Chapter 20
STERLING
A s the massive gates at my parents’ estate swung open, Laney gasped, her jaw practically dropping.
The sound wasn’t dramatic or exaggerated, more like a breath sucked in and held like she didn’t quite remember that she also had to let it out.
All she did was sit there, staring at the gold crest on the ornate metal, the Westwood insignia, that marked the place as ours.
I glanced at her for what had to be the seventh time in ten minutes.
Maybe it was the eighth or more. I’d lost count, but I hadn’t seemed to be able to stop doing it on our drive over here.
At every stop, on every quiet stretch of road, and every other opportunity, I’d found myself glancing her way.
She hadn’t noticed, her head turned toward her window and her upper body leaning forward as she drank in her surroundings like a teenager excited to be getting dropped off at her fancy new boarding school. Her eyes were wide, now tracking the curve of the long, tree-lined drive ahead of us.
Meanwhile, I didn’t give a damn about the estate, but I was staring at her almost as intently as she was at it.
Her hair was down this evening, soft waves of reddish-blonde brushing against her pale shoulders and collarbone.
I hadn’t realized before just how many freckles dotted the slope of her neck.
The late afternoon sunlight poured through the windshield, warming her skin and making the ruby on her finger glow like a little ember. A ruby really is perfect for her. Quiet fire that burns wild and free deep inside. Hidden heat that simmers gently just below surface.
The dress she’d put on for the occasion didn’t help my focus either. It was red, slip-style. Simple but striking—and also much too distracting for a thirty-minute drive, during which I was supposed to have been planning my own version of damage control.
This could not go the way it had with her dad. I knew it wouldn’t, considering that my father already knew and my mother had married this way, but I needed it to go well. Really well.
She gasped again when the first houses came into view, leaning even further forward and still not saying a word. She just sat there, blinked rapidly as her mouth fell open when we passed the first estate near the gate.
“That’s Callum’s place,” I said, nodding toward the sleek, modern building carved into the hillside. Flat roof, glass walls, a sports car always parked just so on the driveway. “He calls it his bachelor’s retreat. I prefer to think of it as a frat house with better lighting and cleaner floors.”
Laney turned slowly in her seat to look at me. “Callum. That’s your brother, right? Is all that really his?”
“Yep.” I smirked. “Second youngest brother. His house is the smallest one on the property, but he had it renovated to within an inch of its life to turn it into that.”
We kept going, winding past the central gardens and along the lake’s edge, where Jameson’s house sat like it had been dropped there straight from the set of an English period drama. Stone facade. Ivy climbing up the walls. A grove of trees around it.
“That’s Jameson’s. It’s on one of the lakes,” I explained. “He claims the water helps him think, but I doubt even an ocean would really help him with that.”
Laney stared at me. “This is actually insane.”
I let out a laugh. Surprisingly, it was an honest one. “You’re not wrong.”
Some of the tension in the car evaporated after that. I told her about growing up here, about how even though I loved my family, I couldn’t stomach the idea of living within golf cart range of them. She laughed but fell silent again as we rounded the final bend and the main house came into view.
Three stories of sweeping windows and balconies, marble columns flanking the entrance, and a veranda large enough that it could comfortably host a wedding, which, no doubt, my mother would be sure to mention at some point within the next five minutes.
I glanced at Laney again, smiling when I realized it looked like she’d swallowed her tongue. Before I could say anything, the front doors burst open and a woman in a pale blue caftan came racing out onto the veranda, barefoot, arms waving like she was trying to flag down a plane.
“Sterling!” she called. “And this must be Laney.”
I groaned under my breath. “My father told her.”
Laney blinked at me. “Who is that?”
“My mother,” I said. “Cecelia. She’s going to tell you to call her CC. Don’t ask. Just do it. It’s a thing and she hates to be called ma’am, so whatever you do, don’t say that.”
