The wedding guests moved from the beach to an open-air pavilion that looked out over the Caribbean. While Dylan and Sophia and their wedding party took pictures on the beach, the guests were treated to succulent hors d’oeuvres and tropical drinks.

Gavin was too nervous to eat, and he didn’t dare start drinking. Not with so much at stake. He’d tried to arrive last night, but the earliest flight he could get out of Boston had gotten him here just in time for the wedding. During a sleepless night, the long drive to Boston and on the seemingly endless flights, he’d had plenty of time to go over all the many ways he’d managed to fuck up the best thing to ever happen to him—and to figure out how he was going to undo the damage he’d done.

At the first sight of her, he knew for certain he wanted forever with her. He faced an uphill battle getting her to listen to him, but he was fully prepared to do whatever it took to win her back. Somehow, some way, he’d managed to go on without Caleb. After one full day without her, he already knew he’d never be able to go on without her.

Now he just had to get her alone so they could talk and work this out. With Ella surrounded by her siblings and their partners, Gavin felt squeezed out of the fortress they’d erected around her. He understood that if he wanted to get to her, he was going to have to go through them.

Okay then. He could do that. Steeling himself for battle, he walked over to where they were gathered by the bar. “Will, Hunter,” he said. Ella was talking to Cameron, Megan and Hannah, so he decided to take on her brothers first.

“Gavin,” Hunter said, the chill in his tone coming through loud and clear. “Nice of you to join us.”

“Nice to be here. Beautiful spot.”

“That it is.”

“Listen, I know you’re pissed and with good reason, but I come with the best of intentions toward Ella.”

“You’ll have to pardon us if we’re a little skeptical of your intentions toward our sister,” Will said.

Gavin had counted the two of them among his closest friends for almost as long as he could remember. However, in the Abbott family, blood was always thicker than water, and that had never been more apparent to Gavin than it was now. Time to go big or go home, as Caleb would say. “I love her, and I hope to spend the rest of my life with her. If she’ll have me.”

Judging by their shocked expressions, they hadn’t expected him to say that.

“You’re serious,” Will said.

“As serious as I’ve ever been about anything.”

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Hunter said. “Part of me wants to tell you to fuck off and leave her alone. But Ella doesn’t need me to fight her battles for her. She’s perfectly capable of fighting her own battles, and you’re facing one hell of a battle where she’s concerned. You’ve hurt her badly.”

“I know that, and I feel terrible about it. I’m here to fix it, if she’ll let me.”

“That’s the big question,” Will said. “Will she let you?”

The thought of her rejecting him, of her telling him she’d had enough of him and his stop-and-start-and-stop again bullshit, had terrified him on the long trip to get to her.

“I guess we’ll see,” Gavin said, glancing at her.

She caught his eye and then looked away.

“One thing I’ll tell you for certain,” Hunter said, his tone leaving no room for interpretation. “If you hurt her again, you’re going to have seven very unhappy Abbott brothers to answer to. Am I clear on that?”

“Yeah,” Gavin said. “Crystal clear.”

“Good,” Hunter said. “Don’t fuck it up.”

“I’m going to try really hard not to.”

“You do that,” Will said.

Cameron came over to her husband and looped her arm through his, and his expression immediately softened. “Everything okay over here, boys?”

“It’s all good,” Will said with a glare for Gavin. “Or at least it had better be.”

*   *   *

“What do I do?” Ella asked Hannah as quietly as she possibly could, waiting until Gavin was engaged in conversation with Jack and their other friend, Austin, to consult with her sister.

“What do you want to do?” Hannah asked.

“I don’t know. Part of me wants to tell him to get lost, that it’s too little, too late. But the other part of me—”

“Will never have any peace until you hear whatever he’s come to say.”

“Yes,” Ella said with a sigh. “I hate myself for wanting to hear what he’s come to say.”

“Don’t hate yourself. You’re only human, and for some strange reason, you love the guy.”

“Yeah, I do, even if I’ve tried to convince myself otherwise in the last two days.” One touch from him, one breath of his arresting scent, and she’d been drawn right back into love with him. That was all it had taken.

“You can’t talk yourself out of loving him, even if you think that’s what’s best for you.”

“I can’t let him do this to me anymore, though, Hannah. The yo-yo effect is making me crazy. He said he was all in until he wasn’t, and I can’t do that again. I just can’t.”

“Then you have a decision to make. Give him another chance or don’t. Which would be harder to live with?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“You need to decide—ASAP. He looks rather . . . determined.”

Ella couldn’t deny that she’d noticed a different sort of air about him since he’d arrived out of the mist at the wedding. Like he’d resolved something important in the time they’d spent apart. “Since he came all this way, I suppose I’ll hear him out. And then I can decide what I want to do.”

“For what it’s worth, that’s what I would do, too.”

“It’s worth a lot. Thanks, Hannah, for everything the last few days.”

Hannah curled her arms around Ella’s arm and rested her head on Ella’s shoulder. “That’s what big sisters are for.”

They enjoyed a delicious dinner of jerk shrimp, chicken and beef, rice, salad, vegetables and succulent fruit. The courses kept on coming, along with wine and champagne and rum punch.

Though he sat next to her at dinner, Gavin made no attempt to get her to talk to him. But she was acutely aware of his presence nonetheless. Every so often his leg would brush against hers under the table or his arm would land on the back of her chair, the possessive gesture setting off a primal need in her.

She wanted to hate him for what he’d put her through, but she didn’t hate him. No, she loved him as much as she ever had, and as she fixated on his muscular forearm and the sprinkling of dark hair, she was forced to acknowledge that she would always love him. No matter what happened next.

After dinner, everyone got up to dance, leaving Ella alone at the table with Gavin. Every nerve ending in her body was on full alert, waiting to see what he would do.

“Take a walk with me?” he asked in a low intimate tone.

She looked at him for a long moment, taking in the rugged, handsome features that had held her captive for so long, and then nodded, powerless to deny him, even though she knew she ought to.

He helped her up and out of her chair and guided her from the pavilion with his hand on her lower back.

Ella felt the eyes of everyone she knew on them as they walked out and was deeply grateful for the protective presence of her siblings, who would be there for her no matter what transpired between her and Gavin. She took comfort in the certainty of their unwavering support.

They stepped onto the beach, and Ella kicked off her shoes, leaving them by the stairs.

Gavin did the same, removing his flip-flops and putting them next to her sandals. Then he took hold of her hand and led her to the water’s edge. He wore a white linen shirt that showed off the wide expanse of his shoulders, along with khaki pants that hugged him in all the right places. As always, the sight of him made her want to drool with lust. No matter what had transpired between them, her desire and deep, abiding love for him were the two things she could never deny.