What The Heart Finds Read online

  “Why?” he asked, reaching the railing and swinging himself over. “In a rush to get back to work?”

  “As a matter of fact…”

  “Because it seems like you haven’t even enjoyed your vacation yet,” he said, sitting down on the railing casually.

  “As a matter of fact,” Lena started, taking a step back, finding herself pressed against the wall of the inn. “I had horseback lessons this afternoon.”

  “Emily gave you the bucket list speech, didn’t she?” Eric asked, his eyes amused.

  “Is there anything she says that isn’t planned out?” Lena asked, feeling a little more offended than she should.

  “Well all the cursing is usually off the cuff,” Eric laughed, talking about her in a sweet, familiar way. “She’s just really good at her job. Kinda have to be if you’ve been here as long as she has.”

  “How long has she been here?” Lena asked, finding herself both personally and professionally interested.

  “Long as I remember her actually,” Eric said, looking up at her. “She just showed up in town one day when we were teenagers… demanded a job at the inn. She’s just been here every since. She’s been running the place for years… Marion was old and sickly for a long time before she passed.”

  “Were you close?” Lena asked, feeling a rush of unexpected sympathy. It seemed like everyone was close with everyone else.

  “In the sense that she chased me down and beat me with a broom once when she thought I was interested in Em,” he said, smiling at the memory.

  “I would have paid to see that,” Lena said, finding herself smiling at the idea.

  “You should do that more,” Eric said, eyes soft.

  “Do what more?”

  “Smile,” Eric said. “You’re always so composed. So… tense.”

  “I’m not tense!” Lena felt the embarrassment flood her fast and unrestrained. She hated being called tense and edgy. She knew it was probably an apt description for how she behaved a lot of the time, but it didn’t stop the words from grating.

  “Hell,” Eric said, laughing his infuriating throaty laugh. “just look at the way you’re standing. You look like you have a stick shoved…”

  Lena felt her jaw clench, swinging away from him and storming off. But he swung an arm out quickly, grabbing her wrist. She froze at the contact, the pressure firm but gentle. She stood that way for a moment, too angry to turn and face him, too helpless to make him let go and walk away. Eric’s thumb rubbed slowly back and forth against the sensitive insides of her wrist, the sensation making her skin tingle.

  “Come here,” he said quietly.

  No. She wasn’t going to go to him. She was going to pull her arm free and march off into the inn. And say something insulting in the process. That was what she was going to do. But even as the thoughts formed, she felt her feet turning toward him. His hand tugged slightly until she was in front of him, standing between his legs as he sat.

  His fingers snaked down, grabbing her hand in his, slipping his fingers between hers. “I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said quietly, his tone almost a whisper. “I just meant… when you’re on vacation… be on vacation. Let loose a little.”

  “I have a lot of responsibilities at…

  “I’m sure you do baby,” he interrupted. “but you’re not at work.”

  His free hand slid slowly up her thigh, the fabric suddenly feeling hot and itchy against her skin. It lingered for a moment by her hipbone hollow before snaking around her lower back. Lena looked down at him, her eyes heavy and questioning.

  His hand pushed against her hips, moving her closer until there was barely a whisper of air between them.

  Lena felt the air hitch in her chest, holding there as Eric’s gray eyes found hers and he slowly started to stand. His hand fell from hers and she felt its absence suddenly, a foolishly strong sensation of emptiness. Hers fell numbly to her side as Eric’s moved slowly to her neck, moving across it with an excruciatingly light caress of fingertips. She felt the air escape her mouth slowly as her head fell to the side, allowing him more access.

  She felt herself sway against him, her arm reaching up to settle on his shoulder. Her eyes rose to meet him hesitantly, the heat building in her belly and spreading out.

  His hand moved from her back, sliding up her body. Then both of his hands went to the sides of her face, cradling it. She felt time slip away, moments or hours passed, before she finally leaned slightly in. Wanting, asking.

  A lazy grin played at his lips for a second before he brought his face to hers, his lips landing on hers lightly. A promise of more to come. His thumbs pushed into the flesh under her chin, pushing her face upward as his lips demanded more. A whimper pushed its way out from the back of her throat and Eric’s hungry tongue slipped inside her mouth, toying slow circles with hers.

  Her arms went up and around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. She needed to feel him. She needed more.

  As if sensing her urgency, Eric’s tongue slipped away. His teeth dug quickly into the soft, swollen flesh of her lower lip quickly before pulling completely away.

  Lena’s eyes were closed tight. She leaned forward, seeking stability, and rested her face against his chest, his heartbeat quick against her ear. His hands slid from her face, moving down her back and pulling her tightly against him.

  “Lovely, lovely night for a … walk,” Emily’s voice broke in, amused. Teasing almost.

  Lena’s eyes sprang open, trying to pull away but finding Eric’s grip too tight.

  What the hell was she doing? Had she really just let him kiss her? As if she needed any kind of distraction from her already slow moving work assignment. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, now there was a witness to her disgrace.

  “Awe, Emmy,” Eric said, his voice light and easy. “I was just… welcoming Miss. Edwards to town.”

