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Shiloh had never been here in all four years of her life. Even though we went on trips with my parents and grandparents, and they also came out to New York to visit me, my parents still gave me a hard time for not bringing Shiloh home to see where she truly belonged.
My parents lived with the impression we had an image to present to the world. A perfect image, whatever perfect was. They only cared about how things looked to everyone else. It was all about their reputation, and I had always hated that. I felt like I was acting. Lying to the world. As soon as I could, I left. And now I preferred to see my parents in an environment where I had the upper hand, like back in New York, where my life was too busy for any of my parents’ social obligations. That was why I often flew them to visit me.
“Great,” Arya said enthusiastically, with a clap. “How about we start off by setting up breakfast for Pop and Gram in the backyard? I’ll show you their favorite spot.”
Arya stood up, and Shiloh immediately followed suit. It impressed me that Arya went the extra mile out of her busy day to do things for my grandparents the way they preferred.
Shiloh and Arya stacked a tray with plates, silverware, and cups in the kitchen and brought it outside to the table in back. I stayed behind, taking the opportunity to check Arya out through the kitchen window.
She was dressed for function–black work-out leggings, plain white T-shirt, and white sneakers. But the leggings and shirt hugged her in all the right places. They definitely showed off her gorgeous curves. Only someone like Arya could make such a simple outfit look so sexy.
Her hair had been hanging in loose waves, but as she and Shiloh laughed about something outside, she pulled it up into a ponytail. With the hair out of her face, her tanned skin glowed. Arya turned back to walk in, and I jumped away from the window so she wouldn’t think I was a creep or anything.
I started to heat up the leftover food and piled the dishes on their tray. They went back outside and I forced myself to begin packing the rest of the things away and finished cleaning the kitchen instead of gawking at Arya.
“Your daughter is so smart,” Arya said, suddenly beside me. She grabbed a towel and started drying the dishes and putting them back in the cabinets where they belonged. She moved effortlessly through the space and it took all my willpower to not just stand there and watch her.
“Thank you,” I said with an instant smile. I couldn’t agree more. “She’s a lot like her mother,” I added, and immediately regretted it.
I liked Arya, and I didn’t want to put her off. But I didn’t know how to do this. It had been so long since I had actually tried to attract someone with sparkling conversation–and it was clear that my skills were a little rusty.
“That's really sweet.” She was kind, but no one could miss the awkwardness.
“She looks a lot like you, though,” she added before I could say anything else stupid.
“The Adler genes are pretty difficult to escape.” I winked at her and we both laughed while she playfully whacked me with the towel.
The next few minutes were effortless and comfortable as we caught up on a lot that had happened since we last saw each other. I found myself stealing glances at her, noticing every small detail. Little things like how she rolled her eyes whenever I said something silly.
The subtle red stain of her lips that was so inviting.
I was a goner. She was definitely someone I wanted to have in my bed for the summer–or anywhere she would have me.
I didn’t care what her brother, undoubtably my best friend, would think. Mason was reasonable and knew I didn’t treat people like garbage. He also knew his sister was old enough to make choices for herself.
I wasn’t thinking about the fact that she technically worked for my parents and spent every day with my grandparents.
I was only aware of one thing: I wanted a summer fling with Arya. And I intended to pursue her relentlessly.
Chapter 2
Arya
Forsomereason,Ifelt like this summer wasn’t going to be boring with Tristan around. After spending most of the day with him and Shiloh, I couldn’t help wondering where his wife was. He had only mentioned her once when talking about Shiloh and he was definitely flirting with me. There were a lot of megawatt smiles, winks, and casual, almost accidental, touches.
Touches that felt like sparks.
I didn’t know how much to read into it, though. He had always been a flirt. Not with me, of course. I was eight years younger and just his best friend’s dorky little sister. But I saw how he would make all the pretty girls in town swoon. Even then, I understood that it would have been wildly inappropriate for a twenty-two-year-old to show a fourteen-year-old any attention, but it still stung.
It seemed like he left here as soon as he could; he stayed with his grandparents for most of his college years while commuting the hour to Louisville, but then he left for good to pursue his medical degree in New York.
Eventually, I grew up and started dating, so my feelings for him mostly faded, but he was always in the back of my mind. It had been nearly fifteen years since I saw him. Mason told me a few things about him here and there, but not much. I also didn't ask. Tristan had invited our family to his wedding, but I skipped it. There was no way I wanted to see the beautiful woman lucky enough to marry him.
But seeing him today, shirtless no less, sent me back in time and made me feel like fourteen-year-old Arya pining for Tristan. Thoughts of the day replayed through my head and I couldn’t help but smile during the short walk to my mom’s house.
I sighed, realizing that there was no way Tristan would consider me an adult since I was still living with my mom. But the truth was, I didn’t have a ton of money. I worked hard to get through nursing school and had some student debt and next to nothing in savings because of it. While the Adler’s paid well, it still wasn’t much. It made more sense to stay at my mom’s house and save my money and get out of debt so I could be ready for whatever was next.
Mason owned his own house across town, though, closer to the distillery. He had landed a job at Adler’s Distillery shortly after high school and had been working his way up, eventually getting a bachelor’s degree and MBA. Now, he led their operations. At least one of us was successful professionally. We were both unlucky in the romance department, though. He had a serious girlfriend until recently. He didn’t talk much about the breakup, but he did seem to be showing up to Mom’s more often for dinner, like tonight, apparently.
