Summer Heat Read online

  But something just didn’t fit. Which was why he’d suggested to his brothers that he would get closer to her and find out all he could. Well, technically, they had drawn straws. Where Dylan would look into the sisters, Zoey and Scarlett, and Owen would get close to Hannah and Aubrey, Liam only had to focus on Elle.

  He had to admit, she was one of the best-looking jobs he’d ever had.

  “I’m really starting to think there is something else that brought you to River Camp.”

  “Oh?” His eyebrows rose. “So what? We must be into espionage?” He nudged her shoulder. The fact that she was almost his height was an instant turn-on. He’d never before been with a woman who was as tall as she was. Most women tended to hit him midchest. Which was fine and all, but of course, he instantly wondered how it would feel having those long legs of hers wrapped around him.

  “Something like that,” she said, breaking into his thoughts. It took his sex-starved mind a split second to refocus on their conversation again.

  “We’re just three guys looking for work.” The lie tasted foul, and he picked up the pace.

  “We’ll see,” she said as they reached the main building. “Dinner is a formal affair. You’ll need—”

  “I’ve already got my monkey suit waiting for me,” he broke in. “Brent saw to it.” He stopped at the base of the stairs. “Smart hiring him—the man knows his business.”

  Her chin rose slightly. “Thanks.” She turned to go up the stairs.

  “Thanks for your help,” he called after her, and she glanced back at him. “I would have been lost without you.”

  She nodded quickly, then climbed the last set of stairs. He had to admit that he watched her hips sway as she disappeared. Hell, who wouldn’t have?

  When he entered his rooms, his brothers were waiting for him.

  “Find out anything new? I came up with nothing.” He stripped off his clothes and tossed them on his small bunk.

  “No, not since we talked on the beach,” Owen replied.

  “Haven’t had time to do anything else than ask Elle a few questions, which was a dead end. Opening a camp is taking more time than I anticipated,” he admitted.

  “Has Ryan given you any more trouble?” Dylan asked him.

  “Not since she pretty much threw herself at me earlier today as I was coming out of the dining hall,” he answered.

  Liam had run into Ryan, a waitress who worked in the main dining hall, as he took Julie her lunch before Elle had ended up joining them at the front desk.

  Ryan had caught Dylan sneaking out of Elle’s office a few nights back. She confirmed that she knew who the brothers were and threatened to expose them to Elle and the others if she didn’t get what she wanted.

  He’d been thankful he’d had his arms full of the receptionist’s lunch when he’d encountered the thin brunette. She’d tried to wrap herself around him, but he held the tray between her body and his. The wild look in her eyes made it clear he had to tread carefully with her. Avoidance was the best policy in most cases like that.

  To be honest, Ryan was one of the reasons he’d been thankful that Elle had helped at the pool bar. Some employees acted better around the boss.

  “Well, I’m meeting Zoey after dinner. I’ll let you know how it goes,” Dylan said.

  “I’m working behind the bar helping Britt out tonight. Maybe I’ll be doing that every night.” Liam held in a groan.

  “It’s your own fault. I told you, playing bartender to get laid has consequences.” Owen chuckled as Liam buttoned his shirt.

  “Shove it,” he said and tucked his shirt in. “What about you? What have you found out?”

  “Aubrey is tougher than she looks,” he said, causing his brothers to stop getting ready. “She teaches judo.”

  “Yeah, so? Lots of people do,” Dylan said.

  “I stepped into the gym while she was practicing.” He shivered. “I’ve never been afraid of a woman half my size before, but . . .” He shook his head. “Remind me not to piss her off.”

  “Okay.” Dylan laughed. “What about Hannah?”

  “I have a feeling she’s been avoiding me,” Owen answered.

  “She’s busy. They all are. Now that the camp is opened, it’s going to be even harder to get time with them,” Dylan said. “Liam, you’ve had free time to check out all the cabins prior to opening. Any signs of Dad?”

  “None.” He felt discouraged. “There’s a cabin near the stream that I haven’t checked out yet. When I got close to it, I ran into Zoey.”

  “Did she suspect you?”

  “No, I pretended to be lost while walking.” He shrugged.

  He glanced down at his watch and hissed. Then he quickly pulled on the rest of his suit and dashed out the door. “Catch up with you after dinner.”

  He was trying to put on his tie just outside the dining hall doors when he bumped into someone. His hands gripped the woman’s shoulders.

  Looking up, for a moment he was thrown off kilter; then he smiled into Elle’s blue eyes.

  “Oops,” he said, then joked, “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

  She reached up to fix her long hair and smiled. “It’s bound to happen often.” She glanced at the bow tie he was gripping in his fist. “Need help?”

  Yes. He’d been about to toss the thing on the ground in frustration. “It’s been a while since I’ve worn one of these.”

  She took the tie from him and reached up to wrap it around his neck. While she worked on tying it, she talked about how her grandfather had always pretended he needed her help. She’d always believed it was because he’d wanted her to feel useful.

