Page 128 of Slumming It

I felt a surge of panic at the thought of Vivian missing out. "But you'vegotto."

"Why?" she said. "So you can betotallyisolated?"

"No. Because it's a great opportunity."

She smirked. "You already said that."

That did it."Oh, for God's sake. Will you just listen to yourself? You're sitting there—"

"Standing," she corrected.

"Fine. You'restandingthere all suspicious of Reese when the guyyou'redating is doing heaven-knows-what with heaven-knows-who. And whenever I try to point this out to you, you get all mad at me." My voice rose in frustration. "Has it ever once occurred to you that I might be right?"

And that's when she started to cry.

And nowIfelt like crying, too. Vivian almost never cried, which made me feel like a monster for pushing her so hard. "Gosh, Viv, I’m really sorry." I rushed around the front desk and wrapped her in a tight sisterly hug.

She sobbed into my hair. "No,I’mthe sorry one."

"But why would you be sorry?"

"Because," she sobbed, "it's just like you said."

"What?"

"You were right all along."

"I was?" I still didn't get it. "About what?"

"Jason," she sobbed. "We just broke up."

And just like that, everything made sense.

Chapter 48

Emily

I was entertaining two billionaires in a single-wide trailer. Maybe I should have been humiliated. But mostly I was worried – not for myself, but for Vivian.

Last night, after a lot of comforting and coaxing, she'd finally agreed to accept the internship, but only after I'd promised her like a hundred times that I would call her the instant I ran into any sort of trouble.

I didn't mind, because fair was fair. After all, I'd extracted a similar promise from her. In spite of all of those assurances from Reese, I still wasn't completely certain that my sister and Slade would get along.

But at this point, it wasn't even a deal-breaker. Now, more than ever, I knew in my heart that some time away from Driftwood Cove would do my sister a lot of good.

Happily, she would be leaving within the hour, catching a ride with Slade, just like Reese had originally suggested.

Twenty minutes ago, both billionaires had arrived in two separate Ferraris, and things were already getting tense. Between Slade glancing at his watch and Reese looking aggravated by every glance, my small living room was feeling tinier by the moment.

Or maybe it was just that both of them seemed far too large – both physically and personality-wise – to be sitting in such a small space.

When Slade glanced at his watch for the umpteenth time, I turned in my seat and looked down the short hallway that led to our two bedrooms. Vivian's door was shut, but I could still hear her clunking around, gathering the last of her things.

From the sofa, Slade said, "Maybe you should tell her to hurry."

From the sofa's other end, Reese said, "Maybeyoushould shut your trap."

Slade grinned. "Maybeyoushould make me."