Chapter 7
Cry a river. Build a bridge. You’re still moving in with the man you can’t have.
Sophia
I glance around at my friends who are gathered in my brother’s living room. “I can’t stay with any of you?”
“Sorry. My neighbor is a total jerk. He’ll phone the cops if we’re too loud,” Chloe says.
“Isn’t your neighbor, Lucas, a cop?” I ask.
Nova smiles at me. “You can stay with me.”
“You have a cat and I’m allergic.”
Her shoulders drop. “I forgot.”
“You can stay with me,” Maya offers. “If you don’t mind sleeping on the sofa.”
Chloe snorts. “Your sofa is covered in books.”
Maya shrugs. “I can move them.”
“What about you?” I ask Paisley because knowing Maya there’s nowhere to put her books. The woman is a serious bookworm.
“There’s a cot in my spare room.”
“Excellent. I have a new home.”
“I hate to be a downer,” Nova says. “But the last time we had girls’ night at Paisley’s house, her experiment exploded and the fire department showed up.”
Paisley’s cheeks darken. “It was not an explosion. An explosion is a violent shattering or blowing apart of something.”
Maya shivers. “The way the windows shook felt violent.”
“But where am I going to stay?” I whine. “I am not going back to my parent’s house.”
“Why not? Your parents are awesome!” Nova declares.
“I feel like enough of a failure. Moving back home would make it worse.”
“You are not a failure. Shane’s a lying jerk. We should totally prank him.” Chloe rubs her hands together. Guessing by the sparkle in her eye, she already has a few ideas.
“There’s no need to prank him. Karma will kick his butt.”
Chloe rolls her eyes at Nova. “Do birds and deer come into your house to help you dress in the morning in your world?”
“Why don’t you want to live with Flynn?” Maya asks.
I glare at her. “You know why.”
Paisley pushes her glasses up her nose. “This would be a good experiment.”
I grit my teeth. “My life is not an experiment.”
“You have to admit it would be interesting to observe how long it lasts before Flynn Ryland succumbs to your beauty.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Flynn is not succumbing to my beauty. Did you forget how he rejected me at our high school graduation?”
“His heart rate increases whenever you are near. This indicates—”
I hold up my hand to stop her. I don’t need an explanation of arousal. I have enough problems with arousal whenever Flynn is nearby.
“She’s not worried about Flynn succumbing. She’s worried she’s going to throw herself at him. Naked.”
I give Chloe the finger. “Not happening.”
There’s a knock on the door before it opens and Flynn enters. He must have showered after work since his hair is wet. Did he clean himself up for me?
Darn it. I’d love to catch a glimpse of Flynn all hot and sweaty. Hot and sweaty and naked. Preferably while laying in a bed. But a shower is okay, too.
Paisley leans close to me. “Your heart rate has increased, and your cheeks are flush,” she whispers.
I push her away. “Knock it off, nerd.”
“The muscle has arrived to help us move you!” Chloe announces.
“Um, I haven’t agreed to live with Flynn yet.”
He frowns. “Where else are you going to stay?”
I huff. “I wish everyone would stop making me sound desperate.”
“If you don’t want to sound desperate, you probably shouldn’t have thrown down with a mermaid,” Maya mutters. She’s wicked funny when no one’s around but shy around people she doesn’t know well.
“Fake tits totally deserved it.”
“Because she called you a bitch?” Flynn asks.
I nod. “Exactly.”
“Duly noted.” He chuckles as he picks up my suitcases. “Where are we going? My house or are you chicken?”
I narrow my eyes on him. “Be nice or I’ll trick my parents into using tequila at drunk poker.”
He shivers. “I don’t understand the appeal of tequila.”
Chloe bounces on her toes. “I love tequila. One tequila. You’re a bore. Two tequilas. Not so boring anymore.”
“Well.” Flynn lifts the suitcases. “Where will it be?”
“I’d go with Flynn.” Nova wiggles her eyebrows. “He’s sexy.”
Which is the problem and she knows it. I narrow my eyes at her.
“What? Are you denying Flynn is sexy?”
“Mayor Lana thinks he’s sexy,” Chloe says.
“Lana thinks every man with a pulse is sexy,” I point out.
“But she doesn’t stuff underwear down the toilet for any other man,” Chloe says.
Flynn sighs. “It’s not funny.”
Maya giggles. Her eyes widen when she realizes she’s giggling out loud and she slaps a hand over her mouth.
“It’s amusing because you’re a large man. Imagining you holding a dainty piece of lingerie is an exaggeration beyond the boundaries of normality.”
“Paisley the nerd strikes again,” Chloe mutters.
