Vaughn frowned. “You don’t like Hartwell?”
Her eyes raked over him. “I’m liking it more now.”
He gave her a benign smile, not wanting to be rude in any way in case she was a guest. “Are you staying at the hotel?”
“No. I’m staying with my sister. You wouldn’t know what the rates were here, though, would you?”
“Yes.” He held out his hand as he realized who this was. “I’m Vaughn Tremaine. The owner. And you are . . . Bailey Hartwell’s sister?”
Her eyes widened, and he could almost see the dollar signs replacing her irises. He knew the type. His father taught him to spot her kind from a young age. And he was sure he’d heard jokes being thrown around about Bailey’s younger sister; that she was a gold digger making her way through all the rich men in Europe.
It was probably Iris who had said it. Maybe even Bailey herself.
“I am. I’m Vanessa.” She kept a hold of his hand, and stepped in closer to him. “Do you know my sister well?”
Yes, she’s the best sex I’ve ever had and she’s currently ruining my life. “We’re acquainted.”
“Isn’t she a bore?” She rolled her eyes. “I just dropped my luggage off at her dinky little house. Would you believe she wants me to sleep on the couch?” She said the word like it was dirty. “I thought I’d check out your hotel.”
“Why don’t I guide you inside and you can talk to reception?”
“Oh.” She pouted. “Can’t you help me out? Personally?” She brushed her fingers over his lapel.
Vaughn felt a rising panic, and extricated himself from her grasp. “That’s a little below my pay grade.”
The last thing he needed was rumors reaching Bailey’s ears that he was flirting with her sister. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d found himself caught between two sisters and considering how disastrously it ended last time, he really wasn’t up to replaying that scenario.
A flirtatious gold digger Vanessa Hartwell may be but she was at least smart enough to read the situation. Her whole demeanor changed. The flirtatiousness vanished and she straightened. “Well, I don’t know if it will suit me anyway. I’m used to a certain class of accommodation. Perhaps the Grand would suit me better.”
He smirked at her. “Yes, well, Paradise is a five-star hotel, and the Grand is a four-star, so I imagine you’re right. The Grand would suit you better.”
Her mouth fell open in astonishment at his insult, and Vaughn began to stroll toward his hotel laughing to himself.
And then a thought occurred to him. Hadn’t Bailey said her siblings had no interest in the inn? And that she didn’t have much of a relationship with Vanessa?
So what was the woman doing in Hartwell?
And how much trouble was she looking to cause Bailey?
Vaughn scowled at the thought. Bailey had been through enough this year without her sister creating problems for her.
He spun around to find Vanessa giving him the evil eye. He ignored it. “What are you doing here?”
She crossed her arms over her huge bosom and lifted her chin in haughty defiance. “Why is it any business of yours?”
“I make what happens on this boardwalk my business, that’s why.”
Vanessa raised an eyebrow at his warning tone. “Well then, you should know I intend to become more involved with my inn.”
“You mean Bailey’s inn.”
Something flickered in her expression. “It’s my inn, too. And frankly from what I can see Bailey is making a dreadful mess of it. The décor is horrific, and that woman she has working for her is . . . well . . . she needs to go. I’ll have that place shipshape in no time. We’ll give you a run for your money with your fancy five-star hotel.”
Her insults to Hart’s Inn, to the hard work Bailey put in there, rankled. “It may have been a while since you lived here, Miss Hartwell, but I’m sure you’ll remember that your sister is very well liked by the people of this town.”
“Oh, I remember,” she sneered. “Everyone’s favorite. Quite the popular little brat.”
His eyes narrowed. “If you try to cause any problems for her, you’ll find yourself out of here so fast you won’t know what happened.”
“Excuse me? Was that a threat?”
“As I said, Bailey has a lot of friends, a lot of people who care about her well-being. She’s been through enough this year without you causing any more trouble.”
“Wow. Nothing has changed. She still has everyone under her spell. God”—she rolled her eyes—“you’re all just like her. Boring and uptight.”
