“A fair bit more, yes.”
“And you just have it sitting on a shelf where any Neanderthal can pick it up?”
My soon-to-be brother-in-law seemed to find my horror hilarious. “I assure you my guests know how to treat rare books, Regan.”
I harrumphed, gently putting the book back on its shelf.
“Gulliver’s Travels is one of Regan’s favorites,” Robyn offered.
“Is that so? You can borrow it if you like.”
I stepped away from the bookshelf, my eyes round with terror. “And accidentally lose it or spill coffee on its pages? No thanks.”
My sister, lips pursed with amusement, stepped out into the hall. “I need to go. I’ll see you both back at the house.”
Lachlan reached for her again, like he couldn’t help himself, and pressed another quick kiss to her lips before he finally released her.
Once she’d departed, he turned to me.
I grinned at him. “You may be keeping my sister in Scotland, an entire ocean away from Boston, but … I’ve reluctantly decided to like you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Lucky me.”
At that, I grinned harder.
Footsteps rushing back down the corridor distracted us. Robyn was suddenly there, hurrying over to me as she held out her phone. “It’s Thane. I told him he needs to be quick.”
Pulse racing with anticipation, I took my sister’s cell and answered cheerily, “Hello, Mr. Adair!”
There was silence and then the sound of choked laughter before his deep voice rumbled through the phone. “You can call me Thane.”
“Oh, I know. I was just being professional since I’m pretty sure you’re about to offer me a job.”
I ignored my sister’s exasperated look and smirked.
“I could change my mind,” Thane teased.
“I don’t think you will. And I accept.”
He chuckled. “Good. I’ll send over a contract. You start tomorrow bright and early at 6:30 a.m. That work?”
“Perfect!” Grateful, I dropped my teasing and said, “I really appreciate this, Thane.”
“No problem.”
He hung up, and I handed the phone back to Robyn. “I got the job!”
7
Regan
My excitement over getting the job waned as I began to worry I was acting irresponsibly toward Thane and his kids. So desperate for Robyn not to think I was an impulsive failure, I’d kept the truth from her. And the problem was, I needed her advice.
Staring at my packed luggage at the end of the fabulous bed in the fabulous guest suite I missed already, I shook off my nerves and wandered downstairs. Robyn had returned home two minutes ago and called up to tell me she’d brought takeout.
I walked into the main living space and found Robyn at the island with the Chinese food laid out for us.
“Hey, thanks,” I said as I slowly approached, not feeling very hungry.
“I promise this is the last of the takeout for now. I just need to go grocery shopping, and I didn’t want to cook.”
“I could have cooked.”
“Like I said, there’s very little in the house. Sit, sit, eat.”
I took the stool next to her and stared at the food.
“You okay?”
Turning to my sister, I shook my head. Exhaling nervously, I replied, “I wasn’t honest with you earlier, and now I’m not sure taking this job with Thane is a good idea.”
Robyn stopped eating and turned toward me on her stool. “Okay?”
“I guess … I am sure that it’s okay to take the job, but I want to be certain sure, and I trust your judgment.”
My sister waited patiently for me to continue.
“The thing is … the guy who got clingy and obsessive …”
Her eyes narrowed. “Yeah?”
“It was … it was worse than I let on.”
“How much worse?” I could hear the “somebody’s gonna die” tone in my sister’s voice and while it comforted me, it also made me ashamed. She already had so much on her plate with the upcoming Lucy Wainwright trial, I didn’t want to add to it. Yet I needed her advice. Selfish, selfish, selfish.
“I’m awful.” I slumped wearily. “You have all this shit going on with Lucy. You don’t need to know this.”
“Lucy’s trial won’t be until next year. We’re not postponing life for a year. Now you have me worried, so tell me what’s going on,” she demanded. “And for the record, I don’t care how much shit is going on in my life. If my sister is in trouble or someone has hurt her, I want to be the first to know about it from now on. Do we understand each other?”
Usually when Robyn used her cop voice, as I called it, I teased her. However, this was definitely not a time for teasing. I heaved a sigh. “I want you to know before I tell you all this that it was the kick up the ass I needed, and I am done making impulsive decisions.”
Seeing her patience fade, I hurried on. “I was in Ho Chi Minh City last New Year’s Eve. With the group I’d met through social media.”
“I remember.” She glared at the reminder I’d taken our trip without her.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Robyn suddenly shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. You’ve apologized. I’m letting it go. It’s just a damn trip.”
I looked away, because we both knew it was more than that. “We were three months in Europe first. All of us spent the two months after that working in Mykonos to save up enough cash to get to Asia. I bartended at a nightclub. Not exactly the stuff backpacking dreams are made of,” I said wryly. “Anyway, minus two of the girls we originally set out with, we finally got to Thailand in November, and between learning our lesson in Europe and Southeast Asia being a little cheaper, we thought we could do three months there. I experienced things I never thought I would.” I smiled, a little proud of myself, despite the circumstances.
Robyn’s eyes warmed. “Like what?”
“A jungle trek in Cambodia.” I grinned at her surprised face. “I know, right? My legs looked so toned that entire trip.”
She laughed. “I bet.”
“Anyway.” I shrugged. “The whole time … like the eight months we’d all been traveling together, this one friend, Austin, had made it clear he wanted more with me. Not in a creepy or clingy way. Not then.” No, the fucker had totally blindsided me. “But he wasn’t my type. There was zero chemistry there.”
“So what happened?”
“Like I told you earlier, I regretted leaving you for months and felt stuck. Christmas came and went without you. Then it was New Year’s, and I was depressed as hell. I missed you, I missed Mom and Dad, and Boston in the winter … and I was lonely.” I reluctantly met her gaze. “I was lonely, I was drunk, and I was impulsive.”
“You slept with Austin,” she surmised, no judgment in her voice or expression.
I nodded, my pulse increasing as I remembered the following days. “The next morning he acted like we were together-together. At first, I didn’t know what to say because I felt so bad about it, and then when I told him it was just a one-night stand, it was like he couldn’t hear it. A few nights later …” My heart raced at the memories. “We were all out for the night at a party. I decided not to drink. Like my instincts were subconsciously warning me to keep my faculties intact. The party was at this apartment near where we were staying in District 3. Austin kept getting in my face, and I finally lost it and yelled at him to leave me alone.