“Are you seriously leaving Honeywilde?” Dev asked, glancing back and forth between her and Wright, his expression growing harder by the second.
“I have a job offer in Asheville and one in Charleston. I have to let them know soon, but yes, I want to take one of them.”
Dev opened his mouth and closed it. With both hands, he scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “Why didn’t you tell us you’re unhappy here?”
“I’m not unhappy.” Wright’s mouth turned down in the corners, his glow from last night completely gone. “But I’ve never done anything besides work here. I need to know that I can survive outside of Honeywilde, but I’m not unhappy.”
“Then . . . why?” Sophie swiped a traitorous tear away. “Why would you . . . I thought you would never leave me.”
“Soph.” Her name was a plea. “I won’t ever leave you, baby. And I would’ve told you all about the different offers if I didn’t think talking about a future together would scare you. But you and I both know you weren’t ready for all that.”
“Baby?” Dev bit off the question, but they ignored him.
“I knew you might freak out, so why would I bring it up?”
“Because we were together, and I trusted you.”
Dev took a step back. “Hold up, what?”
“Please don’t use the past tense. I knew, even if I was offered a great opportunity with someone else, you weren’t ready to have that kind of conversation about us. About me and you, forever.”
Dev sucked in a sharp breath. “Son of a bitch.” His grimace turned to a scowl as he scrubbed a rough hand over his mouth. “How long have you been messing around with my sister?”
“I’m not messing around with Sophie. We’re dating. Or we were trying to.”
A gasp dragged their attention to Roark as he skidded to a stop. He didn’t say a word, but studied her face before glaring at Wright.
The difference between messing around with her and dating her seemed to be lost on Dev. “You start something up with Soph, you’re both doing . . . whatever, behind my back, and now you’re leaving?”
“I wanted to tell you. I didn’t want this to be a secret.”
Sophie ground her teeth together. He was not going to throw her under the bus for this. “You’re all about telling the truth unless it’s got to do with leaving. You want me to be open and brave, while you’re being sneaky as hell about finding another job.”
She was always the first to try and calm things down, have peace. Now she could see how she put her own life aside to ensure her family’s happiness. But what difference did it make in the end? In the end, she still got hurt, her heart was still breaking.
Wright growled with frustration. “If I’d said I wanted to talk about us, long term, what would you have done?”
She shifted her gaze away, threading her fingers together.
“Exactly.”
She worked her jaw until it hurt. He might not be wrong, but his understanding reeked of condescension. He was too reasonable, too certain and sure, thinking he knew what was best for her, all while leaving her out of this decision. Leaving her out of his life and then planning to straight up leave her, all after she’d opened up to him about her fears, about her parents, about the bizarre way her brain worked.
Sophie pointed her finger, jabbing it at him. “The other night, in the kitchen, you should’ve told me. Even if you were thinking about leaving, you should’ve opened up to me the way I opened up to you. You know how hard that was for me when . . . when we . . .”
“When what?” Dev spoke up.
“Stop it,” she snapped at her brother. “This isn’t about you. This is about me and Wright.”
“I didn’t even know there was a you and Wright until a few minutes ago. So excuse the hell out of me for caring.”
Sophie bit off her words, more than enough anger to go around. She glared at Dev, daring him to take issue with the facts. “Well, now you know.”
“No. I’m not sure I do.” Dev’s tone was as waspish as hers.
“Your best friend and I. Me and Wright. For weeks now, running around like you and Anna did. Maybe even more so. Happy?”
Roark muttered a curse and buried his face in his hands.
To his credit, Dev didn’t even blink. “No, I’m not happy. And I’m not happy with the tone either.”
“Guys, stop.” Wright tried.
Dev turned on him. “And you. You make plans to leave Honeywilde and you not only keep it from me, but you’ve been seeing my sister, and you kept it from her too?”
“Wright is leaving Honeywilde?” Roark echoed.
Wright threw his hands out wide before balling them into fists. “Jesus. What is with you people? I wasn’t sure I was going anywhere until recently.”
After fighting as hard as she did for family peace, and seeing peace still proving to be elusive, Sophie lit a match and threw it. “And why bother telling me the truth when all we were doing was sleeping together?”
Wright grimaced and closed his eyes.
With a growl, Dev backed away from them and paced toward the windows.
She no longer cared about the kind of hellfire her comments would draw. Maybe she wasn’t being fair, maybe she was being the bratty little sister, but she felt torn open. Raw.
She’d trusted Wright. She’d given him her heart. And he’d lied. He was leaving, same as everyone else, and he’d lied about it.
Betrayal twisted an ugly knot inside her. Everything that’d started to heal lay frayed and exposed. Hurt.
Everyone else could hurt right along with her. She was done trying to take their pain away while quietly drowning in her own.
“I was going to tell you.” Wright kept his voice low.
“When? Whenever it suited you? We’ve been inseparable for over a week now. And in none of that time you thought it might be something to bring up?”
“I didn’t know how you’d take it. How you’d react. It’d be the perfect excuse to throw me away. Why would I tell you?”
