Bliss Brothers (Complete Series), page 46
“To get to me?” My heart swells a thousand sizes. “I’m coming here to find you.”
“Coincidence,” she whispers.
“Uh, no. This was planned. The moment Craig gave me your keys, I knew I’d made a stupid fucking mistake.” I still have the keys in my pocket now. “So I drove to the airport and I got on a plane. And I can barely walk…” I burst into laughter. “Because I spent all morning running, trying to get you out of my head. And that’s the thing. It doesn’t matter whether it’s fate or coincidence or anything else. You’re never going to be out of my head.”
Leta steps closer.
“I love you, and I’ve loved you since I met you in college, and I’m going to love you for a long time. So I wanted to come here and say to you, in person, that if you want me to, I will quit my job at Bliss. Or I will make them let me work remotely. Roman would be pissed, but at this point I don’t care. I want another shot at this with you, and if it has to happen in California, then so be it.”
“You’re Charlie Bliss,” she says, her voice tremulous. “You work at the Bliss Resort.”
“I can work anywhere. Leta. I love you. I—please come closer so I can kiss you. If I take only a single step I think I’ll collapse and that would be fucking mortifying.”
“I love you,” she whispers, and then she kisses me like we’re not in an airport at all. “There’s only one problem with moving to California.”
“What’s that?”
“I own a house in Ruby Bay. And frankly, the rent here is too high. The price…” Leta shakes her head, laughing through her tears. “The price is taking you away from your work and your family, when mine can come with me. I’ve been texting with Margot. She says we can open the first chain at Bliss. She’ll fly out next week to see the property.”
“I’ll build you a storefront,” I promise her. “I’ll build you anything.”
“No need. Just be with me.”
“I will. But first…”
“Yeah?” Leta gazes up at me, adoring, eyes full of love.
“I have to sit down, or I’ll die.”
20
Leta
“HOW’D YOU PULL THIS OFF?”
Huck Bliss stands at the door of my new studio and gallery, which is located in the shopping area of the main resort building. The rest of Charlie’s brothers fill in around him.
Roman, the oldest, lets out a low whistle. “You’ve done this place justice.”
“Would you say that if I wasn’t dating Charlie?” I give him a cheeky wink.
“Of course I would.” He pretends to be offended. “Probably.”
“We need an event in here,” says Beau, who I’ve met the most times. It still surprises me how identical he and Charlie look. It’s only their personalities that set them apart. “Right now.”
“No,” calls Charlie, stepping out from the back room. He has a cardboard box that holds one of my pieces from the old space. Inside will be a veritable roll of bubble wrap, an extra frame, and then the piece itself. “No parties.”
“Too late.” Beau steps into the space and does a slow turn, arms extended. “It’s opening night at the Leta Pearl, and we’re going to do it right. I already invited everyone.”
“Who’s every—”
“Oh, my god,” shouts an absolutely gorgeous woman, who sweeps into the space like she’s practiced making this entrance all her life. “This is beautiful. And you’re beautiful. You must be Leta. I’m Jenny, and I’m with Roman.” She waves vaguely behind her, then pulls me in for a hug. “And this is Claire, and Holiday. Holly’s pregnant, so she can’t party with us tonight.”
“Excuse me,” Holly says, coming forward to embrace me at the same time as Claire. “I can party. I just can’t drink.”
“We’re not having a party,” Charlie says, putting the box out on a table so he can cut it open. We’ve spent the day hanging pieces, and now it’s time to catalog and shelve the rest.
It all happened in reverse. I thought I’d be packing up a few things to send back to California with me, but instead I packed up California and brought it here. Not all of California. Not the absurd rent that I was struggling to pay every month. Not the added rent of the studio. Not the high overhead. I did bring the wine nights, which I plan to have every Wednesday, just to change things up.
“I feel like I’m joining a sorority,” I whisper into their ears.
“If you were joining a sorority, you wouldn’t be whispering about it,” Claire whispers back.
“I don’t know all the etiquette.”
“What are you whispering about?” says Beau, trying to bob and weave his way in. “Do you have a secret cocktail recipe? Tell me what it is.”
“I do,” says Claire. “It’s called back off. The women are bonding.”
“Sounds hot,” Beau says.
“Hey, Drive?” Holly cranes her neck to look over her shoulder. “What about food for the party?”
He raises both hands in the air. “That’s Beau’s department.”
“Taken care of,” sings Beau. “Catering arrives in an hour. It’s tacos, everybody, so put your party pants on.”
“Is a dress okay?” Holiday and Claire release me, and Jenny comes to take me by the arm.
“The dress is perfect,” she says. “You’re perfect. This summer is insane.”
“You started it,” says Beau. “Did Charlie tell you about—”
“Do not tell the dick pic story,” Roman shouts from the front, where he’s been checking out the cash register. It’s a sleek thing, black and thin, and you can barely see it over the lip of the counter. I get chills thinking about ringing up a piece of art with it for the first time.
“At the beginning of the summer,” Beau intones, “Roman was a sad, lonely old man who needed help running his own resort. It was tragic. Someone had to step up to the plate and be the hero, if you will. I was that person.”
