Chapter 6

Brittany and her little sister climbed out of my brother’s truck when we arrived at the boat launch at the lake. I got out too, moaning as the sun washed over my skin.

“What kind of person do you have to be to torture other people like that?” I complained, stripping off my shirt to let the sun warm me as much and as fast as possible.

Scott, my only family and the driver of the Arctic Express today, winked at me. “A person who knows how to enjoy the few luxuries he’s got in life. It’s a million degrees out today. You should’ve appreciated the AC while you had it.”

I shivered again just thinking about the drive from town and slammed the door in his face. All the way here, he’d refused to adjust the temperature setting in his truck to one designed for human survival. “Lizard man.”

Brittany laughed. She and Tiffany pulled off their shirts as well. At twenty-one, Tiff was five years younger than us, but she was Brittany’s double. With the same short, curly hair, the same soft, light brown eyes, and the same petite build, she could’ve been her twin.

While Scott backed his boat into the water, the girls and I stood beside the launch, trying to defrost. At least, I was trying to defrost. Brittany and Tiff were staring at Scott’s truck like it held the secret to eternally youthful skin.

“What?” I asked eventually, still unable to feel my fingers and toes. “Are there icicles sticking to the backseat or something?”

“No, it’s not that,” Brittany said, her voice oddly breathy. “There’s just something so hot about watching a man in a big truck.”

I shouldered my friend, my features scrunching up as I shuddered. “Ew. That’s my brother you’re talking about.”

Tiff giggled, her gaze as glued to the truck as her sister’s was. “Yeah, but he’s not our brother.”

“Really, you too?”

“Me too.” She shrugged, pumping her eyebrows at me as she let out an almost dreamy sigh. “You can’t be that surprised. Your brother is hot and you’re the only woman in town related to him. To the rest of us, he’s the prize.”

“The prize?” I scoffed back a laugh. “You guys are ridiculous. He’s an idiot. With an internal temperature regulation issue.”

“Well, that last part may be true,” Brittany said. “If I had him to keep me warm though, I wouldn’t mind it so much.”

I groaned playfully, scrubbing my palms over my face as I shook my head. “You’d mind it once you got pneumonia and ended up losing a lung.”

She laughed, then shrugged at me. “I don’t know. Losing a lung might be worth it.”

“Maybe you’re the idiot,” I joked.

The truth was that I adored my brother. We had an amazing relationship and we were closer than any other siblings I knew. Our parents were gone and they had been for a long time. Although Scott was only three years older than me, he was my rock, my go-to for advice, and my one true hero.

Besides, I knew all the women in town were gaga over him. Six feet tall, he kept in great shape and he was always showing it off by wearing solely board shorts, sandals, and loose tanks. He kept his blond hair in a short buzz cut and his strong jaw clean shaven. To top it all off, he had eyes the color of freshly bottled honey, with a personality sweet enough to match.

Eventually, one of the women chasing him was going to catch him. I just hoped that whoever she was, she was good enough for my fiercely loyal, even-keeled brother.

“Okay, ladies!” he shouted from the water, jerking me out of my reverie. “Let’s go. We’re burning daylight here.”

Brittany and Tiff started toward the boat immediately and I rolled my eyes but followed them, hopping on and grabbing a coveted spot at the front where I could relax. Unsurprisingly, both my friends stayed close to the helm—and my brother behind the wheel.

After we’d piled in, Scott drove smoothly away from the shore and I watched as the young families who had congregated there for the day grew smaller and smaller. He opened it up when we were far enough away, heading to the far end of the lake where we’d be able to float in peace.

I closed my eyes, relishing the wind in my hair and the warm sun on my skin. This is the life.

Nobody said much until he slowed again, and my eyes opened to see that he’d driven us almost all the way to Styles Manor. Up ahead on the shore, she sat in all her glory.

Once again, I ogled her for a moment. “She’s especially beautiful today, don’t you think? I love that garden in the summertime when it’s all green and lush.”

“It’s just a house,” Scott said, rolling his eyes.

Brittany nodded her agreement. “I keep telling her that.”

“There are a lot of words to describe the manor, but ‘house’ and ‘just’ have no place among them,” I said. “It’s the most incredible structure in town. Maybe even in the whole world.”

In my opinion, it was definitely the most incredible structure in the world, but to be fair, I hadn’t seen more of it than June Lake and its surrounds. I was also probably just biased, being so well read on the history of the house.

I’d fallen in love with the romance behind it years ago and it was a love that lasted to this day. After years of uncertainty of whether he would survive the war, Mr. and Mrs. Styles had settled here to live out the rest of their days in peace.

