Checking in would be easier than going back to face her family.
“I’ll check in, but I don’t want to talk.”
“Fair enough.” Brooke ate more of her croissant, but the silence didn’t draw out for long this time. “You know, your Honeywilde might have the market on biscuits, but we make the best pastries. No offense to your chef.”
Sophie cringed, putting her coffee down.
“Okay, so it is about the cute chef you rolled in here with the other day.”
“We didn’t roll in here.”
Brooke’s laugh was completely incongruous with her appearance. A great big boom of a laugh. “You totally rolled in here.” Her smile was brilliant; perfect white teeth, even her red lipstick was still perfect. “And then you rolled upstairs,” she muttered.
Sophie hid her face in her hands.
“Now, now. I’m not saying it to pick at you. I’m stating facts. You two were obviously . . . you know.” Brooke lined her two pointer fingers up, side by side. “Do you even remember the cellar tour or the wine? I recall showing you some top-notch selections, while you only had eyes for each other.”
“We weren’t that obvious.”
Brooke sat back and ate her pastry, one dark eyebrow arched again.
“Were we really that obvious?”
“Yep.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. Of course they were. She was so smitten. Wright, the Prince Charming of her youth, had planned a special day for her. He’d meant what he said about doing something special for them.
Her lip trembled against her coffee cup, and she set the cup down before her hands did the same.
“We don’t have to talk about him if it upsets you that much.”
“No, no. It’s not . . .” Not what? She didn’t have another reasonable explanation for being here, for her reaction to talking about him.
Her heart was broken, and she could no longer deny it.
“Our chef—Wright, the guy I was here with—he’s leaving.”
Brooke’s dark eyes went wide, her expressive eyebrows raised. “No way. He’s been with you guys forever.”
“He’s been looking to leave Honeywilde for a while, and now he is. But he didn’t tell me until today and we’ve been . . . you know.” Losing him was a hit to the inn, but nothing compared to the damage to her heart.
Whether the depth of their connection was something she’d created in her mind or a very real and vital thing that he felt as much as her, he was leaving, and ripping her heart in two.
Even after that night he’d tried to kiss her and they hadn’t spoken for weeks, she’d gone right back to believing the best of him. She thought he was different; needed him to be different.
She loved him, and when you loved someone, they could easily hurt you. Life had taught her that years ago, and still she’d let him in.
She’d allowed all of this to happen.
Wright’s words came back to her, what he’d said about using his leaving as another reason to back away. Even before she knew he was leaving, she was backing away.
She began backing off as soon as her mother returned.
All it’d taken was one hint of a problem, and she was stepping back. Then, when the going really got tough, what had she done?
Sophie looked around the cozy lobby of her family’s competition.
She ran away.
Wright was wrong for lying to her, but he wasn’t wrong about her fear.
They’d been too close, happiness in her grasp, and she’d thrown it back at Wright and run.
She didn’t hate Wright for wanting more. Hate wasn’t something she did, and if he wanted to do something else with his life, that was his choice.
But she was furious with him for keeping this from her.
“Oh.” Brooke’s voice was solemn, her eyes filled with understanding. “It’s like that.”
Sophie swiped at her eyes. “Like what?”
“I’ve seen that look before. I’ve even worn that look. He broke your heart. We start talking about him, even mention the name Wright, and your whole face crumples. There it went again.”
Sophie tried to shrug off her emotions, but it was too late. Brooke saw.
She scooted to the end of her seat and leaned forward. “Hey. Does he know how you feel? This chef of yours?”
“Yes. As does everyone else now. Including my brother, Wright’s best friend. They didn’t know until today. We kind of... hid it from them.”
Brooke sucked a breath in between her teeth.
“Exactly.” Sophie nodded. “And Sue Bradley showed up last night.”
“You’re kidding? You’re not kidding.”
Sophie shook her head.
“Damn. You really have had a rough go of it. Why were y’all keeping the . . .” She lined her fingers up side by side again. “From your brothers.”
“Because . . .” Because she’d wanted to.
Because even if her family accepted that she wanted to be with Dev’s best friend, and even if they eventually got over the paradigm shift of who they were to each other and everyone else, it’d still be an issue at first.
There would be problems and disagreement, scrutiny, confrontation and heated discussions. And she hated all of that.
For years she’d fought the darker side of relationships, trying like hell to keep her pieced-together family in the light. Something as unexpected or even slightly controversial as her and Wright would push the Bradleys into the gray area, after they all finally had that elusive peace and prosperity they’d lacked forever.
So she’d hidden who she was and what she really wanted from her family. She’d lied to them because she didn’t think they could deal with the truth.
Sophie let her head fall back on the fancy lobby chair.
“Shit.” She borrowed Wright’s favorite word when he was beating himself up.
What hurt her so much and made her so damn mad at Wright was the exact same thing she’d done to her family.
She’d been so certain she was doing the right thing. So sure of herself, insisting she was protecting her brothers by keeping the truth from them. But she was only protecting herself. Afraid to disturb the peace because she longed for it. Scared of losing the bit of happiness she’d finally found.
