This back-and-forth stuff had to stop. He was driving them both insane. But the jealousy, the possessiveness that had roared in his blood when he saw her with that boy controlled him. He wanted to lay a claim to her, and that’s exactly what he’d done in the park.
When he’d seen Bailey go after Rex, he’d found himself following against his will. The relief he felt watching that kid leave was overwhelming.
That need to make sure she was okay, that relief he felt, made him question himself the entire way down the beach. It made him question himself as he sat beside her, their arms brushing. He was aware of every breath she took, every facial expression, every thought that flickered across her beautiful green-gold eyes.
And he knew he had to make a decision.
He loved Bailey Hartwell, and it was time to decide whether he could push past his own fears and take what he wanted, or finally let go.
Sitting with her Vaughn had hoped the answer would come to him, but she’d only confused and stirred him even more.
He needed time.
But he knew whatever he decided, one of them might end up getting hurt.
And that’s why he was taking all the time in the world.
NINETEEN
Bailey
Almost two weeks later I woke up in my bed at the inn. I had kept myself busy at work, staying late every night. Aydan had more time with Angela as I buried myself in the needs of our guests to avoid matters of the heart. Like I had for the past few nights I decided to crash at my room at the inn instead of going home to my house that no longer felt like my home with Vanessa’s crap strewn all over it.
It wasn’t my alarm that woke me, however. It was the crashing sound coming from the front of the building.
Fear flooded me.
Another break-in.
I froze for a moment, remembering the last time. The sound of a louder scuffle had me reaching for my phone and dashing out of bed at the same time.
As soon as I opened the bedroom door I heard my sister’s voice. “Be careful!”
Holy hell.
I relaxed marginally but hurried down the corridor past my office anyway. Standing in the split reception area, my stomach dropped to my feet at the sight of an obnoxiously modern reception counter sitting waiting to replace my beautiful, hand-carved walnut one.
Confronted by glass and black glossy wood I shook my head, struggling to contain my roar of frustration.
“Oh, Bailey, just in time. I ordered this new counter as a starting-off point for redecoration.”
She’d brought up the idea of redecoration a number of times and I’d made my opinion on that clear. It was a big fat no. Apparently nothing I had said to her had penetrated.
“No,” I hissed out. “No!”
Vanessa’s eyes flared. “What do you mean, no? I have men waiting to install it and remove the old ugly one.” She gestured to two beleaguered men who were glaring at her.
“First of all, it is six o’clock in the morning and I have guests who are trying to sleep. Second of all”—I stepped right into her space, getting in her face so she finally understood I meant business—“I said no to the redecoration.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And I didn’t agree with it.”
Then something occurred to me. “Where did you get the money to pay for this?”
God, please say, “My own savings.”
“Your credit card.”
My tether ended with that. In fact my tether was a dot in the very far distance.
I pushed my sleepy face into hers so she had nowhere else to look, and her eyes flared like Bambi’s when the hunter shot his mother. “Return that piece of modern catastrophe, give me back my credit card, and stay the hell out of my business, or I swear to God, V, I will make your life a living goddamn hell.”
“I’m going to tell Mom and Dad,” she snapped.
“Do what you want, just get that ugly counter out of my inn.”
She studied me, trying to measure my resolve. Finally she got it, sniffed in upset, and turned to the delivery guys. “It appears I need to return it.”
“No shit,” one of the guys grunted. “Fucking fruitcakes.”
“Hey.” I shook a finger at him. “I have guests. Watch your language.”
“Move the counter, man,” the other one urged under his breath. “Don’t mess with the crazy lady.”
We stood in frozen silence as the men repackaged the counter and started maneuvering it out of the inn. Once their voices had faded down the garden I turned to my sister. “You haven’t even been here for the last week. You’ve been off gallivanting, without a care in the world, and then you think you can just come back in here, ignore everything I said, and start making changes? What planet do you live on?”
“My personal life is none of your business.” She narrowed her eyes.
“It is when it interferes with my life. Who the hell are you seeing anyway?”
This mystery-guy thing was starting to bug me. Usually Vanessa couldn’t wait to brag about whom she was dating. But she had been very close-mouthed about the whole thing, even going so far as to avoid me, and spend all her time with whoever it was.
“Is he married?”
“No, he’s not married,” she snapped. “You really think a lot of me, don’t you?”
“Right now you’re about my least favorite person in the world,” I said.
“How on earth do you run a successful inn with that smart mouth of yours?”
“Oh, so you finally acknowledge that I run a successful inn.”
“Ugh!”
“You say that word one more time, I swear to God—”
“Ladies.”
We turned around to find Aydan standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was tapping her foot on the floor in irritation.
“Do you want to wake our guests?”
Embarrassed at having to be scolded by my manager I shifted uncomfortably. “You should have seen what I just woke up to.”
Aydan glowered at Vanessa. “I can only imagine. But, Bailey, you’re in tiny pajamas that will give Mr. Sykes heart failure if he sees you, so please go get showered and changed before our guests come down for breakfast in”—she glanced at her watch—“thirty minutes. Vanessa, why don’t you take the day off? Again.”
