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“There you are,” she said with a big grin “I orried I wouldn’t catch you”
“Is so?”
“Nope Screw it, I said toin or out today, there are kitchen staff, waitstaff, and cleaning staff in and out all day if a guest needs so, and I have my phone on me if I’m needed”
“Good for you”
“So I thought we could hang out”
My day was looking up “I’d love that”
“Great” Bailey started leading me out onto the boardwalk “I cannot tell you how much I treasure my day off”
“You haven’t found anyone to cover the ement job yet?”
“I’ from someoneyou know, like, I can trust them”
“Sure” I spotted Hart’s Gift Shop and noted it was still closed “Damn Will that shop open soon? I really like the stuff in thedisplay and there’s a doll I want to get hter”
“Dahlia’s?” Bailey smiled “Sure She’s on vacation, but she’ll be back soon”
“You know her well?”
“Of course She’s one of my best buds”
“Wow Thatso close to your friend”
“It is Dahlia is a great person She makes and sells her oelry I’m sure you’ll love it” She touched the silver necklace she wore It had a long thin chain and the pendant was a beautiful silver cherry blossom tree “She made this My dad calls me Cherry,” she explained with a smile and I read the love for her friend in that so by the craftsmanship and detail put into that little tree I’d say Dahlia loved Bailey
“It’s beautiful” I felt a wistfulness coirlfriend in my life Matthew and I were close, but he lived so far away Fati-out-on-the-weekends or share-deep-dark-secrets kind of friend
“You okay?” Bailey frowned at me
“I’rin “Where are we off to?”
“Well, I was thinking we could walk around and then— Oof! Jesus Christ!” Bailey stu out froht her, steadying her, and I watched as recognition lit both their faces
He ilared up at him “Tremaine,” she sneered
He smirked “Miss Hartwell”
For aoff Bailey It was so the opposite of the version of Bailey I’d been getting to know that I was iued to discover who the man was I studied him as he stared back at Bailey in aot a clearer picture of him
Tall, with a swimmer’s build, he wore an exquisitely tailored black suit and black shirt His jet-black hair was thick and cut well, the dark color in contrast to his startling pale gray eyes He swung those eyes to me and I found myself snared in them They were rimmed with thick black lashes that only emphasized how pale they were
Mr Beautiful held out a hand to hn Tremaine I own Paradise Sands Hotel”
Ah Bailey’s competition I shook his hand “Nice to uests”
“Dr Jessica Huntington,” Bailey put in sly
He just smiled at her pointed comment, albeit with a wolfish, predatory smile that dipped to her mouth and stayed there “And here you said I would kill your business, Miss Hartwell Yet a doctor chose your establishment over mine”
“Well, she has taste,” Bailey said, grabbingbefore you storain”
“It was an accident,” he said lazily as she started to pull me away from him “It’s not my fault you’re always in ton”
“Pfft!” She tugged me forward and I had to quicken my steps to keep up with her
“Well, there’s a story there,” I said, thinking about how the air had snapped and crackled around the two of them “Ex-lover?”
“What?” she screeched, drawing to a complete halt on the boardwalk by the bandstand There was horror in her pretty green eyes “What would make you say that?”
“Sexual tension,” I answered honestly
The horror in her gaze multiplied “Sexualwhapffthuh!” she sputtered “No! There is no sexual tension between us Just pure dislike”
“Hmm”
“You don’t believe me?” She pointed to Paradise Sands “That monstrosity was a deliberate attempt to undermine my business”
“Wasn’t it a hotel before Vaughn bought it?”
“Yeah, but a crappy one Vaughn’s place is affordable luxury”
“Has it affected your business?”
Bailey shrugged and turned toward the water She leaned her elbows on the railing and stared out at the beach “No But that doesn’t mean he cared whether it would or not And what is he even doing here?” She glanced atwith curiosity in her eyes “He’s this big fancy New Yorker, born and bred in Manhattan Co money, owns numerous hotels, and he decides to take up residence in the hotel in little Hartwell, Delaware? You don’t find that suspect?” o;There you are,” she said with a big grin “I orried I wouldn’t catch you”