Heartstrings (Brody Hotel Book 2)

by Amelia C. Adams

  Heartstrings

  Brody Hotel Book Two

  by Amelia C. Adams

  With thanks to my beta readers—Amy, Caryn, Joseph, Mary, Meisje, Renee, Shelby, and Tammy.

  Copyright © 2018 Amelia C. Adams

  Cover design by Steven Novak

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  About the Author and Links

  If you missed book one of this series, click here!

  Chapter One

  Topeka, Kansas

  2018

  Tabitha Morrow pulled her car into the parking lot of the Brody Hotel and turned off the ignition. She’d just come from her old office, picking up the mail and handing in the key. Everything had been moved out the day before, and now she and her boss, Marissa Clark, were working out of their apartments—well, mostly Marissa’s apartment. Tabs felt a tremendous amount of relief knowing that they’d just cut their overhead by such a huge margin. It wasn’t her job to worry about the bills, but because Marissa was her best friend, she cared very much about the bottom line of their interior decorating company, and this was going to help them out a lot.

  Before she even opened the front door of the hotel, she could hear the whining sound of machinery, and then a deep grinding noise that rattled the building to its footings. Great. Just great.

  Andrew Brody, owner of the hotel and the ringmaster behind this whole circus, looked up from the long table in the middle of the lobby area. “Welcome to the command center,” he said, waving his arms around in a circle. “They’re rewiring the private living quarters and the office, so we’ve moved the heart of the operations out here.”

  She had to strain to hear him over the construction noise. “And then you’ll move everything back when they start working in here?” The table was stopping the natural flow of foot traffic and making her feng shui unhappy.

  “Whatever we have to do,” Andrew replied. “I know it’s not convenient, but we’ll make it work somehow.”

  She nodded. “What’s that horrible noise?”

  “Oh, that? They’re sanding the floors upstairs so they can resurface them.”

  As per Marissa’s design plan. Tabs knew it was going to look fantastic when it was done, but in the meantime . . . well, in the meantime, she’d make sure to have a bottle of ibuprofen on hand at all times. “Is Marissa here?”

  “She’s in the kitchen.”

  “Thanks.”

  Tabs walked down the hallway from the lobby to the dining room, and then into the kitchen. She wasn’t expecting to see Griffin Baker, architect extraordinaire and Marissa’s ex-boyfriend, hunched over the kitchen table with Marissa. She paused, then approached cautiously. They seemed to be using calm voices. She could detect no weapons. Neither seemed poised to sweep the other’s leg. Perhaps this wasn’t a dangerous situation after all.

  “Hey, Tabs,” Marissa said, standing up straighter and catching sight of her friend. “We’re talking about ripping out this back wall and extending it. Griffin says he thinks they can do it without too much trouble, and it would give us a whole bunch more room for a walk-in fridge and freezer.”

  “Sounds great,” Tabs said, keeping her voice neutral until she was sure how things were. “Hi, Griffin.”

  “Hi, Tabs. It’s nice to see you.” He gave her a smile, and she immediately became defensive. This guy had broken her friend’s heart into microscopic pieces. No way was she going to be all buddy-buddy with him. He could just keep his smiles to himself. Even if they were million-watt smiles. With dimples.

  “You too. So, Marissa, I got the mail.” She decided the best thing to do was change the subject. “Mrs. Too-Good-for-Other-Human-Beings paid us.”

  “Good.” Marissa took the envelope and slid it into her folder. “We’re all wrapped up at the office?”

  “Yup.”

  “Thanks for taking care of that. I’d be too depressed. Hey, would you go see if Tony’s here yet? He was checking with the city about our building permits, and we can’t actually do anything until we’ve got those. I don’t want to get my heart set on this if it turns out we can’t do it.” Marissa tapped her finger on the design she and Griffin had been studying.