“Don’t talk to me that way in my own inn or I might just have to get physical.” Vanessa threw her hands on her tiny hips. “I’m stronger than I look.”
Aydan stepped up beside me, showing solidarity. “Yeah, well I’m willing to bet I could take you. I’m also not your sister and therefore not obliged to put up with your crap or stop myself from causing you physical harm. On that note, you have five seconds to get out of your sister’s face before I put my job in jeopardy. Five. Four—”
“Ugh, I don’t need this.” Vanessa stormed by us. “And I’m telling Mom what kind of trash you hired to run this place.”
I lunged at her and Aydan held me back.
“She’s not worth it,” she said as Vanessa disappeared out of the door.
“What did I do to deserve her?”
“Don’t think about her. Let it go. Go get showered and I’ll go check in on Mona in the kitchen. She more than likely heard all the commotion and is terrified to come out.”
I knew Aydan was right. My kitchen staff hated Vanessa. All of my staff hated Vanessa. I was guessing it had to do with the way she talked to them like they were her servants.
“And Bailey,” Aydan called to me as I wandered back down the hallway.
“Yeah?”
“No work for you today. You are way past due for your day off. Get showered and go out. Do something, anything. Just get some R&R, okay?”
I nodded, even though I dreaded the idea of being alone with my thoughts.
The da
y was overcast so I half expected it to downpour, but I held out hope as I wandered from boutique to boutique on Main Street, attempting to relax as Aydan suggested.
Problem was I wasn’t much of a shopper. There was also the matter of my thoughts; my thoughts that kept wandering to all the crap in my life that I didn’t want to deal with. I’d been so focused on keeping my mind on work that I hadn’t really spoken to Jess and the girls. We’d checked in about wedding stuff but we hadn’t had a long, meaningful conversation in which I revealed how close to the ledge I was so they could talk me off it.
When the heavens broke and thunder clapped in the skies tourists rushed for cover into restaurants, shops, and hotels, and I hurried down the slick boards to Emery’s.
Her place was busier than I’d hoped, beachgoers having rushed inside to shelter from the weather. Emery looked a little flustered so I joined her behind the counter. “Can I help?”
She nodded gratefully, and while she dealt with coffee, I quickly got a grip on her cash register.
When the line was dealt with and everyone seemed settled in the sitting area of the bookstore Em turned to me and handed me a dish towel. “Not that I’m not glad to see you but what are you doing here?”
I dried the ends of my long hair with the towel. “Aydan made me take a day off.”
“You have been working really hard lately. What’s going on?”
I glanced around to make sure we had privacy. “I’m a little low right now. I just . . . sometimes I can’t believe this is my life at thirty-four. I always thought I’d have it all by now, you know?”
“And Vaughn? Has he finally admitted he cares about you?”
I shook my head. Over the last few weeks, with no contact from him whatsoever, I’d started to grow angrier, more frustrated by him. Any trust that might have existed between us, however small, had been obliterated by the daily turmoil I felt over my unrequited—
No, it wasn’t love. I didn’t know him well enough to truly be in love with him.
But I still felt something. Something undeniable.
And very painful.
“He’s too closed off, Em. I need someone who trusts me. Someone who will let his guard down with me. And he won’t because . . . I’m not the kind of woman he’ll ever let his guard down with. I’m not the right kind of woman.”
“Or maybe he hasn’t let his guard down with you because you haven’t let your guard down with him?”
“Of course I have. I slept with him.” I wrinkled my nose. “Plus, I’m Bailey Hartwell. I don’t even have a guard, let alone one that’s up.”
She laughed. “In general, no, you don’t. But . . . the way you’re running from him isn’t like you.”
“What? Being smart isn’t like me?”
“Well—” Whatever Emery might have said was forgotten when the bell above her door jangled and Jack Devlin walked into the store. Emery’s face turned the deepest shade of scarlet I’d ever seen it turn.
Her reaction might have had something to do with the way Jack’s gaze zeroed in on her as soon as he stepped inside the building.
I waited for Em to greet him but I could see her throat working, like she was struggling to get the words out.
Dear God.
Did Em have a crush on Jack Devlin?
“Hey, Jack.” I saved her.
He reluctantly dragged his gaze from her to me. “Bailey.”
“How’s the fist?” I grinned.
To my delight I saw the corners of his mouth twitch, like he was fighting a smile. “It’s fine.”
“I’m glad to hear it. What can we get you?”
Jack looked back at Emery, and I had to bite my lip in girlish delight at the way his gaze raked over her features, like he was savoring every detail of her lovely face. “My usual,” he said. “Times two.”
Em nodded, not meeting his eyes, and turned to the coffee machine. Her hands trembled a little as she worked, and I felt a pang of sympathy. How I wished I could give her even just a drop of my confidence so she could converse easily with a man.
It must be horrible for her to be so shy.