“Because it’s you,” she yelled. “And you keep insisting I mean so much to you. But when someone means something to you, you include them. Even before you make a decision, you respect them enough to let them in. I told you about how all of this, with my family and the inn, how it scared me. I told you how much I worry about my family. Their happiness. I trusted you and cared about you, and that’s why I wanted you to know. And look what happened. Everything I was afraid of has happened.”
“Nothing has fallen apart.”
“Everything has fallen apart. It’s over.” She took another step away, though she had nowhere to go.
“So that’s it, then? I mess up and you push me away. This is the perfect excuse for you to cut me out of your life?”
She stopped, pinning him with a look she could only hope hurt half as much as his words.
Dev stepped in between them to face Wright. “Stop talking. You are not helping this situation. And you’re my friend, but I swear to God, not another word. Not now.”
This was when Sophie would normally jump in. Tell everyone to calm down and not say or do anything in anger and haste.
But she couldn’t see reason. Not with her world falling down around her.
Wright was leaving and he’d lied. Resentment and bitterness were back in Dev’s eyes. And Roark was cold and stoic as he’d ever been.
They were all right back where they were before.
She had to get away from them, from Wright, but her feet were nailed to the floor. She couldn’t move, even though the sight of him stabbed at her heart.
She’d thought they had a future. For the first time, she’d reached a place where she was ready.
Whatever she thought they had, it was a figment. Something she’d constructed out of her desperation not to be alone. But beyond the sex and flirting and the laughs, they didn’t exist. They didn’t have what Dev and Anna had, or Roark and Madison.
There was no Sophie and Wright, and mayb
e there never had been.
Staying in that lobby wasn’t an option. If she didn’t get out of there, she was going to break down, and she refused.
Dev moved directly in front of Wright, blocking her view.
It was her only chance.
As the two of them stared each other down, she ran.
Out of the lobby, and out the front door. Out of Honeywilde and straight to her car. The tires of her car screamed as she sped from the parking lot with no destination in mind.
It didn’t matter where she went, as long as she was the one leaving.
Chapter 24
Wright didn’t wait for anyone else to say another word. He’d heard all he could, and the last thing he wanted right now was another opinion about how badly he’d messed up.
“Dev.” He turned to his best friend, knowing if they said anything, they’d regret everything. “Don’t follow me.” He tromped toward the kitchen, daring anyone to stop him.
Cooking always helped, whether he was angry or upset, frustrated or fighting mad. He needed to calm the hell down and figure out how to make this right.
Regardless of how many daggers were being stared into the back of his head.
Marco stared in silence as Wright shoved on his white jacket with a muttered curse. The jacket wasn’t necessary, but to hell with it. The jacket was comfortable. A part of him. So much of this place was a part of him, including Sophie.
How could she accuse him of cutting her out his decision? She was the entire decision. She was all he’d considered for the last few weeks.
He knew what was right for his career, he knew what he wanted—what he needed—for himself, but she was the caveat to his plan.
If it weren’t for her, he’d leave Honeywilde and go . . . wherever. Anywhere. And probably with the Bradleys’ blessings.
Dev might be pissed for a little while, but he’d get over it. Guys like them didn’t hold grudges forever. They were best friends, and a career move wouldn’t change that.
Sophie, though . . .
He wasn’t going to up and leave her and move hundreds of miles away.
And Dev would get over him taking a new job, but sleeping with his sister?
Wright slammed a pan down on the eye of the stove. They were doing so much more than sleeping together. For them, it was never just about the sex.
The physical chemistry, the way they both caught fire when they touched, that was all incredible, but it was a bonus. Cream and a cherry on top of the amazing bond they’d built for years.
Wright knew what they had; Sophie knew too. She had to know. Even her brothers must realize. He would never hook up with her without the best intentions.
He cracked an egg with a heavy hand, bits of shell falling into the bowl. “Dammit.”
“Let me.” Marco took the bowl from him and cracked the eggs.
He loved Sophie. He’d realized he loved her all along.
As far back as he could remember, she was the one. Why was it so hard for her to understand?
She was the one who made him laugh, no matter his mood. She hadn’t put up with his boyish arrogance years ago, and she certainly didn’t tolerate it now. Sophie was the first one to call bullshit if he dished any out and, normally, the last one to judge him if he was having a bad day.
He loved when she was the last person he spoke to at night, but he loved waking up beside her even more.
Now it’d all gone to shit.
The chance he’d been given, to convince her forever wasn’t a long time with the right person, blown apart.
Marco handed him the bowl of eggs to whisk.
She kept insisting it was because he was leaving. Leaving her like so many people who claimed to love her had done before, and because he hadn’t trusted her to handle the truth.
Early on, when he’d tried to move their relationship into a more committed category, she’d balked. Shut him down cold, saying they should stop seeing one another.
So it wasn’t like he didn’t have proof that’s how she operated.
He’d played his cards close because he knew her. All the guys she’d burned through over the years, they all met the same demise for basically the same reason. Sophie couldn’t hate him for knowing her MO.
