Standing, Riley put the bowl of popcorn on the table and picked up his beer, finishing it off. “Yeah, you are.” Then he shook his head. “Forget it. It’s nothing.”
“Clearly it’s something, Ry. What’s going on?”
For a minute, Riley ignored him, putting all his attention on the television. When the game went to a commercial, he was shocked when the TV went blank. He turned and looked at Hugh. “What’d you do that for?”
“Because last I checked, neither of us were big on hockey. You drove all the way here, you didn’t call to let me know you were on your way. I think something’s on your mind, so spill it.”
He shook his head again and walked to the kitchen to put his empty bottle in the recycling bin. “Don’t you ever just feel the need to be…home?”
“I’m heading there next week. Lately, I’ve been feeling it.”
“It’s easy for you,” Riley began, sitting back down on the couch. “You’re your own boss. You can pretty much choose when you want to take a break. I can’t.”
“Um…yes, you can. Last I checked, you were the one pushing for such a lengthy tour. It’s got to be coming to an end soon. Why don’t you take time at the end of the schedule and go home? You know Dad would love it if you did.”
“Yeah, and I know I would enjoy it too—to have the chance to settle in and relax rather than a quick weekend or something. But…” He paused and then sighed wearily. He looked Hugh in the eyes, his expression bleak. “Do you really think I’m shallow?”
Well, crap. Hugh had known he might have to stroke his brother’s ego a little bit when he got back here, but he’d thought it would be over Aubrey’s reaction to him, not Hugh’s. “Dude, I already apologized. I didn’t mean…”
“No, that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean in general. Do you think I’m shallow because I don’t give a shit and I basically let my management team manipulate me so that I keep up an image?”
“Where is this coming from? Did someone say that to you?”
There was a slight hesitation before Riley replied. “It came up recently. I was supposed to be interviewed for one of those music industry documentaries, but the producers declined and pulled me off the project because they didn’t think I had enough substance. I mean, what the hell does that mean? And who is saying this crap?”
“Did you try talking to them? Or having your manager talk to them?”
Riley shrugged. “You know Mick. He’s a great manager but he hates confrontation. He told me to forget about it and focus on other projects. The only problem is, I can’t. It’s like I’m obsessed with doing the damn documentary! I can’t write… I’m stuck in my own head right now and seriously doubting myself.”
“And you think going home will help?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. It might be nice to surround myself with people who don’t think I’m crap.”
“No one thinks that, Riley.”
“Obviously somebody does. And that person—or persons—cost me the opportunity to be part of a project I was really looking forward to!”
Unable to help himself, Hugh yawned. It was late and it had been a long and tedious day. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m damn near exhausted too.” Standing back up, he stretched. “I’m sorry I interrupted your time with Aubrey tonight.”
Hugh stood and squeezed his brother’s shoulder. “I’m not gonna lie to you, I wanted to beat the crap out of you when you walked in. But I know you didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Yeah, not like when you had Mary Kate Miller in the basement when you were sixteen and Owen and I crept down and hid in the closet, right?”
“You jumped out and scared the crap out of us.” Hugh chuckled. “And yeah, I pretty much wanted to beat the crap out of you then too.”
“If I remember correctly, you chased us up the stairs and right out of the house. Owen ran for three blocks before he realized you’d gone back inside.”
“He never takes chances.”
“Sure he does,” Riley said defensively. “He’s a scientist, always trying to disprove whatever theories are currently out there in hopes of making a name for himself. If you ask me, Owen’s the bravest of all of us.”
Hugh couldn’t help but be a little envious. Riley and Owen were fraternal twins and as different as night and day, and yet they had a bond stronger than any of the other siblings. “Make sure you tell him that next time we’re all together and he’s having a panic attack because a woman looked at him.”
Riley couldn’t help but chuckle. “He can’t help that he’s shy.”
“Makes him all the more irresistible to the ladies,” Hugh teased.
Together they walked to the kitchen. Riley ditched the rest of the popcorn and put the bowl in the sink. Hugh immediately took it out and placed it in the dishwasher.
“Unclench once in a while, Hugh. No one ever died from leaving a dirty dish in the sink.”
“That’s beautiful, man. Maybe you can write a song about it.”
A colorful curse came out of Riley’s mouth as he turned toward his bedroom. “Screw you.”
“So poetic,” Hugh taunted.
At the door to his room, Riley turned. “What ungodly time do you get up in the morning?”
“Around eight. I like to be in my office at nine. Why? Plan on getting up with me?”
“Hell no. Just curious if you were going to be around.”
“What about you? How long are you staying?”
“Anxious to get rid of me already?”
Hugh smiled and shook his head. “No. Just curious. I’m only going to be here until Saturday and then we’re heading on to Hilton Head.”
“We?” Riley said as he waggled his eyebrows. “You and the blond?”
“Her name is Aubrey,” Hugh said through clenched teeth.
Riley rolled his eyes. “Fine. Aubrey. Is she the ‘we’ you were talking about?”
“As a matter of fact, she is.”
