his eyes. "Went to Aura."

"Yeah. So I heard. So the whole world heard."

"What? What's wrong with that?"

"You stayed out all f.u.c.king night, the party turned into a f.u.c.king orgy and your pictures are all over the Internet with two naked chicks."

Dylan processed that. "Oh." Oh yeah.

"I've already had a call from Jackson Cole. They want a meeting."

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Of course they do." Brooke. p.i.s.sed as usual. Well, good. Because he was p.i.s.sed at her. "But s.h.i.t, man, I'm really busy. This is a crazy time."

"They're your sponsor," Holden bit out. "Make time."

"Okay, okay. Let me think." He closed his eyes and envisioned his day and all that he had to do. "If we can meet at the beach, how's three o'clock?"

"Fine. They'll make it work. See you then." He ended the call.

s.h.i.t. Holden sounded really p.i.s.sed. This wasn't that big a deal, was it?

He knew it was.

Whatever.

He stretched in the bed, the sheets working their way down his naked body. Once more he lifted the phone in front of his face to check the time. Holy c.r.a.p! It was almost one o'clock!

Not a big surprise since he'd been out until after five. But he'd had a good solid five hours of sleep and he was ready to go. He threw back the covers and bounded out of bed. Sunlight poured in when he tossed back the curtains. He checked the sky then the palm trees nearby to judge how windy it was. The trees swayed then tossed more. Awesome. Could be some good waves.

He needed to shower and then get down to Elroy's place. He and Brett were meeting there to watch video from the heats the day before. Then he had some yoga and visualization exercises to do. And then he had to surf. Yeah.

But before that, he'd see Brooke.

He cranked on the shower and after letting it warm he stepped inside.

f.u.c.k, she'd p.i.s.sed him off last night. Yeah, he knew her job was to keep him out of trouble but Christ, he wanted to think that she was there with him last night because she wanted to be, not because she had to be. When she'd said the only reason she was there was because of her job and then also because she thought he was still using her as a cover since he was still in love with Corey...well s.h.i.t. That wasn't true.

Okay, it had been true at first. Not the part about him being in love with Corey. Coming back and seeing her after all this time had proved to him he was over her. In fact, he was pretty sure there'd been nothing to get over. He'd been messed up last year and thought he had feelings for her that now seemed...huh. But it was true that he'd used Brooke to make sure Corey and Matt knew he'd moved on. At first.

He turned his face into the shower stream. It made him so G.o.dd.a.m.n happy that he could do that without panicking like he had for months after the accident.

What were his feelings for Corey? He searched around inside himself for the answer. He felt affection for Corey. Friendship. Yeah, they'd had s.e.x, but that had been a lifetime ago. He'd always have a soft spot for her in his heart, but he wasn't in love with her and he never had been. He knew that now, because...

f.u.c.k.

He swallowed and bent his head, hands flat on the shower wall as water streamed down his back.

He knew that now because now he knew what love really felt like. Because he was in love with Brooke.

That's why her comments had p.i.s.sed him off so much last night.

Well, this was pretty c.r.a.ppy. Last time he'd thought he was in love, he'd been rejected for another guy and because he hadn't been in a very good place, he'd been kinda down about that for a while. But it hadn't taken him long to get over that. He'd been focused pretty intensely on his surfing and getting over the crazy fears that had kept him out of the water and out of the sport he loved so much.

But now...f.u.c.k. The idea that Brooke didn't return his feelings, the idea that she viewed him as an irresponsible, immature jerk, nothing but a business obligation, f.u.c.king tore up his insides. He felt like sinking to the floor of the shower and just sitting there.

He cranked off the water, yanked the shower curtain aside and grabbed a plush hotel towel.

He'd be seeing her this afternoon. He could talk to her then. Did he have the guts to tell her how he felt, knowing that she didn't feel the same?

She'd sure seemed into him when they'd been in bed. His mouth twisted as he toweled off. Was that wishful thinking? s.e.x with her had been pretty special.

Pretty special. That was just stupid. s.e.x with her had been...not to get all sappy, but it had been f.u.c.king stupendous.

He walked naked from the bathroom into the hotel room. Okay. He'd see her later and play that by ear, but he had his own "business" to concentrate on too. He was in the middle of a compet.i.tion he was determined to win. He had to focus on that. People were counting on him to do well in this compet.i.tion and that was how he could show Brooke he was good enough.

After spending some time working on his boards and talking to Brett about some strategy for his heat, he went to a yoga cla.s.s to get centered and limbered up. Then he headed to the beach to meet with Brooke and Holden. On the way there, he remembered what Holden had said about last night's party being all over the Internet. How it had turned into an orgy.

Well, it had been a bit raunchy, but he wouldn't call it an orgy.

But yeah, chicks had been taking their clothes off.

And then his gut cramped as he thought about taking Brooke home and then going back to the bar. He'd been p.i.s.sed off and hurting. He hadn't thought she'd ever know about that though. Now he was realizing she probably did.

He found Holden in the VIP tent, schmoozing as usual. They greeted each other and Dylan looked around. "Okay, where's Brooke?" he asked. "Where do we want to have this meeting?"

"Brooke's not coming." Another guy stepped forward, dark red hair, friendly smile, lots of freckles. Dylan recognized him from the meeting at Jackson Cole. What was his name? Oh yeah, Tim.

"Hey," Dylan said, forcing a smile. "She's not coming? Why not?"

He could only hope this meant they didn't have to meet about this and everything was copacetic, but somehow the crawly feeling on the back of his neck told him that wasn't the case.

"She's been taken off this project," Tim said. "I'm replacing her. Let's go somewhere we can talk."

Dylan's jaw went slack. "Off the project? You mean, my sponsorship deal?"

"Yeah. That's right."

He stood there staring at the guy. Then he gave his head a shake. "I don't get it."

"Hey, not your concern," Tim said with a smile. He slapped a hand on Dylan's back. "You need to be worrying about your surfing right now. Come on, let's go sit at that table in the corner."

Tim led the way to a small table and they all sat down. Holden and Tim. No Brooke.

"First of all, don't worry," Tim said. "Your sponsorship deal isn't at risk right now. n.o.body wants to stir things up right in the middle of a compet.i.tion. Everyone wants you to do well this week."

"Yeah." Dylan licked dry lips. "Me too." He forced a smile.

Tim smiled too. "Great. Now, I'm not gonna lie to you. The execs at Jackson Cole weren't too happy about that party last night."

"It was just a party," Dylan muttered. "I didn't break any laws."

"Yeah, well, that's good. Because we might be having a different conversation if that was the case."

Dylan couldn't even think straight. "I don't understand why they took Brooke off this project."

"Well," Tim said. "She was given the job of bringing you back from Tahiti, getting things cleaned up and keeping you out of trouble. And last night she didn't do it."

"What the f.u.c.k?" Dylan stared at him. "They blame her for last night?"

"Uh...yeah."

His head spun. "I don't get it."

"Brooke was the one who suggested Jackson Cole should sponsor you," Tim explained. "Then you had that accident and broke your foot last year. Kinda looked like we were throwing money away, but she went to bat for you and convinced them that you'd be back and better than ever and still had a great future. So they kept the deal, but when you started acting up they were getting concerned again. Someone had to get things under control, and they figured it should be Brooke, since it was her idea. The executive team wasn't too happy about it all. Brooke wasn't either, but she knew she had to do it to save the deal. And her job, for that matter."