Page 44 of So Close

All she had to do to get Beachcrest was to stay the course. Pretend that dancing and toasting marshmallows with him was enough.

But it wasn’t.

And that scared the living shit out of her.

Her face was flaming hot, and the smoke had changed direction and was blowing in her face. She stood up and moved into the shadows.

Chiara, who’d also come down for the roast, joined her.

“What’d youdoto him?” she asked her sister. “It’s like he was under the curse of a wicked witch and you kissed him and saved him.”

“Er,” Auburn said. “There hasn’t been any kissing yet.”

“Yet?” Chiara was all wide-open eyes and mouth.

“There isn’t going to be any kissing. At all.”

“You said, ‘yet.’ I heard you.”

“It was a slip of the tongue.”

“It sounds like tongues might start slipping any moment.”

“That would be a very, very bad idea.”

“And yet—yet—I’m getting the distinct feeling you haven’t dismissed it as a possibility.”

“I’m trying to do a business deal here. I can’t imagine this couldpossiblyhelp.”

“You’re trying to get him to fall in love,” Chiara said. “Kissing always helps with that.”

“WithBeachcrest,” Auburn said. “I’m trying to get him to fall in love withBeachcrest.”

“I hate to break it to you sis, but youareBeachcrest.” Chiara’s face was all mischief, but before Auburn could protest, they were joined by Brynn; Auburn introduced the two women.

“I need to get myself a s’more before they run out of marshmallows,” Chiara said. “Anyone else?”

“I wouldn’t turn one down if you arranged for one to be made for me,” Auburn admitted.

“I’m good,” Brynn said, waving a hand. “Hey,” she said to Auburn, as Chiara stepped back toward the fire. “I just wanted to say that I’m on your side. About the inn. I’m opposed to this whole retirement development thing. I think Trey should let Beachcrest stay, and Carl should come live with me. But Trey’s against that.”

“Against Carl moving in with you?”

“He’s got a bug up his ass about stuff like that. He doesn’t even want me living where I am, let alone Carl moving in there. He tried to buy me a new place. I told him where he could shovethat.”

“He tried to buy you a new place?” Auburn could feel her mouth fall open.

“Yeah. He hates my house. And to be fair, it’s a little bit of a shit heap at the moment, but it’s my shit heap, you know? I earned it with my own damn money after I got myself back on my own damn feet after I made my own stupid-ass mistakes.”

That made Auburn smile. “Funnily enough, I do know.”

Brynn smiled back at her. “Yeah, well, tough to get my big, bad brother to grok that. He needs to save all of us with his bajillions of dollars.”

They both turned and looked at Trey, who at the moment was spearing a marshmallow on a fork and looking a lot more like the small boys surrounding him than like a rich man with a savior complex.

“He’s in such a good mood today,” Brynn said. “I was shocked when he asked if the boys and I wanted to come to the campfire with him. I was like, who are you and what did you do with my brother? I think it’s the effect of the beach. He always loved the beach when we were little.”

“He was telling me about it. You guys coming here. Playing on the beach together. He said it was a happy time.”

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