“You to get your head out of your ass.”
“No idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’ll take that as a no, then.”
Before I could ask what he meant, Brady, eldest McKenzie and Starlight Cove’s sheriff, strolled in behind Luna, his new girlfriend—and resort savior, thanks to a viral video. She grinned at me and sat at the counter next to Ford, seemingly unconcerned by the daggers Brady was shooting at her ass and the scowl on his face as he settled on her other side.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” Addison said as she clapped her hands like the drill sergeant she liked to pretend she was. “This layout’s not ideal, but it will have to do.”
I clenched my jaw and reminded myself I was supposed to be wooing her over to my side today. That worked for all of two seconds before I said, “How about those muffins you demolished like they owed you money? Were they ideal?”
“Mine were delicious, thanks for asking,” Ford said as he licked his fingers. I hadn’t even realized he’d taken one, let alone finished multiple. The guy ate like a fucking horse.
“Can we get on with this?” Levi said from his hovel in the corner. “If I have to be here, I’d like it to last as little time as possible.”
The ass didn’t even know how good he had it. Addison turned in his direction, no doubt ready to lay into him, but the buzzing of her phone interrupted her. Without saying a word to anyone, she shifted her attention to respond to whatever message had arrived, her thumbs flying over her phone.
Levi dropped his head back on a groan. “Jesus Christ, Addison. If all the meetings are going to be like this, I’m sending my shit in via email.”
“Have a muffin and shut up,” Addison said without lifting her eyes from the screen. “It’s from Harper.”
It was nearly comical watching my siblings’ reactions to that bit of news, all of their eyes landing on Levi to witness his response to hearing Harper’s name. When they’d been younger, she and Levi had been inseparable, but in the ten years since that time, something had happened between them. What, we had no idea, but it couldn’t have been good. Not when their rocky history had almost cost us the featured article on the resort Harper had been assigned to write.
Sadly, though we were all waiting for it, Levi didn’t react, save for the slight tightening of his jaw. His poker face was better than mine.
Aiden slid his gaze back to Addison. “They already approved the article. No take backs.”
“She’s not taking it back,” Addison said with a roll of her eyes as she finally set her phone on the table. “She just wanted to check and see if bookings were still up thanks to Luna’s TikTok debut.”
Initially, I’d viewed the modern-day hippie as I did everyone else—with irritation, frustration, or indifference. And after she proved to be a bit of a speed bump for the resort, I wasn’t sure how this whole thing would shake out, considering she’d spent a good deal of time chaining herself to the tree bordering our property and getting herself arrested by her now-boyfriend. But in the few short months she’d been in Starlight Cove, she’d managed not only to snag my unsnaggable brother but also to do something we hadn’t been able to for the past decade—breathe life back into this resort.
So, yeah, I’d named an omelet after her. Hell, I’d name the whole menu after her if she could keep up this momentum.
“Which, by the way, they are,” Addison continued. “We’re officially booked out through June. And in case anyone hasn’t been paying attention, that hasn’t happened in years.”
“Yes, yes, it’s very exciting,” I said, tone flat. I uncrossed my arms and gestured to the spread laid out across the counter. “As you can see, I prepared.”
“Oh, you knew this was going to happen, did you?” Addison scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“Had a feeling, yeah. I also have a feeling Luna’s going to want this.” I turned around to grab her morning green juice I’d made before she came in and set it in front of her. Then I turned my back on them and grabbed a to-go cup for Everly’s morning coffee. “And Everly’s going to be here in about thirty seconds for her daily pick-me-up.”
She ran along the beach every morning, and no matter the weather, I could still set my clock by her appearance. I filled her cup three-quarters of the way with coffee and topped it with cream before adding two sugars. The hum of voices rose as everyone continued trading barbs back and forth—it was a nonstop bickerfest when the six of us were together—and I turned when the bells over the door chimed, expecting Everly to walk in, smile on her face despite how early it was or the fact that she’d just run five miles.
Instead, a guy strolled in, head down as he stared at his phone, so I couldn’t see his face.
“Hey, we’re not actually open yet,” I said as the man turned toward me, and a cannonball landed in my gut.Sebastian.
Shirtless man, cereal eater, past-Everly secret keeper, and my number one enemy, considering it was ass o’clock in the morning, and Everly strolled in right behind him, which meant what I’d feared was true…
This asshole had stayed with her last night.
CHAPTERFIVE
EVERLY
I might’ve livedin Starlight Cove for a couple years, but this was the first time anyone in my family had visited me. Mostly, that was on me. I missed home, so whenever I had a break in my schedule—which, truth be told, was hardly ever since I was the sole vet around—I flew back to Washington.
But my little brother was here for a couple days, and I’d been so excited to show him around since he hadn’t been here in fifteen years. We were off to a bit of a rocky start, though.
