Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
Vivi’s feet felt heavy as she trudged through the hotel that had served as her home for the past two nights.
Her brother had offered to let her stay with him, but she had declined.
Knox had already done enough for her, and she didn't want to add to his burden. He was absorbed in his business and had already taken the time out of his busy schedule to move her things into Ellen’s place, even enlisting the help of his friend and employee, Miles.
The hotel bar came into sight, and she pushed down the guilt that threatened to swallow her whole.
God, she was so tired. Tired of the guilt.
Tired of feeling sad and out of control.
The last couple of weeks had felt like a rollercoaster of activity and emotion.
Even now that she was finally off the ride, the world around her was still spinning violently.
After the past few days, she just needed a little bit of time to herself and a drink or two to take her mind off things.
Everything had happened so quickly. Two weeks ago, she had left college in Connecticut to move in with her guardian, Ellen.
Florida was home for her, and she had gone to live with Ellen while Knox opted to enter the Marines after their parents passed away.
Aside from her brother, Ellen was the only other person she had to call family.
She should have known something was off, but she had been so busy with moving and getting settled that she had ignored all the signs. Ellen seemed to be more forgetful than usual, but Vivi hadn't thought much of it—until the day of the fire.
On Monday morning, Vivi had left Ellen in the sunroom where she enjoyed drinking her coffee and working on her crossword puzzles.
She shopped for groceries and then stopped by the drugstore to pick up Ellen’s prescriptions, completely oblivious to the turmoil unfolding back home.
She would never forget the sight that greeted her as she turned onto the street.
Fire trucks had gathered in front of the house, creating a barrier around the burning structure, and thick black smoke billowed up from the old brick ranch.
A sobbing Ellen greeted her by the ambulance.
Though she wasn't hurt, it was glaringly obvious that she couldn't be left alone.
While Vivi was gone, Ellen had apparently decided to make breakfast.
From what they concluded, Ellen had forgotten about the pan on the stove, and the bacon she had been frying caught fire.
Ellen had thrown water on it to put it out, succeeding only in helping the fire to spread.
Thank goodness a neighbor two doors down had heard Ellen yelling for help.
He had called the fire department, and they had arrived minutes later.
Most of the kitchen was toast—no pun intended—but at least the house had been salvaged.
The fire had spread from the kitchen into the surrounding living and dining rooms, scorching the walls and floors.
Knox had hired a company to clean the house and renovate the kitchen so they wouldn't have to wait for the insurance check to come through.
They would eventually need to replace the flooring in all the rooms, but for now, it just needed to be clean and livable.
Two days after the fire, Ellen moved into an assisted living facility.
She had apparently been making plans for several months, but Vivi had been blindsided by her choice.
She couldn't deny Ellen's request, and she had spent the past few days helping to get her settled.
Vivi was exhausted mentally, and she couldn't bear to be at home right now.
Though she wanted to turn him down, she couldn't refuse Knox’s offer to put her up in the hotel.
Since she hadn't been able to get to work either, she was a little low on funds. She was scheduled to start working for her brother’s security company this past week, but with everything going on, he had pushed her start date to next Monday.
She was actually looking forward to it, hoping it would give her something else to focus on.
Vivi stepped into the hotel bar and threw a quick glance around.
Since it was Friday night, most of the tables were occupied, either with travelers wanting to relax and unwind or locals who had come to grab a nightcap before heading home for the evening.
Sliding onto the tall leather barstool, she allowed her gaze to rove the room.
Most of the men were older, overweight, slouched over their drinks, still dressed sloppily in wrinkled suits and ties.
Coming down here had been a stupid mistake. She should have called her friend Jamie and asked her to come meet her, but she knew Jamie was going out with Brandon tonight, and she didn’t want to interrupt their date.
Her attention was drawn to the bartender who leaned against the bar in front of her. “What can I get you?” he asked.
“Um…” Vivi had never been a big partier in college, preferring to focus instead on her studies.
She had had big plans back then, none of which had included moving back home the moment she graduated.
Shaking off the thought, she forced a smile to her face as she passed him her credit card. “I’ll have an apple martini, please.”
He moved away with a nod and began to gather up the things he needed to make it. Vivi was always impressed by bartenders’ abilities to memorize and make so many different drinks, and she watched fixedly as he shook the liquid, then strained it into a glass before sliding it her way.
“Thank you,” she said.
He returned her card, and she added a tip to the receipt before signing it and passing it back to him.
She lifted the drink to her lips and took a sip, then settled back in her seat as the sweet liquor exploded over her tongue.
She could feel a set of eyes on her, and she glanced around again.
An older man, dressed in a wrinkled collared shirt with a light brown stain in the region of his breast pocket, stared at her like he wanted to devour her.
It was bad manners to meet someone’s eyes without acknowledging them, but she forced down the urge to flash him a polite smile. She wasn’t there to encourage anyone. Studiously avoiding him, she turned her back and tuned out the older gentleman to her right.
