by J. S. Scott
I was used to seeing her solo, and I liked it that way.
Actually, it pissed me off to think of her as taken, even though I knew she was.
But I wasn’t going to tell her that. If I did, I’d have to admit that I’d never gotten over my attraction to her, and that was something we probably didn’t need to discuss.
She pushed the “Brew” button on the coffeemaker before she said, “I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at home.”
How could I compete with a whole damn family and a boyfriend? I’d never really befriended Brooke. I couldn’t. Not when my cock got hard every time I saw her. “You’ll be missed here,” I said unhappily.
She turned around to look at me. “Who will miss me? I never really made friends here, and you said you could never be my friend.”
I had said that. Right after I’d let it slip that I was attracted to her. But in the months after my confession, I’d wished I hadn’t said quite so much. Brooke was the type of woman who looked at the good in everybody. She was upbeat most of the time, and the type of person who made me want to be her friend, even though I desperately wanted to fuck her. “You’ll still be missed,” I muttered.
“Will you miss me?” she asked in a curious voice.
“Of course. You’ve worked your ass off for me. You covered me when I needed to be with my sister for her cochlear implants and treatment in New York. You’ve done a lot for me, Brooke.” My deaf sister was no longer deaf. The implants had been successful, and Tessa was happily married to Micah Sinclair, another billionaire from the Sinclair family who had relocated here to Amesport.
Brooke turned, trying to hide a look of disappointment that I’d seen just before she’d hidden her face.
“I’m sure you’ll find a good replacement,” she said as she walked over to the counter next to the bathroom and hopped up there to sit.
It was the only time that particular space ever got any usage. Since I’d remodeled the restaurant, there were several old areas we really didn’t need anymore.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked, not quite sure why I’d muttered that question.
Maybe I didn’t know why she’d had to leave her family, but now that I was aware of her siblings and the life she’d left behind, I knew it had to be something serious.
She looked at me with a pair of expressive, beautiful blue eyes. “I’m better,” she explained. “I needed some time alone, and I found it here in Maine. Everybody has been so kind, for the most part. It’s a great town.”
“Except for the fact that it’s overrun with billionaires,” I grumbled.
One by one, every Sinclair sibling had made Amesport their home. Not that they weren’t good for the town. They’d all made significant investments into the small coastal area to improve the economy and the quality of life for its residents. But it was still strange to see their jets take off and land at the airport outside of Amesport.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Brooke teased. “You aren’t exactly poor.”
She’d done my taxes, so she knew my financial status. I was far from being broke, and even though I wasn’t a billionaire, I had millions in my investments and money-market accounts from safety gear and other equipment I’d patented while I had still been working special effects in Hollywood. “But I’m not a Sinclair,” I countered.
“Who cares?” she said. “You’re still loaded.”
I was, but the money had never been all that important to me. I’d striven to save when my parents had died and my sister, Tessa, had gotten sick and lost her hearing. I’d wanted to make sure she could afford the best doctors and medical care available. But after she’d married Micah and recovered her hearing, all that money just kept accumulating. I had the life I wanted, so I’d never spent much of it.
I shrugged. “I don’t care much about the money anymore.”
“You love the restaurant,” she said.
“I guess I do. I didn’t know that running Sullivan’s was really my dream until I came back home. I guess lobster rolls are in my blood.”
“The best lobster rolls on the East Coast,” she reminded me. “And your steaks are pretty damn good, too.”
“They better be,” I told her. “Otherwise, I spent a hell of a lot of time getting shitty beef.”
I took pride in having the best steaks I could get. I’d invested some serious time searching out the best on the market.
“You could have just sat on a beach somewhere and collected millions,” she pointed out. “But you didn’t.”
“I don’t think I could ever stop working,” I admitted.
“Because you want your life to have purpose?” she probed.
“I’ve never really thought about it. Sullivan’s is an iconic place. It’s been in our family for generations.”
“I admire that about you,” Brooke said earnestly. “You always keep striving to make the restaurant better when you could have very easily hired a manager and not worked here at all.”
“We’re similar in that way,” I observed reluctantly. “You could have been an average employee instead of making it your mission to be the best employee you could be. Most of the kids who work here just show up and do what they have to do.”
I saw her visibly flinch at my comment. “I’m not a kid, Liam. I’m twenty-six years old, and I was never a child. Our family was poor. Every one of us had to step up to the plate so we didn’t get split up. We all became adults pretty early.”
I had to admit, I’d never really felt the age difference between us all that much, even though I tried to use that nine-year gap to push myself away from her. Hell, I tried just about everything to keep her at a distance. “Are you sure you want to go?” I asked gruffly. “I can make you management, give you a title and a higher salary.”
“You pay me well enough now,” she argued. “I make pretty damn good money for being a waitress.”
“You’re more than that, and I think you know it. You know almost as much about the running of this place as I do.”