  Lena felt her spine straighten. So that was all it was. She was fresh meat. A new face. It wasn’t anything more than that. And she was an idiot to think, for even the barest of seconds, that it was. Because this was Eric O’reilly. This was the town’s most well known womanizer.

  She was just a pliant pair of lips. A soft body to rub against.

  Lena felt the shame fill her so full, her eyes filled with tears for an alarmingly long moment before she was able to blink them away.

  She quickly pulled away, stepping out of his arms and looking between him and Emily. “Yes, well,” she said, pulling the hem of her shirt down. “you should probably practice. Your delivery was a bit clumsy,” she said and quickly walked around the porch and out of sight.

  Eric’s slow, appreciative laugh followed her all the way back into the inn.

  She slammed the door to her room shut with more force than necessary, pacing the floor in the bedroom anxiously.

  How hard would it have been to roll her eyes at him and just… go back into the in? To pull her arm out of his grip and keep moving? What had possessed her to turn around? To go to him? To allow him to kiss her?

  Was she just that badly in need of physical contact? When she thought about it, it had probably been the better part of a year since she had even been in a man’s arms. Longer since she was in any man’s bed. Maybe she was just sexually frustrated. Maybe her defenses were down because her body wanted something more than her mind wanted her to deny it.

  And if one could name the absolutely worst man in the world to be around when you are already dealing with your own lasciviousness, it was Eric O’reilly.

  But what was done was done. And she just had to move on from that. Avoid him whenever possible. When she did have to face him, she would make sure she kept a good three feet between them at all times. Or three yards. Or miles.

  With a sigh, she sat down on the foot of the bed and opened her laptop. At least she had gotten a small amount of information to send to EM.

  From what I can gather, there are eight inn employees. Emily and Devon work
the front desk. There is one maid, two cooks, two dining servers, and Alec the horseback riding instructor. I managed to get into an employee file for Devon. He works a total of thirty hours a week on average and makes $13/hr. It goes to stand that Emily must make several more dollars an hour given her level of experience and her seeming manager status. I would guess at least $18/hr.

  It is assumed that the dining servers make the standard $2.15/hr plus tips. I would put the salary for the maid at an estimated $8-10/hr. As for the horseback riding instructor, that is an unknown.

  But given this information: the small number of rooms and the seemingly high employee salaries, I cant imagine the inn manages to turn much of a profit. Which might explain the disrepair.

  If EM Corp were to acquire the property, I think the only course of action would be an addition to make up for the high overhead.

  - LE

  Lena got changed and crawled into bed, wondering what kind of sentimental attachment would be worth several hundred thousand dollars investment in a business that would likely never pay it back. What deep kind of feelings did Elliott Michaels have for Hannah Clary that made him consider such an imprudent business move?

  She remembered them at her initial employee interview: the long black-haired Hannah with her pretty face and her confident speech and the angry red scars around her wrists. Elliott couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off of her, looking over at her any time she spoke with a sudden softness to his face. Like she was some kind of miracle. Like she was the only woman in the world.

  Everyone at work knew their story. Hannah who had started there as EM’s personal assistant. How they fell in love. How their love had caused a crazy person to kidnap and torture Hannah. How they had been inseparable since.

  The stuff of movies. The kind of love that seemed impossible to ever find.

  What must that be like, Lena wondered, curling into her pillow. What must it be like to have someone who treated you like you hung the moon? To have someone to come home to after a long day. To have someone give a damn if you were happy.

  Lena took a deep breath, pushing the thoughts away. It wasn’t like her to be sentimental. To romanticize relationships. Because for every couple like Elliott and Hannah or Sam and Anna… there were dozens, hundreds of other people who ended up with someone who wouldn’t even look up from the television if you stood there naked. She needed to get her head out of the clouds and back on the ground. Back onto work. And onto her plans for the future.

  And she certainly wouldn’t think about Eric O’reilly any more.

  Seven

  Two days later as she was browsing around the farmer’s market, grabbing countless amounts of organic tea and beauty products made by Sam’s wife Anna when she noticed Hank the friendly grocer keep peeking at her out from behind a corner display.

  “What’s up, Hank?” she asked, smiling as he came into view, looking sheepish.

  “Hey there Miss. Edwards…”

  “Lena,” she interrupted.

  “Lena… well… I know you must have plans for the rest of your stay. But, see, we have this event going on tomorrow night…”

  Thank god. Lena had been walking around aimlessly, popping in and out of stores and steadily trying to stay away from Eric. She was bored out of her mind.

  “Actually, my calendar is pretty free. What event?” she asked, curious as to why there hadn’t been any fliers in town.

  “Well… we have a lot of charity events in this town and tomorrow night is another one of them. One of our annual fundraisers…”

  Lena smiled. She didn’t know what he was hedging about, but his face was red and his gaze couldn’t seem to hold hers. “Spit it out, Hank, I’m no innocent flower here.”

  “Right,” Hank said, swiping at his forehead with the back of his hand. “well… the ladies committee in town came up with this idea years ago for, well, a bachelor auction.”

