Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  But Ava passed with flying colors. Ava just wanted them to all be safe and secure and happy. And putting up with their father and working her ass off to be in position to lead his company was her way of making that happen.

  Until now.

  Until Rudy Carmichael once again decided he knew better than everyone else.

  Cori lifted her chin and gave Evan one of her signature, mischievous smiles that she could, at this point in her life, conjure in a snap. “Oh, they don’t need me to make things happen,” she said. “I just show up once in a while to ensure they have some fun while they’re kicking ass.”

  Evan looked at her for a long moment, and Cori’s mind started to spin with what Rudy had possibly told Evan about her. But Rudy didn’t know that she’d given almost her entire trust fund away already or that her travels had included volunteer work with a variety of organizations. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed by any of that. But she liked being unexpected. It had given her a freedom that she appreciated greatly. No one in her family had ever valued enjoyment quite to the extent that she did, but she knew it was important to work and play. And if she sometimes had to force her sisters to have a good time, she didn’t feel bad about it. Too much.

  “You and I have a lot in common, Cori,” Evan finally said.

  “You’re in charge of manicures and karaoke and chocolate Kahlua milkshakes when you and your sisters get together?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “I prefer whiskey and both of my sisters are horrible singers, but yeah, something like that.”

  Cori felt a jolt of…something. Something that felt like…like. For Evan Stone. “Are sex and dating the same thing?” she asked without thinking. Which was how she did most things.

  Evan’s eyes widened, but he didn’t react otherwise. “I assume we’re talking about the no-dating provision in the trust?”

  “Right.”

  Evan took a breath and moved around the edge of the table. When he was on the same side of the mahogany monstrosity, he half sat, one ass cheek on the table, facing her.

  “Your dad thought you were using partying and being the good-time girl as a way of being important to the people you care about without doing anything that’s actually serious or responsible…because you don’t want to mess up bigger things that really matter. You don’t want to help them make career decisions that might not turn out well. You don’t want to give them relationship advice in case you’re wrong. You want to stick with Kahlua milkshakes. Because they always love Kahlua milkshakes. You can’t screw that up.”

  Damn her father and his stupid, too-late insight. She swallowed hard. “Why would he think that?” she asked, acting as if she couldn’t care less. Or trying to anyway.

  “Because that’s what I do.”

  Cori’s gaze zeroed in on Evan’s. “Oh.”

  “Yeah, your dad figured out that we’re a lot alike early on. As he got to know me, he gained some insight into you.”

  “Great,” she said dryly. “I really appreciate that.”

  “Sorry.” He didn’t look sorry. He looked a little stunned actually. Like maybe he hadn’t been expecting to see all of this up close and personal.

  “But that doesn’t really answer my question,” Cori said.

  “Okay. Yes. I would say it’s safe to assume that he wanted you to focus on something other than casual sexual relationships while you’re in Bliss. Something bigger and more important. Like your sisters. The business. Yourself.”

  She cleared her throat. “Myself?”

  “When the relationships are short and mostly about sex, it’s easy to avoid really thinking about what you can—or can’t—bring to a relationship and what it means to be a real partner, in good and bad times.” He shrugged with another small smile, this one self-deprecating. “I’ve found that if all you’re promising is a good time, then you don’t have to feel bad about not delivering on what they need during the not-as-good times.”

  Whoa. Cori stared at Evan. So they were a lot alike. “Okay,” she finally said with a nod. “Got it.”

  There was a stretch of silence where it felt like Evan wanted to say something more. And where Cori kind of wanted him to. She hated it, but she was curious about what other things her father had figured out and said about her and her sisters.

  “I should go,” Evan finally said, pushing to his feet.

  “Yeah. Okay.”

  “Okay.” He hesitated. Then said simply, “’Bye, Cori.”

  Cori watched him leave the room with his briefcase in one hand and his—or rather her—caramel macchiato in the other. After a moment, she started after him, paused, went back for her bag and whipped cream gun, and then followed him to the elevator. She stepped on with him just as the doors were beginning to slide shut.