  She laughed at the memories, and he watched her face closely. Her blue eyes were set in concentration as she worked, which gave him plenty of time to appreciate her beauty. Her nose had a sharp point to the end of it, leading his eyes to her full pouty lips, which were painted a soft shade of pink now. Her eyes, accented with silver makeup, looked silver blue when her gaze met his.

  She was almost done tying the tie when his eyes moved down to her dress, and he felt his breath catch in his chest.

  The silver dress fit her like a glove. No, better than that, like a second layer of skin. The low-cut front showed off a view of the best-looking breasts he’d ever imagined.

  “Wow,” he managed to say when she stepped back. He realized now what had thrown him off about her. She was wearing a pair of high heels, which caused them to be the same height.

  A slow smile blossomed across her face. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She stopped as footsteps rushed toward them.

  He held in an inward groan when he saw that Ryan was the source of the sound. Her waitress uniform had replaced the shorts and T-shirt she’d worn earlier that day, when she’d practically thrown herself at him.

  “Oh.” Ryan’s smile grew when she noticed him. “There you are—I was hoping we’d run into each other again.” She didn’t stop until she was standing closer to him than Elle was. Her hand came up and brushed down his dinner jacket. “Maybe we can meet after dinner?” Her gaze turned to Elle. “That is, if it’s okay with the boss that we have our own lives?”

  Elle stepped back slightly, but then her eyes met his.

  “Employees are allowed their own lives on their own time.” She glanced down at a thin silver watch on her wrist. “However, right now, aren’t you late for your shift?”

  “Right.” Ryan giggled, then ran her hand across his chest once more. “See you later.” She disappeared through the staff door.

  Elle’s eyebrows rose. “You look like you’d rather swallow that tie whole than to have her touch you.”

  He shivered. “I don’t tend to fall for the crazy ones. That’s more my father’s speed.” He hadn’t realized the words had escaped his lips until he heard her laugh. It was the first time he’d brought up his father with her. He’d debated bringing him up with her before: worried about it really. What if she was his father’s mistress? What would he do? H
e knew that his thoughts of her would change instantly.

  Did he want that? Did she already know? It wasn’t as if he and his brothers didn’t look like their old man. Had she already placed them and was just stringing him along?

  “I didn’t think she was all that bad. Just silly. But if you want, I can talk to Brent . . .” she began.

  “No,” he broke in and opened the staff entrance door for her. “I’m sure she’s a fine employee, it’s just . . .” He thought of the Ryan conversation with his brothers and decided to keep it to himself. “Nothing,” he finished and watched as she walked past him.

  Then he swallowed the rush of lust that caused his throat to go dry as he noticed the back of her dress. A thin string crisscrossed her bare back, holding the silver material low over her firm ass.

  “May I say wow again?” he said as he stepped into the back hallway with her.

  “Do you think it’s too much?” she asked, glancing at herself in the small employee mirror hanging in the hallway with a motivational sign above it.

  “No,” he finally managed to say.

  “Good, we figured it was important to have the guests feel like they’re at a fancy party each night.”

  “You’re going to wear that every night?” His brain went foggy, since most of his blood had traveled south.

  “Not this particular dress,” she said with a smile. “It looks like Britt needs your help.” She motioned to the bartender he was helping for the night. The older woman was a stockier version of one of his nannies, and he had instantly liked her, which was why he had volunteered to help her out whenever he was available. He suspected that Britt was short for Britney but didn’t dare ask her for fear of retribution.

  “Yeah.” He waved and held up a finger to signal that he needed a minute. “Listen, why don’t we continue this conversation after dinner?”

  He liked the look of surprise on Elle’s face.

  “I . . . I’ll think about it.” She turned quickly and disappeared behind the curtain of the stage area.

  After meeting Britt at the bar, he took over the drink-order queue and spent most of his night refilling people’s glasses.

  He took a break shortly before nine and chatted with Dylan when he stopped by. He filled his brother in on running into Ryan again, how she’d practically attacked him.

  “What does she want from us?” he asked Dylan.

  “She claims she wants what we have.”

  “What? An absent father who’s run off with the family’s money?” he joked.

  “Fame.” Dylan sighed. “She thinks by being seen on one of our arms in high-society circles, some of the glory will rub off on her.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “I’ve seen worse,” he said softly.

  Liam leaned closer to his brother. “Have you found out anything more?”

  “No, you?” Dylan asked.

  Liam shook his head.

  “All we can do is keep digging,” Dylan said before leaving.

  Liam tried to keep his focus on his job, but he found it hard every time Elle came into view.

  When the dining hall started to empty, she made her way over to the bar, and he filled her order for a Coke as she leaned on the counter and waited.

  “So?” he asked as he set the glass in front of her. “How about a walk after?”

  She appeared to think about it and tilted her head to the side. “Like all those nighttime strolls your family seems to do? Sure. I’ll walk with you back to the main building.” She took a sip of her soda.

  The dining hall was officially in the same main building, but employees entered off the back of the building, allowing them also to walk around the gravel pathway to the employee entrance of the main hall and then up to the staff rooms.

  He was looking forward to that short walk with her, and the rest of his shift seemed to fly by.