  “Sure.” Tabs turned and headed back up the hallway, glad to be excused from the conversation in the kitchen. Griffin just made her blood boil. After he and Marissa broke up, he’d actually asked Tabs out. No way. Not happening. She wasn’t going to break the best friends’ code like that—she wouldn’t even if she liked the guy.

  “Hey, Tabs. Wait up.”

  No. Just no. With a sigh, she paused in the hallway and turned. Griffin walked toward her, looking resplendent—no, looking ridiculous—in a snug button-down shirt and jeans.

  “Yes?” She drawled out the word.

  “I’m glad you’re here today. I was hoping we could talk.”

  “I’m here every day.”

  “Yeah. I know. I mean, I’m glad we’re in the same part of the building so I could see you.”

  Was he actually flustered? That was so annoyingly flattering. She motioned down to herself. “Here I am.”

  “Yeah. And I’m glad.” He leaned with one arm braced on the wall, probably trying to get a little swagger back. “You look good.”

  “Thank you. I’ve found a new brand of conditioner I really like. It was originally invented for poodles, but I thought, if it’s good enough for a poodle, it’s good enough for me.”

  He chuckled. “I’ve always liked your hair. Listen, Tabs. I really feel bad about how we left things before. Can we talk? Go to dinner, maybe, and clear the air?”

  She pulled in a breath and let it out slowly. It was about time those yoga breathing classes paid off. “I appreciate that you want to set things right, but honestly, I’m good. Let’s move forward, okay? No point in bringing things up that don’t matter anymore.”

  “But they do matter because you’re obviously still angry with me.”

  “And that will be my project goal for this next week. I’ll write it in my bullet journal—likely with my green pen, because green is a healing color—and I’ll do some meditation on it. Then I’ll burn it while chanting something positive. Everything will be fine.”

  “I wish you’d be serious for just one minute.”

  “And I wish we weren’t having this conversation, but I think we’re both going to be disappointed.” She gave him a fake grin. “Have a great day. I need to find Tony so you can build us a hotel.”

  She was muttering to herself as she entered the lobby and not watching where she was going, and she ran full tilt into someone’s chest. Someone’s very broad and nice chest. She stepped back, embarrassed, and looked up into Tony Espinozo’s smiling face.

  “Oh, hi, Tony,” she said. “Sorry about that. I was just . . .”

  “Waving your arms around and giving some imaginary person a piece of your mind?”

  Her mouth dropped open. “I was waving my arms?”

  He nodded, grinning. “It’s nice to see someone so passionate about something. Who were you talking to?”

  Tabs glanced around, but didn’t see anyone nearby who’d be able to hear her over the noise of the sanders. “Griffin. I was talking to him in the hallway for reals, and then I was talking to him in my head. I didn’t yell the first time, but I’m pretty sure I did the second.”

  “The architect?”

>   She nodded.

  “Sounds pretty serious. You’d better step outside with me and tell me about it.”

  They went onto the front porch, and with the door closed, Tabs could finally hear herself think. “It’s not anything, really. I just can’t stand the man.”

  “Because he and Marissa used to date?”

  “You know about that?”

  Tony nodded. “She told Andrew, and Andrew told me. No secrets on a project like this—if you keep everything out in the open, you’re more productive.”

  “I agree with that. So, do I have to tell Griffin how badly I want to scratch his eyeballs out?”

  Tony laughed. “No, I think some secrets are best kept hidden. Hey, do you want to ride over to the city offices with me? I was supposed to go first thing, but I got hung up in court.”

  Tabs noticed for the first time that he was wearing his expensive court suit. It was black, and he wore it with a crisp white shirt and a blue-and-red tie. It suited his Latin-lover coloring so well, a little heat rose to her cheeks. “Sure,” she replied. “If nothing else, it’ll give me a few minutes to stop being so angry.”

  “That was my plan. And maybe to feed you a little lunch while we’re at it.”

  “I won’t argue with you.”

