Red snakeskin stilettos put her at a few inches taller than Aydan, and I found myself mesmerized by the gaudy crystal buckle on the straps wrapped around her slim ankles.
Beside her, strewn across my beautiful hardwood flooring, were three Louis Vuitton suitcases, and three Louis Vuitton travel bags.
Holy hell.
“Vanessa?”
She whirled around at my voice, her red hair, lightened with blond highlights, sliding across her shoulders poker straight and silky, and in complete contrast to my auburn waves. She now wore a permanent pout. Her nose was still the same, and of course her eyes. It was her eyes that gave away our relation. We had our mother’s eyes. Tip-tilted, light green eyes.
I missed how my baby sister used to look. The difference in her appearance only seemed to emphasize the idea that this Vanessa wasn’t the Vanessa from our childhood.
“Where have you been?” my sister snapped, her perfectly manicured hands flying to her ultra-slim hips.
I frowned, not just at her greeting after our five-year separation, but over the realization that she was much thinner than she used to be. “Have you been eating? You look thin.”
“Oh, you’re sweet.” She preened for a millisecond before snapping, “Now where have you been? I’ve been left here to deal with this little person who won’t let me get settled into a room.”
“We’re fully booked, that’s why.”
“But I’m your sister.”
“Yes, I am aware. Even though I haven’t seen or spoken to you in five years. What are you doing here, Vanessa?”
She shrugged her narrow, bony shoulders. “I’m terribly bored,” she said in an affected weird British accent. “I’m tired of wandering.” She grinned. “I’ve come home to run the inn!”
Oh.
No.
Holy shit.
It took everything within me not to stomp my foot and bellow, Like hell you are!
Instead I shot a very worried Aydan a reassuring look before turning to my sister. “That’s sweet, V, but I don’t need help running the inn.”
“No one calls me V anymore. And I’m not asking whether you need help. It’s my inn, too.”
“You hate the inn.”
She shrugged. “I judged it too harshly. I’m growing up, Bailey. I’d like to take on some responsibility.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Okay. What’s your experience?”
“Excuse me?”
“Management experience.”
She made a face. “Bailey, I’m tired, and I don’t have time for this nonsense. I’ve flown from Monte Carlo to be here.”
“Fleeing the mob? The cops?”
“What?” Vanessa said shrilly.
“You being here does not make sense.”
“It doesn’t have to make sense to you.” She stepped toward me. “I’m here to get to know my inn.”
I sucked in a breath at her audacity. This place had never been her inn. “I haven’t even heard from you in five years!” I repeated.
“I’ve been busy.”
“I hope to God managing a business because otherwise you are not getting near this one.”
“Does she have experience?” She gestured to Aydan. “Somehow I doubt it. Look at how she’s dressed. Do you honestly let her greet guests this way?”
Aydan narrowed her eyes and I knew she was about five seconds from removing the huge hoop earrings in her ears and telling Vanessa to step into a fight ring.
“Aydan is my manager and she is good at her job. For instance, she would know the impropriety of standing in the middle of reception arguing where any of the guests can hear.”
“I’m not arguing.” Vanessa shrugged again. “There is no argument. Legally this place is mine, too, and you’re just being petty not letting me get to know it a little better.”
“I’m not being petty. I’m being wary. I don’t trust your motives, dearest sister.”
“How horribly unkind of you.” She sounded bored already. “Okay. I’m bored,” she confirmed. “Show me to a room.” She gestured to her bags like she expected me to carry them all.
“I don’t have a room. I’m fully booked,” I repeated through gritted teeth.
“Well, I’ll just have to stay with you then.”
I guffawed.
And then realized she was being serious.
“Oh, hell no.” It slipped out before I could stop it.
Her eyes grew round and wet and her lower lip trembled. “What a dreadful welcome this has been. I know it’s been a while since we were close”—a tear rolled down her cheek—“but I was at least expecting a hug.”
There was nothing about her performance that I bought. From the moment she came out of the womb my little sister had perfected the art of the fake cry. She’d gotten my brother, Charlie, and me into so much trouble with that fake crying. My parents were the only idiots in the house who believed it.
To be fair, she was pretty talented.
“Don’t cry,” I grumbled, shuffling toward her. I wrapped my arms around her skinny body, wincing in concern at how frail she felt. “There, there.”
“Don’t”—she shoved me gently away—“you’ll mess up my hair.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I’ll call a cab to take you to my place. You can sleep on the couch.”
“The couch?” She looked horrified.
“It’s a one-bedroom house.”
“Then I’ll take the bed.”
I stared at her, incredulous. “Baby sister, Mom and Dad aren’t here. This is my playground now, and if I come home to find you in my bed, I will haul you out of it by that pretty flat-ironed hair of yours.”
“You’ve gotten mean,” she huffed.
“And you haven’t changed a bit.”
Five minutes later Aydan and I helped the cab driver out with the luggage while my sister shouted things like, “Watch the wheels on that suitcase. It cost more than you make in a year!” and “Don’t snatch at the fabric like that. Do you know how much that bag will be worth in fifty years’ time!”
