“What?” Angel’s eyes were immediately on Alex’s phone.

Alex handed him the phone, and Angel took it, trying not to snatch it out of his hand. He felt like shoving Alex for nearly giving him a heart attack. The photos were of Sarah and Leo on the Jet ski again, only this time she was driving and he was sitting behind her. Yeah, his hands were around her waist, and in one of them where they looked to have stopped to pose for the photo, he rested his hand on her thigh, something that might’ve had Angel going nuts if Alex hadn’t made him think he’d be seeing something much worse. He should’ve known Alex’s take on Leo’s hands all over Sarah’s wet body would be an exaggeration.

The photo disappeared when the incoming call indicator flashed on Alex’s screen. The caller’s name was Pam. Angel handed it to Alex, thinking he might send it to voice mail; instead, he frowned. “I gotta take this.”

He stood up from where he’d sat down and walked away, leaving Angel there with thoughts of Sarah and Leo in Havasu. Already he could tell Alex was going to be onboard with the whole not trusting Leo issue, but unfortunately, hearing Alex say that Angel wasn’t being completely unreasonable about this and overly possessive for no reason wasn’t validation enough. He may as well ask Romero for his opinion.

Sitting down on the bench, he let his head fall back in exasperation. He wasn’t nuts. He knew this. Over the years, he’d gotten better at taming that part of him, the part that felt like punching any guy in the throat who so much as looked at Sarah the wrong way. But this was different. Maybe, just like Alex had suggested he have a man to man with Syd, Angel should also think about having one with Leo. Since he didn’t want to go hurting Sarah’s feelings about her dad falling off the face of the earth the moment he didn’t get what he’d obviously been after, he didn’t want to bring him up to her again. But maybe he could ask Leo privately—make it clear he still had his doubts, not just about her dad but Leo too.

Chapter 17

Sarah

The last time Sarah and Leonardo had driven out to the pontoon Valerie had made a comment about being over it and ready to leave. Monica had hooked up with Paul and had been gone for a while on his Jet ski. There were a lot of secluded areas around the lake where Sarah had seen Jet skis parked. She wondered if Monica might actually be doing more with Paul than just enjoying the waves.

Sarah had asked Valerie if she wanted off the boat. She could ride with her and Leo back to the shore since Leo and his equally tatted-up friends had a canopy on the shore and a whole set up with a barbeque, music, and food where they could hang out. It was crazy how typically Leonardo and his intimidating if not scary looking friends were the last types of guys Sarah would feel comfortable hanging with. Sarah felt far more comfortable hanging out there than on the boat, which she hadn’t stepped foot on yet. It just went to show you could never judge people solely on their appearances. As formidable as Leonardo and his friends looked, so far they’d all been very sweet.

Valerie said she’d give Monica another half hour to come back and if she didn’t she’d head back with Sarah, leaving a message for Monica about where she could find them.

Leonardo and Sarah were standing around the barbeque, waiting for the burgers to be ready. Two of his friends, Alonzo and Bruno, were there with them. Bruno was manning the barbeque while Alonzo worked the tunes on the iPod. They had a ridiculously big speaker and were basically providing the music for everyone nearby. Sarah had been right about Leonardo’s friends reminding her of Angel’s friends in a different way. Unlike the oiled up, showing-off-abs guys with the huge and expensive-looking pontoon who seemed a little too smug, Leo and his friends were much more down to earth. Leonardo had even been annoyed when she told him about Edmund suggesting they could sunbathe topless if they wanted to, so she’d left out the “or even less” part.

She also got that protective vibe from Leonardo. The same vibe Angel his brothers and his friends exuded. When he’d shown up and literally rescued her from having to go on that boat, he admitted he’d been watching her from a few yards away. When he noticed how uncomfortable she seemed, he couldn’t stand back and just watch. Then later when Leonardo’s most flirtatious friend Marcello, who was out on the Jet ski at the moment, had come on a little too strong, the look Leonardo gave him had been enough to make Marcello lift his hands in the air and back off.

Sitting under the canopy now with a burger in one hand and a soda in the other, Sarah couldn’t get over how godsent it felt for Leonardo to show up when he had. If she’d been on that boat all this time, she was sure she’d be hating life and dreading having to tell Angel about it later.

Leonardo took the seat next to her, and she turned to him with a smile. “You ready to go out again?” he asked as he bit into his burger.

Sarah crinkled her nose, chewing her food then giggling, a little amazed at how comfortable she felt with him already. She could actually see Leonardo and his friends getting along with Angel and his brothers. “You’re so damn cute when you do that,” Leonardo said.

Just like when he called her baby girl, hearing him say things like that, especially seeing how he looked at her when he did so, was the only thing that could ruin the comfort she felt around him. She did wonder if by chance his calling her that had anything to do with the fact that it’s what her dad had called her when she was a baby. Maybe he’d mentioned to Leonardo.

She finished chewing and decided to ignore his cute comment. “Can we wait a little? This way we give Monica some time to get back to the boat. I think Valerie is gonna want to come back with us.”