Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  Ryan beamed at Juliet. “It was more like complete adoration at first sight,” he said, pulling her hand up to kiss.

  I stifled a groan. This might be harder to watch than I’d anticipated.

  “Are you willing to talk a bit about Zac Stevens? Your divorce and the rumors surrounding it?” The interviewer asked my sister, who stiffened slightly.

  “We don’t need to drag her through that,” Ryan said.

  Juliet relaxed a bit. “It’s fine. What do you want to know?”

  I’d never liked Zac. I wasn’t entirely sure Juliet had really liked him. I’d always thought there was something odd about their relationship, but now watching Juliet stiffly holding Ryan’s hand, I was beginning to think maybe that’s just how my sister was when she was with a man. It was strange, though.

  “There are rumors that Zac was caught cheating with one of the staff at your house, Juliet. Is that accurate?” I already knew this was true. I hated that my sister had to deal with that.

  Juliet nodded. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “And it was you who caught them?”

  “Again, yes. Not my favorite way to return home after being on location for weeks.” She tried a smile, but it faltered. I’d already heard the whole story, and I hated it. Poor Juliet.

  Ryan reached out his other hand and laid it atop Juliet’s, cradling her hand between his. She shot him a grateful smile. He was sweet, caring.

  “There are other rumors,” the reporter continued. “About the settlement. That you’re being blackmailed, that Zac has a tape he’s threatening to release.”

  I felt shock work its way through me. Was this what Juliet had wanted to tell me? Was Zac really enough of a dick to be trying to blackmail the woman who made him famous and gave him a life he never would have had on his own?

  Juliet forced a tight smile to her lips. “That is something I can’t discuss, actually,” she said. “The settlement is still being sorted by the lawyers, so I’m not able to give you any specifics, I’m afraid.”

  “But what about the blackmail rumor?” The reporter persisted.

  Ryan leaned forward, gave the reporter a smile that made my blood heat. “I think we can find other things to talk about, can’t we? No one in the midst of a divorce wants their dirty laundry aired. Not even America’s sweetheart.” His words said, “back off, lady,” but his tone and his smile almost made me believe he’d invited the reporter home for Christmas, they were so charming.

  She stilled, swallowing a frown, and then moved on to asking about the movie Ryan and Juliet had just finished working on. I listened, but found myself more and more distracted just watching Ryan. The way his long legs stretched out before him, clad in dark jeans that showed the contours of the muscles beneath, the easy set of his torso in the chair. His clean-shaven face and the azure blue eyes surrounded by all those dark lashes gave him an aura of sincerity, of good-natured strength that drew me in. And his voice was gravel laced with honey; every time he spoke, something inside me stood to attention, urged me to move closer.

  At one point I met his eyes over the head of the interviewer and my entire body zinged with a jolt of vibrating fire. I’d tried to avoid looking right at him, but when his gaze met mine, he held it for a long minute. And when he dropped my eyes and turned back to my sister, I was left feeling cold. This was not good.

  As the first portion of the interview wrapped up and the threesome stood and made to move through the house for photos in various places, I felt like I was rousing myself from sleep. I’d been watching Ryan so intensely, given the ability to do so by the setup of the interview and the situation. And I’d been watching my sister, too—watching them together. It was like picking at a painful wound, but I couldn’t help it.

  The reporter spotted me as they moved from the room. “So,” she said. “Thanks for setting everything up for us, Tess. And for handling the runaway chicken situation.”

  “It’s no trouble,” I lied. It was a fair amount of trouble, and given that we were expecting about a hundred guests tomorrow evening for Gran’s ninetieth birthday party, I had a lot of other things I could be doing.

  “So nice of you to let us invade like this.” She looked thoughtful. “Would you be willing to be in a few photos? Janet can touch up your makeup a bit.” She indicated a girl seated next to an open case, brushes and powders on the table before her.

  I eyed Janet and her array of tools. Makeup had never been my forte. I’d dashed through the shower this morning and then put on a little blush and mascara before swiping a gloss on my lips and coming down.