  After helping Britt clean up, he found Elle sitting at a table with Hannah. When she noticed him, she stood up and made her way across the room, as if she’d been waiting for him.

  “All done for the night?” he asked. Hannah didn’t greet him, he noticed, but simply watched them, eagle eyed.

  “Yes.” She gathered her things, and they left.

  He held the door open for her, and when she stepped out, she shivered in the night air.

  “It feels like rain,” he said and draped his jacket over her shoulders. “We’re supposed to have some tomorrow. The temperature always drops before a storm.”

  She smiled. “Whenever it dips below seventy, Floridians break out the sweaters and boots.” She hugged his jacket to her. “How about a walk to the water? I could use some fresh air.”

  “Sure.” He silently thanked his lucky stars and followed her down an empty pathway. Falling in step with her, he wondered why suddenly he felt like he was on his first date again.

  “It must be nice having brothers. I always wanted a sibling.”

  “Parents didn’t follow through?” Yet despite his casual small talk, he knew her grandfather had raised her after her mother’s death, and that her father had been locked away for that crime of passion, or so the articles he could find on her mother’s murder had said.

  “No.” She turned toward a small clearing where a large wooden bench swing sat. “She died too young.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, sitting next to her and pushing the swing slowly. “What happened to your father?”

  She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. A move he hadn’t seen her make before but knew that most women did it when they felt uncomfortable.

  “He wasn’t around much.”

  “Abandoned you?” he asked, knowing he was pushing, but maybe he’d get an insight into why she’d shack up with his dad. That is, if she really had.

  “You could say that. What about your family?” She could turn the tables easily enough.

  “Mom died shortly after I was born. My dad is around . . . somewhere.” He shrugged.

  “Around?” she asked.

  “He may or may not be going through a midlife crisis,” he answered.

  She turned slightly toward him, and the swinging stopped.

  “Joe went through one of those once. I was fifteen and had been living with him for a few years already,” she said.

  “What did he do?” he asked, curious.

  “He sold his old truck and bought a 1969 Camaro.” She smiled.

  He whistled. “Black?” He had to admit, as far as midlife crises went, it didn’t sound too bad.

  “You know it,” she said. “He drove that car around for almost a year before selling it and buying back the old truck he had before.”

  “Why would he go and do a stupid thing like that?” he asked.

  She chuckled. “It was hard to shuttle big supplies back and forth to the camp in a Camaro.”

  “Why not keep both?” he asked curiously, since he had both a truck and a souped-up car sitting in his parking garage at the moment. The question caused her eyebrows to go up slightly.

  “The camp was his baby, his entire life. He put everything he had into it, even if he didn’t have anything left to give.” She relaxed back and started rocking again. “There were times he’d go without buying new pants, which he’d ripped working on rebuilding the docks, just so he could afford new lumber.” She closed her eyes.

  “You must miss him?” he said.

  “It was strange: when my parents were around, I never felt like I was part of a family, until him and my Wildflowers.”

  “Wildflowers?” he asked. He remembered hearing someone else refer to the friends as such but didn’t know where the name had come from.

  “Zoey, Hannah, Scar, and Aub,” she said absently. “We met here”—she glanced around again—“when I was ten. Shortly after . . . ever since, we’ve been family.”

  “Why the Wildflowers?” he asked.

  “It was what we chose as a nickname for the five of us. We were in the same cabin when we met here.” She s
miled. “It fit us. We’re all different, but . . .”

  “Together you make a beautiful bunch.” He nodded. “I get it.”

  “Did you go to college?” she asked out of the blue. When he didn’t respond right away, she continued, “I did for a while. When I moved to Denver, I thought . . .”

  He could tell she was trying to get more information about him and decided to turn the tables on her.

  “You were in Denver?” he asked, hearing the nerves in her tone.

  “Yes.” Her voice changed. “For a while.”

  “What did you do there?”

  “Nothing,” she said after a bit.

  “Job?” he asked.

  “No, Jeff didn’t really . . . no.”

  “Jeff? Ex-boyfriend?”

  “Yes.” She stood up, and he prompted her to pause, taking her hand in his. It was cold, and he pulled it into both of his and rubbed it between his own to warm it.

  “I have a few exes in my closet too.” He tried to sound casual and not so eager for her answer. After all, talking about her love life meant that she might open up to him about his father.

  “Jeff was my last,” she said, avoiding eye contact.

  “Still have a thing for him?” His heart skipped as he thought about her being with only one other man. He wanted to ask her more, like why she didn’t have a trail of broken hearts behind her, but the look in her eyes told him she wouldn’t have answered him. Yet.

  “No,” she answered quickly and took a step back. “I burned that bridge.” She shook her head.

  “Bad experience?” he asked.

  “You could say that. I guess I tend to fall for the same type my mother did.” Her hand gripped his for a moment.

  “Was he older?” he asked, wanting to get to know more.

  Her eyes grew huge. “No, he was a law student. My age. He just was . . . well . . . controlling.”

  “First and last, huh?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “My father was like minded.” She had started walking down the pathway as she talked, and he followed her.