I wanted to hug her.
Instead I didn’t do anything that patronizing. I let her work. She finished making the coffee while we all stood in silence. She slid the coffee over to Jack. “Six dollars.”
He handed her a ten, and I studied how she took it by the tip so she wouldn’t have to touch him. I also studied the way this made a usually expressionless Jack frown in consternation.
And then when she handed him his change, he brushed his thumb deliberately over the top of her hand when he accepted it. Em’s skin flushed red all over again.
He nodded at us and then was gone just as quickly as he had appeared.
“So Jack Devlin, huh?”
Emery blushed even harder. “No. No. I mean . . . no . . . I know he works for the devil. So no.”
Methinks the lady doth protest too much.
“That doesn’t stop him from being drop dead gorgeous.”
Emery let out an embarrassed huff of laughter.
“Hey, if it makes you feel any better, Jack punched out Stu for attacking me.”
Her eyes widened at the thought. “Really?”
“Yeah. I told Cooper after it happened, but he didn’t do anything with it. I had hoped it might make him take a step toward approaching Jack but he thinks, and I suppose rightly so, that Jack should be the one to make the first step. I’ve always thought there was more to Jack’s story. The whole going to work for his dad, the whole Dana thing, it never made sense. And I don’t want to give up on him.” I nudged her playfully. “Maybe a sweet, gorgeous woman just like you is exactly what a man like Jack Devlin needs.”
“Me?” Emery was apparently shocked by the idea. “No. He doesn’t even know I’m alive.”
I considered the way Jack had stared at my friend like he wanted to eat her up. “I definitely don’t think that’s true.”
“Even so.” She frowned. “I . . . I like my life here now. I have you and Jessica and Dahlia. I can even hold a conversation with Cooper without blushing like an idiot. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize what I have now by setting my cap for Jack Devlin. I wouldn’t be able to trust him.”
At her practical, heartfelt response I felt renewed admiration for her. I threw my arm around her shoulders. “Wow. I am so glad you are a much smarter woman than I am when it comes to men.”
She smiled shyly. “I don’t think I’m smarter. Just . . . isolated enough from them to be able to think more clearly.”
“See? Smarter.” I grinned at her. “And ‘setting my cap’? Really?”
Em rolled her eyes, blushing again. “I said that, didn’t I? That’s all my grandmother. God, don’t let me end up sounding like her, please.”
“Oh, well, I’m going to find that hard to do when you say adorable stuff like ‘setting my cap for Jack Devlin.’”
She laughed. “You’re awful.”
“I am. And it’s fun. You should join me here in ‘saying whatever is on my mind’ land.”
Wistfulness filled her expression. “Maybe I will someday.”
Vaughn
“There’s at least two thousand dollars’ worth of damages, sir.” Jannette, Vaughn’s head housekeeper at Paradise Sands, sounded aggrieved.
Vaughn was feeling pretty aggrieved, too.
A couple had been staying in one of their smaller suites and checked out this morning. They had been asked during the previous evening to lower their noise level because they were disturbing other guests. His staff had even threatened to call the police, which seemed to have halted the situation.
The unpleasant surprise the next morning was the aftereffects of what had clearly been a domestic dispute.
“Was this a matter of domestic violence?” Vaughn was unsettled b
y the idea that something like that had been going on.
Jannette shook her head. “We don’t know. Both seemed in fine physical condition and I’ve checked the room over. No blood.”
Hmm. That still left them with the matter of his suite. Nearly every lamp in the room was destroyed. The television screen was cracked where something had been thrown at it. And there was a hole in the plaster work near the door.
“They must have been making some racket.” Vaughn looked around. The place was a mess. There was a wine stain on the cream carpet in the sitting room; the bedclothes were tossed across the room, as were all the pillows and throw cushions. A curtain was half hanging off the rail.
What the hell had they been doing in here?
“Why wasn’t I called? Why weren’t the police called?”
His supervisor, Graham, stepped into the room from the hall. “We didn’t realize the extent of the situation, sir, or we would have.”
“Well we need to call the police now and file an incident report with them. After that’s done I want a tally of everything that needs to be fixed or replaced. Is this room booked out today?”
“Yes,” Graham said. “I’ve already looked and a sea-view upgrade of this suite is available for the guest.”
“Upgrade them. As for the neighbors who complained about the noise, I want them compensated. Take last night’s stay off their bill and give them a complimentary meal in the restaurant.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Jannette.” Vaughn turned to her. “Once the police have come by, and you’ve worked out what needs to be done in here, talk to Ailsa. She can order whatever we need for in here. I want this room presentable as quickly as possible.” It was one of his most popular rooms. “Give the information you’ve gathered to Graham as well. Graham, I want you to deal with the police and charging the couple for damages.”
“Yes, sir.”
With a curt nod, Vaughn strode past his employees and out into the hall. Rarely did he have to deal with situations like that in one of his establishments, but sometimes there came someone or someones who had no respect for other people’s property.
Every Little Thing Page 22