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twenty-four   —his age   —and when she handed him his folder, she suggested he put on some pants before venturing outside.
    Maybe he should have listened, because by the time he boarded the shuttle bus, his legs had lost feeling.
    As he rode out to the rental lot, he took a good look at his sanity and considered that he’d left it on the beach in Roatán.
    No. Raina’s voice had imprinted on him that night two weeks ago and still hadn’t vanished. The strange panic in it gave him the answer to Doug’s question and the strength to give Fitz his notice.
    His resolve only deepened with each day he trained his replacement, so by the time Casper shook the sand off his feet, he’d already returned to Minneapolis. Already held Raina in his arms, at least in his mind, his heart.
    He let the Prius warm before he pulled out of the lot, reviewing his winter-driving techniques before edging into traffic and heading toward Minneapolis. He noticed the Mississippi had frozen nearly solid, the highways coated with salt. He’d forgotten the misery of winter in Minnesota.
    I’m not in love with you, Casper!
    Raina’s shout through the reception hall before Jace and Eden’s wedding suddenly echoed back to him, reaching out to sink brutal fingers in his chest as he took the exit for I-35W, toward the Uptown area.
    But he’d seen her face before she said those words. Seen her beautiful brown eyes fill, her wretched expression.
    Yeah, she’d been lying. Trying to protect him. From Owen. From their secret.
    According to his sister Eden, Grace lived in an Uptown apartment building, just two blocks off Lake Calhoun. Hopefully she’d forgive him for not calling to warn them, but he didn’t want to spook Raina, send her fleeing. He exited the highway onto Lake Street and tried to calm his racing heart.
    In fact, he might be sweating. When he stopped at a light, the past continued to bullet through his brain, as fresh as yesterday.
    There you are! . . . What did you do to her, you jerk?
    His words the moment he’d seen Owen, only a few short hours after his kid brother had shown up for Eden’s wedding, cocky and selfish. And only a few short hours since Casper had assembled all the puzzle pieces of why Raina had rejected him.
    In the wake of his own words, Casper’s fist found his brother’s face. He didn’t care that, as Owen got up, he wiped blood from his fattening lip.
    And then, as Casper’s world crashed around him, Owen shrugged. Shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he snapped. “I never hurt Raina. We . . . So we hooked up.”
    Casper nearly came at him again. Instead he’d left before he dismantled his brother.
    It had taken him the last five months to put himself back together. To see how it all laid out.
    Clearly Owen had met Raina at their brother’s Memorial Day wedding. Somehow they ended up together. He didn’t want details, refused to let his brain linger there.
    It wasn’t until after Owen left town that Casper met Raina. Sweet, tough, beautiful Raina, stranded on the side of the road in the mud. He’d invited her to be a part of his dragon boat crew, a competition he’d fought to win   —with her at his side.
    And yeah, he’d fallen for her, hard and fast. Apparently she hadthat effect on Christiansen men. But he’d believed her when she kissed him, believed the affection he’d seen in her eyes.
    Believed that yes, he’d at last found what he’d been searching for.
    Then one day . . . she simply walked away from him.
    He’d finally figured out why.
    Guilt. Somehow she thought she’d betrayed Casper. And frankly, he’d thought it too, after the incident with Owen.
    Except he couldn’t blame her for what happened before they met, and as that truth sank into his brain, his anger had worked free.
    Leaving behind only regret.
    He read the street signs, slowing as he drew up to a three-story brick building. He turned at the corner, found the lot around back, and