Jaden (St. Sebastians Quartet #1) (3 page)

It was on the left. Three houses down.

Sucking in a deep breath a moment later, she turned into her aunt's driveway. She pulled to a stop and sat back in her seat, taking in the view. It was a beach house like the rest, pretty and pink, but the difference was, it would be her beach house for the next three months.

"I'm living here for three months?" She asked herself. "How is this my life?"

A quick look at the house would make you think it was actually three small houses, but it was one large house split into three sections, with three roofs and three chimneys. The house was surrounded by colorful flowers and foliage that seemed wild and untamed, but perfect for a beach house. She could already hear the waves crashing behind the house.

Goose pimples spread across her arms.

"Please God, let this summer be everything I hoped for and more."

So saying, she practically leapt out of the car. She didn't bother with her things. They could stay in the trunk for now. First, she had to see this house.

She rushed to the door, found the key under the mat where her aunt had promised to stow it—despite Jaden's protests about safety and home invasion—then unlocked the door.

She stood in the foyer, unable to move. It was even better than she had hoped it would be. Everything was beautiful, from the large foyer, to the hall leading into the rest of the house. But it was also inviting and cozy.

Forcing herself to move, she explored the rest of her temporary home.

Her aunt's house didn't have any decks that faced the street. All of the decks were on the back of the house, overlooking the beach. In fact, the entire back of the house was one wide, wooden deck, with lawn chairs, tables, and lounges. Her aunt's bedroom, where her aunt insisted Jaden sleep while she was in residence, had a large stone fireplace and wide sliding doors that led out onto the deck. The view was breathtaking. She'd be willing to bet that she could sleep there with the deck doors open at night and fall asleep to the music of the sea.

There was another fireplace in the kitchen/great room combo, and more decking. From there, she saw steps leading down from the deck to her aunt's pool, fire pit, and a trail that led to the ocean. The house was a marvel. There was even a second floor loft that overlooked the great room where her aunt kept her computer. That was where Jaden would work on her great American novel.

She went back to her aunt's bedroom, scratch that, her bedroom, to check out the bathroom situation and wasn't disappointed. There was a glass enclosed, stone shower and a large soaking tub, with jets. A bonus was the view of the ocean from two picture windows. And she didn't have to worry about privacy, because the windows looked out onto the back of the house. Nobody would ever be at the back of the house.

As if to prove her wrong, the sliding doors in the great room opened. A moment later they slammed shut.

She froze. Aunt Edna insisted St. Sebastians was one of the safest places in the country. If that were true, why had someone just walked into her house?

Next thing she heard was whistling.

Someone had broken into the house and was so comfortable they were whistling.

Shoot. She'd left her purse on the kitchen counter. That's where she kept her pepper spray.

She looked around the bedroom, searching for something she could use as a weapon. She spotted the fireplace pokers. Bingo.

She was walking around her aunt's massive bed, trying to get to the fireplace, when a figure appeared in the bedroom doorway.

Jaden screamed, tripped over the corner of the bedding, and landed on the floor.

The intruder dropped something and hopped in the air, all while screaming her lungs out.

When the dust settled, Jaden was sitting on her butt, staring into the hall opened mouthed at the woman who was standing in the hall staring opened mouthed at her.

"Who are you," Jaden finally managed, "and what are you doing in my aunt's house?"

"Aunt?" the woman said, looking as confused as Jaden felt.

Jaden took a good look at the woman and knew instantly she was a townie. She had too much gorgeous blond hair and too perfect a body not to be. She was in white cutoff shorts and had on a pink tee-shirt with a V-neck that read, "Try Me." Though, she had on so many bracelets Jaden was surprised the woman could even lift her arm.

"You must be Jaden," the woman said. "Edna told me you'd be coming. She bought that painting from me." The woman pointed to the painting lying flat on the floor with its frame in two pieces. "I was framing it. Wanted to get it hung before you got here, but the gallery was so busy today." The woman threw in a smile and took a breath. But the pause wasn't long enough for Jaden to get a word in. "I'm Hayley. I own the gallery down in the mall. You might have passed it on your way in."

Jaden shook her head. "I don't remember passing a mall."

"Not that kind of mall. We have an outdoor mall. It's really just a glorified boardwalk, but the city council had to be all fancy. It can't be a boardwalk; it has to be the St. Sebastians Downtown Mall."

Hayley entered the room and offered Jaden a hand. Jaden took it and allowed herself to be hoisted to her feet.

"You're as pretty as Edna said." She ran her hand over Jaden's hair, her eyes curious. "All that's yours?"

It was a question everyone, regardless what color, asked. "The hair? Yep. All mine."

"It's beautiful." Hayley looked at her hand, went wide eyed, and let Jaden go. "And I'm so rude, pawing all over you like that. And I must have scared you silly."

Realizing the intruder wasn't dangerous, Jaden allowed a smile. "I'm not used to strangers walking into my house unannounced. How'd you get in, anyway? It sounded like you came through the back."

"I did. Edna always leaves the back door open."

Jaden rolled her eyes. "She doesn't realize how often break-ins happen."

"Oh, not in St. Sebastians. We have one of the lowest crimes rates on the entire coast. Probably the country, but I've never checked."

"That's what she's always saying."

"It's true."

Hayley walked back into the hall and picked up the painting.

"Sorry I scared you. Is it broken too badly?" Jaden asked.

"No, it's just the frame. It's an easy fix."

The women walked to the kitchen. Even with the fright of Hayley's unexpected visit, Jaden was still finding it hard to look at the house and accept that it was hers for the rest of the summer.

