The feeling of dread Nico was experiencing grew more intense by the second. He glanced at Evan, who's expression was equally as stone-faced as his brother.
These guys were not messing around.
They were staring at him like he was some stranger Logan had brought into the house, and not someone who was basically part of the family.
"We both like you," Evan explained. "We like you a lot. We just want to keep it that way."
"We need to be clear that Mia's completely off limits," Cody added. "You can be her friend, but there will be no more of that stuff that happened last night on the beach."
"You're acting like I forced myself on her," Nico said, standing up a little straighter as he defended himself.
Cody held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Believe me, we know you didn't have to force yourself."
"Yeah, she's had a thing for you since we were kids," Evan said. "Which is exactly why we can't let you mess with her emotions anymore."
Nico's heart dropped at the thought of messing with Mia's emotions. It had never even occurred to him. He was quiet for a few seconds while what they were implying sank in.
"I'm not trying to hurt her," Nico said.
Evan scoffed. "Yeah, but you're not trying to marry her, either."
"Oh, come on," Nico said. "Don't try to act like you've never kissed a girl without asking her to marry you first."
"You can go kiss as many girls as you want," Cody said. "You can kiss every girl in Myrtle Beach if you want to. You just can't kiss my sister."
Nico started to blurt out that they were both being ridiculous. He started to laugh at their audacity, and tell them both off for thinking they could keep him away from Mia, but he decided to be cool and count to ten. He just stood there and stared at the two brothers, who were totally and completely serious.
"I'm sorry," Cody said. "I like you and everything. I think you're a cool guy, and I'm glad you've been friends with Logan all these years, but you can't have Mia. She's too good for you."
Nico breathed a little humorless laugh. The more they said, the angrier he got. He had just stayed up all night staring at this beautiful creature upstairs, and now he wakes up to these two oafs telling him he couldn’t have her. Who did they think they were?
"She might be too good for me," he said. "But that's her decision, not yours."
"Oh, I believe it's ours," Cody said, straightening his posture like he was trying to bow up to Nico.
"That's what we came out here to say," Evan added. "She's our sister. We want what's best for her, and you're not it. Period. You don't have the same values, and you don't have the same track history. You live in California, and she lives in Carolina. You're not gonna spend the week getting her hopes up just to forget all about her like you did all those times when she was a little girl." Evan paused and smiled at Nico with his hand raised. "I'm not trying to judge," he said. "I like the ladies, too."
Cody nodded. "Like we said, you can go fill your needs with any other girl in Myrtle Beach. Just not our sister."
Nico was fuming, but he kept his face expressionless as he stared back and forth between the two brothers. "Or what?" he asked, finally.
"Or things get ugly, chief," Evan said. "And none of us want that. We just want to spend the week relaxing with our family, and for you to leave Mia alone."
Nico felt like he wanted to take a swing at both of them—several swings actually. He felt like he wanted to swing at them until they took back everything they had just said. His jaw clinched, but otherwise he kept calm. "I have sisters," he said, trying to make them see that he wasn't as bad as they thought he was.
"Great," Cody said. "Then you understand that we will do whatever it takes to protect her."
"Mia's a grown woman," Nico said.
Cody smiled and shook his head as if he was losing patience. "Listen, Nico, we brought you out here to say one thing… Leave. Mia. Alone." He spoke slowly as if phrasing it differently would make Nico understand.
Evan smiled again as if that would soften the blow. "We don’t want to see Mia get hurt by you again, that's all. We're not trying to spoil your good time. I'll even go out with you if you want to hook up with somebody while we're here."
"Just so it's not Mia," Cody said.
Nico was angry, but somewhere way down in his gut, he knew they were right. He had no idea Mia had feelings for him years ago, and hearing them say he had hurt Mia in the past made his heart ache. The last thing he wanted to do was break her heart. He took a deep breath as he thought about everything. She was too good for him, and he knew it.
"So are we good?" Cody asked, seeing Nico's expression soften.
Nico was silent for a few seconds while the two brothers just stood there and waited for his answer. Finally, he gave them a curt nod, one that he wasn't happy about at all.
"You three look like you're having a serious conversation out here," Dee-dee yelled jovially as she and Christy came out of the house onto the deck.
"We were just finishing up," Evan said, with a huge smile aimed at his mom and grandmother. He continued to smile and lifted his chin at Nico before heading in the direction of the house. "Good talk," he said.
Nico lifted his chin back at Evan, but didn't return the smile.
Chapter 7
Nico
Evan and Cody went inside the house as soon as they finished their little talk, but Nico opted to stay on the deck to give himself the chance to cool down. Dee-dee and Christy sat down at one of the tables closer to the back door of the house, leaving Nico on the far side of the deck by himself, a fact for which he was grateful.
He sat on the edge of one of the chairs that was positioned looking out at the ocean. The view of the water was partially obstructed by trees and bushes that lie in between the house and the ocean, but he could still see and hear the waves rolling in. He finished what was left of his coffee in one swig, and set the mug on one of the nearby tables.