“I’ll probably leave here Friday afternoon then, if it’s okay.”
“Where are you off to? Another show this weekend?”
“Yeah. Texas. I told Mick I’d meet him for lunch Friday here in town and then we’d fly out together.”
“How many more dates until the tour is done?” Hugh was leaning against his own bedroom door frame. He was mentally and physically exhausted, but more than anything, he was worried about his brother.
“Fifteen.”
“How long will those take?”
“Eight weeks.”
“Damn.”
“Exactly.” Riley yawned widely. “Look, we’re almost to the point of grunting because we’re both so damn tired. Go get some sleep and I’ll catch up with you at some point tomorrow. I plan on sleeping as long as humanly possible and then ordering some food to the room before I sit by the pool for a couple of hours.”
“Try not to cause a riot.” And before he turned away, Hugh added, “I’ll let security know you’re here. Call me when you’re heading down and I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed.”
“Dude…” He yawned and pointed. “Best.”
“Right back at ya.”
* * *
Aubrey felt completely inspired. Invigorated.
Her outing with Elaine had been exactly what she needed to fill in the gaps regarding the West Palm Beach launch. They arrived back at the resort a little after one and after waving good-bye to her new friend, Aubrey immediately headed for her suite. While she knew she’d told Hugh she’d stop in and see him when she got back, she was too wound up with excitement and needed to get all of her ideas down on paper before the inspiration fled. Besides, they were back earlier than she had thought. She’d seek him out in an hour.
At least that had been her plan.
The weather outside was downright per
fect—blue skies, sun shining, a gentle breeze—and all Aubrey could do from her desk in her suite was keep looking outside. Commending herself on at least trying to stay inside and work, she ran and changed into a pair of shorts and tank, gathered her laptop and notebook, and fairly skipped out the door.
Once outside, she contemplated where to go—one of the gardens or the pool. She could get something to drink and have a little more space to spread out by the pool, so she headed that way.
Since all Hugh’s resorts were geared for couples and not families, there weren’t any loud noises in the pool area. The few people who were there were simply enjoying the sunshine and keeping to themselves. Aubrey spotted an umbrella-covered table off to the side of the concession/bar area and made a beeline for it. The sun felt glorious and she kept an internal dialogue going with herself on the benefits of being outside.
Stopping briefly at the bar, she ordered a glass of lemonade and settled in at the table. With her laptop open and her notes spread out, Aubrey took a deep breath, ready to get to work, when…
“Not a bad spot for an office. I mean, if you’ve got to work, why not make it someplace tropical, right?”
Looking up, she saw Riley Shaughnessy smiling down at her.
And wanted to crawl under the table and die.
All night she had beaten herself up over not knowing who he was and insulting him. She had hoped to avoid seeing him while he was here and cursed her impetuous decision to work outside. She smiled at him. “Oh…hi, Riley.”
If he sensed she was nervous, he didn’t let on. Instead, he pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. “What are you working on?”
Nervously, she cleared her throat. “Oh, um… It’s a campaign I’m working on for Hugh.”
He nodded. “A campaign, huh? What for? Is it only for this resort?”
Studying his face, Aubrey realized he wasn’t just making small talk. He was genuinely interested. “It’s for all the resorts. He’s working on a deal with a wine distributor. We worked out the preliminaries, and now it’s up to me to flesh out the ideas and do a presentation to seal the deal, so to speak.”
Riley relaxed a little in his seat. “So you get to come up with an idea for what—an advertisement? Brochures? Slogans?”
“There’s more to it than that. We’ll be hosting launch parties at each of the resorts with a VIP guest list—the entire event will focus on the new wines. We’ll have special menus to complement them as well.”
He nodded. “So you have to come up with the party plan and theme and then…what? Clone it? Get the footprint—so to speak—to each of the resorts to carry out?”
“No, we’re going to make each one its own personalized event. They’ll be customized based on their locations, local cultures, foods, and such. Your brother is going to go through the extensive list of wines and choose which ones he wants for each resort location, and then we’ll work on the menus and what sort of theme we want for the party. It’s going to be a lot of work to pull it all together, but when we’re through, it’s going to be amazing.”
A wide smile crossed Riley’s face. “So you do this sort of thing for a living?”
Aubrey blushed and broke eye contact, suddenly embarrassed. “Um…sort of. I used to do a lot of charity events and fund-raisers for my father’s business. I always wanted to branch out and do more, but…it wasn’t necessary.”
“So how did you land this gig then?”
“Honestly? Right place at the right time,” she said with a small laugh. “I happened to meet the wine guy and we struck up a conversation. I had no idea who he was or that your brother was looking to do business with him. He bounced some ideas off me and I gave him my thoughts and the next thing I knew, he was telling Hugh he wanted me to work on the project! It was…surreal.”
Riley’s eyes narrowed a little. “You could have said no.”
Aubrey had met enough people in her years of working with the public to know when someone was fishing for information. There was a hint of suspicion, if she wasn’t mistaken, and she wasn’t the least bit offended by it. Aubrey had no doubt there were many people who would question how she came to land this position.