“You’re probably right. You should leave.”
Vanessa opened her mouth to argue, but Vaughn wasn’t interested in a confrontation with her. Funny how he couldn’t resist one with her sister. In fact he reveled in it. On that thought he walked away before Vanessa could say anything else.
He cursed himself for warning her against causing problems for Bailey. “God damn it,” he bit out as he strode into his office and slumped in his chair. There he went again, expending energy on worrying about a woman that wasn’t even his woman.
Cooper was right.
He was either in or he was out.
Burying his head in his hands, he groaned, “Make a choice, Tremaine.”
SEVENTEEN
Bailey
“You really don’t have to do this.” I felt guilty as hell as Rex moved around my small kitchen preparing dinner for us. He’d turned up at the inn, out of the blue, with shopping bags full of food and insisted on cooking for me.
Aydan, who thought I was crazy for not giving the guy a chance, insisted I have dinner with him while she took care of the inn.
So that’s what I did. Now my stomach was churning with butterflies.
“I feel like this is a date,” I blurted out. “And we talked about that, right?”
Rex looked over his shoulder at me and grinned. “Yeah. We did. Don’t worry. I know we’re not dating.”
Relieved, I exhaled. “Okay. So this is just you cooking me dinner?”
“This is just me cooking you dinner.” He strolled toward where I was standing and held a freshly cut pepper to my mouth.
Instead of taking it into my mouth from his fingers—way too intimate—I plucked it with my own and then bit into it.
He shook his head in amusement and wandered back to where he was chopping up vegetables for his stir-fry. “So anything new in your life?” He gestured over his shoulder to the pile of suitcases in my small sitting room.
I made a face. “Oh. That. That would be my sister. Vanessa.”
“You don’t sound happy about that. She’s the one who travels around at lot, right?”
“Yeah. But now she’s come home. To run the inn.”
Rex frowned. “She giving you shit?”
“In the only way Vanessa knows how.” I smiled at his concern. “I’ll be fine. I know how to handle my sister. Now that my parents are out of the way I can actually do something about it. They didn’t raise her to be a brat, but they didn’t curb it, either. I have no such qualms about squashing that crap.”
“I bet you don’t.” He smiled as he threw the veggies into the wok with diced beef. “I’ve never met a woman who speaks her mind the way you do.”
“Do you find it horrifying?”
“Would I be here if I did?”
Part of me wished he wasn’t hanging out with me. Not because I didn’t like hanging out with him. I did. He was funny and kind. And hot. He treated me much better than Vaughn.
But to my everlasting agony, Rex didn’t set my blood on fire like Vaughn. I wanted to be there for him, I wanted to be a good friend to him, but I didn’t long for his secrets and his tenderness the way I longed for Vaughn Tremaine’s.
Why was I such a moron?
No. I didn’t blame this
on me. My head knew exactly what the landscape with Tremaine looked like. It was my freaking hormones that were the problem.
Stupid moronic hormones.
“Earth to Bailey.”
“Huh?” I blinked and looked over at Rex.
“You went somewhere else for a minute.”
“Oh. Just thinking about Vanessa and how to deal with her.”
“If you need help . . .”
“I know, thanks. But I’ll be fine.”
A little while later we had just sat down at my dining table when the door blew open and Vanessa stormed in on a thick cloud of Chanel perfume wearing an irritated expression.
“How many men do you have?” she sniped as she set about unstrapping her stilettos from her feet.
“What?”
She nodded to Rex, who was staring at her in mild shock. I don’t think he’d been expecting quite all that she was. “Another one.”
“What do you mean another one?” I was already annoyed that she’d interrupted our dinner. I didn’t want to argue with her.
“Well, him, whoever he is, and what is he, twelve?” She threw a hand in Rex’s direction. “And then that other guy. That would-be-sexy-if-he-didn’t-have-a-giant-stick-up-his-ass Vaughn guy.”
