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“I’m really glad you could come, Chelsea.” Milena Hill, her brother Cal’s new girlfriend, opened the door on Saturday night to their new home and immediately pulled her into a hug. Chelsea had liked Milena from the moment she’d met her, but their friendship had only grown stronger since she’d started officially dating Cal. As far as Chelsea was concerned, she was the perfect partner for her television star brother. The opposite of him in so many ways, Milena and Cal balanced each other and made each other stronger. Just the way a perfect relationship should be.

Chelsea did her best to hide the feeling of…envy? She couldn’t be sure that was what she felt as she hugged Milena and gave Cal a quick kiss on the cheek. After all, it’s not as though she even wanted a relationship. Not really. Why would she be jealous of one?

She shook off the feeling and focused on the reason she was there. “I wouldn’t have missed it.” It wasn’t a lie. As much as she’d procrastinated replying to the house-warming invitation, she loved her family. Especially now that it had expanded to include all her brothers and their significant others. There was very little that she enjoyed more than hanging out with them and celebrating the various events in their lives. “Especially since I was told that you had the party catered.” She reached for a tray of appetizers and grabbed a shrimp. “I mean, would I really pass up the opportunity for this?”

Cal laughed. “I’m sure the fact that you wanted to help us warm up our new house was part of your consideration too, right?”

“Of course.” She shrugged casually, but gave him a genuine smile before she popped the shrimp in her mouth. For the first time, she glanced around at the small gathering of people already there. “Am I late? I thought Ian told me seven.”

“You’re right on time.” Milena wrapped an arm around her shoulder and started to guide her into the room. “Don’t worry. There’s nothing formal. People will be coming and going all night. But come in and let’s get you a drink.”

“I can’t think of anything I’d like more.” Together they left Cal behind and went into the kitchen, where Chelsea opted for a simple bottle of beer over the expensive-looking wines and variety of cocktails they had on offer.

“Hey,” Milena said after Chelsea took her first sip of beer. “I really am glad you came over tonight. I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Milena looked down at her feet momentarily before she answered. “It was just something Evie said to me the other day.”

“Evie?” Chelsea was immediately on guard. Why would her brother Declan’s fiancée be saying anything about her? “What did Evie say?” She tried not to sound defensive, but she had the unnerving feeling she wasn’t going to like how the conversation played out.

“I don’t want you to get upset or anything.” Milena spoke in a rush, obviously eager to straighten out any misunderstanding before it developed. “It’s just that Evie and Jade were talking and—”

“Jade?” Perfect. Were all her brothers’ wives or girlfriends discussing her behind her back? “I supposed she was talking to Gwen?” After all, if Mitch’s wife was involved in the discussion, there was no reason to think Ian’s fiancée wasn’t as well. When Milena didn’t deny it, she sighed. “And what were you all saying about me?”

“It’s not like that, Chels. Honestly. We were just saying that you seem a little…well, a little lost lately and then when Gwen mentioned you were spending a lot of time sleeping and hanging out alone in your room, I think we all got a little concerned. It’s not that we were talking about you, so much as we were just worried. I mean, we love you and—”

“I know.” Chelsea put her hand on Milena’s forearm. “I know. Don’t worry. I’m not upset.” She was a little annoyed, but she also knew it came from a place of love. There were definitely perks to being involved in a large family, and most of the time they outweighed the drawbacks. She just needed to remember that before she got upset. “But I do need you to know, and you can tell the others,” she winked, “that I’m fine. It was a busy summer and I’m just taking a little time to recover and regroup before I figure out what to do next.”

“What do you mean? What you’re going to do next?”

Chelsea lifted the bottle to her lips and looked around in an effort to deflect the question. She hadn’t meant to say anything. Not that it should have been a secret that she was considering her next move. After all, nothing else seemed to be a secret in the McCormick family.

“Chels?” Milena prompted. “What are you talking about? Is everything okay? If there’s something you need to—”

“It’s nothing, Milena.” Chelsea laughed. She didn’t need anyone worrying about her uncertainty. “It’s just now that summer’s over, I need to think about what I want to do,” she answered honestly. “I mean, I can’t very well live in Ian’s spare room forever, can I? Besides, it’s not like there’s a lot going on in this town right now. I appreciate that you guys are all worried about me, but honestly. There’s nothing to worry about. There’s really not.”

“Well, if you say so, I’ll believe you.” Milena gave her a look before she raised her glass to her lips. “But just so you know, there’s always a room here for you too if you need or want it.”

“I appreciate it.” She tried not to be too obvious when she glanced around, looking for a reason to escape the conversation.