Wright claimed he hadn’t told her about the job opportunities because he was afraid she couldn’t handle it. Maybe that was partially true, but he was protecting himself too. He was afraid of losing her.
Sophie rolled her head to the side to find Brooke studying her. The woman’s piercing gaze unnerved her, but she confessed anyway. “I think maybe I screwed up too.”
Brooke sipped her coffee, quiet a moment before nodding. “Probably. When it comes to matters of the heart, in my ill-fated experience, it often takes two to screw things up.”
With a shaky sigh, Sophie studied the ornate painted ceiling of the chateau’s lobby. Tiny woodland creatures stared down, and a deer stood in judgment of her. She’d been harsh when it came to judging Wright.
He thought he was doing the right thing, not telling her about leaving Honeywilde, the same way she’d thought she was wise to keep their relationship a secret.
They were both wrong. But now what?
She wanted someone to hold her, tell her everything would be okay. That person for her was now Wright. He was back at Honeywilde, where she’d left him, telling him they were over.
Brooke stood and held out her hand. “That’s enough. Stop rolling this around in your head or you’ll drive yourself mad. Trust me. Let’s get you checked in. You can stay here tonight, on the house. Wash up, take a nap. Whatever. And then come back down later and have dinner with me. Take some time away from Honeywilde to get your thoughts together.”
Sophie nodded as she got to her feet.
“You never know. When the dust settles on all this, things might not be as bad as you think.”
Chapter 26
For hours he drove around, looking for Sophie.
He checked the Tavern, the diner she loved, every yurt and empty cabin at Honeywilde—since hiding out in there was sometimes a thing.
By evening, he was desperate and checking all of the nearest lookout points along the Blue Ridge Parkway when his phone went off.
He scrambled, praying the call was from Sophie.
Instead, Dev’s name showed up.
“I need you to call this number,” Dev said before he could even get out the word “hello.” “Ask for Brooke, the manager of Chateau Jolie. She said she’d only talk to you.”
As soon as Dev mentioned Brooke, Wright knew. Sophie had gone to Jolie.
He repeated the number back to Dev and hung up, still repeating it in his mind as he dialed.
Brooke answered.
“This is Wright. Wright McAdams. Devlin Bradley told me to call you.”
“I have something here. Call it a lost and found. Are you looking for someone?”
“Thank God.” He rested his forehead against the steering wheel, the weight on his shoulders not gone but a few pounds lighter. “Is Sophie okay? I’ve looked everywhere.”
“Good answer. Because if you haven’t been searching for her, I was going to tell you to take a flying leap. She’s a sweet girl.”
“I know she is. Is she okay?”
“Physically, she’s fine. But no, she is not okay. You lied to her.”
Wright sat upright at Brooke’s tone. “I know I did, and I’m sorry.”
“Did you tell her that?”
He nibbled at his bottom lip. No, he hadn’t. Because he’d been too busy trying to defend his behavior.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“I want to tell her now. I want to see her and say I’m sorry. I will never do anything to hurt her again and—”
“That’ll do, that’ll do.” Brooke stopped him. “And don’t quote me on this, but I think she has some things she’d like to say to you too. You can come on over if you’re going to make things right.”
“I am,” he promised. He even had gifts. “I’ll be right there.”
When he made it to the Chateau, he hurried down the hall, hands full, to their special room. He needed to apologize, beg forgiveness, whatever he had to do to keep Sophie in his life.
First, he’d give her his gift, then let her speak, apologize, and grovel if he needed to. Anything to make it right.
After setting his bag down, he knocked twice. Finally, the safety lock slid back, the door slowly opening.
Sophie stood in the doorway, rumpled and wrinkly, pillow lines on her face. She was beautiful. The most gorgeous sight he’d ever seen.
“I was wrong. I should’ve told you about the jobs in Charleston and Asheville.” His plan from earlier went out the window; everything he wanted to say came spewing out instead. “I should’ve told you when we were here together. Or the next day. Or any day. I’m sorry I didn’t. I don’t want to go anywhere if it means losing you.”
Sophie’s mouth opened and closed, soundless. She stepped back and let him into the room.
Once inside, they hovered in the doorway.
“How did you know I was here?”
He wanted to reach for her so badly his fingers twitched with the need. “I should’ve known, but this time, I couldn’t predict you. Brooke called the inn.”
Sophie rubbed her eyes. “She did?”
“I think she’s looking out for you. I’ve been trying to find you all day. Everyone is worried.”
Her face fell. “How are my brothers?”
“Actually, they’re better than you might expect.”
The way her nose scrunched up tore at his heart. “Really?”
“Really. And I spoke with Dev.”
Her eyes went round. “Oh.”
Wright held his arm out toward the end of the bed. They could at least sit.
Wariness in her gaze, Sophie sat stiffly on the edge.
He eased down beside her. “He’s mad that we lied, but he said . . . well, he wants us to be happy, and if that means being together, he’ll be okay with that.”
