Chapter 3
Vivi pressed her forehead to the cool glass of the window, trying—and failing—to ignore the way her thoughts kept circling back to Boone.
She'd woken up next to him, her backside pressed against his—undeniably, impressively, impossibly-difficult-to-ignore—front. God help her, he was irritatingly and infuriatingly sexy—and way too complicated to be thinking about this early in the day.
She stood at the counter sipping her latte, savoring the hit of caffeine, when her phone pinged. A text from her boss, Peter.
She considered ignoring it but if he was texting at this hour it must be important. Then again, this was Peter, it could be anything from a paper cut to the office being on fire.
With a sigh, she opened the text.
Peter the Prick: Why aren't you responding to my emails?
Vivi: I just woke up.
Peter the Prick: I warned you the time difference would be a problem.
Vivi took a slow, deep breath. She'd worked for Peter for five years and had yet to take an actual vacation. But instead of pointing that out, she went her usual route—away from confrontation and straight into avoidance.
Vivi: What can I help with?
Peter the Prick: I've forwarded you some emails that need immediate attention.
Which meant he'd forwarded her all the busy work he didn't want to deal with.
Vivi: I said I'd be available for emergencies.
Peter the Prick: This is an emergency. And thanks for always being there for me.
Vivi was about to type a polite response when she heard footsteps coming from down the hall, then a strange man walked in. Barefoot, shirtless, and dripping from the shower, sweatpants hanging low on his hips.
He froze when he saw her. She froze right back, then grabbed the belt of her robe and tightened it like armor. “What the hell?”
“I didn’t mean to scare you. You must be Colter's friend?"
"I'm nobody's friend," Vivi said quickly. "And aren’t you the guy I Got Stood Up In Vegas guy from the café?"
He gave her a lazy smile. "Eli. I live here.” He leaned against the counter, utterly unbothered by the fact that he was nearly naked. "So. How long have you been, uh, visiting?"
Before Vivi could decide whether to be offended or mortified, another voice joined in.
"Eli, you seen my—"
The man stopped mid-sentence as he stepped into the kitchen, eyes darting from his half-dressed brother to Vivi. He was in a pair of athletic shorts, a wrinkled snap button shirt, and bed head tall enough to put him closer to god.
His brows shot up. "Didn't know we had company."
"She's not mine," Eli said immediately. "I thought she was yours."
Mr. Iron Man flipped a chair around and straddled it. "Nope. I thought she was yours."
They both turned to look at Vivi, who was approximately three seconds from melting into the floor from embarrassment.
"Oh, for crying out loud. I’m nobody’s anything! I just came down for coffee."
That's when the unmistakably British voice rang out, smooth as Earl Grey and twice as sharp. "Well, well," the older woman said, with an air of amused judgment. "Look who's gracing my kitchen."
"I met you last night," Vivi said, surprise and confusion colliding in her chest.
"Lady Readean Callahan," the older woman said, her accent sounding more Queen than Lady.
"What are you doing here?" Vivi asked.
Lady Readean leaned regally against the counter, a sly smile on her face. "Darling, I live here. Right behind the ranch house, in the in-law cottage. My own homey little hideaway just close enough to keep an eye on my grandsons and far enough to have my privacy."
Vivi blinked. "Wait, you’re Boone’s grandmother?”
"Grandmother, godmother, confidant, occasional referee of questionable decisions. But you can call me Lady Rea."
The woman took in the scene—Eli half-naked, Colter smirking, and Vivi standing in the middle like she'd been caught trespassing—and sighed dramatically.
"Christ on a crumpet," she said, gliding toward the stove. "If I didn't know better, I'd think I'd walked into a porno. Someone tell me, did I miss the part where we find out if there will be a crossing of swords?"
Eli groaned. "Nan. Not helping."
"Oh, I think I'm being very helpful," she said, putting the kettle on. "You're half-dressed before noon, Colter's wearing last night's shirt, and there's a woman in my kitchen looking like she's reconsidering all her life decisions. That's my entertainment for the week."
Vivi opened her mouth to protest but managed only a helpless laugh. "This is not what it looks like."
Rea scooped loose tealeaves into a tea-holder and dropped into an elegant cup. "At this point I don't even want to know what it looks like."
Eli leaned toward Colter and whispered, "Pretty sure Boone’s gonna love this story."
