Page 63 of Last Resort

“Don’t be.” She offers a soft smile that says please don’t pity me. “I had some money I’d received in inheritance after my grandmother died—she was the glue of the family and I knew with her gone, things would only get worse. So I took that money and I left. Found my way to Brooklyn where I roomed with three other college students. Went to college and got my degree while I was working as a gofer for Resort Transition Consultants. I slowly worked my way to the front desk, then to an associate, then a junior account manager, and on and on until . . . this.”

“I’m impressed,” I say with all sincerity because in my world, people don’t work their way up. They are born into it. Handed it. But Sutton is so very different. “Truly. That explains why you know the ins and outs of every facet. And your family?”

She shrugs. “Is it bad if I say that they are my parents and I care for them as my parents, but them not being in my life is the best thing that I’ve been able to do for myself?”

I nod, but don’t understand in the least. Yes, my brothers are currently being assholes to me, but growing up we were always united as a family. Even if it wasn’t easy trying to live up to the Sharpe name, we had each other.

Maybe that’s why what they’re doing now hurts so much. Dad is gone. Shouldn’t we be unifying instead of pulling apart?

Is that why I’m here instead of at my grass shack? To honor our father, but also to maybe win back some of what we were? To get my best friends back?

I sigh softly and focus on the feeling of her fingers scratching my scalp. It’s easier to not think about it. Easier to want and wish than to worry and wonder.

“What else did you ask?” she asks as I look over to her where she’s twisting her lips and looking down at me. “Where am I going? At some point, when I get enough experience, I’d like to branch out and start my own firm. I think there’s something to be said about the risk and reward of finding clients and taking on their projects for myself.”

“I can understand that.” I reach out and draw a lazy finger up and down the line of her thigh. “Tell me about your ex.”

“My ex?”

“Yes. He’s the reason we met after all, right?” I smile and grab a pillow to pull under my head. It smells like her shampoo. “Shouldn’t I know about the schmuck who didn’t do a good enough job to keep you?”

Her eyes soften as she chews the inside of her cheek. “Can I say I was lonely and naïve and did everything wrong and leave it at that?”

“I doubt that.”

“When no one has taught you how to love, Callahan, you take the first sign of affection sent your way and cling to it even when it’s not healthy.” Her eyes dip and study her fingers moving through my hair. Her shame is written all over her face, and it guts me to see it. “I’m not proud of it, of staying with him for as long as I did when he preferred me to fail rather than flourish for his own ego’s sake. But I’m proud of myself for walking away from it. It didn’t hurt this opportunity came along at the perfect time to do just that.”

I hate that my gut twists at the thought of another man touching her. Of another man hurting her. “And sometimes I think things happen at the right time just when we need it most.”

What the hell does that mean, Cal? You’re not talking about her, right?

There’s no way you’re talking about her.

“And as far as everything in between, I think I’m still figuring that out as I go.” She gives a definitive nod as if she’s content with her answer. “What about you, Callahan? Tell me about you.”

Christ. I opened that door, didn’t I?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Sutton

“What do you want to know?”

“How about I ask the most obvious thing since your expression says you’d rather die than talk about yourself.” I laugh. His wince tells me he is not a fan of the tables being turned. Too bad. I want to know more about this man who fills my thoughts and then plops onto my bed unannounced out of the blue. I lob a softball at him for a warmup. “Should I assume you don’t have a girlfriend since you pick women up in clubs and are currently shacking up with a woman? A rather hot woman, I might add, but a woman—”

“A very hot woman, indeed.”

“That didn’t answer the question.”

He chuckles. “No. I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Is that by design or because you’ve yet to find the one?”

“It’s just how it is.” He lifts his eyebrows. “Right. Wrong. I don’t know. I don’t like complicated.”

“Says the man who was thrown into the most complicated situation ever when I walked in the door of that conference room.”

He laughs and it makes me smile. “Complicated yes, but I definitely wasn’t complaining that I got to see you again.”