The Reunion by Jennifer Haymore Page B

showers. Zoey got dressed and was walking downstairs just as Jake, Will, and Nathan strode into the house. Rebecca and her pilot came in just behind them.
    There was a flurry of welcomes and explanations. Turned out there’d been a freak rainstorm last night, and Rebecca’s jet had crashed inside the reef of a nearby cay. Neither she nor the pilot had been injured, though the jet was a total loss.
    “Who gives a damn about the plane.” Will raised his wineglass toward Rebecca and Tyler Knox, her pilot. “You’re alive and unhurt, and that’s all that matters.”
    “Hear, hear!” Jake said, raising his own glass. The two men, who were the only ones drinking at the moment, clinked glasses and took healthy swallows of their wine.
    “I just can’t stop thinking of how wrong that crash could have gone.” Ella shuddered, but then she gave everyone one of her bright, knockout grins. “But knowing that is going to make this year’s reunion that much more special.”
    Zoey smiled at the pilot, who was looking mightily uncomfortable in their group. He was a tall, well-built man, dark-haired and blue-eyed, with a gruff voice and a quiet demeanor. He stared at his feet, and he kept shifting his balance from one foot to the other.
    She couldn’t blame him for his discomfort—she’d been exactly in his position at one point in her life, finding herself among this particular group of people—and it was the most starstruck and awkward and out of her league she’d ever felt. Now, she was used to all the wealth and luxury. But the poor guy looked terrified. “I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re so grateful for your skill,” she told him. “It couldn’t have been easy pulling it off at low altitude, in a storm, with both engines failing like that.”
    “I don’t even want to think about what might have happened if someone else had been flying the plane. Tyler is the best,” Rebecca said, giving him a scorching look.
    Well, that was interesting. Clearly Rebecca had a thing for her pilot. The guy’s ears turned pink, but then he gave Rebecca a look that scorched even Zoey’s skin. If she’d been the direct recipient of that look, she probably would have burst into flames.
    Wow. The sparks were definitely sizzling between these two. Zoey grinned inwardly. Good. She didn’t like Rebecca’s usual boyfriends—to be honest, they were mostly snooty, gold-digging jerks—but Tyler was quiet and down to earth. She definitely approved.
    But as they stood there talking, Zoey noticed the shadows under Rebecca’s and Tyler’s eyes, their mussed hair, the tension in their shoulders, the lines of strain around their mouths. They were tired and clearly in dire need of Jake’s masseuse. It was only a few minutes later that Jake suggested they go take a shower and relax for a while before dinner. He even offered to send up the masseuse, but Rebecca waved off that idea.
    “But I definitely need to shower and change,” she told them. “Dinner at seven, as usual?”
    “Dinner at seven,” Jake confirmed, “but if you’re too tired—”
    “We’re not too tired,” Rebecca said. “I wouldn’t miss one of your famous dinners for the world, Jake.”
    There was another round of kisses and hugs and handshaking, and then Rebecca grabbed Tyler’s hand and led him off, leaving the rest of them staring after her.
    Everyone was silent for several moments, each of them buried in their own thoughts. There were six of them here now. Only Matt was missing—he was still in spring training but would be arriving tomorrow with his fiancée.
    No one mentioned the pilot going with Rebecca to her room, though Jake’s brows were still raised and Will had chuckled as soon as the door closed behind the two of them. By the gleam in Ella’s eyes, Zoey knew she planned to drag Rebecca away later and get the whole scoop.
    And then there was Nathan.
    He’d arrived with the group and had stood at least five feet away from Zoey ever