Chapter 3 – Allegra
3
ALLEGRA
I check in with Bea and find out she is overwhelmed with all of the requests from the BFH. After sorting through everything, I tell her to send Burton to me if she tries to change anything else. It isn’t procedure, but she needs a firm hand. There is one thing I learned as the youngest of five: Always take control of the situation before the situation takes control of you.
I’m on my way back to my office when my phone starts buzzing. Just over and over, so I know something is going on.
I pull up my texts, and my eyes widen. My brother is here already. Ugh, Raine is the youngest and the most irritating of all of them.
RaineMan: Hanging in the lobby waiting on you, Five. Got a surprise for you.
That’s not good. Raine likes to pull pranks. Sure, he’s thirty, but he hasn’t matured at all.
That message is ten minutes old. Jesus. I switch directions, which almost has me turning an ankle in my stilettos. I slip past a family headed out to the pool from the looks of their clothing and the scent of sunscreen stinging my nostrils. I feel a bit dizzy, and I realize I missed lunch. Again.
When I step into the lobby, I find my brother easily. The Sullivan men tend to be big in everything. Height and personality. He’s talking to another man, and a sinking feeling hits me. No.
Raine sees me right away, and a massive smile stretches across his stupid, handsome face. He’s in his usual uniform now that he’s a civilian. A Denver Rockies ball cap sits on his head, covering his dark hair. He’s been in the sun recently because he has a nice glow about him, and he’s wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He hurries over and wraps his arms around me, and lifts me off the ground.
“Five!”
Yep, he yells it. Every one of my brothers sounds like they were raised in a barn. Well, except our oldest brother, who is reserved and moody, but Sully has always been that way, according to our mother. I know we’ve gained attention from not only our guests but also the staff. This will not go well when I’m trying to earn their respect.
“Put me down, Raine. Right now.”
“But I missed you. It’s been forever.”
He twirls me around. Raine is like a big old teddy bear who likes to play. Well, a tatted-up, former Marine, who can probably kill you with one finger, but he’s always been a teddy bear to me.
“Raine, I’m serious.” My stomach is starting to roll over. I suffer from motion sickness, and it’s worse on an empty stomach.
“Raine Michael Sullivan put me down this instant.”
He stops spinning me around—thank God—but I keep my eyes closed for a few seconds. Unfortunately, the next voice I hear is one I’ve been avoiding.
“Yeah, I think you need to listen to the lady.”
I don’t have to turn around to see who it is. That voice sends a rush of need through my body and leaves me dizzy. And let me tell you, having my body do that while my brother is holding me is all kinds of ick.
Raine, being the ass that he is because all of the Sullivan men are, holds me with one arm and sticks out his hand to Theo.
“Raine Sullivan, nice to meet you.”
Seriously. My brothers are the best kind of guys, but they have no decorum. And right now, he is about five seconds away from never having children. I might be smaller than my brothers, but my father taught me all the same moves. And I’m wearing some killer heels today.
“You’re going to be a dead man if you don’t put me down right now, Raine.”
“Five. Come on.”
I decide to use one last threat that scares all my brothers. “I’ll call Mom.”
He puts me down immediately. I push my hair back into place and fight the embarrassment now hitting me.
When I realize the entire lobby is staring at us, I start to contemplate how to kill my brother. Worse, Theo isn’t alone. Milo, just the CEO of Darling Resorts, is standing there. God, I am going to kill my brother.
“Raine, this is our CEO Milo Darling and our head chef Theo Darling.”
“Ah, yeah, Five has told us about you a lot.”
Have I said that I hate that nickname? My brothers all love calling each other by the birth order number. I think it’s stupid, so of course, they do it with me more than they do with each other. Don’t get me wrong. It was cool when we were kids. Now, not so much.
“Five?” Theo lets one eyebrow rise.
I shake my head and try to dismiss him, but it doesn’t work as he inches closer. “Was there something you needed, Milo?”
He shakes his head. “No. Just let me know if there is anything we can do for you, Raine. We like to think of our staff and management as family here and, well, I can say that we think the world of your sister.”
“Thanks.”
“I have a wife to go wake up. I promised to only let her sleep for a few minutes.”
Once he takes leave of us, I expect Theo to follow him. He tends to avoid me at all costs, especially since that night when he confronted me. There’s been this weird vibe between us. It’s like both of us are trying to pretend he did not look at my boobs.
“Is there something you needed, Theo?”
“Yeah, I need to talk to you about…the shower.”
I frown because it’s over. Or it should be over. I open my mouth, but my brother decides to butt in.
“Hey, I’ll let you get back to work. Devon will be here tonight, so it would be good if you could go to dinner with us.”
“Devon?” I say, tearing my gaze away from Theo. Then I look around and notice the man Raine had been talking to. He’s in line to check in with a family. That’s Raine. He makes friends everywhere he goes. “Are you dating someone?”
He laughs. “No, remember I said I was bringing our new hire. He’s someone I served with.”
Not this again. All my brothers—except Sully— have tried to get me to date someone they work with. That way, they think I will give up the job I love here and move out to Denver.
“I’m super busy tonight, Raine.”
“Devon is keen on meeting you.”
Probably not. Most of the guys are just here for the job, which that’s exactly what they were doing in the area. They had something in DC they were handling.
“I said?—”
“We had plans tonight for when I was done with the dinner rush.”
I blink and look at Theo. I almost had forgotten he was standing there. Okay, that’s a lie. I had not forgotten. I tried, but my body is always in tune with him. It’s weird, but I always know when he’s nearby. My heart rate speeds up, my nipples get hard, and I have to fight the need to squeeze my thighs together. It’s freaking embarrassing.
“Uh, Five, ya got something to tell me?”
I study Theo, who is smiling at my brother like an affable guy. Theodore Darling is not a generous guy, so he’s up to something.
“Uh, not really. Unless you want to tell me what you got up to last night in DC.”
He purses his lips, then looks at Theo. “You’re dating my sister.”
He steps forward and lowers his voice. “We’re trying to keep it on the down-low since we work together. But, yeah,” he says, giving that smile the women all melt for—this woman included, “we’re dating.”