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are history. Maybe you and Landon could do a little rebound dating. Nothing serious.”
    Hailey shook her head before her sister-in-law even finished speaking. “Nikki, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Don’t get me wrong. I like your brother. He’s great. Really.” She struggled to find a good excuse. She didn’t want Nikki to know she had her hands full right now with Mark. “I wouldn’t feel right leading him on when I know it won’t go anywhere.”
    “You could let him know up front that you’re on the rebound, just looking for a vacay relationship. No hookups,” she added quickly. “Jake would kill him. Just think about it. You might change your mind.”
    Hailey sighed and stared at her pink toenails. Just what she needed—another relationship to deal with. She’d just ended it with Daniel. Mark wanted to be fuck buddies, and now her sister-in-law wanted her to date her brother. Wasn’t that kind of incestuous? “I’ll think about it if you’ll promise not to push him or me.”
    “Deal,” Nikki said, her expression positively gleeful. “Now, grab a drink and join us on the lanai. Jake’s grilling tonight. Tomorrow we can start hitting the restaurants.”

Chapter Three
     
    Hailey sipped her red wine and listened with one ear as Tony and Landon discussed Landon’s cancer research. It was after ten o’clock, and Jake and Nikki had gone to bed. Mark had disappeared about fifteen minutes ago. Hailey finally worked up the courage to excuse herself from the group sitting on the lanai and search for him. It had helped that Meredith was hanging on Tony’s every word and gazing adoringly at him. The buzz from the wine hadn’t hurt either.
    She took the stairs at the back of the great room down to the game room. He wasn’t there, which meant he was either in the guesthouse or out by the pool. She walked through the game room out to the pool deck.
    No Mark.
    Damn, that meant he was in the cottage. She really hadn’t wanted that much privacy. The cottage was dark. Maybe he was sleeping? The sliding doors were open. She peered inside but didn’t see him.
    “Mark?” she called in a low voice.
    “Over here, babe,” he answered.
    Just the sound of his voice sent her heart into overdrive, and she hesitated before following it through another set of sliding glass doors that opened to the west side of the cottage. He was silhouetted in a chair just outside the open doors. The guesthouse sheltered them from the group up on the lanai.
    Mark stood and held out a hand to her, but she shook her head. Trying to put some physical distance between them, she moved toward the waist-high, lava rock wall that separated the cottage from the ocean. She leaned back against it, facing Mark, and crossed her arms in front of her waist. Mark sat down again. Silence stretched between them.
    “You know I love you, right?” she asked haltingly. “You know I’d do just about anything for you…Tony too.”
    “Yeah.”
    “I’d kill for you.”
    “I’d rather you didn’t, but I know I couldn’t stop you,” he answered.
    With liquid courage bolstering her, she forced the words out. “But I can’t be a friend with benefits—yours or anyone else’s.”
    “What?” he said, his voice and expression bewildered.
    She pressed her butt against the wall as he slowly stood and stalked toward her. By the time she was able to sputter, “I’m sorry,” Mark stood in front of her, only inches separating them. So much for maintaining any physical distance.
    He stared hard at her, and she squirmed beneath his gaze. Finally, he lifted his hand and lightly grazed her arm with one finger, quieting her nervous movements. The gentle touch was at odds with his voice, angry and incredulous. “You think I want a fuck buddy?”
    Hailey’s heart raced, more at his nearness than his anger. Still, if he was using that kind of language, he wasn’t going to take this as well as she had hoped. “It’s not that I—”
    Mark held up a