The weather was beautiful. He was able to work from his phone while he spent the week at an exquisite beach house on the east coast. He was healthy, he had lots of friends, and he had enough money in his bank account to last him the rest of his life if it came to it. By all accounts, Nico Torres had the world on a string, so why did he feel like it was crashing in on him?
Being a reasonable guy, he sat there and evaluated his feelings as he stared out at the ocean. He experienced an overwhelming feeling of sadness at the idea that he wouldn't be pursuing Mia Hunt. At that very moment, he felt like the woman of his dreams had been ripped away from him. He felt sick about it. He told himself that the only reason he was so torn up about abandoning his pursuits was that it wasn't his decision. Logically, this was exactly what was happening. Cody and Evan had forbid him from making any advances on her, so it was suddenly what seemed most important. He told himself this was the case while he sat staring blankly at the ocean.
"What you doing over there all by yourself," Dee-dee called once she saw that Nico wasn't planning on going inside with Cody and Evan. He glanced over his shoulder at the two women who were sitting together, and did his best imitation of a smile.
He didn't trust his voice, so he cleared his throat before he spoke. "I'm just taking in the scenery, I guess," he said.
"You're welcome to come join us, if you want," Dee-dee said.
He didn't want to, and he knew they were just offering to be nice, but he stood up and walked over to them just to avoid declining their offer. Dee-dee patted at the chair next to her as he approached, and Nico sat in it without hesitation. Christy Hunt was sitting in the chair directly across from Nico, and he smiled at her as he sat back. She returned his smile, and the first thing that crossed his mind was that Mia smiled just like her mother. He switched his focus to Dee-dee to avoid having such thoughts.
"Logan told me you're gonna help him open a restaurant in a few years," Christy said, making polite conversation.
Nico reluctantly made eye contact with her. "Yes m
a'am," he said. "Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with restaurants, but we'll figure it out as we go."
"You're in retail, though, aren't you?" Dee-dee asked.
"I'm learning the ropes, but that's my dad's expertise. Most of my business so far is real estate—both commercial and residential." Nico was still agitated by the conversation he had with Cody and Evan, and he hoped it didn't show. He smiled again, just in case.
"Denise said you're really successful," Christy said.
He smiled and bowed humbly. "I'm lucky to have my dad to teach me what he knows," he said. "I was able to avoid a lot of the struggle most newbies face."
"Blessed," Dee-dee said.
Nico smiled and nodded at her, even though he wasn't feeling very "blessed" at the moment.
"There's no such thing as luck," she continued.
Nico nodded, but didn't say anything.
"My grandchildren are blessed, too," she said. "They don't face the same hardships their grandfather encountered when he was building the family business. My husband went through a time when he didn’t know where his next meal would come from."
Nico didn't really feel like talking, but he knew he should engage in the conversation in spite of his mood. "I'll bet it was hard to stay positive during times like that," he said.
"David didn't think so," she said. "Even when times were rough, he would whistle, and laugh like he didn't have a care in the world."
"He did love to whistle," Christy said nostalgically.
"He always had a song in his heart," Dee-dee said.
Christy smiled. "I remember one time when we were out to eat, and a man he knew from church came up to our table. Gramps asked how he was doing, and the man went on and on about his aches and pains. We only talked to him for a minute, but he grumbled and complained the whole time."
"I remember that," Dee-dee said, smiling. "Richard Mills."
"Yep," Christy said, pointing at her as if she was glad to have a name to go with the memory. "Anyway, after he walked away, Gramps looked at all of us, shaking his head sadly. 'That's a crying shame', he said. 'It makes me sad to see a Christian man out in the world, selling God short like that. I don't care how bad your situation is. If you so readily complain about it, you're basically telling the world that the God you serve isn't doing a good job taking care of you.'" Christy paused as she smiled and sighed. "It was years ago that he said that, but it was something that really stuck with me."
Dee-dee smiled and reached out to cup her hand over Christy's. She smiled thoughtfully as if missing her husband. "He was a good man."
"He sure was," Christy agreed.
"It's no wonder your whole family turned out so positive," Nico said, feeling like he should add something to the conversation. "Logan and Charlotte could be neck-deep in a big pile of terrible, and they'd still smile and say everything was hunky-dory if you asked them how they were doing."
"Positivity was one of Gramp's finest attributes, and we did our best to pass it to our children."
"I think it worked," Nico said.
He hadn't been raised in a Christian family, but he had been around Logan and Charlotte enough to be exposed to their beliefs. It hadn't occurred to him that their family's positivity had anything to do with their religious beliefs, but it made sense now that Christy explained it that way. He wondered if Cody and Evan's threat had anything to do with the fact that he didn't go to church. He remembered back to them saying that he didn't have the same "values" as Mia, and he thought maybe that's what they were talking about. He felt annoyed and agitated, which was pretty ironic in light of the whole conversation they were just having about positivity. He ran his hand through his dark hair and did his best to smile.
"Have any of y'all seen Mia?" Paige asked, opening the sliding glass door that led onto the deck.
Nico's feeling of agitation intensified at the mention of Mia's name.