  He led her over to his car, and she slid inside. The leather of the seats felt like butter. Lawyers in this town must make a whole lotta money.

  “Thanks for this,” she said as they backed out of the parking lot. “It’s just . . . I’ve known Marissa for a long time, and she’s like a sister to me. Well, closer than that—I fight with my own sisters quite a bit.”

  Tony laughed. “And so you feel protective of her.”

  “I do. And when this guy comes back into her life . . . I just wanna . . .”

  “Scratch his eyeballs out?”

  “Exactly.” And maybe she was mad at him for the way things had gone down between the two of them, but if she focused on being angry on Marissa’s behalf, it sure kept things simpler.

  Tony brought the car to a stop at the light and glanced over at her. “So, what do you think of Andrew?”

  That was an interesting question. “I think he’s a great guy. I don’t know him all that well yet, but I really respect what I’ve seen so far. I think he’s good for Marissa—I’m happy for them.” She shifted a little in her seat to face Tony. Sure, she could pretend she did that to make their conversation easier, but in reality, he was just super fine to look at. “I should be asking, what do you think of Andrew? You know him better than just about anyone, I’d imagine.”

  Tony nodded, then accelerated when the light changed. “Been my best friend for years. I’ve seen him go through a lot—his dad was a real piece of work, his mother passed away, he’s had ups and downs in his business, and through it all, I’ve never seen him lose sight of his morals.”

  What an awesome thing to say behind someone’s back. She was so used to hearing people criticize each other, this was a welcome surprise. “I’m glad to hear it. I think that’s exactly what Marissa needs right now—even if they don’t work out romantically, at least it won’t end in a pile of lies.”

  Tony nodded again. “Andrew’s not perfect, because no one is, but he won’t lie to her. Ever. It’s not something he has in him.”

  “And you?” Tabs asked teasingly. “How often do you lie?”

  He turned to her with a slow smile. “I’m a lawyer. You can infer from that what you will.”

  She almost laughed when he wiggled his eyebrows at her. So he had a little villain going on in there too—that was really attractive. Dang it. She wasn’t supposed to be attracted to him. It went against her five-year plan. And not only that, but she wasn’t supposed to be attracted to villains. Griffin was a villain type too. That wasn’t good for anyone.

  They entered the city offices and picked up the paperwork they needed, then went back outside and climbed into Tony’s car. “Where would you like to eat?” he asked.

  “I’m not very picky—you choose,” she replied. She had no idea how much he’d typically spend taking an interior decorator’s assistant out for lunch, and she wasn’t going to assume anything. They’d eaten together at the diner the other day because it was close to the hotel, and she’d be fine with diner food again. If it hadn’t killed her yet, chances were, it wasn’t going to.

  “I’ve been in the mood for Chinese the last couple of days. How does that sound?”

  “Perfect,” she replied.

  He pulled the car onto the street, but didn’t stop at the Asian buffet she thought he’d choose. Instead, he took them to the Golden Pearl, the nicest Chinese restaurant on that side of town, and she blinked. Not what she’d expected at all.

  “I’m not sure I’m dressed for this,” she said, motioning down to her jeans and T-shirt. She’d been expecting to work at the hotel all day, not go gallivanting off to pricy restaurants.

  “That’s all right. No one will think twice about it.” Tony came around and opened her door, and she followed him inside, trying not to feel like a little girl sneaking in on someone else’s heels and hoping not to get caught.

  “Mr. Espinzo,” the maître d’ greeted him. “And one guest?”

  “That’s right. This is Tabitha Morrow.”

  The maître d’ gave her a slight bow. “Welcome to the Golden Pearl, Ms. Morrow. Follow me, please.”

  He led them between tables and over to the window, where he offered Tabs the best seat. “Your waiter will be with you in a moment,” he said before disappearing.