Her gaze slid over the sea of faces seated sporadically around the room.
She was scanning the back wall when she suddenly froze, stunned by the sight of a gorgeous man tucked away in a corner booth.
Her insides tingled as heat raced through her, and she shifted on her barstool.
Focused on the plate of food in front of him, the man didn’t seem to be aware of her presence. Story of her life.
Suddenly, as if feeling her eyes on him, his gaze lifted. She immediately ducked her head, her heart thundering in her chest as she stared at the green liquid sloshing precariously in her glass. She forced her hand to steady as she drew in a deep breath. He’d almost caught her ogling him.
Heat crept into her cheeks, and she flicked a glance up through her lashes to see if he’d noticed her. Her chest tightened a little with disappointment when she found his attention once more focused on the plate in front of him.
She turned her body a bit, keeping him in her peripheral vision as she sipped on her own drink.
She took the opportunity to look him over as he drank deeply, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the motion.
The sleeves of his black button-up shirt were rolled up, exposing corded, veiny forearms that her fingers itched to touch.
He had a chiseled jaw, dark hair that was cut close to the sides but left longer on top.
Broad shoulders and thick biceps. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes from there, only the dark look in them, warning everyone else away.
Sitting all alone in the corner booth, he practically had the words “piss off" stamped across his forehead.
A rail-thin blonde approached, and her hip bumped into his table.
Her giggle lilted on the air, and Vivi’s insides tightened with something like jealousy as it reached her.
How ridiculous was that? She didn’t know this man at all.
But you’d like to, her subconscious spoke up.
That was true enough. She couldn’t tear her gaze away as she watched the interaction between the man and the blonde across the room.
He offered her a tight smile, then redirected his gaze to the glass in his hand.
But the blonde didn’t get the memo. Drink balanced in one hand, she leaned toward him and ran her fingers over his arm.
Even from there, Vivi could see him tense.
It took guts to hit on a guy who looked like that, so she gave the girl props.
But he obviously wasn’t having any of it, and he was too nice to tell her to pound salt.
Vivi watched in rapt fascination as the woman jerked away from him and made an agitated gesture with her hand.
Her movements became wilder, more pronounced.
She was obviously furious about something.
The man started to shake his head, but the woman’s voice grew louder and louder.
The man in the booth looked incredibly uncomfortable as people around them turned to watch the show unfold.
Vivi bit her lip, then made a split decision. She didn’t know this man or what had transpired between him and the beautiful woman next to him, but she felt compelled to intervene. Adjusting her purse over her shoulder, she slid from her barstool and made a beeline toward the booth.
Halfway across the room, her steps faltered.
What was she doing? Her gaze flitted around, looking for the bathroom so she could change her course and escape inside where no one would be the wiser.
But the door she sought was nowhere in sight, and she dimly remembered passing it on her way into the bar.
Drawing in a deep breath, she steeled herself as she continued along her trajectory, straight toward the man seated in the booth and the leggy woman next to him. The closer she got, the more her stomach twisted. Oh, God, this was a terrible idea.
“You just left me!” the woman practically wailed. “I thought I meant something to you!”
A lover’s quarrel. Even worse. Vivi couldn’t tell why, precisely, but she felt bad for both of them.
She felt bad for the woman who obviously believed she and the man had shared something special, only to have him leave.
But she felt bad for him, too. She was making an unholy scene—and no one deserved that, regardless of the situation.
Her eyes flew back to the man in the booth.
He was doing a good job of keeping his emotions in check, but she saw the hard lines of his face, the tight clenching of his jaw as she railed at him.
She swallowed hard as she stepped up next to the woman.
Her head barely came up to the blonde’s shoulder, and not for the first time since she left her spot across the bar, she was swamped with a sense of insecurity.
The man’s eyes flicked to where she stood next to the beautiful blonde, and she could practically read the question in their depths.
Who are you, and what are you doing?
Instead of responding, she cleared her throat and brushed lightly against the woman, silently prodding her to move. Still wrapped up in her ongoing tirade, the woman didn’t even notice her.
“You jerk! I can’t believe you,” she fumed. “You promised you would—”
Vivi tapped her on the shoulder. “Excuse me.”
“What?” The woman whipped toward her, eyes wide and slightly crazed-looking.
“I, um…” Vivi swallowed hard and tried again, forcing herself not to cower under her intense glare. “I think you’re mistaken.”
Her wide blue eyes flew toward the man in the booth, then back to Vivi’s, still filled with a mixture of hurt and anger. “About what?”
Vivi smiled, praying that neither could see her unease. “I think you have the wrong guy.”
“No.” The woman shook her head and pointed a finger his way. “He—”
“Trust me.” Vivi drew a deep breath. “He’s my boyfriend.”