So he knew before even opening his eyes that he was alone. Reaching out to confirm, he felt nothing but cool sheets.

Sophie had been gone awhile.

Flopping to his back, he stared at the ceiling, remembering all the times they’d turned to each other in the night. Hot, erotic memories played like a movie in his mind: Soph climbing him like a tree, her going all breathless and boneless when he held her down and slowly thrust into her, the sound of his name tumbling from her lips as she came, shuddering in his arms, falling apart for him.

He’d loved nothing more than putting her back together again, one kiss, one touch at a time…

Shit. He had it bad.

He rolled out of bed, surprised she’d gotten past him. He must’ve been more exhausted than he’d thought. The sun was just rising as he hurriedly showered and walked down to the lake for the Wounded Warriors breakfast. According to the staff chart, he was on hotcake-flipping detail. He searched the list and found Sophie on serving detail. But since no one could serve or eat if he didn’t flip, he went to work without getting a chance to talk to her.

Two hours later he’d lost track of just how many hotcakes he’d created, but he’d had a great view of Sophie serving while doing it. When everyone had all they needed to eat, he filled a plate for himself and turned to find Kenna waving him over.

She was with Hud and Mitch and a few other staff members. “The problem with this weekend,” he said, nudging Kenna over to make room for himself, “is that it went so well we’re going to have to repeat it annually.”

“Yeah, that’s not your biggest problem,” Kenna said.

“No?”

“No,” she said. “I tried to find you last night, but you vanished right after you danced on the beach with Sophie.”

Everyone was looking at him, so he shrugged. “Got tired.”

“Uh-huh,” one of the staffers said. “I’d have liked to get ‘tired’ too.”

Everyone laughed, which Jacob ignored. “So what’s my biggest problem?” he asked Kenna.

“Leanne Nelson nearly ratted you out to Sophie about Lucas yesterday,” she said.

Leanne was a Housewives of wannabe, and she’d sell her own child for a good story to tell. And he was an idiot. He’d meant to tell Sophie that the resort had hired Lucas. He really had. But it was important to do it in such a way that she didn’t get hurt. The opportunity hadn’t presented itself to him yet, that’s all.

Or you knew it was going to be a problem…

“You never told Sophie that her ex-husband is the resort’s new attorney?” Hud asked in disbelief.

“Not yet.”

Both his brother and sister looked at him like he’d grown a second head.

“And here I thought you were the smart one,” Kenna said, ignoring Hud’s dirty look. “But I gotta tell you, you’ve made a massively boneheaded move here. Massively massive.”

“Agreed,” Hud said. “Bailey would probably kill you dead. I hope Sophie’s a little more open to sleeping with boneheads.”

“Massively massive boneheads,” Kenna added.

Jacob shoved his fingers through his hair. It was a tell, he realized, a rare tell, and he immediately dropped his hands. “It’s not that big of a deal. I mean, at first I didn’t even realize he was her ex.”

“Yes, but after you did?” Kenna asked in a tone that spoke volumes on what she thought about his intelligence level. Or lack thereof.

“You need to tell her,” Hud said. “And when you do, I’d wear a cup. And maybe a flak vest. But for the record, why didn’t you tell her again?”

How was this so hard for them to understand? “Opening my mouth never works as well as keeping it shut and minding my own business.”

Hud shook his head like he’d just heard more stupidity than he had the tolerance for and slowly stood up. “What the hell is that bullshit? Are you talking about us? About you and me?”

Kenna sighed and stood too. “Are we going to need to draw a line in the sandbox here? Should I call Penny to referee?”

“No need,” Hud said tightly, and turned to walk away.

Jacob grabbed his arm.

“What?” Hud said testily. “I’m only doing what you claimed to have learned from me—I’m keeping my mouth shut and minding my business.”

Jacob stood up so that they were toe-to-toe. “You going to look me in the eye and tell me if I hadn’t done just that, if instead I’d stayed, we’d be in a helluva better place right now?”