“And take it from a girl who grew up in this town,” Milena continued. “There’s actually more to do than you think.”

That caught her attention. “Really?” Chelsea focused on her friend again. “Like what?”

“Well, if you’re into painting, there’s a ladies paint night every—” Chelsea shook her head, so Milena changed tracks. “Okay,” she continued seamlessly, “well, I know you were really busy all summer, so you probably didn’t get a chance to get out and enjoy the trails. But there’s a—”

“Trails? As in hiking?”

Milena nodded. “Hiking and mountain biking. This is actually a really good time of year to check them out because they’re not busy with tourists.”

Growing up in the city, she’d never been much of a hiker, but the idea of checking out the trails in the mountains was more appealing than Chelsea would have expected. “I think I might actually like to try that.”

“Really?”

“Don’t look so surprised.”

Milena laughed. “I’m not…okay, I am. But I think you’ll really like it. The group that goes out meets twice a week, so I’m sure you’ll be able to work it into your schedule.”

“I don’t think that’s a problem.” Chelsea laughed. “But seriously, I think it sounds good. I’d like to give it a try.” The more she thought about the idea, the more she liked it. Walking had always been a good time to think and clear her thoughts. Besides, it would be nice to soak up as much time in the mountains and make the most of her time in Cedar Springs while she could.

“Great.” Milena perked up. “I’m so glad I could help. I probably should get back to hostess duty and make my rounds, but please go and enjoy yourself.”

Chelsea took another look around at the growing crowd. She recognized a lot more faces than she thought she would, including a handful of Cal’s friends from the set of Mr. Summer, where he was playing the lead role, that of his brother Ian. It was a strange situation, to be sure, when Ian’s now-fiancée sold the television rights to her successful blog and they started filming a television show in town. Stranger still, when Cal was cast as the lead. But somehow it all worked, and it had all just brought their family closer.

“You go,” she said to Milena. “I’ll be fine. And we’ll touch base later.”

“Okay.” Milena gave her a quick squeeze. “Oh, and just so you know, Maureen is coming tonight too. I just wanted to give you a heads-up because…”

“It’s okay.” There was no reason for Milena to finish the statement. Maureen McCormick was her brothers’ mother. Even though it wasn’t her fault that their father had conducted a secret affair and imploded everyone’s lives, it sure seemed to Chelsea that the original Mrs. McCormick somehow held Chelsea to blame. “I’ll steer clear.”

Milena gave her a big smile and disappeared in the direction of the front door to greet more guests. Chelsea tipped her beer back, closed her eyes and smoothly finished the rest of her drink.

“Thirsty?” A shiver rippled through her at the sound of the deep voice laced with humor.

---

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“Looks like you could use another.” When Chelsea opened her eyes and put the now empty beer bottle down, Lucas smoothly handed her a new one.

“Trying to get me drunk?” she protested, but took the bottle from him.

“What would make you say that?” He winked at her and held his own drink up. They clinked bottles and both drank deeply. “And no,” he added. “I’m not trying to get you drunk. But I am happy to run into you again. It’s a very pleasant surprise.”

She raised her eyebrows and gave him a look. “A surprise? This is my brother’s house. I think the real surprise is seeing you.”

“A pleasant one, right?” He waited until he caught her eye again and winked slowly.

She laughed and shook her head. “Of course. What brings you here anyway? Are you crashing?”

It wasn’t totally unreasonable that he would be crashing a party. Lucas had never been one to wait for invitations. He was more of a do what you want kind of guy. He focused his gaze on Chelsea again. And right now, what he wanted stood right in front of him.

But he had a feeling she wasn’t going to be as easy to get as his past dates.

“Not crashing,” he said. “I had a legitimate invitation from the lady of the house herself.”

“Milena?”

“Don’t look surprised.” He laughed. But he wasn’t shocked by her disbelief. Milena Hill was a sweetheart and the idea of her being friends with a smooth-talking, just a little bit rough around the edges guy like himself was enough to surprise anyone. Even himself. But Milena had been one of the first people he’d met in Cedar Springs when he’d walked into her real estate office and approached her with the opportunity of her career to list and manage the units he was in charge of building.

Over the course of a few meetings and the managing of the deal, the two of them struck up an unlikely friendship, and Milena being Milena, had done her best to try to integrate Lucas into the Cedar Springs community. He was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be very successful with the integration project, but he had agreed to at least try to make some friends while he was in town. Especially considering it looked as if the Cedar View Heights project was going to take awhile to build. He might as well settle in a bit.

