Page 45 of Pin-up Girl

Excuse him what? “He forced his way in here, without telling me who he was, and demanded to see you.” I wasn’t the one who had acted unreasonably.

“It was a misunderstanding.” Peter kept his gaze on Sylvie. “Who else would come looking for you?”

Sylvie glanced over her shoulder at me. “Yeah. Who else would he be, Aubrey?”

“An asshole?” Brodie asked.

Peter clenched his fist.

Sebastian shook his head. “You both good?” He was looking at me, but I knew he was asking about Sylvie as well. He’d never admit it, but I had a feeling.

“We’re good.” Part of me protested the response, but my sister was smart. She knew what she was doing. It must have been a misunderstanding.

Except that it wasn’t.

Sebastian handed me a medium sized paper bag with his shop’s stamp on it—my coffee—and walked out without giving Sylvie another look.

“Thank you,” I called after him, meaning the gratitude for both the coffee and the save.

He waved over his shoulder, and headed down the stairs.

Sylvie huffed, and turned to face us again. “Aubrey, Brodie, this is my one and only forever true love, Peter.”

“Hey.” He squeezed her ass, and she squeaked.

Sylvie hated public displays of affection. Then again, she was in love now…

I was working to be kind. If this was who Sylvie loved, there was a reason. Regardless of starting off on the wrong foot with him. “Welcome to Haddarville.”

“Not feeling super welcome.” Peter’s voice was flat.

“Really?” Brodie sounded surprised. “I didn’t have a problem when I got here.”

I might ask him to tone down the interactions with Peter going forward. But I probably wouldn’t.

Sylvie was focused on Peter again. She was going to make herself dizzy with all the spinning. “I didn’t know you were coming into town so soon.”

“I wanted to surprise you.” He kissed her again. “Make sure you weren’t hooking up with any old flames.”

That was the kind of thing that should be said with teasing.

He sounded quite serious.

“Absolutely not.” Sylvie laughed.

“Sebastian. You used to be with him, right?” Peter asked.

Sylvie shrugged. “Used to. He was bringing something to my sister. You saw that.”

I didn’t like this, no matter how much I tried to tell myself I wasn’t seeing everything Sylvie did. “Are you staying in town, Peter?” I wanted him to go. I wanted to get dressed and forget how it felt to have him staring at me. I wanted to forget he’d ever been here.

“I was going to stay at the motel down the street, until I saw the place.” There was a sneer in his voice. “Sylvie and I will be staying in Salt Lake.”

“I need to be here, so Aubrey can help me plan for the wedding.”

“Aubrey can meet you downtown,” Peter said.

Brodie coughed loudly. “Aubrey has work to do.”

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