Thrill Me (Fool's Gold #18)(22)

As he approached the brightly colored storefront, he saw his brother step onto the street. He was with a tall brunette in cutoffs and a tank top. The woman—pretty, tanned and obviously a tourist—gave Aidan a brief kiss on the mouth, then murmured something in his ear. She waved and walked away.

“Is that how it is?” Del said as he approached. “You’re preying on innocent tourists now?”

Aidan turned and saw him. Instead of responding with humor, his brother simply watched him get closer. When Del stopped in front of him, there was an awkward moment of silence. At least Del found it awkward.

“So, uh, how’s it going?” he asked.

“Good.”

Aidan was his height—just over six feet—with the same dark hair and eyes. Growing up a Mitchell brother had been pretty easy in this town. They were all dark-haired and dark-eyed. All five brothers were good-looking enough and athletic enough to fit in. Sports came easy, schoolwork hadn’t been that hard. Del and Aidan didn’t have Ceallach’s brilliance, but most days Del figured that was more of a blessing than a curse.

“Got time for a coffee?” Del asked his brother.

“Sure.”

Aidan turned and they started walking toward Brew-haha.

“Who was the girl?” Del asked.

“Santana.”

“That’s her name? Santana?”

“Uh-huh. She’s in town for a couple of weeks.”

Del grinned. “So you are dogging the tourists.”

“I offer a short-term good time. Guaranteed happy memories and no one gets hurt. What’s wrong with that?”

“Sort of a full-service vacation?”

Aidan’s mouth twitched. “Something like that.”

Del understood the appeal. There would always be someone new on the horizon, there was no commitment and when it was over, geography kept things from getting messy. Funny how it was exactly what Hyacinth had liked in a relationship. Because to be with the same person all the time would be boring, right?

Familiar anger knotted at the base of his spine and started to radiate outward. He breathed through the sensations. Hyacinth was the past. He was never going to have to deal with her again.

“Business looks good,” Del said. “I like what you’ve done with the building. It’s eye-catching.”

Aidan came to stop on the sidewalk. They were a couple of blocks off the main streets on a weekday and there weren’t many people around. Aidan glared at Del.

“You can’t help it, right? You always have to crack a comment. What is it with you? You’re back for Dad’s birthday. Yay, you. But if you’re looking for something from me, you can forget it. I’m not going to be lining up to watch your ‘hail the conquering hero’ parade.”

Del couldn’t have been more surprised if Sophie, his mother’s beloved beagle, had suddenly turned into a vampire.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded. “I said it looks like you’re doing well. What are you going on about?”

Aidan’s stare darkened as anger and hostility radiated from him. “You don’t get to approve. You have no part of the business, of what I’ve done with it. You gave up that right when you disappeared.”

Del didn’t know whether to punch his brother or walk away. “I’ll say it again, what the hell are you talking about?”

“You. The business. All of it. It’s been ten years, Del. Ten damn years since you left. You were up and away, leaving me with everything. There was no warning. One day you were handling things and the next you were gone. I was a kid and you dumped it on me without a word. I was in my first year of college. I had things I wanted, dreams. But when you bugged out, it all fell on me. I had to take care of Mom and the family. I had to make sure there was food on the table when Dad went on one of his benders.”

Aidan took a menacing step forward. “That first year, you never called, you selfish SOB. You never bothered to find out if we were okay. You were my big brother. I trusted you. And you turned out to be as much of an * as Dad.”

Del took the verbal hits without saying anything in return. He didn’t bother to point out he’d only been a year older than Aidan, and running the family business hadn’t been his choice, either. Because that didn’t matter. He’d disappeared without warning—reacting to his breakup with Maya.

“Aidan,” he began, then paused.

His brother turned away. “Don’t bother,” Aidan said. “You go be famous. I have a business to run.”

* * *

MAYA WAS UP at sunrise, anxiously watching the sky. The forecast called for cloudy skies—perfect for filming. The diffused light was much easier to work with. She’d told Del that on their first overcast day, she wanted to shoot the big opener, with him introducing the town. Since then, she’d been monitoring the weather reports.

Now she looked at the thick clouds and absence of sun. Perfection, she thought happily. She texted Del, confirming the time and place of their shoot, then headed for the shower.

Nearly two hours later, she was carting equipment from the parking lot off the edge of the highway to a meadow a couple hundred yards away. She’d scouted out the area the previous week and had hoped to use it for the intro. She had a feeling that handsome Del was going to look good in a field of wildflowers, backed by trees.