Nova pushes her. “Be nice. Paisley is our friend, and her random facts are interesting.”
Chloe rolls her eyes. “According to you, Ms. Optimistic No Matter What.”
“Being happy doesn’t hurt anyone.”
Weston enters the apartment with his arm around a woman. He scans the room. “I thought you’d be gone by now.”
Chloe bats her eyelashes at him. “But you promised to fulfill my every desire.”
The woman on Weston’s arm backs away. “Who are these women?”
“We’re not bitches,” Maya whispers, and I giggle.
“I didn’t sign up for an orgy,” the woman says before fleeing the apartment.
I burst into laughter. “At least she was wearing clothes.”
“My little sister, the cock blocker.” Weston wraps an arm around my shoulders and rubs his knuckles over my hair.
“Stop!”
“What are you going to do if I don’t?”
The same thing I always do. I punch him in the stomach and he releases me.
“Are you sure you want my wild sister living with you, bro?” Weston asks Flynn.
I hold up my hand before Flynn has a chance to answer. I don’t need to hear how he doesn’t want to live with me. How he’s doing my brother a favor because I have nowhere else to stay. My pride has been hurt enough since I returned to Smuggler’s Hideaway.
“Enough. Let’s get this temporary relocation over with.” I herd my friends toward the door and into the hallway.
My girlfriends disperse and I follow Flynn to his house. I know where it’s located – out in the countryside between Smuggler’s Rest and Rogue’s Landing.
Smuggler’s Rest and Rogue’s Landing are two of the three small towns on the island of Smuggler’s Hideaway. The third one is Pirate’s Perch. It’s also the smallest and most isolated.
Despite knowing where Flynn’s house is, I haven’t been to visit since he bought the place. I kept away. The last thing I needed was to imagine what our life in his house would be like if only he’d see me as more than his little sister.
We arrive at the house and I park next to Flynn’s truck. My jaw drops as I study the house. The outside resembles a log cabin, but the structure is too large to be classified as a cabin.
Flynn stands in front of my car with my suitcases and nods to the house. I make sure my mouth isn’t gaping open and climb out of my car.
I follow him across the wide porch to the double front door. He unlocks the door and motions me inside.
“Wow.” The word slips out before I can stop it. The entire backside of the cabin is a wall of windows with a view over the dunes to the ocean beyond.
My feet travel to the windows before I can stop them. In the backyard, there’s a firepit with Adirondack chairs surrounding it. On the patio, there’s a large barbeque next to a table and chairs.
“I can build a fire for you later if you want,” Flynn says from next to me. “I know how much you enjoy smores.”
“Who doesn’t enjoy smores?”
“Great. I’ll get the fire going while you unpack.”
Enjoying fun times with the man I can’t have is a bad idea. A disaster in the making. An explosion worthy of Paisley’s definition when I succumb to the temptation that is Flynn Ryland.
No thanks. One rejection followed by complete and utter humiliation is my lifetime limit.
I clear my throat. “Thanks, but I think I’ll make it an early night. I’m still learning the ropes at my new job.”
He chuckles. “Aren’t you the owner at your new job?”
“I can’t let my girls down. They’ve put all their money into Five Fathoms Brewing. If it fails…” I fail again. I’m tired of failing. Of feeling like a failure.
“It’s hardly failing, but I’ll show you to your room.”
While I follow him up the stairs, I try not to become too fascinated with his house. With the open kitchen with its large island where all my girlfriends could sit. With the living room with its sectional sofa arranged around the stone fireplace. With the cozy nook for reading the newspaper and drinking a coffee in the corner.
“This is my bedroom.” Flynn nods to a pair of double doors at the top of the stairs. The doors are open and I catch a glimpse of an oversized sleigh bed in the middle of the room.
I hurry past before I can memorize the layout of his bedroom. Before I start to fantasize how Flynn looks lying naked in his bed with the sheets tangled around his feet.
“You’re in here.”
I trail after him as he enters a bedroom two doors down from his. He sets the suitcases at the end of the bed. “You have your own bathroom through there.”
“My own bathroom? I won’t have to fight a naked mermaid to use the shower in the morning?”
He chuckles. “And there are extra sheets and pillows in the closet. I know how much you love your pillows.”
“Thanks.”
He retreats to the hallway. “If you need anything else, let me know.”
He shuts the door and I collapse on the bed. How am I going to survive living in the same house as Flynn without throwing myself at him? I never was any good at resisting temptation. Thus, me kissing my older brother’s best friend at my high school graduation ceremony.
This is temporary, I remind myself. Plus, Flynn doesn’t want me. I won’t force myself on a man who doesn’t want me. Not again.