“But your happiness means leaving Honeywilde.”
“Not if it means losing you. I can stay and be happy.”
She was shaking her head before he could finish the sentence. “No more lying. I know that’s not really what you want, and I don’t want you to stay at Honeywilde if your dream is to try something new.”
“What I want is you. I want both. Yes, I want to work somewhere else, somewhere new and challenging, but more than anything, I want to be with you. I want to find a way for us to be together, even if we aren’t working side by side. And I should’ve told you exactly that.”
She worried her bottom lip between her teeth.
“I want you, Sophie. There’s no one else for me, and that’s why I should’ve told you about New York and Charleston and Asheville. I shouldn’t have tried to protect you or hide the fact I was leaving. I should’ve known you could handle the truth, because it’s us.”
She dropped her gaze, fidgeting with a thread on the comforter. “I didn’t exactly give you cause to think I could handle it. Not with my track record. Wright, I . . . I’m sorry too.”
He opened his mouth to stop her, but she didn’t allow it. “No, I was wrong. And I’m sorry. You were right about the fight not only being about you leaving. With my mom back and you and me being so close, I got scared. The first hurdle we faced and I push you away. I thought, in the middle of all that going on . . . I don’t know. I thought I’d lose you if we told my family right then. There was already so much hurt and anger, and it’d mean losing you.”
“But that’s just it.” With his hands out, he turned toward her. “That’s what I realized when I was talking to your mom.”
Her chin jerked up. “You talked to my mom?”
“Yeah. And I realized as we were talking, I went through the last two weeks reminding myself, constantly telling myself that you and I would work because we were different. I know how things were with those other guys, but I also knew this was me and you. What we have is better than all that. We can weather the turmoil. We don’t need everything to be perfect and peaceful in order to survive. Even though you’re scared, even if everyone else is a mess, we can still be okay. I’m not going to lose you, you understand? Because what we have is different. It’s—”
“Special.” A sad smile curled her lips.
“Exactly.” With a gruff sigh, he looked away. “And I ruined everything because I forgot that. Believing we couldn’t survive me leaving Honeywilde or that you couldn’t handle the truth instead of giving you the chance to decide. Giving us the chance to work it out. I should’ve trusted you.”
Pushing herself up, she leaned into his field of vision, the same way he’d done to her, plenty of times. “You should’ve, but it’s kind of understandable why you didn’t. You know how I get, but yeah, I wish I’d known about you wanting to leave. I don’t know for sure if I would’ve been able to handle that kind of information, or you wanting to talk about the future, but with you . . .” She barely lifted one shoulder. “I feel like with you, I could. With you, sometimes I think anything is possible. Like I might even be able to hold on to happiness.”
He knew the perfect opening when he saw it.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Wright took her hand in his. He didn’t care if it was him shaking or her. Probably both of them. “Soph, I love you. I was wrong for not telling you days ago. I should’ve told you the last time we were here because that’s when I felt it. I knew when I was in this room with you. You were getting dressed and looking at me like I was nuts for lying there, staring at you.”
A laugh escaped her at the memory.
“I knew then, you’re the one. I want to be with you more than I want anything else in this world. If I could go back in time, I would tell past me to get his head out of his ass because you’re the best thing that will ever happen to me. I’d tell him to sit down with you, and even though it might scare you and
even though you might run, I should talk about the future and how much I want you in mine. Let you decide. Trust you to be strong enough to make that decision.”
Her bottom lip trembled as she smiled.
“But I’m doing that now because I can’t time travel.”
She bit her lip against the ghost of a smile.
“I want to do something beyond being head chef at Honeywilde and I want to be with you. For as long as we have left on this earth. I’ve wasted way too much time debating and fighting and keeping the truth from people, including you. So there it is. What happens next is up to you, but I love you, Sophie. I always have.”
He’d known her forever, but Sophie still managed to shock the shit out of him on occasion.
When she threw her arms around him, almost knocking him back on the bed, she did exactly that.
Wright wrapped his arms around her and buried his face against her hair.
She wasn’t saying anything, but this had to be a good sign.
Eventually, she let him go, her eyes shining, the tip of her nose a little red. “I love you too, Wright McAdams. You big dummy, I’ve loved you for years.”
He kissed her, with enough force that this time they did fall back on the bed. He kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in weeks.
Affectionate, seeking kisses, like long-lost lovers.
Then her tongue sought his, and the kisses quickly turned sensual, hungry.
Sophie slid her legs around him, wrapping them around his waist, holding him close.
Wright pushed himself up on one arm, brushing her hair back on the pillow with his free hand. “I want you so bad right now.”
“I’m right here.” She arched against him.
He kissed her, finding his favorite freckles again, following the trail of his kisses with his hands, stripping Sophie bare. She tugged at his clothes and there were no more words.
He loved her, and she loved him. And her family knew it. That was all he needed to know about his future. The rest, they’d find together.
A Taste of Temptation Page 26