"She's sleeping on the third floor," Christy said.
"We've already been up there," Paige said.
"She probably went for a run," Christy said. "She likes to do that first thing in the morning."
Paige scrunched up her face. "Even on vacation?" she asked.
"Who are you looking for?" Denise asked, walking around Paige to get out the door.
"Mia."
"She went jogging," Denise confirmed. "She came down about ten minutes ago and said she'd be back in an hour."
"I didn't even see her," Paige said.
"Did you need anything, sweetheart?" Christy asked.
Paige shook her head. "I just needed to ask Mia something about the salon. One of our suppliers left me a message, and I didn't know how to answer his question."
"She might have her phone with her, if you need to give her a call," Christy said.
Paige shook her head. "I tried already when we couldn't find her upstairs. It's no big deal, I'll just ask her when she gets back."
Nico was trying to keep his cool, but the whole conversation was making him more and more irritated by the second. He told himself, once again, that the reason he wanted her so bad was because someone told him he couldn't have her, but that didn't seem to help.
"It was nice talking to you ladies," Nico said, standing up at the same exact time that Denise sat down.
"I didn't mean to run you off," Denise said, winking at him. "Do I stink or something?"
Logan's mother was like a second mom to Nico, so he knew she was just giving him a hard time.
"It's me who stinks," he said, smiling at her as he slid his chair back under the table. "I think the ocean will take care of it, though."
"You going for a swim?" Dee-dee asked.
"Yes ma'am, I think I will."
She pointed toward the house. "There's some towels right there in the mudroom."
Nico smiled and thanked her before going into the house to put up his mug and grab one of the towels she was talking about.
Dan was in the kitchen cooking eggs when he walked inside, and most of the people in there were sitting around eating. "You hungry?" Dan asked, looking at Nico from over his shoulder.
"No thanks," Nico said, having no appetite whatsoever.
"We'll leave some leftovers in the fridge if you change your mind," Dan said.
"And there's lots of stuff in the pantry," Charlotte added. "Pop-tarts and whatever."
Nico hadn't really noticed Charlotte sitting there until she spoke, and he smiled and waved at her. "Morning," he said.
She smiled. "Morning."
"Where's your brother?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes and pointed upward. "Still upstairs, honking it on like a lazy bum."
"Tell him I went for a swim if he's looking for me when he gets up," Nico said.
Charlotte nodded and gave him a thumbs up as she continued to eat her breakfast.
Nico smiled and greeted a few other family members on his way to the mudroom to get a towel, but he kept all conversation to a minimum. Several others were on their way out to the beach with plans to build a sandcastle, or swim, or whatever they did out there. Nico didn't really care what everyone else was doing as long as they left him alone. He needed some time to think.
The water was fairly calm for a breezy day, and Nico walked out till he was chest deep in it. He swam down the shoreline until Dee-dee's house was a tiny speck in the distance, at which point he stopped, took a break, and started swimming back.
He had always been a strong swimmer, and the physical exertion was just what he needed to clear his mind of all the frustration he was feeling. He wasn't even sure how long he'd been gone, but he was good and exhausted by the time he got back to the Hunt family's stretch of the beach.
There were at least ten people standing around looking at the sandcastle, and a few were in the water. He walked onto the shore feeling slightly better than he did when he left.
"Where did you swim to?" Ryan yelled from where she was standing, which was in knee-deep water.
"I think I went
to North Carolina," Nico said, making her giggle.
"That's funny, cause Aunt Mia ran to Georgia." The little girl was pointing down the shoreline in the opposite direction of where Nico had just come.
"That's really hilarious," Paige said. "Mia ran up a few minutes ago, and when Ryan asked where she'd been, she said she ran to Georgia."
"Uh-huh," Ryan agreed, laughing and nodding as she continued to point. "She went that way what leads to Georgia, and you went that way what leads to…" She trailed off and looked at Paige.
"North Carolina," Paige said, smiling. "It's so funny that you both said you went to a different state!" Paige smiled like she was still unable to get over the coincidence.
"Not really. If you go that way, you hit Georgia, and if you go that way you hit North Carolina," Cody said dryly as he came to stand with the group.
"Yeah, but it's still funny that they both said the same thing," Paige said.
Cody reached down and picked up his daughter, throwing her into the air and catching her as she plunged into the water in a fit of giggles.
This ended the conversation about meaningless coincidences, and gave Nico the chance to walk away without having to figure out what else to say.
Logan and Rachel were on the beach near the place where Nico went to pick up his towel, and he talked to them for a few minutes before heading to the house to take a shower.
He was on the sandy path halfway between the beach and the house when he looked up and saw Mia coming down the stairs with Charlotte and Cub right behind her. He thought the physical exertion had been enough to calm him down, but the sight of her had his heart racing again. He felt angry that he had been forbidden to pursue her, but quickly reminded himself that her brothers had been justified in their concern. He wasn't good enough for her, and he kept reminding himself of that fact as the space closed between them.
Chapter 8
Back to the Beach (Hunt Family Book 4) Page 5
