So often, that friend was Wright.
He’d pick her and Dev up and go into town. They’d drop her off at a friend’s and get into whatever they were going to get into that day, all at the very vocal objection of Wright’s parents.
Now he was having lunch with them, and she bet if he so much as mentioned her name, he’d get the same, patented disapproval.
Sophie was a Bradley, and to the McAdamses, the Bradleys were bad news. All of them.
Hopefully he was wise enough not to bring her up, even though now they were sort of, almost, dating.
No, he wouldn’t talk to his folks about her or what they were doing.
Last night, she’d let herself get closer to Wright than anyone before. Taking a long walk around the lake today, and not freaking out, actually made her quite proud. Right now, she should be filled with worry.
Breaking down and blurting all of her insecurities at him, confessing her fears and doubts, was something she swore she’d never do to anyone. But she’d spilled it all into the quiet understanding of his eyes and the warm comfort of his arms.
Her walking ceased.
“Holy shit.” She’d spilled everything she’d always kept hidden to Wright.
But she was not going to freak out.
Nope, not going to happen. With a deep breath in and a slow exhale, she put one foot in front of the other.
He was Wright, after all. She could tell him these things. He wasn’t going to leave and hurt her. Honeywilde was as much a part of him as it was her and her brothers.
Her steps stuttered once more.
Last night was extraordinary, his acceptance a balm for her raw soul, but letting him in meant she was vulnerable. Exposed.
Like a nerve.
Except, the thing was, he was already in. They were already close. Opening up to him was one more step. All she could do was trust him not to hurt her.
She kept walking, the air heavy and humid, not a breeze to stir the air. The lake lay flat like glass, the sky cloudless.
The cicadas trilled, high pitched and loud. She swore that somehow that sound alone made days feel hotter.
Up ahead, she could make out a dark figure, sitting cross-legged on a shaded rock. He faced the lake, unmoving, eyes closed, back straight, but a sense of serenity flowed from him.
Next to the rock, a hairy brown mass rose from the ground and woofed at her.
“Hey, Beau,” she whispered. “Trevor?”
Trev turned his head and opened his eyes. “Hey, sis.”
Hey. Like sitting way out here on a rock, meditating, was some everyday thing.
“What are you . . .” A quick glance around told her he was alone. “Am I interrupting?”
“Nah.” He unfolded his legs and patted the space next to him. “Come on up.”
She passed him her water bottle and got a foothold on the side of the boulder. One foot in, she was still too short to mount the top. “I’ll need a—”
Trevor stood and offered his hand, hoisting her up the rest of the way.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
He sat back down and she settled beside him, unsure of what to say. So she said the first thing that popped into her mind. “Are you out here, like, doing yoga or something?”
His relaxed laugh made her smile. “Not like yoga. It is yoga.”
“Since when do you do yoga?”
“Since Peru.” He stretched his long legs out in front of him. “There was a yogi in our group. After a week or so, she could tell I was pretty lost in my head. She talked to me about stuff and started teaching me yoga.”
Sophie studied the man beside her.
Her brother, but nothing like the other two. In fact, inside, Trevor couldn’t be more different than Dev and Roark, yet on the outside he was so similar. Same tall build, same dark hair and shocking blue eyes, but that’s where the common thread ended.
Trevor had always walked to his own beat. Independent and free-spirited, which meant, after childhood, the two of them grew apart.
Trevor didn’t need her. He didn’t need anybody. And Sophie didn’t know what to do if she wasn’t needed.
“Does it help?”
“Oh hell yeah.” Trev grinned and took a sip from his thermos of water. “Why do you think I come out here?”
She shifted to face him. So much of Trevor was a mystery. His attitude toward life, his absence at odd times, the way he seemed scatterbrained, but whenever she talked to him, he actually wasn’t scattered at all. “Trev, until now, I didn’t know you came out here at all. I don’t know where you are or what you’re doing half the time. Is this where you go when you disappear?”
He studied the lake, giving her his profile. His expression went carefully blank as he shook his head. “Not always.”
“Then where?”
A slow lift of his shoulders. “Different places.”
“Places like . . .”
Trevor turned, mirroring her position exactly, their knees touching. “I’ll tell you one place I go, but you have to promise not to get mad and you can’t say anything to Roark or Dev.”
“Ohhhh . . .” She already had enough secrets. “I don’t know—”
“Promise.”
Fine. “Okay, I promise.”
With eyes as blue as the sky at midday, he studied her. Then he nodded, satisfied. “Sometimes I call or go see Mom in Asheville.”
Her mouth fell open.
He went to see—“What?”
“I go visit Mom. She’s in Asheville now and . . . we’ve been talking.”
She opened and closed her mouth, no words coming out at first, only sounds. Eventually she got out a few syllables. “But. I—When? How? Why?”
Trevor gawked. “She’s our mother. That’s why. I know things were bad and she left Dad, but she still loves us. She did the best she could.”
Heat shot up Sophie’s spine and she stiffened. “Did she? Did she really? So her best means almost letting the inn fail and then running away and having as little to do with us as possible?”