“I’m not surprised,” Chelsea said and then immediately laughed. “Okay, I kind of am. But I can absolutely imagine Milena taking in a stray.” She flipped her soft brown hair over her shoulder, and Lucas swallowed hard against the effect the innocent gesture had on him. There was something about this woman that was in direct contrast to everything he expected from her. She was not the typical small-town girl, despite the fact that that’s exactly where she was. He couldn’t quite figure her out.

But he would.

“A stray, huh?”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” She blushed, just a little to give her cheeks some color. “I just meant—”

“It’s okay.” He let her off the hook. “It doesn’t matter why I’m here. Just that I am. With you.”

She blushed a little harder, the color extending down her neck, and Lucas decided it was his favorite look on her.

He thought she might fire back a response, but before she could, they were interrupted. “Chelsea. There you are.”

She turned and immediately her face split into a radiant smile and Lucas instantly changed his opinion of what his favorite look for her was. She was a beautiful girl, but when her face lit up that way, she was positively stunning. He felt an immediate and completely unreasonable surge of jealousy at the man who put that smile on her face. A jealousy that burned a little brighter when she threw herself into his arms and let him hug her tightly.

“Declan. You’re back,” she said to the other man. “I thought you were going to be gone for a few weeks?”

“That was the original plan,” he said. “But I cut it short. I just couldn’t be away from my favorite girl for that long.” The unreasonable jealousy flared up, but then Declan added, “And you, too, of course, Chelsea.”

She playfully punched him on the arm. “Where is your beautiful fiancée anyway?”

Fiancée?

Lucas worked hard to wrap his head around who belonged to who and what exactly was going on and then quickly gave up. The best way to know what he needed to know was to be direct. “Hi there.” He thrust his hand out to Declan. “I don’t think I’ve been introduced yet. My name is Lucas Lee. I’m the general contractor on the Cedar View Heights development going in.”

“I know who you are.” The man smiled and took his hand. “I’m Declan McCormick. Chelsea’s older and much wiser brother.”

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. “It’s actually very true. Declan is the smartest and most amazing man I know. Except he was supposed to let me know when he was back in town.” She glared at him with a false seriousness. “He’s been in Haiti with his nonprofit organization and I’ve missed him terribly.”

“I was only gone a few days.” Declan laughed. He turned to Lucas. “She acts like I’ve been missing for months.”

“You used to go away for years, Dec.” She stuck out her lip in a very cute pout, and Lucas cataloged the look as a new favorite. “It’s not a crime to miss my big brother.”

“It’s not.” Declan turned serious, his smile fading into a thin line. “In fact, I’m glad I came home when I did because Evie said something about you seeming a little—”

“I’m fine.” She cut him off. “And please don’t tell me you’re buying into this family gossip? Milena already discussed it with me and if you need details, I suggest you talk to her because you’re all way off base.” She straightened her back and crossed her arms, closing herself off to further interrogation.

Lucas liked this particular look of hers as well. Damn, the woman had a lot of sides to her, each one sassier and sexier than the last.

“Chelsea, don’t get mad. We’re just worried about you and—”

“Well, don’t be.”

Feeling a bit like he was intruding on what sounded to be a private conversation, Lucas took a step back, but Chelsea stopped him. “No,” she said. “You don’t need to go.”

“It’s fine,” Lucas said. As much as he enjoyed watching Chelsea and learning more about her, he didn’t need to get in the middle of any kind of family drama.

“No,” she said again. “Declan and I were done with this discussion.” She turned her back on what he had figured was her favorite brother and took Lucas’s hand. “Besides, it was Declan who interrupted us. Why don’t we go find a place to sit and chat?”

There was no way Lucas was going to argue with a beautiful woman. He turned to her brother. “It was nice to officially meet you. I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing more of each other.” Declan could interpret that any which way he liked, but if Lucas had his way, it would be because he planned to see a whole lot more of his little sister.

He let Chelsea lead him across the room and out the patio doors to the oversized deck. There were chairs in all shapes and sizes surrounding a gas fire pit. Chelsea pushed through the gathering crowd to the corner and an oversized chair they could both settle into comfortably. “Is this okay?”

“Perfect.” Lucas reached over to a stocked cooler conveniently placed next to the chair and grabbed another drink. He offered her one, but she shook her head. “Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” He gestured with his head back inside where they’d left her brother.

“Nope.” She tipped her beer bottle up to her mouth and drank deeply. “Maybe I’ll take another one after all.”

Lucas offered her the bottle he’d just procured for himself and moved to find another. “You are a mystery, Chelsea McCormick.” He grinned. “But I really think it’s one I’d like to solve.”