  Tabs looked around with appreciation. This place was nice—really nice. There was a giant koi fish pond in the center of the floor, with bamboo plants growing around the edges and a waterfall that cascaded down the side. Real orchids grew in planters along the walls that separated the eating area from the entrance. “How do they keep kids from diving into the pond to catch the fish?” she asked, trying not to sound like a country bumpkin, and yet . . . sounding like a country bumpkin. All she needed to do was braid her hair and put a piece of straw between her teeth.

  “Children under the age of twelve aren’t invited to come here,” Tony said with a smile.

  “That seems . . . kind of sad, actually.” She glanced around. Sure enough, there were only adults. “Maybe a little elitist?”

  “It’s a very exclusive restaurant. And you wouldn’t want anyone drowning in there, would you?” Tony motioned toward the pool.

  “No, but still . . . I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’m just used to large families and lots of children and big dinners.”

  “You come from a large family? You mentioned having sisters.”

  “I do have a large family. Three sisters and one brother. We drove him crazy, always wanting to put barrettes in his hair. He survived, though, as most brothers do, and now I have lots of nieces and nephews. What about you?”

  “I have one sister, and that’s all.” Tony thanked the waiter, who had just walked up with their menus and glasses of ice water. “My childhood wasn’t quite so boisterous, but we did get together and have family meals. My grandmother was an excellent cook—she was one of those traditional grandmothers you always think of when you hear the word. She made tortillas from scratch, and the most amazing refried beans you’ve ever tasted.”

  “Was that here in Kansas?” Tabs asked.

  “No, down in Texas. I moved up here with my family when I was thirteen, and that’s when I met Andrew.”

  “And your grandmother’s no longer living?”

  “No, she passed away a few years ago. I miss her quite a bit—and her cooking.” Tony nodded to her menu. “Whatever you’d like.”

  Tabs opened her menu and noticed it didn’t have prices. Oh, this one was one of those restaurants—so expensive, they didn’t dare break the bad news to you upfront. She knew this kind of restaurant. In fact, she kind of hated this sort of restaurant. “The chicken medley platter looks good to me,” she said, knowing Tony would be
expected to do all the speaking when the waiter came back.

  “Good choice—I’ve had it before,” Tony replied.

  The waiter returned, Tony placed their order, and then he sat back and regarded her. “I have the feeling I’ve made a mistake bringing you here,” he said. “You seem uncomfortable. I told you—no one cares how you’re dressed. I’m what you might call an exclusive member here—anyone I bring with me is part of the family.”

  “I am uncomfortable, but it’s not that,” Tabs replied. She took a sip of her water. “It’s hard to put into words.”

  “Andrew told me that you and Marissa sometimes deal with wealthy clients who are anything but nice to you,” Tony said. “It’s a shame that they treat you that way. I hope that’s not playing a role here.”

  “No, that’s not it either.” She waited until a tray of appetizers had been set in front of them. “It’s just . . . bringing back some unpleasant memories, you might say.”

  “Oh? Of what?”

  She sighed. “A girl just can’t keep things to herself, can she? No, I forgot—there’s a rule about secrets on the job site. All right, I’ll tell you. This is how I grew up.” She motioned around with her hand. “Yes, I have a lot of siblings and we’d have big family dinners, but that was on weekdays. On the weekends, we were expected to dress up and come out to places like this and put on a big show for all my parents’ friends. And I was expected to marry into a family that did exactly the same thing, and have children who did exactly the same thing, and it was horrible. So when I turned eighteen, I moved out and changed my last name, and my father still loved me and allowed me to inherit when I turned twenty-one. I tucked it away for a rainy day, and that’s the story of my life.”

  Tony quirked an eyebrow. “You changed your name? What was it before?”

  “Merrill.” She squeezed her eyes shut. When he didn’t reply, she opened them again, one eye at a time, to see him looking at her with astonishment.

  “I should have guessed,” he said. “I’ve known your father for quite a while, and he mentioned having a daughter who didn’t want to live off the family wealth. You resemble him. But I’m sure you hear that a lot.”