I slowed to a stop, and before I’d even reached for my door handle, my mom had made it to the car and she was yanking open Laney’s door herself. Watching the whole thing go down without knowing if I was about to witness a train wreck or a celebration, I hung back.
“Oh my goodness, look at you,” Mom gushed, pulling Laney into a hug that was both intense and probably thoroughly perfumed. “You are just gorgeous. You’re even prettier than your file photo. Look at your skin. Sterling, why didn’t you tell me she had such beautiful skin?”
“I wasn’t aware I’d told you anything,” I muttered, finally easing myself out of the car and straightening up beside it, but it didn’t matter.
I might as well have stayed in it for all the attention I got.
Laney was already being spirited away, my mom linking their arms like she’d just found her new favorite accessory.
Despite myself, I let out a relieved sigh and smiled as I watched them go, following far enough behind that I could watch them openly without being noticed.
It didn’t last very long. I got as far as the steps before my father appeared at the top of them, looking like a man who was extremely pleased with himself. “Well, she didn’t slap you. That’s something.”
“Did you have to tell her?” I asked as we watched my mother sweep Laney into the house without a backward glance at me.
“She’s thrilled,” he replied. “Do you know how long she’s been praying for a daughter in the family? Let her enjoy this. She’s furious there wasn’t a real wedding, but we’ll circle back to that.”
“We’ve already talked about this.” I gave him a dry look. “It’s not happening right now.”
He chuckled and clapped me on the shoulder. “Keep telling yourself that.”
We crossed through the house, out the back doors, and into the open garden behind the main living area. Callum and Jameson were on the patio under the gazebo, drinks already in hand, sunglasses on despite the fading sun.
Jameson offered me a lazy wave. Callum just lifted a brow like he could sense something big was coming, or Dad had already told him, too. Laney wasn’t out here, though.
I turned to my father as we strode along the flagstone path. “How do you know her dad?”
My father’s expression cooled. “Vinny? I’m assuming you’ve met him, then, huh?”
“Vinny?” I echoed. “You mentioned knowing her uncle, but not her father. If you have a nickname for him, you must’ve known them both.”
He gave a shrug that was much too casual for the way Vincent had reacted to me. “We were in elementary school together. You didn’t know that?”
“No.”
“Funny, I thought I mentioned it. We lost touch, but the Rhodes family’s been here almost as long as ours. Old money, just not our kind.”
I snorted. “You mean they have less of it.”
He grinned. “Much less. Your grandfather tried to buy that old grocery store from them years ago, but they wouldn’t budge.”
“It must run in the family,” I murmured before looking back at him. “It seemed like there was something else, though. Some other history.”
Dad waved a hand like it was barely worth mentioning. “Is he still pissed about that? It was nothing.”
“It didn’t seem like nothing.”
“That man never has known how to let go of a grudge.” Dad sighed. “When Vinny was fresh on the force, I may have ended up in one of his drunk tanks. It was harmless.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “Harmless? Why is he so pissed, then?”
“We were young. I celebrated a merger a little too hard. My lawyers were faster than he could make his paperwork stick and he wasn’t thrilled.”
“Jesus.”
“There’s no bad blood,” he said.
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. “No warm fuzzies either.”
“Exactly.” Dad chuckled. “I respect him, but Vinny’s always had a bone to pick with people who don’t color completely inside the lines. He’s a hard ass. Has been since we were boys.”
When we reached Jameson and Callum, they were sipping bourbon like it was a lifestyle. Harrison wasn’t here, spending the summer on a yacht in Italy instead of sticking around the city.
“Where is she?” Jameson said, eyes glinting with humor. “Or has your bride already run for the hills?”
“Not as far as I know,” I replied, accepting the tumbler filled with amber liquid that Jameson passed over to me. “I think she’s inside with Mom. I haven’t seen her since we got here, but I’m sure Mom would’ve let us know by now if she’d run her off.”
Callum leaned back, his arms crossed and his eyes still covered by his sunglasses. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were getting married. What the hell, man? I could’ve thrown you a bachelor party.”