“Soph. You have to know they tried.” Trevor’s tone remained calm and even. It was infuriating. “Yes, their best sucked. They couldn’t handle four kids and a resort, but then they never really had much choice, did they?”
She didn’t care about their choices; she cared about their actions. Their absence and anger, and the effect it’d had on her brothers.
“The business was theirs, whether they wanted it or not, and they had us kids. Pretty sure I was an accident, and they weren’t about to let you be an orphan. We went through hell, but we’re all still here, aren’t we? And we’re together.”
She blinked at her brother, baffled by his new outlook on their family. Baffled by him. “I don’t . . . Trevor, I don’t get you at all. You can’t forgive what they did because they tried.”
“And you can’t resent them forever and harbor that hurt. It’s not good for you.”
“I’m not harboring hurt.”
Trev stared at her, unblinking, expressionless.
Sophie jerked her gaze away. “You always were closer to Mom. It’s easy for you to forgive her.”
“Like hell.”
His vehemence startled her.
“I’m not saying I have the same anger as Dev or you or Roark, but I was plenty mad. Then guess what. I started talking to her. I told her how I felt. I even yelled at her, and she listened. Crazy, I know, but it helped. Bottling all that shit up? Did not.”
“I hope you’re not suggesting I call her up for a chit chat.”
With a huff of annoyance, Trevor put his hands up, as though they were balanced scales. “No, I’m not saying call her up. But look at it this way. When we started down this road, we fought and bickered, Dev drank and got in trouble. I took off for a year.” He lowered his right hand, weighted. “Life is hard and none of us are perfect. But we had each other. The four of us, and some damn good employees too.” He lowered his left hand, the right hand
rising. “We do all right now, but we survived because we each have three other people—at least—holding us up. Our folks had no one. Not even each other. But they managed to leave this place afloat, just enough, for us to have Honeywilde.”
True, she and her brothers had each other, but still. She shook her head. “I . . . I guess. And I know you want peace in your life. If this makes you happy, then . . . okay. But I had no idea you were talking to Mom.”
“I told her Dev got engaged.”
“Trev.” She groaned, burying her face in her hands. The thought of her mom and Dev twisted her stomach. He wouldn’t want her to know. After years off the rails, he’d gotten his life together, but he blamed their parents for a lot. Fair or not, Dev was far from being ready to forgive and forget.
“She’s happy for him. You should’ve heard her.”
“Does Dev know you talk to her?”
“No. Of course not. And you can’t tell him. I want to tell him and Roark, but they’ll be pissed.”
“Yeah, no kidding. But you can’t keep this from them forever. They’ll find out, and it’ll be twice as bad if you’ve kept this from them.”
Trevor scrubbed a hand over his mouth before leaning back, his hands on the rock to support him. “There’s a lot of stuff they’d be pissed off about at first, but in time, they’ll have to adjust.”
He didn’t smirk or wink, but there was something in his eyes; knowledge and a silent understanding. One simple truth settled into her soul.
Trevor knew about her and Wright.
She swallowed hard. “I suppose.”
“Sometimes, we have to do what we do in order to make our own way. It’s our way, whether other people like it or not. And it’s nobody else’s business until we’re ready to make it their business.”
Her mouth stayed shut. If she said anything, the truth might come tumbling out.
A gentle smile curled his lips. “I wanted you to know I’m talking to Mom because I hate keeping it to myself all the time. Having her in my life has helped me. She’s doing better and so am I. This is a good thing. I trust you to see that.”
“I . . .” She did see that. As much hurt as they all shared, if Trev was talking—to anyone at all, but especially his mother—that was a good thing. “I do see that, Trev. But be careful.”
“I will.” He bumped his knee against hers. “I knew I could trust you. Same way you trusted me when you and Wright rolled in late the other day. Or every time I see him looking at you like you hung the moon.”
Her eyes went wide as she reached for him, unsure of why. Maybe to grab him or pinch him, make him swear not to tell.
“Relax.” He patted her grasping hand. “I trust y’all know what you’re doing. I’m only asking the same from you.”
There was nothing aggressive in his tone or posture. He wasn’t mad or even a little bit put out.
Of anyone in her family, he’d be the last one to take issue with her and Wright seeing one another. He might even support the idea of them as a couple wholeheartedly. Trevor was all about people doing their own thing. Not living out of obligation, but by choice. And she needed more of that in her life.
She admired that about him, and wanted him to know. But when she opened her mouth, “Why haven’t we ever been close?” was what came out.
Another shrug before he leaned back, planting his hands on the rock. “We used to be. When we were kids.”
“That was ages ago, though. When do you and I ever hang out and talk nowadays?”
“We’re talking now.”
“Yeah, but why not before now?”
He stretched one leg out to the side, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. For as relaxed as he appeared, he could be one of the resort guests. “All kinds of reasons, I guess. For a long time, I didn’t talk much to anyone. We’re closest in age, but . . . I don’t know. Growing up, I think you liked having older brothers. Roark and Dev are these big personalities that clashed nine times out of ten. You kept the peace and they were protective of you.”
They’d needed her as much as she needed them.
“I wasn’t like that. I didn’t butt heads with them, but I didn’t stick around when the arguing kicked off either.”