  “Um. Sure,” I said. A tiny part of me thrilled at getting to stick a toe into the world where my sister lived. But another part of me wondered why I would bother. This wasn’t my thing at all. My world was kayaks and paddles, water, sunscreen, and bug spray.

  The reporter grinned and nodded once at Janet, who waved me to her table, where she proceeded to douse me in powders and creams, pulling my hair from its clip and waving a blow dryer around me. A half hour later, I joined Gran on the back porch, where she was expounding on the history of our plantation. She particularly liked the less glamorous parts.

  “What most people wouldn’t probably know about Tobias Walthen,” she was saying, “was that he was a man of great appetites, if you get my drift.”

  The assembled crewmembers shrugged and shook their heads. They were not getting her drift. Jack patted Chessy as he listened to Gran.

  “Well, he had four different wives at one point, but he was a nice guy, see? When Thomas Jefferson came down this way, staying at this very house while he picked up some tips on growing tobacco and cannabis back at his own place in Virginia, Tobias offered to share.”

  “Share his …” One of the cameramen said.

  “His women!” Gran confirmed, her voice shrill with delight. “And then there was the time Alexander Hamilton—“

  “That’s probably enough history,” I said, giving Gran a meaningful look.

  She shrugged and returned to her book, muttering about people getting all worked up about nothing. I took a seat at the table, and gazed out over the lawn. One of the photographers was standing near Ryan and Juliet, posing them in front of a huge old tree. Juliet was smiling at the camera. Ryan’s heated gaze, however, was focused on me.

  Chapter 9

  Ryan

  Tess wasn’t the kind of woman who needed makeup to look better. She was gorgeous in every incarnation I’d seen so far—when she’d stood uncertainly on the steps as we’d arrived, sweating out in the barn from moving tables and chairs, and covered in perspiration and dressed in workout gear when she’d nearly knocked me over on the stairs. Every time I saw her it felt like seeing her again for the first time, like some kind of epic revelation my brain couldn’t hang on to. But seeing her out on the porch after Janet finished touching up her makeup and hair … I’d honestly never been more attracted to anyone.

  We stood just off the porch, and I looked up at her in amazement. Her dark hair cascaded around her gorgeous pale face, hanging in loose waves over her shoulders and down her back. Her skin glowed from within, the lightest blush touching her pale cheeks. And her eyes—always compelling and deep—had become endless pools of light, reflecting the mid-morning sun in the green and brown depths.

  “Ryan,” the photographer called, and I snapped my head around to see Juliet and the camera crew standing on the grass waiting for me to follow. I’d been literally stunned still by Tess’s appearance, and realized much too late that I’d been staring.

  Tess gave me a smile, one that seemed to say, “okay, creeper, move along,” and I came back to myself. I was never going to sell how into Juliet I was if I kept drooling over her sister. I jogged across the lawn to Juliet, each step away from Tess feeling so wrong it hurt.

  “Tess, will you join us?” the reporter, Alison Sands, called to her. “And we need a few shots with your grandmother, too.”

  I slipped an arm around Juliet’s waist, more co
nscious than ever that I was in danger of ruining the deception, that my hammering heart and distracted mind might give us away if anyone had the slightest reason to suspect Juliet wasn’t the cause of them. I didn’t turn to watch Tess approach, but I could fucking feel her draw near as we turned to look out toward the water.

  “Hey, babe,” Juliet said, leaning into my side. Right. Juliet. Focus on Juliet. I owed her my best performance.

  Alison grinned at us. “What a cute couple,” she said. “Would you guys be up for some sexier shots? I saw the airport footage and it’s trending so well online. I think people are up for seeing more of that intimacy between you.” She waved us toward the edge of the lawn, where it sloped down into sand at the edge of the river.

  “Sure,” I said, still feeling a tether pulling my focus backward, where I knew Tess was just feet from me.

  “Tess, why don’t you jump in here for now? We’ll get a few shots of you with the couple and the big house in the background, a few with Helen, and then a couple of the water. And then we’ll get to the sexy stuff.”

