Stand Close 2 (Stand Close New Adult Romance Series) by Sabrina Lacey

mile a minute. She must have had a great time after I left.
    I’m not feeling quite so cheery.
    I glance over to where Jack, Sean and Alec are lounging. They’ve all got shades on, but I can tell they’re all looking at us. Sean looks away first, his lips moving. I wish I could hear him. No, I don’t.
    Trying to enjoy myself, I pull out another pair of Prada shades from the hotel gift bag. “Got you some, too.”
    She gasps, snatching them and putting them on immediately. “How do they look?”
    I smile, gratified by her excitement. My feelings for Alec have me depressed, and even shopping didn’t cure it. I bought these for her because when the idea occurred to me, it lifted my spirits. Shopping for myself, not as much fun. “They look great on you. I wish I had a mirror so I could show you. Where’s your blonde?”
    Leaning back, smiling, Jenna shrugs. “She went sailing. It was just a one night thing.”
    “Ever been with a woman before, Jenna-bean?”
    She lifts her shades enough for me to see her eyes, before she drops them, lying back again. “Please. If I had, don’t you think you would’ve been the first to know?”
    “Think you’ll do it again?”
    I watch her, expecting her to instantly decline. But she’s silent, and I can see through the tint that she’s got her eyes closed. After a thoughtful moment, she says, “I don’t know. Maybe.”
    “Huh. Well, whatever makes you happy.” Pretending to look at the pool, I sneak another peek at Alec’s profile. He’s sitting on a dusty-blue ottoman with his bare feet on the cement, naked back slouched, shoulders beautifully highlighted by the sun, tattoo so dangerously hot it’s hard not to stare. I regret having left his room the way I did. But my tempter got the best of me. Again.
    Jack turns his head and looks right at me, and I hold his gaze, saying quietly, “I stayed with Alec last night. And it’s never going to happen between us. They won’t let it. Or he won’t, because of their bond. I’m on the outside.” Jenna picks up her shades again, looking at me like you stayed with him and took this long to tell me? “That’s why I didn’t need my purse. I didn’t even notice I’d left it behind.” I sigh, shaking my head under the warm sun. “I ran into him on the elevator. Sean, or maybe it was Jack, was having him followed. Can you believe that?”
    Jenna lays back down to act casual and not give away our conversation from afar, but now she’s very nervous for me. “Are you sure they did that? How do you know?”
    “Alec saw the guy. And Jenna, if you’d have seen the way he raced through the hotel, pulling me by my hand, trying to get me in his room before we were spotted, you’d believe him, too.”
    “Shit.”
    I put my head in my hands, closing my eyes, my white swimsuit-cover hanging loosely over my stomach and legs. “I think I’m in love with him.”
    Jenna warns me, her voice low, “Rue. You said that in the cab. Are you sure?”
    “No, I’m not sure. But I can’t stop thinking about him. And when we made love, it was the most incredible feeling I’ve ever known.”
    “That’s just sex.”
    Shaking my head, I rise up to stand and look around for where the food might be. I’m starving. I’d gone back to the room and taken a shower in the small bathroom, getting angrier and angrier with Jack for booking us in that room. Now that the anger is gone, my stomach is making noises that can’t be denied.
    “It’s more than just sex. There’s something very serious about us. I can see it in his eyes, too. But we’re both stopping it because of my stupid brothers. God, it’s hard to even say that: brothers. I didn’t even have brothers a week ago, so why do I care what they think of me?”
    Jenna sits up and begins to gather her things. “Rue, they’re the only family you’ve got. That’s why.”
    “I have you.” But even as I say it, the pain of her words hits home. She’s right.
    She stands up between me