“Oh, god,” groans Roman.
“I reached into my deep wells of insight and decided to hire him a public relations coordinator. That person was Jenny.” Jenny, next to me, is turning a deep red. “They instantly fell in love, and everything was great until…” He lowers his voice. “The dick pic.”
“And he’s been talking about it ever since,” says Jenny. “The end.”
“But it was The Dick Pic that saved the entire resort…or so we thought.” Beau puts on a faux ominous expression that puts me in serious danger of a laugh attack. “It was deleted in a matter of hours, but the effects lived on in heightened bookings until we realized that something else was going on at the Bliss Resort & Club. Something nobody could have anticipated. Well, we probably could have anticipated it, but—”
“Shut up,” shouts Charlie. “I love you, Beau, but shut up. Either tell the story or have the party. Choose one.”
“The end,” says Beau.
“I really want to know how this happened,” I whisper.
Jenny looks down at me. “I posted it. By accident. Almost ruined our relationship.”
From the way Roman is looking at her now, it did not ruin it.
“You’ll need to tell me more about this.”
“Mmm…no. But I will attend your party. And I heard there was going to be a wine night. Is that a false rumor, or is it so true?”
“A hundred percent true.”
Happiness rises in my chest, expanding to fill every available space. The women pull me right into their conversation. Like sisters, I think, and joy explodes over the top like hot fudge on a sundae. Sisters.
It’s later when Charlie wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me aside. “Are you happy?” His voice in my ear is the cherry on top of this metaphorical happiness sundae.
“I’m over the moon.”
“Don’t stay up there too long. I want to dance.”
I kiss his perfect cheekbone. “Dance?”
“On the beach. With you. Right now.”
“You know what I say to that.”
“What?” He beams down at me, Bliss blue eyes shining.
“Let’s go.”
Epilogue
Huck
They look perfect together, even from out here in the lake.
I paddle the kayak through the gently rolling waves, doing my best to give Charlie and Leta some privacy, because it is gross, the way they look at each other. I was less disgusted at my first viewing of a romcom, and before you get any ideas, no, I didn’t have a problem with the genre of the movie. Just the saccharine way the hero of that movie stared at the heroine like she was a plate of prime rib.
Nasty.
It’s also sickening because of how jealous it makes me.
However, I’m willing to admit that maybe it was eating seven tacos in forty minutes at the party. The tacos are the reason I’m out on the lake this late at night. I wore a life vest, okay? Chill.
I’ve never once been jealous of Charlie. Okay—maybe a few times, when he and Beau were at the height of their popularity in school. How can a guy compete with twin brothers who are each other's opposites? People find that shit appealing.
Clearly, Leta does. And she does nothing to hide her enthusiasm. She shouldn’t feel like she has to hide it. That’s not what I mean.
* * *
They’re out there again in the afternoon. We’re all here, actually. Me. A Sunfish sailboat. Charlie and Leta, still in love.
I turn the Sunfish around and get another eyeful of the two of them, walking with their feet in the waves. This September, it’s so warm that I think we can keep the boats out another full month. Then I’ll have to transition to doing something else at the resort. Managing the aquatic entertainment isn’t going to be enough.
And what’s Katie going to do?
I steer the boat back toward the private Bliss docks, and there she is, in a red polo shirt and khaki shorts that hug her ass so perfectly I could almost imagine cupping that ass in my hands.
Almost.
She walks up and down the docks, clipboard in hand. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail that hangs neatly down her back, shining in the sun. The girl’s cut out for a shampoo commercial, and I don’t know how she does it. We’re constantly out on the water, the wind whipping through our hair. I haven’t been back at Bliss that long and I can already feel the difference when I run my fingers through my hair.
Which I do now as I approach the dock. Then I drop my hand to my lap. Katie is the last person I need to worry about impressing.
She lifts her head from the clipboard, looks in the direction of the Sunfish, and waves. A big wave, as if I were in any danger of not seeing her. Katie sticks the clipboard under one arm and cups her hands around her mouth. “Hey, Huck,” she shouts, her voice hopping and skipping over the water. “You want to get—” The wind picks up the end of her sentence and carries it away.
“What?” I shout back.
“You want to go get a drink at the bar?” She emphasizes each word, baring her teeth, and it’s fucking hilarious. A surge of delight rushes through my chest at the sound of her voice.
She’s a good friend, Katie. One of my best friends. How the hell did I ever live without her in college?
How am I going to live without her when we both go to separate jobs at the end of the season? There’s no way she’s going to stay here.
I scoot the Sunfish up to the dock, coming in at a wide, leisurely angle. Katie’s waiting to grab a line when I get there. She flexes one arm while she pulls the tip of the boat flush with the dock and winks as she kneels down to tie it off.
“What’s with the wink?” I ask her. “Is your eye broken?”
“Your eye’s broken, dummy,” she shoots back, and the insult is so stupid it makes me laugh.
“I thought you wanted to get a drink with me.” I put a hand to my chest. “And now you’re calling me a dummy.”
“I could call you worse,” she says with a smile that lights up my entire soul.