  Tess let out a laugh that sounded uncomfortable, and it worked its way inside me. This had to be strange for her, having this odd interruption to her daily life, having these people here. I glanced at the enormous security guys who stood on the periphery, constantly vigilant on her sister’s behalf. The bigger one—Jace, I think his name was?—looked extremely unhappy as he stared at my arm around Juliet’s waist. I wondered for a brief moment if she might need to worry about her bodyguard turning obsessive. I’d heard stories about things like that. But Juliet had hired the best, she’d told me so when I’d mentioned the guys who’d been accompanying us everywhere since I’d met her in the town car to begin our charade.

  The photographer arranged us, Juliet in the circle of my arms and Tess standing at her side, and we shot for what felt like hours, eventually adding Gran to the mix too. I hoped the shots were good, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how I had the wrong woman in my arms.

  We moved around the property a bit, posing here and there, always me with Juliet, Tess on the side, and eventually, Gran seated in front of us, complaining loudly and plucking at the dress Tess had made her go change into. “This is why I only wear cotton,” she said. “Preferably Juicy Couture. Doesn’t bind. Plenty of give.”

  Alison was scribbling furiously.

  “You don’t need to include that,” Tess said, laughing. “Just pretend she’s being gracious and acting like any other ninety year old woman.”

  “Damn it, you people!” Gran spit out. “I’m not ninety until tomorrow. For now, I’m fifty-nine, just like I have been for years.”

  Gran lightened the mood, but it all felt so false to me. Still, nothing was worse than when Tess stood behind the photographer watching us as Juliet and I were directed to lay down in the grass with the water behind us. If only I did have the hots for Juliet, it would have been a dream come true—staking my claim publicly for all of America to see. Instead, it felt like the worst acting I’d ever done.

  They took shots of her straddling me, her hair cascading down around us as she sat with her long legs bent on either side of my hips and I reached up, holding her. They took shots of me hovering over her, as if we were close to losing control and going for it right here on the ground with everyone around. They pushed us to be closer, to make it sexier, and they even got a few shots with Juliet’s leg up around my hip and my hand on her breast. It was veering out of PG territory, and I tried as hard as I could not to look at Tess, but it was impossible, especially with Gran at her side, occasionally heckling things like, “Get it, son!”

  Tess was beautiful, even as she watched Juliet and me together. Her eyes burned and her skin flushed, and I wondered if she felt it too—this strange connection between us. I barely knew her, so why did I feel like I was betraying her somehow, out here touching her sister for the camera? She was practically a stranger, but I knew I couldn’t watch her rolling around on the ground with another man. It would potentially kill me. And Tess’s body language and darting eyes told me it wasn’t comfortable for her either. Or was I reading into the way her breath seemed to lift her chest in shallow breaths, the high red dots in her cheeks?

  “I think we’ve got what we need for now,” Alison said finally. Relief washed through me and I practically leapt away from Juliet before remembering myself and stepping back a bit.

  We thanked the crew and they packed up and headed for the van out front while we headed back to the house.

  “I’ll get some lunch put together,” Tess said tightly over her shoulder, and then she disappeared into the house, leaving Juliet and me on the front step.

  “I think that went really well,” Juliet said, stepping away from me and glancing nervously at the security guard who stood at the edge of the porch. She probably worried he might overhear us—I assumed even her security detail didn’t know we were just pretending, though they must have been confused by my sudden appearance at Juliet’s side. They had to know I hadn’t been around the house prior to this trip, that we hadn’t needed them to check restaurants or hold off photographers around town at home. I pulled her farther down the long porch to a set of chairs, and we sat down.

  “I think we should tell your sister,” I said. I hadn’t even planned to say it, but the feeling that I was lying to Tess was eating at me. Which made no sense, given that she was basically a stranger. But there it was. I wanted her to know, needed her to know that I wasn’t interested in Juliet.