She hopped down from the counter. “It’s a really thoughtful offer, but I can find something in California. I don’t have any reason to stay.”
I thought about that for a minute. She had no friends here because she’d never really gotten close to anybody. I liked my privacy, but Brooke was secluded in a way that had to be almost unbearable. She could be in a roomful of people and end up lonely, because she’d never been free to talk about herself. “I’m sorry, Brooke. I should have been a better friend.”
She smiled at me weakly. “It’s okay. I get why we couldn’t be friends.”
Brooke headed toward the door.
“Where are you going?” I called.
“Back to my apartment. I want to clean up and get dressed for my shift.”
Now that she was leaving, I really hated to see her walking away from me.
She left the restaurant, locking the door behind her.
I wanted to go after her, but what in the hell could I say?
I couldn’t tell her how fucking lonely Amesport would be without her around.
The air grew still, like it was a sign of what was going to come.
It was too quiet, too silent once she’d left.
As I started to prep for the afternoon opening, I told myself to get used to it.
Brooke was going back to California, and I was going to have to get used to my solitude.
CHAPTER 3
BROOKE
“I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” I told Evan Sinclair as we sipped a coffee at the local coffee shop, Brew Magic, later that evening.
I’d called him and asked him if we could talk. I’d wanted to thank him in person for giving me the chance to escape California for a while.
He raised an arrogant brow. “Are you sure that you’re ready to leave?”
I’d gotten used to Evan’s no-bullshit, blunt demeanor. He might sound rather aloof, but I was convinced that he had a good heart
. What other superrich mogul took the time to help an ordinary woman like me?
I nodded as I took a sip of my coffee. I was really going to miss Brew Magic. California had good coffee, but this particular coffeehouse did actually brew some magic when it came to providing customers with a tasty caffeine fix. “I’m ready. I have to get back to my real life. I need to find myself another job and try to get everything back together.”
I’d been living in the aftermath of a devastating incident for close to a year. I knew it was time to put everything behind me and move on.
“I can help you find employment,” Evan said.
“I’ll be fine. I have experience. I don’t think it will be that hard to find a position.”
“I have a lot of connections if you need them.”
I almost choked on my coffee. Evan Sinclair had more connections than almost any other person on the planet. “I appreciate that.”
“Happy to help.”
I looked at him, and I could tell he was sincere. If I really needed his assistance, I had no doubt that he’d dig in and find me work tomorrow. “I’m staying for two weeks. I promised Liam, so he’d have a chance to find a replacement.”
He nodded. “Good. Maybe we can have you over for dinner before you go. Miranda would like that.”
I eyed him carefully. “That’s really nice of you. But I’m sure you’re a busy guy.”
I didn’t want to take up any more of his time. He was Noah’s friend, and he’d already done enough for me.
“It’s no problem,” Evan informed me.
“Okay, then. I’d like that.” Now that I didn’t have to hide my past, I wanted to just be myself. And I usually made friends easily.
Evan put his coffee back on the table before he asked, “How does Liam feel about you leaving?”
I looked at him with surprise. “He’s fine with it. He’s always known it was temporary, right?”
Evan nodded sharply. “He has. But Xander mentioned the fact that he seems very . . . fond of you.”
“Xander said that?” I knew Liam was friends with Evan’s youngest cousin, but I had no idea how my name had even come up in a conversation between them.
“He did. He also predicted that Liam would never let you leave Amesport.”
“He can’t exactly stop me. I’m way overage, and he’s not my father.” It would be more than a little creepy if he was. After all, I’d been lusting after him since I’d gotten to Amesport. And I definitely didn’t have a daddy fetish.
“I think he’s going to miss you, but he has a lot of money. He could fly you back here, or get a private plane to fly him back and forth to California.”
I snorted. “Liam is never going to go out of his way to keep in touch. I think I make him uncomfortable sometimes.”
Evan smirked. “That discomfort doesn’t always mean that a guy doesn’t care about you. I felt completely uncomfortable when I first met Miranda.”
“Why?”
“Some men always like to be in control. When we meet somebody who overwhelms us, it isn’t easy not to have the upper hand.”
“So you’re saying that your wife actually makes you irrational?”
“Unfortunately, yes. But I wouldn’t trade that feeling for not having her in my life. I think I need to be shaken up occasionally. It’s probably good for Liam, too.”
It was amusing to think about Evan’s adorable wife being able to get her way with a powerful man like him. “Well, Liam isn’t interested.”
“How do you know that?”
I was silent for a moment before I confessed, “I asked him. Several months ago. He admitted that he was attracted to me, but he kept his distance.”
“Interesting,” Evan mused.
“It wasn’t interesting,” I countered. “In fact, it was rather humiliating. He thinks he’s too old for me, and he treats me like a child. He’s also inclined to believe I have a boyfriend.”
Evan’s eyebrows rose. “Do you?”