“I call you…” I finish tying off my own line and stand up, just so I can lean in close. “…buying the drinks.” Then I turn on one heel and run off, keeping just out of range of her clipboard.
Laughing this hard erases the jealousy.
…almost.
* * *
Thank you so much for reading Crazy on You! I’ve loved Charlie and Leta for a long time, and I’m so happy to have been able to share them with you.
Now, get ready to meet Huck Bliss, just out of college and back at the resort. LOVE ON YOU has everything:
✓ a friends-to-lovers rollercoaster
✓ a delectable heroine
✓ more Bliss Brothers shenanigans
Turn the page to read Huck’s story!
Love on You
1
Huck
That “Morning Mood” song is stuck in my head.
I dip the kayak paddle into the water again, trying to get the sound to match another song. Any other song. Cotton-Eyed Joe. Anything. But my mind is filled with that sunrise flute. It’s not surprising, really, because it is pretty close to sunrise. Kind of close, anyway. The sun’s been up for an hour, maybe, and I’ve been out in this kayak the whole time.
If I paddle in one direction, there it is—the stretch of white-sand beach with the event stage on one end. In the far distance I can see the outcropping with the hidden pool where Roman’s famous incident got rolling back in June. Charlie’s out here, too, way down on the beach—running, as usual. In the sand, like a masochist. He looks a bit more relaxed, I guess. At least he’s got Leta here now. Asher is another story. Asher is always another story. And Charlie tends to trail off when he talks about that whole thing, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the resort after all.
What I can say is that I’m glad he’s not running for hours at a time anymore. That was a bit much. I appreciate a good workout as much as the next guy. You don’t get abs like these—you know, kayaking abs—from lounging around all day in a beach chair like Beau.
Just kidding. Beau secretly works out early in the morning so he can still maintain a small piece of his image as the life of the party at Bliss. Even if he’s not the toasted life of the party anymore, I can see him doing this in thirty years. Hanging out. Having a great time.
My heart seizes with dread at the thought of spending thirty years here. I always knew I’d join the family biz one day—who wouldn’t?—but now that I’m back at the resort…
Well, there’s a reason I’ve been doing so much kayaking and sailing and floating out on the water. The reason is because it’s my job for the time being. But the secondary reason is that I’ll probably die if I settle into the office with Roman or spend the rest of my life hosting parties like Beau or hermit myself away in the finance building like Charlie. Even Driver changed his life to be at Bliss more.
I dig the paddle into the surface of the water and take a deep breath. It’s too early in the morning to be worried about that type of shit, and the sun on Ruby Bay is really something else. The front of the kayak comes around in a wide arc, giving me a panoramic view. A tiny voice in my head says kayak away, man, kayak into the sun, but all I’d find on the other side of this body of water is a rickety campground sandwiched between the ritzy houses that pack themselves close to the shore.
So what do I do? I swing back toward Bliss. I’ve still got time before the boathouse opens and the guests filter down from their rooms and suites. We’ve got some regulars from the club side, and we’re nominally open to the public, and—
There’s a bride on the beach.
A bride.
My heart does a jagged flop up into my throat, such a weird sensation that I almost gag on it. What the hell did I miss? Is there a wedding going on at the boathouse? Am I seeing things?
The paddle in the water jiggles under my hand and the tip of the kayak swings too far to the shore, too fast. All the kayaking and hauling on ropes has obviously strengthened me past what I realized. I blink long and slow. She’s still there. It’s not a hallucination.
She turns toward me, raising one hand to shade her eyes at the exact moment I dig in hard on the left side to turn myself around. Too hard, like an idiot, so my wrist turns awkwardly along with the rest of my core. Fortune smiles upon me by sending an errant wave in from the middle of the lake, where a speedboat zips by, and the kayak dumps me into the water as unceremoniously as anything else I’ve ever done in my life.
Balls. Balls, it’s cold. Technically the water is warm, with all the heat of the summer collected near the shore, but out here it’s over my head and frigid. Speaking of balls, mine react by shrieking and pulling themselves upward with such force I feel it start to cramp.
I kick hard for the surface, which is tough on account of my seizing balls, and break into the sunlight. The kayak is only about ten feet away, floating underneath a rain of…laughter. And where the hell did the paddle get to? Right. On the other side of the kayak, where it’s at its most convenient.
“Balls.” I spit the word into the water and duck under again, swimming under the kayak to get to the paddle. Paddle. Boat. Me.
I know who’s laughing now. That voice can only belong to one Katie Lennon, my best friend and professional asshole.
All right, all right—she’s not always an asshole. She’s usually funny and kind and quick to laugh and all the many things I would want in a girlfriend, if I was looking to destroy one of my oldest friendships with a thing like that, which I am not.
I do the only possible maneuver to get myself back into the kayak, and by the way, I pull it off seamlessly, without my swim trunks coming off into the water. That would be too much for this moment. Then I get the paddle from where I shoved it under the kayak’s attached bungee cord and speed toward the woman who is still doubled over on the dock, laughing her ass off at me.
A few feet from the dock, I put out the paddle and use it to balance the boat into a good enough position to glare up at her. “How are you laughing? I could have drowned.”