  Lena laughed, her smile wide enough to hurt her cheeks. “Oh, is that all?” she asked, realizing how different the mentality must be in small towns about sexuality. “I would be happy to attend.”

  “Oh wonderful,” Hank said, looking relieved. “Now, you’re not obligated to place any bids or anything of the like. There is also a silent auction and games where you can contribute to the cause.”

  “Sounds like fun. Is there a dress code?” she asked, suddenly realizing she hadn’t packed anything but work attire.

  “People around here like to have an excuse to get dressed up,” he admitted with a shrug. “So it’s usually dresses for the ladies, dress shirts and ties for the men.”

  “Alright then,” she said, looking out toward the street. “have any recommendations for where I can get a dress around here?”

  In the end she found that there were two options for clothing in the town: going to one of the local women who worked on the side as seamstresses, or go to the second hand store and hope for the best. Since she didn’t have a car to leave town, and she didn’t have the time to wait for a dress to be made, she found herself buried in the endless overfilled racks at the second hand store. Where apparently every other woman in town had already sifted out most of the desirable pieces.

  “Oh god,” Lena groaned, holding up a bright orange and pink floral sundress.

  “Girl, you just need some imagination,” Maude’s voice broke in, a pile of dresses already spilling over her arms.

  “I’d need a sci-fi level of imagination to think I can pull off a pink camouflage cocktail dress.”

  “Well you’re lucky I just so happened to know you would be needing a dress so I came in here before the crowd and put aside some options for you.” Maude watched Lena’s disbelieving eyes and smiled. “I hid them inside that awful human-sized vase up front. Come on, let’s get you to the dressing room.”

  Maude ushered her inside a makeshift room consisting of brightly colored tapestries hung into a square shape around a standing oval mirror.

  “Here,” Maude said, holding up a plain a-line dress in bright red. “this one first. Men always like a woman in red.”

  Lena rolled her eyes as she slipped out of her clothes. “I’m not looking for a man,” she said, pulling on the dress and struggling with the zipper. It was nice. Simple and dressy. Professional almost. “I like this one.”

  Before she had even finished, Maude pulled one of the tapestries out of the way and clucked her tongue. “No,” she said, her voice final. “take that off.”

  “What’s wrong with…”

  “It looks like all those clothes you wear everyday. You need to shake it up a little. Here. This one,” she said, tossing a dress at her and pulling the tapestry closed again.

  Lena sighed, undressing and pulling on the new dress. “I don’t think this is going to work,” Lena said, struggling to pull the clinging material over her hips. “it’s too tight.”

  “No such thing,” Maude said and Lena could swear she heard a strange sneakiness in her voice. “not for a bachelor auction anyway. Come on, let me see.”

  Lena looked in the mirror, shaking her head. It was a strapless cocktail dress in a pale yellow and clung to everything like a second skin.

  “That’s the one,” Maude said, nodding her head and tossing the rest of the dresses on the top of a rack where three women were desperately searching for something to wear.

  “No, Maude… I really think,” Lena said, pointing to the abandoned dresses.

  “Nope,” Maude said, spinning her around to look in the mirror. “look, it’s perfect on you. Go get your street clothes back on, I’ll go wait by the register.”

  –

  Lena stood in front of the mirror self-consciously as she carefully braided her hair from one side of her face to the other, wrapping the end up in a elegant braided bun. She had even taken time to carefully line her eyes and put on some lipstick. She didn't know why but she was nervous. More nervous than she usually was for social gatherings and she had bee
n to more than her fair share in her line of work.

  With a sigh, she slipped into a pair of light nude pumps with a kitten heel, grabbed a small purse, and left her room. If she didn't just get going already, she was going to back out.

  The sidewalks were streaming with crowds of men and women in their finest. Lena spotted a woman in the pink camouflage cocktail dress she had been talking about the day before. Slim pickings, she mused, in a small town.

  The event itself was being held at the school auditorium. The woman's counsel and the students had been working long afternoons getting everything decorated to its fullest potential. The stage curtains had been changed to black and white, and the stage itself had been elongated in front by a catwalk. A few rows of chairs had been placed on either side of the catwalk, draped in black and white covers. Most of them were already taken over by a large group of middle aged women. The counsel, she assumed.

  To one of the sides, tables draped in black lined the entire side, various items lined up carefully with clipboards in front of them. A silent auction.

  On the opposite side of the room, there were white-draped card tables. On top of each was what appeared to be some standard gambling games along with regular boredom-busting games. There were small white signs sitting on each table with elegant, swooping calligraphy announcing the names of the games: bingo, poker, blackjack, mahjong, chess, Chinese checkers, and backgammon.

  “The loser of each game agrees to put money in the collection,” a voice said from behind her, gesturing toward the small goblet-shaped plastic containers on each table with slits in the top.

  Lena turned to find Liam O'reilly standing there in slacks, a gray dress shirt, and an oversized white sweater on top. “That's actually a really great idea,” she admitted, mentally noting the idea for any future events at EM Corporation. “I bet I can kick your ass at backgammon,” she said, sending him a challenging glare.