"And you don't need to apologize to me," Hayley was saying. "I should have played it safe and knocked. Or come around the front, just in case you'd beat me here, which you did. Tell you what. I'm having an opening tomorrow night at my gallery, why don't you come out. It's the perfect way to meet your neighbors. Everyone will be there and you'll be my special guest. Consider it my apology and welcome to the neighborhood."

Jaden considered. She'd planned on spending her first few evenings with a bottle of Riesling, out on the deck, staring out at the ocean, basking in her newfound good fortune. At least she'd be basking when she wasn't panicking.

"I'll think about it," Jaden said.

"Come. You can sit out there on the deck all by your lonesome for the rest of the night when you get home."

Jaden laughed. "I'm that obvious?"

"The way you were staring out at the deck said it all. But I promise, it'll still be there when you get back."

"Okay. Dress code? I'm guessing people here are a lot fancier than me."

"Do you have any dresses?"

Jaden shook her head. "Shorts and capris."

"I bet Edna has something you could wear." Hayley started back toward Edna's bedroom, a look of determination on her face that scared Jaden.

In thirty minutes, Hayley had picked a dress, shoes, and accessories. The woman was a force of nature.

Hayley left the same way she'd come, the painting held under one arm. "So I'll see you tomorrow night, right? It starts at eight, but you should come at seven-thirty. I'll show you around the gallery before it gets too crowded.

"Okay," Jaden said, smiling despite herself. "See you tomorrow at seven-thirty."

CHAPTER TWO

Kenda Browning sat on his deck on a chaise lounge, staring out at the sea. It was the perfect end to a perfect day. There was a gentle wind coming off the ocean, brushing against the trees. It wasn't hot, but comfortable. The sky was sea blue, and the wind smelled of the ocean. It was Friday so he'd left the firm early, had had enough time to make a dinner of fresh cod, asparagus, and new potatoes. Nothing fancy. Just simple food and good beer out on his deck.

Life was good.

He'd just finished dinner and was opening his second beer when he heard the doors to the living room open behind him.

Well, it had been a perfect Friday afternoon. If only it could stay that way. But he was sure the appearance of his brothers and Nico in conjunction with the opening at Hayley's gallery tomorrow night meant otherwise.

He took a long swallow of his Dogfish Head, Indian Brown Ale, and waited while Tyler, Chris and Nico grabbed beer and settled in.

Tyler sat in the lounger beside him. Kenda knew that under normal circumstances, his oldest brother would have been an ally in this, but Chris was quietly determined to win Hayley over. And use whatever resources he could muster—resources being his brothers and Nico—to do it.

Kenda could feel Tyler's eyes on him already. Nobody had said a word, but the intimidation had begun.

As the youngest Browning brother, he didn't typically find himself on the receiving end of Tyler's intimidation, or Chris' for that matter. When they were kids, Tyler and Chris would go at it like cats and dogs, but they'd both been protective of Kenda. He'd never gotten into a fight with either of his brothers, but he wasn't sure that would stand for long.

"We don't have to stay all night," Chris began.

Kenda closed his eyes and took another swallow of beer.

"Just an hour or so," Chris continued. "We show up, show our support, have a glass of wine, then leave."

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't blurt it out like that?" Tyler pulled a hand through his spiky brown hair and shook his head. "You've got to ease into this sort of thing."

"See," Nico said, "I thought when you guys were talking about easing into things, you were referring to Hayley."

Kenda rolled his eyes. "Can I presume you're referring to the show at the gallery tomorrow?"

"Obviously," Tyler said, before Chris could respond. "Is there anything else ever on Chris' mind except Hayley?"

"That's not true," Chris said. He popped the top on his beer and took a few swallows. "I've always been a fan of art."

Kenda nearly choked. "Since when?"

"Since forever. You don't know everything about me."

"Yeah, we do," Tyler said. "Remember, we grew up in the same house. And I call shenanigans on that last statement."

It was Chris' turn to roll his eyes.

When they were young, Tyler and Chris had looked like mirror images of each other. They were only separated by a year and change, so they were often mistaken for twins. Both were unnaturally tall for their age, both were athletic and solidly built, and both had long, dirty blond hair. Over the years, Tyler's hair had darkened. And now, probably to distinguish himself from Chris, he wore it short and spiky. Chris' hair had remained dirty blond and long. And to Kenda, despite the hair, they still looked like mirror images of each other. He was three years younger than Chris, and looked like neither of them. Where his brothers had taken after their father, he had taken after their mother. He'd been born frail, with thick, dark blond hair, and features that were more pretty than masculine. His eyes were green, where theirs were blue; and his lips, no matter what he did to try to change them, were full and pink. Pink, for crying out loud. Just like their mom's. The only thing he shared in common with his brothers was his height. He'd bulked up a while back, so he wasn't skinny and frail anymore. But he always, always had at least a day's growth of stubble on his face just to keep Tyler from introducing him as his baby sister.

Having Nico around should have made him less aware of the differences between himself and his brothers, but it didn't. Nico was as different from Tyler and Chris as a person could get. He was half black and half Asian, had jet black hair, and the kind of dusky dark skin that made him seem exotic to women. So he was as popular with the opposite sex as his brothers. Kenda had spent the majority of his life playing odd man out to the three of them. Kenda had always been the third, fifth, or seventh wheel. But they'd reached this unexpected point in their lives where all of them were single at the same time. They could go out, and Kenda never felt like a hanger on.

"Don't forget, it's May," Tyler was saying. "The first of the summer people are here. They'll be at the gallery tomorrow. You know what that means."

"A fresh batch of women for Tyler and Nico to play with."

Tyler and Nico looked at each other. "He has a point," Tyler said, a smile forming. "The ladies of summer are always fun."