By the time Aydan and I stumbled, exhausted, up the steps to the inn it was like we’d been through a war.
“So that’s your sister,” Aydan said blandly.
Something about the whole situation seemed stupidly hilarious in that moment and I broke out into hysterical laughter, having to stop mid-step. I slumped down onto the porch stairs and Aydan’s laughter joined mine.
We cackled until our stomachs hurt and tears rolled down my cheeks.
I wiped them away, trying to catch my breath. “Oh, it’s not funny but it is.”
“I don’t remember her. You would think I would remember her. Was she always like that?”
“Kind of. But she’s worse now. She’s spent the last eight years traveling all over the world, hopping from one rich man to the next. She’s very good at the sugar-daddy thing. Not so much at the nice-human-being thing.”
“Do you think she’s serious about the inn?” Aydan sounded concerned.
The truth was I didn’t know. I just knew that wherever Vanessa went destruction followed. “I don’t know. I do know that until she realizes how bored she used to be living here, we’re stuck with her. I don’t know for how long.”
“Is she going to be a problem?”
“Not if I can help it. If she comes here and starts ordering you around or trying to make changes, I want to know immediately.”
“She’s going to be a problem,” Aydan surmised.
“I won’t let her hassle you.”
“Hey, boss, I’ve worked in some lousy places over the years, and this is not one of them. This is the best job I’ve ever had, and I’m not going to let some skinny wannabe socialite scare me off. No offense.”
“Oh, none taken. I would have called h
er worse.”
We laughed and I leaned into Aydan. “Thank God you’re here.”
“We’ll get through this together.”
Reassured that Vanessa wouldn’t send Aydan running for the hills, I strolled back into the inn. Aydan went to check with Mona about the dinner menu that night, and I hurried into the haven of my office. I closed the door behind me and closed my eyes.
I was way less composed than I’d let on to Aydan.
Vanessa Hartwell was the last problem I needed. Knowing only one person who’d understand, I called him.
My brother picked up on the fourth ring. “Hey, Bails. What’s going on?”
“Vanessa is here. At the inn. She just turned up. Says she wants to help run the place.”
“What?” He sounded as shell-shocked as I felt.
“She says she’s bored of the wanderlust and wants to take her responsibilities more seriously.”
Charlie swore. “Get her out of there. Now.”
“And how do you propose I do that?”
“Find a rich man, dangle him on a fishing pole, and wave him under her nose.”
I snorted and then felt guilty. “Maybe I should give her a chance. She is our sister.”
“And she’s a spoiled, selfish, lazy little brat.”
“Maybe she’s changed.”
“Did she seem like she’s changed? Because last Thanksgiving she didn’t seem like she’d changed.”
“You saw her last Thanksgiving?”
“Yeah, she was in the States so she came to see me.”
An old hurt flared. “She never came to see me, Mom, and Dad.” Little brat. “I knew it. She has never liked me.”
“Don’t take it personally. I think she was avoiding Hartwell more than she was avoiding you guys.”
“Well now she’s not avoiding either of us.” I groaned. “Charlie, what will I do?”
“I think I gave you a solution to that problem.”
“Mom and Dad would tell me to give her a chance.”
“Because Mom and Dad love unconditionally and cannot see her for the conniving little brat she is.”
“Maybe we should stop letting her be a brat. Maybe if I let her work at the inn I could teach her to work hard, to see the value of hard work.”
Charlie laughed.
“Everyone deserves a chance.” I found myself arguing my way into a decision and situation that could end horribly for me.
“You’ve always been a better person than me, Bails. Fine. Let her try working there. But that inn is the love of your life, and that inn is the reason I can take my wife on nice vacations every year, so if Vanessa so much as puts a foot wrong, I want you to boot her ass onto the first plane out of there. Or I will fly up there and do it myself. Vanessa has always been trouble. And last I checked in with her, nothing had changed. She’s not there for the reasons she said. My bet is that her string of sugar daddies has dried up. She’s my sister, and deep down I will always love her, but she’s a mercenary now, Bailey, and she’ll do whatever it takes to make herself happy. Even if it means making you miserable.”
My brother’s warning rang in my ears. An uncomfortable weight sank down on my shoulders. The truth was I didn’t like my sister much, and I only missed her when she was gone before she turned up again. Now that I was faced with her and our complicated relationship, I wanted nothing more than to find a corner to hide in.
First Tom.
Next Vaughn.
Then Rex.
Now Vanessa.
My beautiful life in Hartwell had gotten really messy lately.
SIXTEEN
Vaughn
Emery didn’t blush at all as she made the coffee he’d ordered for himself and Cooper, although she was her usual taciturn self.
However, Vaughn sensed that her taciturnity wasn’t due to shyness but to annoyance. She was annoyed with him. He could tell in the way her pretty lips were pressed thin, and how she avoided his eyes not because she was too shy to meet them but because she didn’t want to look at him.
