The bug on the wall turns around in a full circle and sprints toward the floor. In seconds it’s behind the stove and my body springs into action.

“Oh—God. Shit.”

“Jenny? You doing okay?”

He is the worst.

I’ve leapt up onto the single chair at my kitchen table, lightheaded, pulse booming. And it’s not all because the floor is now lava. It’s not all because that awful creature could come skittering out from beneath the stove at any moment.

It’s because Roman Bliss is to blame for this predicament.

Not fully to blame. I’m not the kind of girl who never takes responsibility for anything that happens in her life. But partially. He always got more than he deserved. He ignored me in high school. And he was devastatingly, unforgivably handsome.

My cheeks heat up at the memory of him. I’ve been so careful not to look him up. I’ve been so careful never to run into him when I visit Ruby Bay. Now that my parents have retired and taken up residence in an Airstream that they drive around the country, there’s nowhere for me to stay and no reason for me to ever be that close to the Bliss brothers again.

There was no reason.

Until now.

I have two options.

I can burn down this apartment with the bug inside it....

...or I can take the job.

“I’ll take the job.”

“Oh, I’m so delighted to hear it,” Connor gushes. “I’ll send over a contract and the details as soon as we hang up. Get your bags packed.”

“Bags? Today?” Honestly, it’s not a terrible idea. I don’t want to sleep here tonight. I’d rather be driving toward Ruby Bay, away from this bug-infested disaster of an apartment.

“Good news,” Connor says. “You start on Monday. There’s no time to lose.”

2

Roman

The empty pool tells me all I need to know.

Yes, it’s barely crested nine a.m. and it’s still early in the season, but I remember different times. Better times. Times when the pool was humming with activity from sunup to sundown. It’s not just a warped childhood memory, either. My dad’s old staff schedules for the courtyard pool started at seven. The courtyard pool is the biggest one, set like a jewel into an enormous tiled patio, all of it hugged by the wings of the main building.

The only sound this morning is the gentle lap of the water against the concrete sides of the pool and my own sigh of dissatisfaction.

I’ve been thinking we should up our game when it comes to online advertising and social media for a while now. Hell, I’ve been researching it for weeks. I’ve signed up for three different courses geared toward owners in the hospitality industry. It’s all come to nothing.