Page 7 of Love is Grand

“What ass?”

“Tony, Rylan’s bestie.” Cal huffed out a breath. “I have to be nice, my brother tells me.”

This was getting too complicated for me. The spiderweb of our connections was weaving itself tightly, strangling me. I couldn’t decide if Cal knew Tony was pursuing me and mentioning him because of that, or if he simply didn’t know.

Deciding to not dwell on Tony or call any more attention to him, I waved a hand in the air. “That doesn’t explain how you’ll drive my car.”

Cal tilted his head, watching me. “Spent a semester of college in London. I can drive just fine on the wrong side of the road. Then I can call my driver to get me. Done and done.”

“I’ll stick with water for now.”

“Weez at home?”

I hated how Cal shortened her name like I did. Even more, I hated how I’d allowed someone to know so much about my daughter.

Someone who would probably never meet her.

Cal

“Hey, Cal,” Rylan said as she strolled into the house, all pure happiness and good vibes. “I thought I’d see you at the hotel. Didn’t they have your room ready yesterday?”

I was sitting in their kitchen, my ass firmly planted on a stool as I drank a sparkling water, wondering why the fuck I’d come back to the island. But I knew why.

Drawing a glass of water from the tap, Rylan continued to babble. “You could have stayed here. We have so much room, and we wouldn’t have bothered you.”

I shrugged. “No, it wasn’t free yet, so I stayed at the Ritz. You know, houseguests are like fish, they start to smell after a day or two,” I said, not wanting to reveal the real reason for my standoffishness.

“That doesn’t apply to siblings, especially ones that shared the same womb.”

“I think it’s worse when siblings have shared the same womb. We want our own space, you know?”

“Cal, you don’t have to put up those walls with me. I was an expert at it, and I promise you, it doesn’t get you anywhere good.”

Rylan studied me, her words a dagger to my heart. My brother had come here on a vacation to get over his own demons and fell for this young woman, twelve years his junior. He’d turned his life around because of her. For her.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not putting up walls, Ry. I’m a grown man who likes his space.”

“Whatever. You do you.”

“I will. That’s a promise,” I told her, yet it was more of an affirmation for myself.

“Adam should be back soon,” Rylan said, pulling me from my deep thoughts, or about as deep as they got.

“I know, he dropped me here. Went to get coffee beans.”

She rolled her eyes. “The man loves his coffee, but he’s also trying to talk Sam into expanding and letting Adam front him the money. Wants Sam to sell his beans to all the hotels in the area and on other islands.”

“You don’t say?”

There goes my fucking brother, wading in as usual. We had a few secrets even Rylan didn’t know. Namely, I’d come to the island to have a private look at her when he’d gone back home. He wanted to make sure she hadn’t moved on, and I’d wanted to be certain that hitting on wealthy tourists wasn’t her MO.

I might have gotten myself tangled up with a local during that time, and while Adam wasn’t happy about it, he wasn’t going to tell anyone.

“You know Adam,” Rylan said, “always the fixer. Shell’s single now, and Sam wants her to join the family business officially rather than just working there part-time, but she won’t. Adam thinks if Sam expands, then Shell won’t be able to say no. Of course, Tony is opposed. He tolerates Adam but doesn’t like him swooping in with a solution.”

Glancing away, I said evenly, “I don’t know anything about it.”

Although I pretended to be indifferent to that bombshell, all the hairs on my neck stood at attention. I wasn’t sure why Adam, Tony, or any Tom, Dick, or Harry had to be involved when it came to Shell. But I wasn’t sure why.

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