Rea shot them both a warning look over her mug. "Don't you dare. That boy's about as relaxed as someone waiting for a kettle to boil with guests watching. Best not prod him unless you fancy bleeding. If he thinks you two scared off the help again, you'll be mucking stalls until Christmas."
Vivi blinked. "Again?"
Colter coughed. "Long story."
"Speaking of stories," Rea said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “You, darling, look like someone who has stories to tell. Care to share?"
"Oh. We didn't sleep together if that’s what you’re thinking. Well, we did. But our clothes were on."
Vivi froze the second the words left her mouth, heat crawling up her neck. She watched three sets of Callahan eyes widen in varying degrees of amusement.
Eli let a chuckle loose. Colter was biting back a grin. And Rea looked positively gleeful—like she'd just been handed front-row tickets to the best village scandal of the season.
Vivi's hands fluttered uselessly at her sides before shoving them into her robe pockets, wishing she could rewind the last ten seconds of her life.
Scratch that: the last twenty-four hours.
She could practically feel the mortification radiating off herself—half the town probably could.
Of all the explanations she could have offered, she'd chosen the one that was entirely too specific and made her sound guilty.
"I wasn't asking about that," Rea said. "But go on."
"Never mind." Vivi swallowed hard. "What I meant to say is—I rented the place. Legally, I might add."
"Of course you did, I wouldn't expect less."
Her cheeks still warm, Vivi ran a hand through her hair, which felt like it was an electrocuted squirrel’s tail. "I rented the place and Boone didn't know. His ex put the ranch up for rent without telling him."
Eli leaned a massive, tattooed shoulder against the wall and shook his head. "Oh man. Boone is going to lose his shit when he finds out."
"He already knows. He's on the phone with her now," Vivi said and an unexpected pang of guilt twisted through her the moment the words were out.
She hated betraying someone's confidence.
She'd always bristled when people did it to her, and now she'd done the same thing to Boone.
The thought of him somewhere in the barn, pacing with his phone pressed to his ear and already furious, made her stomach knot.
She hadn't meant to make his private business public, but the damage was done and the weight of it pressed down on her like a stone.
Eli snorted, a crooked grin spreading across his face. "He's going to invent a whole new level of pissed just for this occasion."
Colter pushed off the wall and elbowed his brother on his way to the table. "Maybe we get popcorn and watch the fireworks."
Eli laughed. "Nah. We're not that cruel." A beat. "Well, not entirely."
"He's mad enough already," Vivi said. "Like trying-to-kick-me-out mad."
Rea blinked, then let out a low, amused laugh. "Oh my, that boy never changes. So let me get this straight. You rented his family's land and he thinks he can throw you out?"
"Yes!" Vivi groaned. "I mean, I've only known him one night, but I can already tell he's grumpy and stubborn. Should I wait for him to come around, or—?"
She gestured helplessly.
"Darling, you're not a gardener, stop watering dead plants," Rea said, voice smooth as silk.
"You must take what you want. Tell him you're not going anywhere.
You rented the place, that makes you a guest of the Callahan estate.
Guests stay. Callahans honor their word.
And my grandson?" She let the words hang with a smirk.
"He may be stubborn, but he's lucky as hell to have someone bold enough to stand her ground. "
Vivi stared at her stunned. "You're serious?"
"Dead serious," Rea said, her eyes sparkling with a mix of mischief and authority. "Now come along. I'll show you your room—the master bedroom."
"That's Boone's room," Vivi said. "That's where I slept last night."
"I bet that got interesting," Rea said, already moving. "Consider yourself officially part of the family."
Vivi let out a short, breathless laugh and shook her head. "I can't believe this is happening."
"Oh, but it is," Rea said, arching a perfectly sculpted brow. "And you? You're going to survive Boone Callahan, You’ll maybe even enjoy it."
The kitchen smelled like sausage and biscuits, and Vivi was starting to suspect breakfast wasn’t the only thing Lady Rea was cooking up. She rolled out the dough while Rea stood at the stove humming, looking entirely too pleased with herself.
"Tell me about this boyfriend in Singapore. He expects you to, what? Sell your soul, pack up your entire life, and become Mrs. Somebody Else's Career?" Rea asked, a perfectly arched eyebrow punctuating every word.
Vivi shrugged, trying to hide her nerves. "Pretty much. He wants me to give up my life here. Walk away from my friends, my work, my family and follow him halfway around the world. And honestly, I don't know if I can or if I even want to."
