Page 48 of Grand Escape

She did as I asked and then took a long swig. I quickly walked the tray to a nearby trash can and came back, still holding my coffee.

Bringing my free hand to her cheek, I brushed my thumb over her soft skin. “I missed you this morning.”

Rylan didn’t shrug me away, but her eyes weren’t nearly as bright as usual. Her gaze dropped to the floor. “Looks like it was a good thing I left so you were free when your visitors arrived. Who is yours, Sophia or Chelsea?”

Rylan held her stance but continued staring at the tile floor, her expression revealing that she wanted to crumple. Being an attorney, I was attuned to watching people’s expressions.

“Neither.”

She reached up to smooth her ponytail, and I noticed a small tremble in her lip as she moved her cheek from my hand.

“Don’t lie,” she said. “It’s okay. We had fun. When I got the call this morning that I needed to fill in for a Billy because he’s sick, it was a sign. Our fun is over. You’re leaving at the end of the weekend, and that’s that.”

“It wasn’t a sign,” I said. “It’s not anything. My brother ... he thinks he’s a fixer now, but that’s not the way we work. I’m the fixer, and he’s the lover of life. He doesn’t get to come here and upset my whole trip.”

She frowned at me. “I can’t believe you two are triplets. I wouldn’t pick him out in a lineup as a brother of yours.”

I nodded in agreement. “With a girl in the mix, we were definitely not identical. Our personalities are a story of their own.”

Rylan tugged nervously on her hair again. “Sorry, that was rude of me.”

I wanted to put her at ease. I wasn’t mad, but she was holding her ground now, not allowing me to get close. I’d expected her to put up more of a fight.

“It’s fine. You didn’t do anything. My brother is the one who showed up here uninvited with an entourage, interrupting my vacation. Becca would have told him off before he even left. She didn’t mince words, but since she’s gone, I’m assuming he didn’t vet this plan with anyone.”

I chugged some coffee, my head starting to pound.

Rylan shrugged. “Well, I do have to work. It’s why I went to Sam’s so early. You guys have fun.”

Before I could respond, Rylan turned and jogged down the corridor. I wanted to call after her and chase her quick feet, but the last thing she needed was a scene at work.

“Shit,” I mumbled to myself, closing my eyes and trying to regroup.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to go to my villa and take a shower. No reason to play into my brother’s plan. Let him stew at breakfast with the women he dragged here.

Then I could sneak out to the beach bar and grovel.

Rylan

“Shit,” I growled under my breath, stabbing the button in the elevator.

I’d mumbled the same curse word this morning when I got a text telling me I had to work for Billy, since I’d already had a day off this week. Like a lovesick fool, I’d planned to spend the day with Adam. This was why I didn’t do attachments.

The elevator felt like it was crawling to the basement, where I needed to get some lemons from the kitchen. Every time I worked the beach bar, I ran out of them, so I always picked up a few extra before my shift.

Right now, I needed to cool down. I thought about taking a breather in the gigantic freezer to chill the anger coursing through me.

“Watch out,” a kitchen prep guy called out to me while carrying a sack of potatoes.

“Shoot. Sorry, my bad,” I called back at him.

Shaking my head, I realized I had to knock myself out of this state. I could feel the vein in my neck pulsing.

It’s not like a few guests hadn’t caught my eye over the years, but I typically stuck to the bachelor-party dudes, the ones who wanted fewer strings than I did. And then I went and involved myself with some dick with money and a woman.

“Miles, what’s shaking?” I asked, concentrating on the task at hand.

“Not much, Ry. Got your text,” he said, holding up a bowl of lemons.

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