  “You’re not staying to talk to your sisters?” Evan asked as he pushed the button for the lobby.

  Hell no, she wasn’t staying. The building was beginning to feel claustrophobic. Even if it was sixty-four floors. Cori shrugged. “They don’t need me for what they’re doing.”

  “What are they doing?”

  “Ava is bossing people into figuring out how to fix this and Brynn is researching inheritances and trusts.”

  “And you’re going to go home?”

  “I’m going shopping.” She waited for a beat—the length of time it took for people to think “of course” when an heiress to billions of dollars said something like that—then added, “For vodka, tiramisu, bacon and Nutella.”

  He looked mildly surprised. And interested. “Quite a combo.”

  “The vodka is for Ava—for chocolate martinis—and the tiramisu is for Brynn. Things they love, but never buy for themselves. That whole thing about being there for them but not getting too serious about it, you know?” And she knew that he did know. Somehow. So what if Rudy had kind-of nailed that right on the head?

  Evan just nodded. “And is the Nutella or the bacon for you?”

  “Both.”

  “Bacon and Nutella?”

  “Bacon in Nutella,” she said. “And don’t think for a second my sisters will pass that up either.”

  He looked a little amazed and Cori liked that. She liked being amazing. If it was for something simple like junk food. And temporary. Being amazing temporarily was so much easier than sustaining it.

  “You put the bacon in the Nutella?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I dip it. I mean, you can make sandwiches or brownies with bacon and Nutella in them. Or coat the bacon with it. But that’s all a lot more work than just dipping it.”

  “The bacon would have to be pretty crisp, right?” he asked, acting like he was taking mental notes about all of this.

  “Definitely. And you have to melt the Nutella some. Of course.”

  “Of course.”

  Okay, she hadn’t bonded with a guy over Nutella before. That was probably a good thing. She liked to keep things light and casual and that would be very difficult to do if there was Nutella involved.

  The elevator arrived on the first floor and the doors swished open. Evan held a hand against one side and let her step off first. She walked to the middle of the marble floor of the lobby and turned to face him, not quite ready to say goodbye for some reason. It was probably the tennis shoes. She liked surprises, and somehow she sensed that this guy had a few more he could pull out.

  “I better go,” she said, stupidly wishing there was a good reason to stay.

  This was the guy her father had hired to make sure she and her sisters behaved and did exactly what he wanted them to do even when he wasn’t around to ensure it himself.

  For a second, she felt like something had jabbed her right in the sternum. Again. Dammit. That sadness kept sneaking up on her. Yes, she’d lost her father. But she didn’t think she’d ever really had him.

  Maybe that was what was so damned sad about this whole thing.

  “Oh, before you go…” She reached to take the lid off of Evan’s cup and tipped the whipped cream
canister over the half-full coffee drink, adding a new swirl. She replaced the lid and looked up at him with a smile. “Another reason to have my own whipped cream gun. I like to add more halfway through.”

  Evan nodded, watching her eyes. “Never too much sweetness with you, huh?”

  Oh boy, that sounded like flirting. And she loved flirting. And she had never been good about not doing something she loved just because it was a bad idea. She grinned at him. “You got it.”

  Something flickered in his eyes. Something that made deep-down-feel-good muscles clench.

  Evan gave her a long look. Then he said, “We have Nutella in Bliss.”

  Huh. That was good to know. “How about shoe stores? That’s a biggie for Ava.”

  He chuckled softly. “No. No shoe stores.” He reached out and flicked the diamond bracelet on her wrist. “No jewelry stores either.”

  It was the only expensive jewelry Cori wore on a regular basis, because her mother had given it to her, but she knew most people assumed she had an endless supply of precious gems. Cori tipped her head. “What do you have a lot of?”

  “Wheat, corn, and hay fields,” he said with a grin. “Pickup trucks. And dirt roads.”