Rea tapped the ladle against the counter for emphasis.
"That's not love. That's a relocation package with a side of guilt.
You don't sell yourself short for some man's convenience.
When my Marvis was around, I was rich. Filthy rich.
So, I have taste and I know how to spot a bad deal in an instant. This, darling, is a bad deal."
Vivi laughed nervously, spreading gravy over a biscuit that was already drenched in butter. "It feels like if I say no, I'm letting him down. But if I say yes, I'm letting myself down."
Rea leaned in, voice dropping conspiratorially low like she was about to impart the nuclear launch codes.
"Life isn't a charity auction. You don't give yourself away for someone else's happiness unless they're putting you in the VIP box with champagne and a proper inheritance.
Otherwise? You eat your biscuits, you drink your coffee, and you live your life where you're wanted—not where you're merely tolerated. "
Vivi almost choked. Rea waved a delighted hand like she'd just delivered the most important life truth since sliced bread.
"Besides," Rea added with a sly grin, "if he's expecting you to drop everything for him, he can at least learn to make his own damn gravy."
Vivi nearly snorted into her biscuit and suddenly the problem didn't seem quite so insurmountable. She might still be scared, but at least for now she had biscuits, gravy, and a very opinionated therapist giving her a masterclass in self-respect.
Vivi wiped her hands on a napkin and glanced at Rea, feeling slightly like she was under a microscope.
"If you ask my boss, I'm needed in the office every waking minute of the day. In reality, I can work from anywhere. Most people in my office telecommute.”
“What do you do in your fancy office?”
“Oh, it’s more of a sterile cubical with no personal touches, because god help us if a client sees a picture of someone’s kids. As for what I do, I'm a professional dating profile consultant."
"Is that fancy for a matchmaker?"
"I rewrite dating profiles. Help people present themselves well on dating apps."
Rea pursed her lips so tight they could cut glass. "And yet here you are. Which leads me to assume your own love life is tragically ironic?"
Vivi's stomach twisted. Rea didn't know her, but she'd nailed it. Which made Vivi wonder just how much she gave away with a single look.
She'd spent her whole life saying yes—always yes—to everyone else.
Accommodating others so thoroughly that her own wants had slipped out the back door without her noticing.
Now. finally, she'd done something for herself.
Taken a risk and put her life and her job in the balance to come here—and apparently that made her scandalous.
No wonder her heart kept ending up in pieces.
She forced a laugh, trying to hide the sting. "I suppose it's not exactly conventional."
"Neither is surviving Boone Callahan. But here you are."
Here you are, Vivi thought, a small surge of defiance rising through the embarrassment. Here she was—and maybe, for once, it was about what she wanted. Not anyone else.
"Yeah," she said, a little more steadily. "I can make a total stranger's life sound magical online. Somehow my own keeps not working."
"Of course it does. You're too busy thinking about everyone else and not nearly enough about yourself.
Now that, darling, is fixable." Rea leaned forward, her eyes sparkling.
"I propose a deal. You stay here, eat my food, let me share a little wisdom.
You call me Lady Rea, and I'll help you remember that life is not a spreadsheet of other people's happiness. You deserve magic too."
Vivi blinked. "Lady Rea?"
"Like a fairy godmother—but with a Gucci clutch."
"Lady Rea it is," Vivi said.
"Now then," the older woman said, waving a hand like she was dusting invisible sparkles into the air.
"I offer guidance, support, and the occasional blunt truth delivered with style.
You'll get advice, laughter, and gravy like nobody else in this town can make.
And while you think you're just here for comfort food and my stories—consider yourself officially under the wing of someone who knows exactly what she's doing. "
Vivi couldn't help but grin. Rea's confidence was infectious, even if it was slightly terrifying. The thought of having a real mentor—a clever, funny, sharp woman genuinely in her corner—made her feel lighter, like maybe she didn't have to figure everything out alone.
Her mom had always handed out advice too, but it came with fine print—warnings disguised as wisdom, cynicism dressed up as experience, the shadow of a bitter divorce she'd never fully let go of.
Rea's guidance felt nothing like that. It felt like someone who'd survived the hard things and chosen optimism anyway.
And as the older woman hummed triumphantly while rolling out another batch of biscuits, Vivi thought that with Lady Rea in her corner, maybe—just maybe—there was room for the kind of magic she hadn't thought to hope for.