My heart started to thud a little faster in my chest. Of course my vapid little sister had made sure to meet the wealthiest man in town on her first day back. The thought of her anywhere near Vaughn made me want to rip that pretty hair out and then hide all her damn shoes so she’d never find them ever again. “What are you talking about?” I said through gritted teeth.
“That Vaughn guy. Ugh! We’re barely introduced and he jumps down my throat, warning me not to cause you any trouble. No man acts that territorial and exhausting about a woman unless he’s screwed her nine ways ’til Sunday. Which brings me to . . . what happened to Ted?”
Too many emotions rose up in me. I was discombobulated. It took me a minute to figure out what the hell she was saying. “Ted?”
“Your boyfriend. Duh?”
“Does she mean Tom?” Rex queried.
“Tom!” Vanessa clicked her fingers. “Right. Yeah, what happened to Tom?”
“She caught him fucking my girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend now,” Rex answered.
“Wow.” Vanessa looked surprised. “I didn’t know old Ted had it in him. Here I thought he was as boring as you, Bails.”
I ignored that. “Go back to Vaughn. What did you say to him?”
“Nothing. Just a comment about the inn needing my magic touch.”
Oh yeah, I was so sure. “Right.”
“God, that guy is uptight. But hot. I’m right, aren’t I? You slept with him.” She wandered over to the table and reached for a taco.
I could do nothing as she scooped some of my stir-fry into one and started to eat it. Honestly, in the mess of confusion she’d just caused, I was glad she was eating something with actual calories in it.
Plus, staring at her eating my dinner was easier than acknowledging Rex and his burning gaze. It didn’t take a genius to know that he wanted the answer to her question.
My anger over my sister’s sudden arrival in my life returned with a vengeance. “Stop talking.”
She huffed. “No bed. Now no talking. Fine. I’m hitting the hay anyway. You might want to leave, unless you want your boy here to get a look at my good stuff.”
“We’re eating dinner.”
“And you’re in my bedroom.”
I looked to Rex, exasperated.
“We can pack it up,” he offered. “Eat it at the inn?”
“My office.” I nodded, sighing. “I’ll get some Tupperware.”
As I passed my sister I shot her a filthy look.
She smirked. “I want you to wake me tomorrow morning so I can go to the inn with you.”
“Great.”
Vanessa bristled at my tone. “You are so lucky I met a hot guy tonight and I’m in a good mood.”
I stiffened. She better not be talking about Vaughn. “Hot guy?”
She laughed. “Don’t worry. Not your hot guy. Mine is more of the suited-up earthy type. Money and class, but he knows how to work with his hands, if you know what I mean. I met him in Germaine’s.”
Poor guy. He had no idea what he was in for. “Good for you.”
“Ugh. Whatever.”
Once we had the food packed up I ushered Rex out of the house just as Vanessa started shimmying out of her dress.
We were quiet as we got in my car.
And then . . .
“So. Vaughn, huh?”
Maybe I’d switch out Vanessa’s shampoo for hair-removal cream. I couldn’t believe she’d put me in this position. Even though Rex and I weren’t dating, I knew what he wanted, and it would be unfair of me not to explain. “He owns Paradise Sands Hotel.”
“The hotelier from New York?” He sounded stunned. He looked crestfallen. “Wow. Hard to compete with that.”
“It’s not . . . Look, he was there for me during that whole Stu Devlin thing.” I’d already explained about Devlin breaking into the inn.
“He was the ‘friend’ that helped you out that night.”
“Yes. And well, emotions were high and all that and one thing led to another . . .”
“Yeah, you don’t need to go into detail.”
“But nothing is going to happen with Vaughn. I told you that. He doesn’t want a relationship with anyone.”
“But you want him.”
I couldn’t lie to Rex. “I wish I didn’t. And believe me, I’m working on getting over that idiocy.”
Hearing the sincerity in my voice, Rex nodded. “Okay.”