“Perhaps some other time,” I said, not meaning it at all. “If it makes you feel better, we didn’t tell her father either.”
Jameson chuckled. “How’d he take it when he found out?”
“Like a detective whose daughter married a Westwood without telling him. How do you think he took it?”
“Poorly,” Callum guessed out loud. “The only question is how poorly?”
“He threatened to make me disappear.”
My brothers burst out laughing just as Mom and Laney appeared. My mother was practically glowing as she grinned at me. “Oh, darling. I love her. She’s so beautiful and so sweet. Smart too. She’s just a dream.”
A little taken aback by Mom’s praise, I didn’t say anything at first. She’d always been a little cold and stern with the women in her boys’ lives. I couldn’t remember a time a girl had been so well received.
Laney followed behind her, looking as overwhelmed as if she’d just been hit with a glitter cannon. Her cheeks were flushed, her smile polite and her eyes a little glazed as they scanned the patio like she was trying to locate the nearest exit.
“She’s got such lovely taste,” Mom went on, looping her hand around Laney’s arm again when she reached her. “This dress. It goes so well with the ring. You did a stunning job with that, sweetheart.”
Finally seeming to remember that I existed, she flashed me a smile and then swept a hand out toward my brothers. “Laney, meet most of the rest of our motley crew of boys. This is Callum and Jameson.”
They greeted her with practiced charm. Callum stood and offered her a seat. Jameson handed her a glass of sparkling water like she might disintegrate if left unhydrated. All polite as if they’d never put a foot wrong. She’d soon find out that wasn’t the case. Not even almost.
For now, however, I met Laney’s eyes and gave her the smallest shake of my head. Abort mission?
She gave me a tiny smirk that seemed to say, Now would be good. Thanks .
“I’m going to take Laney for a walk around the gardens,” I announced. “Show her around a bit before it gets too dark.”
I offered her my arm and she took it without hesitation, following me toward the garden path. For a few long minutes, we walked in silence, winding away from the gazebo. Rosebushes lined one hedge wall, wild lavender and citrus trees on the other.
The scent of summer wafted through the air, sweet, fresh, and clean. I didn’t break the comfortable silence, happy to give her some time to process after the intense welcome she’d received.
“This place is insane,” Laney repeated a short while later. “Like, overwhelming and unreal.”
I chuckled. “You’ll get used to it.”
She glanced up at me. “I’m not sure I want to.”
“Once again, you’re not wrong.” We walked past the koi pond and paused near a wrought iron bench shaded by climbing vines.
She ran her fingers absent-mindedly along the metal. “There’s a party here next weekend.”
“The summer party.” I nodded. “It’s an annual event.”
She looked at me. “Are we going?”
“Of course. We’re going to be the hottest gossip in town for a while. They’ll expect to see you on display.”
She huffed out a soft laugh. “That sounds lovely.”
“It’s really not that bad,” I said, my voice once again gentler than I’d thought it could be. “The food is usually pretty good.”
That earned me a sideways glance and the beginning of a smile.
Something between us shifted in that moment as our gazes met.
I wasn’t sure if it was the garden in full bloom, the golden rays of late sunshine, or the way her dress lit up like flame against all the green, but it made something in my chest stretch uncomfortably.
“Did you pack today?” I asked, clearing my throat to break out of whatever that had been.
Laney blinked hard. “Excuse me?”
“You’re moving in. It’s part of the agreement, remember? I told you someone would be by for your things in the morning, so I’m asking if you packed today.”
“Some.” She swept a hand absently around in the air, gesturing at the garden. “Is your place as ridiculous as this?”
I shook my head. “I have a penthouse in the city. I hope you like the color gray.”
Laney smirked at me. “Of course, your place is gray. I wouldn’t have expected anything less.”
I chuckled, but I also wondered why, for once, it didn’t feel like she’d meant that as an insult.