But he did trust her.
He had faith in her when it came to everything. He’d put his life in Sophie’s hands if it were to ever come to that.
With a thud, he dropped the mixing bowl onto the prep table.
But believing she could handle commitment? The weight of how much he wanted her forever and always?
He hadn’t trusted her with that. When it came to trusting she was strong enough to handle the truth, he’d turned coward.
Her track record of leaving guys shouldn’t matter. Because what they had wasn’t anything like what she had with those other guys.
They wouldn’t be together if it was, and both of them knew that.
What they had was special, and he’d told himself that repeatedly, for the last two weeks.
So why hadn’t he trusted what they had to survive the truth?
As a friend, maybe he should’ve told Dev he was restless, but Dev wasn’t just his best friend. He was Wright’s employer.
To some degree, maybe that made it more vital he speak up. Even if he had, though, they couldn’t help. No matter how much Dev and Roark and even Sophie believed in him, they couldn’t advance his career, and he didn’t expect them to.
It was not their job to fulfill his dream. It was his.
But he hadn’t prepared for that dream to include Sophie.
Being with her had always been some far-off, unrealistic thing. Beyond a dream. Make-believe.
Having her, and that dream, in his hands had made him stupid.
He’d gotten caught up in having something he never thought possible. So worried about losing her and so busy protecting her that he didn’t realize the damage he’d do by not trusting her.
He’d tried to be so careful, but he was careless with the one heart he knew needed the most care.
“Dammit.” He grabbed the skillet off the burner of the stove.
Next to him, Marco cleared his throat. “Maybe I should handle breakfast this morning.”
Wright had burned his dish. Again.
Worse this time. He couldn’t focus any better after losing Sophie than he could when she was within reach.
He muttered another curse and let his head fall back, staring blankly at the ceiling. Maybe he needed some fresh air.
If he stayed in the kitchen, he might burn the whole place down.
“I think you’re right, Marco. You take over for now.” He saw nothing as he hit the swinging door and left the restaurant.
Sophie had driven off, clearly upset.
She was out there, somewhere, her world torn apart, like she’d feared—and all he’d done was make it worse.
He’d done a lot of talking about being there for her, but that wasn’t how he’d acted. He’d made a bad situation worse and he didn’t have the first clue how to fix any of it.
If she wouldn’t listen to him, wouldn’t even look at him, how could he make things right?
The world didn’t come into focus until he was halfway across the great room.
“Wright. Wright!”
From one of the reading nooks, Trevor waved, flagging him down.
Behind Trev, he caught a glimpse of Sue Bradley.
“Hell no.” Wright kept walking. He was in no mood or position to deal with them right now.
“Wait.” Trevor followed, his footsteps heavy and quick. “Would you stop for a second?”
He jerked to a halt and turned on the youngest of the Bradley clan. “I’m not getting involved in whatever is going on over there. I’ve done enough. Believe me. Matter of fact, knowing this place, I’m sure you’ve already heard.”
“I already knew about you and Sophie, remember? Dev and Roark are in his office right now, arguing about you and everything else, but. . . you
haven’t done anything that can’t be fixed.”
Wright’s face twisted. Since when had Trev become the source of family positivity? “You’re wrong. I screwed things up with Sophie and her other brothers, and she definitely has.” He jabbed a finger toward Sue.
“You’re wrong. I’ve seen how you and Sophie are together. I’ve heard her talk about you. You can make things right if you try.”
“Did your brothers tell you I’m leaving Honeywilde?”
“Yep.”
“And that I didn’t tell Sophie.”
Trev nodded.
“Then how the hell do I make that right?”
“I don’t know. But I’m sure there’s a way.”
A rough exhale was dragged from his lungs. “Really? Because I’m not. I don’t think I can do anything but make matters worse, and I certainly can’t help Sue Bradley’s cause.”
Trevor gently pushed his hand down. “I’m not asking you to help her cause. She wanted to say hello to you while I . . . I don’t even know yet. I have to go talk to Roark and Dev. Try to get them to stop being angry long enough to hear me.”
“They have every right to be angry.”
“They do. But they don’t have to be.”
Wright had seen the effects of Sue and Robert Bradley’s marriage, the instability that bred insecurity in every single one of their children. When it came to their mother, how were they supposed to feel anything but hurt and anger?
He couldn’t read Sue’s mind—see if she really was simply here to make amends—but if that was the point of the visit, everyone stalking around in sullen silences wouldn’t help matters. Perhaps, if nothing else, talking to her would give him something to tell Sophie. Some reason for her to listen to him for at least a moment. It was a last resort, but when it came to getting her back, he wasn’t above anything.
“Five minutes,” he told Trevor. “I’ll listen for five minutes, but I am not getting involved.”
He followed Trev to the nook and remained standing. This wouldn’t take long.
Sue stood as well. “So. You and Sophie?” she smiled.
He scowled at the youngest Bradley. “Trevor has a big mouth.”
“Trevor talking too much is better than when he wasn’t talking at all.”
A Taste of Temptation Page 24