“Of course not. I’d like to think if I had a love interest, that man would have wanted me back in California sooner.”
“Then why don’t you just tell him the truth?”
I let out a beleaguered sigh. “It’s complicated.”
“I’m good with complicated,” he insisted.
“The first time you brought Noah here to visit on one of your planes, Liam saw me with him. I couldn’t tell him the truth, so he made his own assumptions. He thinks I have a filthy-rich boyfriend.”
“There’s nothing bad about that. Money makes life easier.”
“But much more complicated,” I said.
Evan shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s all I’ve ever known. Liam can’t think there’s anything wrong with being rich. He’s pretty well off himself.”
I nodded. “I know. I did his taxes.”
“So why can’t you just tell him now?”
I’d asked myself that same question several times. Sure, Liam would probably feel better knowing I wasn’t in love with another guy, because he was aware I’d been attracted to him at one time. “He’ll know I lied,” I replied sadly.
“It’s only a lie because you never said anything to the contrary.”
“No, Evan. I lied. When he asked questions, I lied my ass off.”
He took another sip of his coffee before he said, “He came to me asking questions. I’m assuming it was probably around the time that he thought you had a man in your life. He threatened to fire you if I didn’t tell him why you were here.”
I looked at him sharply. “He did? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because he wasn’t going to fire you, even if I denied him any information, which I did.”
“What if he had?”
“Then I would have found you another position. But I knew it wouldn’t come to that. Liam has an inherent sense of decency. He wasn’t going to boot you after you’d done a good job for him,” Evan said smugly.
“What did he want to know?” I still couldn’t believe that Liam had gone to Evan seeking the truth.
“Everything,” he answered. “But those weren’t my questions to answer. I figured you’d tell him what you wanted to tell him.”
“There are so many times I’ve wanted to tell him,” I admitted. “But I promised you and Noah that I wouldn’t say anything.”
“There’s nothing stopping you from doing it now. You’re going back home. Your hiding days are over.”
“I think it would be much too late for that,” I shared. “He hasn’t mentioned his attraction since, and he’s gone back to treating me like a teenager.”
“And how do you feel?”
“Bad,” I said unhappily. “I can’t really win either way. Either he’ll despise me for being attracted to him while I was with somebody else, or he’ll hate me for lying to him. It’s a lose-lose situation for me. But it doesn’t matter. I’m going home, and I don’t have to see him again after that.”
My chest ached from saying the words I didn’t really want to say.
I’d never see Liam again.
Evan leaned back in his chair. “In business, things are never a lose-lose situation,” he considered. “It’s just a lack of being able to see the positives.”
I gulped down the rest of my coffee before I told him, “This isn’t business, and there are no positives, Evan. The time to tell the truth passed me by, and it isn’t going to help me now. Liam and I are in a strictly professional relationship. He got over his attraction, I’m sure.”
“Did you get over it?” he probed mercilessly.
God, I could see why Evan was so successful in business. I was nearly squirming because Evan acted like he had me under a microscope after he’d dissected me. And he was supposed to be on my side. I’d sure as hell hate to be his enemy.
“Yes,” I lied. But then I remembered that I hated lying and retracted: “No.”
He smirked. “It can hardly be both.”
Exasperated, I told him, “Okay, yes. I’m at
tracted to him. It never went away. But I know better than to want pointless things. I’ll be fine once I get home and get back to a normal life. Liam was nothing more than a fantasy. Maybe I was bored. Maybe I was missing my family and friends. Whatever the cause of these crazy emotions, it won’t apply once I’m back on the West Coast.”
“And if it doesn’t eventually go away?”
I gave him an irritated look. “Then I’m completely and utterly screwed,” I finally blurted out, exhausted from Evan’s relentless questioning. I was starting to feel like a star witness being grilled by the defense team during a murder trial.
Evan’s manner was casual, but his expression was intense.
“It doesn’t have to be like this, Brooke. You could tell him everything. There’s no shame in what you did. If you lied, you did it because you had to. I think Liam will understand.”
“I don’t think he will.” Evan had no idea what my tense relationship had been like with Liam. “Please. I just want to go home.”
“It’s your call,” he stated. “But I can tell you from experience that there are always positives in real life, too. It’s not just in business. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to look pretty damn hard to find them.”
We fell into another conversation, and I was relieved that we didn’t have to talk about Liam anymore. It was way too painful to wonder what might have been had I just been an employee and not a pretender.
But I knew that the lies prevented me from ever knowing what would have happened between me and Liam if everything was different.
Don’t think about it. Just get through the next two weeks.
Things weren’t going to ever be different, and there was no point in thinking about what could have been.
I had to deal with reality.
The real world just sucked sometimes.
CHAPTER 4
BROOKE
After I left Brew Magic, I ducked into the small candy store on Main Street, happy to see it was still open. There was only one other person in the shop, and I recognized her immediately.