  Something fluttered in her chest at his words. She looked down at her bracelet, then back up at Evan. “Do you know anything about diamond mining?” she asked. Because she did.

  He shook his head. “Can’t say that I do.”

  “Well,” she said, giving him a big smile. “You can’t get to diamonds without dirt roads.”

  He just stood looking at her for a long moment, a little bit of that amazement still there. Then he said, “When you end up in Bliss, you’re going to have to introduce me to bacon and Nutella.”

  She laughed. “Don’t you mean if I end up in Bliss?”

  “No,” he said slowly. “I think I mean when.”

  “Ava and her attorneys are really good. I wouldn’t get too cocky, Mr. Stone.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re about thirty years too late with that advice,” he said.

  Then he gave her another panty-warming grin and walked out of Carmichael Enterprises.

  Evan threw his leather bag—the one that he’d gotten for his graduation from law school and had used exactly one other time—onto the bed and shoved a hand through his hair. Noah had tried to convince him to run the bag over with his truck at least once, or rub some dirt on it at the very least. He said the shiny leather and the gold adornments were irritating.

  But no, Evan had decided to carry the stupid thing into the meeting with the Carmichael triplets. Even as he was dressed in jeans and tennis shoes. At Rudy’s request. Yes, that was what Evan typically wore to work. In Bliss. But even he knew that a meeting at Carmichael Enterprises headquarters required a tie. Still, Rudy had insisted Evan show up as Evan. And Evan would have done anything for Rudy, even before his friend was sick. Then, like an ass, had carried a nearly-new leather briefcase along with him.

  He slumped back onto the mattress next to his are-you-fucking-kidding-me briefcase and sighed. The hard part was over. He’d told the girls about the stipulations on their inheritance. And they’d reacted exactly the way Rudy had predicted.

  Except for Cori.

  That thought floated through his mind and he found himself thinking about the three sisters and what he’d expected. Ava was every bit the cool, ballbuster that Rudy had described. He’d said that his oldest would be pissed off and would do whatever she could to get control of the situation. Brynn, the middle triplet, was quiet and thoughtful, if a little distracted. The three words Rudy had used when talking about his scientist daughter had been right on. Rudy had said Brynn would try to calm the situation and look at it more analytically.

  But then there was Cori.

  Rudy had made it sound like Cori was hell-bent on rejecting everything he tried to give her and rebelling against every bit of decorum. Evan had expected her to take one look at Rudy’s note and say “no fucking way.” But that wasn’t what had happened. She’d said she could be ready to go in the morning. And she’d showed up with a whipped cream gun.

  Evan ran a hand over his face. He had been prepared to feel a sort of kinship with the world-trotting party girl, but damn. There was a connection there, and he had the feeling he’d do anything to see that little mischievous smile of hers a few thousand more times.

  Of course he was fascinated with Cori. Because he shouldn’t be. But it was all the stuff Rudy had told him about how Evan had given Rudy insight into his youngest. The way she used partying and wild weekends to stay important to her sisters and make them happy without having to be too responsible. And she definitely had an air of trouble—and fun—about her. But she was also more self-deprecating that Rudy had let on. She had a sense of humor and was very quick to defend her sisters too.

  And she had a thing for Nutella.

  Evan ran his hand up into his hair. Okay, the Nutella didn’t matter. The whipped cream and sprinkles didn’t matter. Her red leather jacket and fitted black jeans and hot leather boots didn’t matter. Nor did the fact that she’d written some little note to Brynn that had made her sister giggle at one point. Or the fact that the one thing that had made Ava’s shoulders unwind even slightly was the latte Cori had handed her. And Cori’s comment about diamonds and dirt roads didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to think about how that could be an analogy for what Rudy had found in Bliss—diamonds at the end of dirt roads. Figurative diamonds, of course. But literal dirt roads.