It occurred to me as we set up my office as a private dining room and Rex peppered me with questions about growing up with Vanessa, that by giving him an explanation I was considering him as boyfriend material.
As I stared into his warm dark eyes, I let myself imagine the possibilities with Rex. No, he didn’t fire up my blood like Vaughn. I felt toward him like I used to feel about Tom. But maybe that wasn’t a bad thing after all.
Shit.
Wasn’t life supposed to get less confusing in your thirties?
EIGHTEEN
Bailey
It was that time of year again. Music festival time. One of the things I loved so much about Hartwell was our town events. We had the music festival during the summer while all the tourists were around, a gay pride parade at the end of the summer, the chicken festival at the beginning of October to celebrate our state bird, the proud blue hen. Then there was the pumpkin festival at Thanksgiving, where we had our punkin chunkin’ competition, and the winter carnival in mid-February with a royal court and parade floats.
The music festival was great because it was more laid-back than our other events. People from neighboring towns and cities got permits to set up stalls selling all kinds of music memorabilia and craft goods. Dahlia always had a stall.
Bands from all over the country played one after the other in the bandstand on Main Street. It was just a good vibe. A crush of people strolling lazily around, enjoying good music and good times. And we raised money for a state charity that used music to transform the lives of disadvantaged children.
The last few years I’d missed out on music festival day because I had to work at the inn but this year Aydan was covering for me so I could hang out with Rex and show him the side of Hartwell I really loved: the community vibe.
It was a hot day so the first thing on the agenda was ice cream from Iris and Ira’s pop-up stall. To my delight we found Iris and Ira serving Anita and Old Archie. I hadn’t seen Anita in months.
My delight was deflated by how poorly she looked. She was in a wheelchair, her shorn head covered by a pretty headscarf. While the rest of her body looked frail, her face appeared slightly bl
oated, sallow, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
Old Archie stood behind her wheelchair. He was once a well-functioning alcoholic, a big strapping man who loved Anita but wouldn’t give up his scotch. When she was diagnosed with a spinal tumor last year, he’d kicked the addiction in a way that was almost miraculous. His strength blew me away.
Her strength made me want to buckle at the knees.
I leaned down and kissed her cheek. “How are you?”
She gave me a tired smile. “I wanted to come out today. See everyone.”
“It’s good to see you.”
“It is that.” Iris handed Anita her ice cream and she took it, clearly delighted.
She licked it and smiled up at Archie. “Better than the ice pops.”
He laughed and explained, “We eat a lot of ice pops at the hospital. They hand them out more than they do drugs.”
“Nothing beats Antonio’s ice cream,” I said.
“Shh, don’t say that too loudly.” Ira jerked his head behind him. “Ice Cream Shack.”
I made an Ahh face. There was a long-standing competition between the couple and the Ice Cream Shack. Iris and Ira tried to be nice to the proprietor, a Mr. Shickle, but he took everything they said as an insult, and as rivalry.
“Who’s your friend?” Anita looked past me.
Guilt suffused me for my rudeness. “Oh, God, sorry. This is Rex. Rex, this is Anita and Old Archie. And you’ve already met Iris and Ira.”
“Hey.” He grinned at them.
“Anyway, we better let these people get their ice cream,” Old Archie said. “We’ll no doubt see you two later on.”
I smiled and nodded, my heart aching as they left. Iris met my gaze and she shook her head sadly. Swallowing the lump of emotion in my throat, I grinned with faux cheer. “I’d like a strawberry and white chocolate, please. Rex?”
“The same.”
A minute later we were moving through the Main Street crowds. “This ice cream is so good,” Rex moaned.
I laughed because he looked like a little boy. So freaking cute. And I laughed because I was glad he hadn’t asked what the deal was with Anita. A year ago I’d thought she’d win her battle with cancer, but one battle had turned into a war, and the outcome didn’t look good for her. She just wanted to enjoy her day, however, and I didn’t want to dwell on it.