The few words she did use were terse.
Like, “Here,” when she handed the coffees over.
Vaughn was bemused. “How much?”
“Usual,” she replied.
He handed over the money, smirking to himself. In all honesty he found her anger a refreshing change to her shyness. Perhaps Bailey was rubbing off on her after all.
Ah.
Bailey.
Of course.
“She told you,” he commented as he took the coffees off the counter.
Emery stared at the cash register. “Pardon?”
“Bailey told you we slept together.”
Her eyes flew to his.
Ah, there it was.
The blush stained her cheeks. “Yes.”
“And you’re annoyed at me.”
“She asked me not to be,” she said. “But yes.” She bit her lip as if she couldn’t believe she’d uttered the words.
All Vaughn heard was, “She asked me not to be.” Bloody Bailey Hartwell. She’d gone from wanting to destroy his reputation when he didn’t deserve it, to trying to protect it when he didn’t deserve it.
“I was in the wrong. I apologized.”
She gave him a tight nod. He was not forgiven then.
Sighing, Vaughn walked away. He’d just opened the door to leave when her gentle voice called out to him, “You made her cry.”
The words pierced through him, painful in a way that still surprised him. Unable to say anything, knowing if he did, he’d give away his emotions to the woman, he kept walking.
Bailey was always so feisty and brave around him, sometimes he forgot there was a soft, emotional woman underneath all her barbs. He’d wrapped himself up in that side of her, but he’d let himself forget it existed because it meant returning to memories that tormented him.
Emery’s reminder was a knife in his gut.
“You look like hell.” Cooper opened the door to his bar and accepted his coffee. He stepped aside to let Vaughn pass.
“I feel it.”
“So what brings you here? Not that I’m complaining.”
Vaughn’s gaze swept over the empty bar. “Are we alone?”
“Yeah, but Jessica gets kind of weird about me making out with other people.”
“Funny.”
Cooper grinned. “What can I do for you?”
“I want you to watch out for Bailey. I know you do anyway, but I’m specifically talking about this Rex person.” He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t like the sound of him, Lawson.”
His friend took a slow, casual sip of his coffee and studied Vaughn until he was almost squirming.
“Well?” Vaughn snapped.
“I was just wondering.”
“What?”
“If it’s uncomfortable.”
“If what’s uncomfortable?”
“Having your head that far up your ass.”
“You’re a real comedian today, Lawson.”
“You’re making it easy for me.” He leaned against his bar, his gaze direct, serious. “You want to tell me why the hell you’re making it this hard for yourself? You want Bailey. We all know you want Bailey, and if you weren’t such an ass about it, you could have Bailey. I don’t see the problem.”
Vaughn was tired of explaining the situation. “I don’t do relationships.”
“Why?”
“None of your fucking business.”
“Well you’re making it my business by coming to me and asking me to watch out for your woman. Not exactly saying much about you as a man.”
His blood burned at the insinuation. “I’m doing what is best for Bailey by staying away from her.”
“But you’re not. Staying away from her I mean. You’re
sticking your nose into her life, and this is a small fucking town, Tremaine. Do you think she won’t know if you’re putting yourself into her business, even if it’s indirectly? And that’s just messing with her head. You’re either in or you’re out. Make a choice and stick to it.”
Cooper’s words echoed around and around in Vaughn’s head as he made his way back to his hotel. His head was down, his eyes on his feet.
“You’re either in or you’re out. Make a choice and stick to it.”
Deep down he knew Lawson was right. He had to make the decision to sever his connection to Bailey for good. The thought terrified him.
And that made him question everything.
Maybe—
“Ow!” a female screeched in his ear as he collided with a sharp elbow.
He caught the slim arm in his hand and steadied the woman it belonged to. Shock moved through him as he found himself looking into Bailey’s eyes.
But this wasn’t Bailey.
He let go of the woman and she tottered on the boards in her red high heels. Her reddish blond hair was straight and long, and she flipped it over her shoulders as she eyed him like he was a hunk of red meat and she was starving.
Which was appropriate since she didn’t look like she’d had a meal in a while.
Her large boobs were barely concealed by the skintight dress she wore, a dress that showed off sharp hip bones and an altogether waiflike figure.
The woman eyed him with lust in her eyes but Vaughn was unaffected. She was attractive enough in an overly made-up way, but he didn’t like dating women who clearly starved themselves to look good. Naturally slender, curvy, voluptuous, Vaughn had no preference; as long as a woman was confident and healthy he’d find her sexy.
This woman appeared to be neither but he found himself arrested by her face.
It was her eyes.
And her nose.
They were Bailey’s.
“I beg your pardon.” He apologized for barging right into her.
“Oh, don’t worry.” She waved him off. “I was admiring this new hotel.” She gestured up at Paradise Sands. “It wasn’t here the last time I was. It’s surprising. It adds much-needed class to the place.”
Every Little Thing Page 18