  With an exasperated grunt, Evan sat up. He’d been in his head far too much lately. He supposed a friend’s death would do that to a guy, but he wasn’t going to sit around and think a bunch of deep, meaningful thoughts right now. He was going to get room service. And maybe a drink. And he was going to think thoughts about how to ensure the Carmichael triplets got their butts to Bliss. No, he didn’t want to be in charge of making the girls bake pies. He definitely didn’t want to oversee their love lives. But he would do anything for Rudy, and Rudy had been adamant about wanting his girls to live in Bliss.

  Ava cannot end up with a man like me. She needs someone who can help her see beyond her office. And Brynn’s never dated. God knows how men could take advantage of her. And Cori…Cori needs more. She needs to realize that she can be more than just a good time for someone.

  He and Rudy had been over this. Multiple times. Evan was supposed to be like a big brother to the girls. Sort of. In a way. He was supposed to make sure Cori stayed home and that Brynn only dated nice guys who would treat her well and that Ava gave a regular guy a chance.

  Evan’s phone rang and he reached for it without looking at the number, grateful for the distraction.

  “Stone.”

  “When will they be here?”

  “Well, hey, Parker. Yes, my trip was great. Nice hotel. And I appreciated the pep talk text you sent me this morning before the meeting. You’re a good friend.”

  “I didn’t send you any texts this morning.”

  “I know.”

  Evan heard Parker sigh on the other end of the phone. “Just tell me the girls will be here in a couple of days and I will send you a dancing bear thingy or something.”

  Evan laughed. “Do you even know how to send a thingy, also known as a GIF, by the way?”

  “I’ll figure it out. Just tell me again how everything is going to be fine and they’ve already agreed to Rudy’s crazy-assed plan,” Parker said.

  ‘They will agree to it,” Evan said carefully.

  “Which means they haven’t yet,” Parker said flatly.

  “They’re…looking things over.”

  “Dammit, Evan.”

  “We expected them to challenge it,” Evan reminded him. “We knew they wouldn’t just roll over.”

  “Make those Gucci girls get their pretty, spray-tanned asses to Bliss now,” Parker said.

  Evan rolled his eyes. Talk about a rock and a hard place. He had Ava Carmichael on one side and Parker Blake on the other. He w
asn’t sure which was a bigger hard-ass, frankly.

  “There’s no way out of the trust,” Evan said.

  “There’s one way,” Parker said. “And I promise you, if that’s how this goes down, I will make your life a living hell.”

  Evan grimaced. Considering that Parker made about two-thirds of Evan’s meals and that he, Parker, and Noah all intended to spend all of their lives in Bliss and die very old men, that wasn’t a completely empty threat.

  What Evan hadn’t told Ava, Brynn, and Cori yet was that if they decided to not follow Rudy’s mandates, then the town of Bliss would become the owner of Carmichael Enterprises. Rudy had already established the Bliss Foundation, given a ten million dollar trust to that foundation, and put Evan in charge of it. But if even one of Rudy’s girls didn’t follow through on her part of this trust, whether it be the provisions regarding the pie shop or their relationship statuses, then the company and all of its assets went to the town of Bliss with Parker as CEO, Evan as the CFO, and Noah as Vice President of something or other. It didn’t matter what they called it. It meant the three men were in charge. And none of them had any desire to run a company based in New York City that did…hell, they weren’t even entirely sure what Rudy’s company did besides make tons and tons of money. It might sound crazy, but they didn’t want to have billions of dollars under their control. They liked their lives in Bliss and part of that was the simplicity and straight-forwardness of it. Exactly the things Rudy had loved. So no, they did not want to take over Carmichael Enterprises. Which meant, they were even more invested in making sure Rudy’s triplets did what they were supposed to do.

  “It’s going to be fine,” Evan told his friend. “The trust is airtight and they want the money.”

  Evan really hoped Parker couldn’t hear the note of hesitation in his voice. Parker had agreed to the provision of taking over as CEO to placate Rudy. But he’d pulled Evan aside and basically said he’d kill Evan if the triplets didn’t come to Bliss.