  Juliet’s eyebrows flew up and she widened her eyes at me. “I don’t know,” she said. “The more people believing we’re a couple, the better.”

  “It’s just hard to keep it all up inside the house,” I said. “And she already knows we are sleeping in separate rooms. And the interview’s over.”

  “That’s true,” she said, one finger at the edge of her lips. She lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “The reporters are coming back for the party, but I guess we can tell Tess. We’d better not tell Gran, though. You never know what she’ll say.”

  “Gran seems pretty harmless,” I said, my heart swelling at the idea of telling Tess the truth and my head spinning with the possibility of telling her other things.

  “Gran is many things. She’s not harmless, though.” Juliet looked wary and I wondered how dangerous a little old lady could really be. Though hearing her yell “go for it, Jules!” as we were instructed to grope one another on the lawn made me think maybe Juliet had a point.

  When Tess came out to get us for lunch, I followed the sisters through the house, waiting for Juliet to say the words that would free me, to tell Tess what I needed her to know. I’d offered to tell her, but Juliet had looked at me like I was crazy. Of course it would be her place to tell her.

  Lunch was quiet—everyone gazing out over the rolling green lawn and staying inside their own heads. Every time Juliet opened her mouth I hoped it would be to let the cat out of the bag, and my heart would climb just a bit up my throat. But she didn’t broach the topic.

  We cleaned our dishes up, Tess avoiding my eye the entire time as I struggled with my desire to just blurt the truth.

  It wasn’t my truth to tell her though. Juliet had been clear about that. They were sisters. I was the outsider.

  Chapter 10

  Tess

  Watching Ryan and Juliet take sexy photos on the bank of the river was a challenge. I’d lived my life watching my sister get pretty much everything she wanted—or at least getting the things most people seemed to want. And watching her with Ryan was like grinding salt into recently opened old wounds that I’d been sure were healed over.

  Which I was aware was one hundred percent ridiculous.

  Ryan was a movie star I’d just met. He and my sister were together. And for good reason—she was perfect. She was gorgeous and thin, funny and charming. Standing next to her had always made it pretty clear who got the good-looks genes in our family.

  Still, it wasn’t like I had a self-
esteem problem. I’d always been happy with myself. I looked just like our mother, so how could that ever be a bad thing? My mother had been soft and sweet, with her long dark hair and her wide light eyes. I missed her, and if I got to see her again when I looked into the mirror in some small way, I was happy about that.

  Still, I needed to remember I wasn’t a movie star. And I didn’t date them. Soon they’d be back on a plane to Hollywood and this would all be just a memory. I needed to focus on that. On my life here. On me, Gran, my business.

  The strange intimacy that had sprung up between Ryan and me was compelling, but I had to keep telling myself it didn’t mean anything.

  And that became easier as I went in and pulled lunch together. My phone chimed on the counter with a text, and I moved to pick it up.

  Gran. Who had raced to her gaming room as soon as the interviewers had left. Evidently she’d scanned the news before she logged onto her game, because she’d sent me a link along with about thirty emojis of everything from camels to little faces with hearts all around them, and even a few pretty vulgar emojis I didn’t even know existed.

  I was considering revoking her phone privileges.

  I pulled up the link. It was the video I’d seen just before Juliet arrived, and as much as I dreaded watching it again, I couldn't help it.

  The video began, and there were my sister and Ryan at LAX, making out like teenagers. She looked completely enraptured with the kiss, and then his hand slipped to her breast and my stomach turned. I switched off the phone, shoving it into my back pocket and turning back to the counter with my heart in my throat. Why the hell did I care?

  “Hey.” Juliet stepped in through the swinging back door after we’d finished lunch. “Can I talk to you?”

  I didn’t want to look at her. It was immature and silly, but I was feeling angry with her, angry for being Juliet. For being gorgeous, for being famous. And I knew that was unfair but it was an old jealousy. Maybe it was in my DNA. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that this was my sister. I loved her. And I didn’t see her enough. “Sure.” My voice wasn’t as friendly as I’d intended it to be.