Rather than get defensive or argue with him, she simply agreed. “You’re right. I could have said no, but after talking with Bill, I had a clear vision of what I could do with this campaign. Hugh was angry about it, and I was ready to just step back and say ‘thanks but no thanks.’”
“But…” Riley prompted.
“But…Bill told Hugh the only way he was going to agree to do business with him was if I worked on the campaign.”
Riley laughed out loud. “Seriously? Hugh must have pitched a fit! He hates it when people stray from the plan.”
She tucked that bit of information away for a later time. “Well, I didn’t see him pitch anything, but he let me know he wasn’t pleased with the turn of events.” Aubrey paused, sighing. “I really didn’t intend to make things difficult for Hugh. I was just having a conversation with a guy in a restaurant.” She shrugged. “I didn’t seek out this job, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to give it up. I’m good at what I do and I know I can make your brother proud.”
Riley seemed pleased with her answer. Looking over his shoulder, he motioned for the bartender to bring him a drink. Once the club soda and lime was placed in front of him, Riley thanked him and turned his attention back to Aubrey. “So tell me, what have you got planned so far for these one-of-a-kind events? Or are you keeping them a secret for now?” His tone was low, almost a whisper, as if they were in cahoots with one another.
Aubrey giggled. “I’m sure you have other things to do than sit here and listen to my party ideas.”
Taking a sip of his drink, Riley shook his head. “Nope. I’m all yours.”
A girl didn’t need to know exactly who Riley Shaughnessy was to know his brand of charm could be lethal. How many women would kill to have him make such a statement to them? Aubrey could only imagine. Looking around the pool area, she was amazed no one was bothering him. There were several bikini-clad women lounging around and yet none of them were pestering Riley. How was it possible?
“Security,” Riley said.
She turned her attention back to him. “Excuse me?”
“I said security. I see you looking around—you’re probably wondering why no one is hovering around, making a nuisance of themselves.” He shrugged. “Hugh arranged for his security people to alert the guests that I’m not to be disturbed—or hounded.”
“Oh,” Aubrey said and began shuffling her things together. “And here I am yammering on about my work. I’m sorry. You were probably wanting a little time to yourself and I’m disturbing you.” She stood. “I never should have—”
Riley reached out and placed a hand on her arm to stop her. “In case you’ve forgotten, I approached you. So if anyone’s guilty of disturbing anyone, it’s me for disturbing you. You were all set to do some work and I invited myself to sit down.” He flashed her a boyish grin. “That would mean I owe you an apology.”
“Oh.” She blushed again. “It’s okay. Really. I…I just wanted to work outside. The weather is perfect and I never get to do this.”
“And I can’t blame you. Like I said when I came over, it’s a great office space.” He smiled at Aubrey and they both relaxed back in their seats. “Hey, listen… Are you hungry? I haven’t had lunch yet so I’m going to order a burger. Would you like something?”
“Thank you, but I had lunch a little earlier.”
He shrugged. “So? That doesn’t mean you can’t have a snack. Are you hungry? What did you have for lunch?”
“A salad.” At the look on his face, Aubrey quickly added, “It was a pretty big salad. It had chicken and lots of veggies and…”
“And it’s rabbit food. C’mon. Have a bite to eat with me. You can bounce some ideas off me while
we eat. What do you say?”
“Well…” She stopped to think about her options. “I guess it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have a snack. Maybe some fruit or—”
Riley held up a hand to stop her. “Uh-uh. If you’re going to sit here and have a snack with me while I’m eating a gourmet burger and fries, you’re going to need to eat something with a little more substance. How about I get the burger and we’ll split an order of cheesy fries? What do you say?”
Her inner voice, who rarely got to have any fun, was doing backflips at the thought of having such a decadent snack. Fries? With cheese? Um…yes, please! But then the other little voice—the one who sounded suspiciously like her mother—chimed in, making a tsk-ing sound. Aubrey immediately felt herself tense up. Greasy snacks—especially between meals—were always big no-no’s when she was growing up. Even though she knew she was an adult capable of making her own decisions, Aubrey still had a problem when it came to breaking from how she was raised.
To be good?
Or to be bad?
Riley watched her expectantly. “I mean, don’t get me wrong,” he began, “I could totally eat both by myself, and if you’re not hungry, I’m not going to force you to eat cheese fries. Or a milk shake.”
Aubrey’s ears perked up and she saw the mischievous twinkle in Riley’s eyes. “Milk shake? You mean like a real ice cream milk shake?”
He leaned in close, all devilishly handsome and bad-boy charm. “Vanilla or chocolate?”
Was he serious? With a wicked smile of her own, Aubrey leaned in too. “Chocolate.”
Riley broke out laughing and called the bartender back over to give him their order. Once the man was gone, he leaned back in his seat, still smiling. “Aubrey, I think you and I are going to get along just fine.”
* * *
Hugh looked at his watch for the tenth time and frowned. Where was Aubrey? It was almost four o’clock and she hadn’t shown up. Was it really possible she and Elaine were still driving around town?
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