“No, you got the hell out of dodge.”
“Damn right.” There wasn’t a hint of self-deprecation now, and Trevor made no apologies for his exits. “I didn’t do well with confrontation. I couldn’t calm those two down or act as mediator, but you could. I left you to it because the things I wanted to say would’ve only made matters worse. Instead, I shut down. But I admire how you keep the peace and manage everyone.”
She sat up a little straighter. “Since when do I manage anyone?”
“Since always. Come on. Everyone knows who the real manager is around here, and it isn’t Roark. You’re the glue, Soph. You keep this place ticking by keeping all of us from spinning out of control. You’re the one really calling the shots around here, which is why I don’t understand you hiding how much you and Wright want to be a couple. But whatever.”
“Who says we want to be a couple?”
Trevor tossed his head back and laughed. “Please. I keep telling you, I know things. When you’re the quietest one in the family, you hear things. And if you want to be with him, no one is going to stop you. Everyone else may have to adapt, but that’s not a new experience for the Bradley clan, now is it? Learning to deal and adapt? That’s kind of our thing.”
She couldn’t help but smile. Trevor did know things, even if he didn’t say a lot. But his advice was easier given than followed.
To him, any relationship she had with Wright was no skin off his teeth. He wasn’t best friends with Wright and he wasn’t Wright’s employer. He wasn’t super protective of her and felt no betrayal at her sneaking around with their chef.
The same couldn’t be said for Roark and especially not Dev.
“We’ve come so far, though.” She planted her elbows on her legs and propped her chin in her hand. “Everything is finally on the mend. Our family, the resort. Things are going well. I don’t want to be the one who ruins all that.”
“You’re not going to ruin anything. Give us more credit. All of us. We’re older now. Sure, we were a mess for years, and living at the inn was like living in a powder keg. Might’ve been the end of the world back then, if you were sleeping with Wright, but not now.”
She planted her face in her hands. Perhaps he was right, but she struggled to wrap her head around a Honeywilde where she could sleep with Wright, date him, and everyone was cool with it.
He nudged her arm, making her look up. “It’s your life, and his. Not Dev’s or Roark’s or anyone else’s.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“No, it isn’t. You think it was easy for me to live my life, leave and go to Peru last year?”
“Yeah.”
“Like hell it was.”
Sophie straightened up again.
“It was like ripping off a limb when I left, but I knew I had to go. I wasn’t ready to take on the responsibility here, but Roark kept loading me with more. I resented him as much as I ever resented Mom and Dad, and I was starting to hate this place. I saw Dev self-destructing and then trying to recover, but struggling, and there you were, trying to be the rock for everyone. It hurt the worst to leave you because I knew what you were taking on, but I also knew I’d make matters, and myself, worse.”
“How? I could’ve used your help. You’re levelheaded. And calm.”
Trevor laughed. “Now I am. Now I can help you, but back then? Hell no. I would’ve been more work for you. I had so much bitterness. I wanted Honeywilde to fail.”
Her mouth fell open again, but he didn’t bother trying to look ashamed.
“I hated this place and what it did to our family. I remember thinking, maybe if our folks had simple, nine-to-five jobs, maybe they wouldn’t have been so messed up. I still feel like we could’ve worked as a family if they had the therapy a
nd help they needed and were out from underneath this responsibility they couldn’t handle.”
She wasn’t so sure about that, but she understood what he meant about their parents being happier if they hadn’t had the pressure. Running an inn and resort wasn’t for everyone.
“Honeywilde was never their dream. It was Grandpa’s and it’s Roark’s and Dev’s and yours. And now mine. But for them, it was all work, work, argue, yell, work some more. I saw Roark and Dev going down that same path and wanted no part of it.”
Everything Trev said made sense, though she hadn’t thought about that over a year ago and had never understood why he left.
“But when Dev contacted me in Peru, told me how things were going here with the big rock-star wedding, and that Roark was slightly less maniacal in his management skills—”
“Wait. Dev contacted you?”
“Yeah.”
“I never knew that.”
“There are a lot of things we all do that the rest of us don’t know about. Point is, leaving all of you wasn’t easy for me, but it was the right thing for my life, even with the inconvenience and disapproval of my family. It didn’t destroy any of you, obviously. And when all is said and done, it’s my life. I’m the one who has to live with it.” Trevor leveled a look at her, unflinching as their gazes locked.
He was preaching to her, and she needed to listen.
This was her life, and she had to live it her way. She wanted to be with Wright, and everyone else would simply have to adjust. No matter how much it hurt or disrupted Honeywilde while they did.
“I have to tell them.”
“That you want to be with Wright? Hell yeah, you do.” Trev gave her a crooked smile. “You’ll be happier if you do.”
But she was so damn scared. Saying it out loud made it real. People would know. Wright would know. She’d fallen for him. No schoolgirl crush or simple daydream. She was falling in love with him. He’d have her heart, and he’d be in the perfect position to hurt her. To shatter her world, all over again.
But then, keeping her heart to herself wouldn’t work anymore. She’d already given him most of it.
“The gala is Friday. Once we get through that, once it’s over, I’ll stop hiding.”
A Taste of Temptation Page 20