Page 122 of Tempting Me

“He’s not here.”

“Do you know where he might be?” I ask, moving closer.

Hudson looks up, and I can see the worry in his eyes.

“No, but I’ll help you look for him.”

“Thank you. Please have him call me when you find him.”

Hudson nods and gives me a smile filled with sympathy. “I’ll tell him.”

“Shay.” My brother grabs my arm gently. “We need to talk.”

“I don't want to talk to you,” I say sharply and then rush out the door.

The only person I want to talk to is Luca.

I spend the next hour checking his shop, his house, the bar again, Brooke’s bakery, and I even go by his dad’s and Ruby’s, but he isn’t there. I call him no less than a dozen times, filling his voice mailbox to capacity.

But none of it works. He doesn't answer, he doesn’t reply to my texts, and he doesn’t call me back.

Defeated, I start my walk home. I’ve made it as clear as I can that I'm sorry and that what I did was wrong. Now I need to give him time to decide what he wants to do next.

I hope it’s to come find me.

By the time I make it back to my house, my parents are sitting out on my patio, waiting for me.

I don’t think it’s possible for me to cry more today than I already have today.

Which is probably a good thing, because as soon as I hit my front door, I know my parents are going to tell me how disappointed they are in me and no matter how hard I worked this summer, they still plan to sell The Marina.

It just seems like such a load of crap to me that their grown daughter is asking them to wait and sell her The Marina, and they won’t do it. If anyone gets to be mad right now, it should be me.

“Shay, honey, how is your day going?”

My mom’s voice is calm, but the concern laced in each word is a dead giveaway that she’s already talked to Leo.

“That’s the opening question you have for me?”

My mother grins softly, her green eyes shining as she smiles.

“What else am I supposed to say? I can already see on your face that today has not been good to you.”

“Not to mention your brother has already called and given us a little rundown of how your summer’s been going,” my father adds with the smallest smirk.

It’s not the reaction I’m expecting.

“I know exactly what you’re going to say.”

“Do you?” my mother asks.

“Yes. You’re going to tell me that I’ve done the absolute unthinkable to this family and betrayed everyone by hiring Luca. You’re going to tell me, once again, that you’re not going to sell me The Marina because of the choices I made while you were gone. Well, I don’t need you to tell me something I already know.”

My father crosses his arms and gets that scowl in his eyes that he used to give Leo and me as kids when we did something we weren’t supposed to do.

“You might be a grown woman, but you could cool the tone when you’re talking to your mother.”

I take a deep breath. He’s right. I’m mad, and speaking this way isn’t going to change it.

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