They’d built the place to their exact specifications over the course of several years. She’d given birth to her three children right here in town, and they’d lived a beautiful life here after that.

While I was daydreaming about the house, Scott spun the wheel to bounce over some waves he’d created, and since I hadn’t been paying attention, the sudden jolt made me land on my ass. I scowled at him, fixing my sunglasses that had fallen off my nose.

“Jerk,” I said.

He laughed, his eyes almost closing with glee. “Welcome back to earth, sis. Did you have a nice imaginary trip to the past?”

“I really did,” I said as I stood up and resumed my seat, keeping an eye on him this time. “You didn’t have to be mean about it. You could’ve just said my name.”

“I did. A few times.” He jerked his head at the Manor. “You were too busy over there.”

I exhaled through my nostrils. “So what? It’s a nice place and I appreciate the history.”

He chuckled. “Uh huh. You do know that you won’t get that same kind of romance just by admiring the house, right?”

My cheeks flushed and I flipped him off. “So sue me for being a romantic. At least I have a sense of romance. Unlike you, you caveman.”

“What, you mean taking a girl fishing and expecting her to gut her own catch isn’t romantic?” He batted his eyes innocently at me.

Brittany’s nose wrinkled. “There’s nothing wrong with some good old-fashioned guts and gore.”

I snorted, trying to hold back my laughter. “Sure, as long as the girl he’s trying to woo is a psychopath, which you’re not. We’ve long established that being capable of gutting your own fish doesn’t mean you should be forced to do it when you’re on a date.” I shook my head. “The men in this town.”

“What can I say?” Scott asked, smirking as he connected his phone to the sound system on the boat. “We’re old-school romantics.”

“Yeah, like, dawn of time old school,” I muttered. Then the music started and I opened our cooler, passing out some snacks and drinks.

We chatted while we ate, waiting until we were all hot and sweaty before we leaped into the lake. Brittany ogled Scott when he pulled off his tank and I had to resist the urge to throw up over the side. Eventually, I chose to plunge into the cool water instead, swimming under it and feeling my hair making a cloud around my head.

When I finally broke the surface, Tiff was scrolling through her phone, filming videos for her social media page. She had the most followers in town—by a landslide.

“Smile, Jewel,” she called as she aimed her camera in my direction. I gave her a cheeky wave before ducking under again, kicking my way back to the boat.

When I broke the surface, her phone was still pointed in my direction and she smiled, winking at me. I sighed but returned her smile. Social media wasn’t really my thing and I didn’t quite understand why she was always so busy uploading things, but I appreciated that it was important to her, so I rolled with it.

When I climbed back onto the boat, Scott tossed me a bottle of water and moved us closer to the shore. Then he tossed an inner tube into the water. “Anyone for tubing?”

“Me!” I volunteered immediately, leaning over to the side to grab the tube before it drifted away. “I don’t mind waiting, though.”

“I’ll go too,” Brittany said.

She and Scott bantered for a minute, but I wasn’t paying much attention to them. Eyes peeled, I glanced at Styles Manor, unable to resist now that we were so much closer. To my surprise, I spotted movement on the property.

“Check it out,” I said, pointing at the lawn. “That’s him.”

Scott raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. “The asshole from the road?”

I nodded. Asshole? Check. Sexiest man I’ve ever laid eyes on? Also check.

“I wonder how long they’re staying,” I mused aloud.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Scott warned me, then shoved Brittany overboard. “You’re going first, babe. Grab the tube, will ya?”

She sputtered as she came up, but she flashed him a cheeky smile. “Do your worst, Pendleton.”

He arched an eyebrow, his gaze locking on hers as a smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. “Oh, I will. You’re going down, Brit.”

I chuckled at the exchange, putting my money on Scott on this occasion. He loved taking us out on the lake. It was his slice of paradise and he spent a lot of time messing around out here. Brittany and I worked hard, but we played hard too when we had the chance.

Just not as hard as Scott. In any challenge involving the water, my money would always be on my brother.

As they got themselves ready, Tiff held up her phone again, panning it from Scott, to Brittany, to the shore. I cast another glance that way myself, acutely aware of Captain Intimidation’s presence not so far away.

I knew I shouldn’t be indulging this curiosity about him. Nothing could come of it and it was so silly, but he’d been wandering around in the back of my mind since we’d had our run-in with him.

Scott pushed forward on the throttle, making me lurch as he opened up. I turned my back on the shore, grinning as I held on to my sunglasses and put my focus back where it belonged.

Not on some tourist who was only passing through but on my friends and family. The people who would still be here long after he left.