Page 2 of Tempting Me (The Asher Family #3)

CHAPTER ONE

SHAY - PRESENT DAY

“Wait, stop! Please!” I race after Brent, my contractor, as he stalks across The Marina’s parking lot in the direction of his truck.

His jeans hang low, and the faster he walks, the farther they fall.

His shirt is a size too small, which is why I can see how much his jeans are sagging, ready to show me something I really, really don’t want to see, but who cares about that right now? I need him to stop and listen to me.

“Go! Get on the road!” he yells at one of his employees who’s just sitting in his own truck with the window rolled down and his arm hanging out.

His employee taps the side of his truck and then peels out, the tires kicking up rocks and dust.

“Brent, please. I’m sorry. I didn’t?—”

“For the last year, I've listened to you nitpick everything I do and then proceed to tell me how you think I should do it differently. Blah, blah. It’s annoying.”

“Well, I am paying you to do it how I want it, but I understand?— ”

“I’m done. Fucking done, lady. You can keep the material since you already paid for it, but as far as labor, you can do that shit yourself.”

Lady. What am I, fifty? I’m only thirty.

He yanks his truck door open, and I step up to it.

“Is this really how you want to conduct business? This is completely unprofessional.”

“Me?” he snaps and then laughs wickedly as he starts the engine and, like his employee, peels out. I spin to block the dirt from flying into my eyes. Pieces nick at my bare arms and legs, since I’m only wearing a halter tank top and shorts today. There isn’t a lick of wind, and it’s nearing ninety.

I’d be walking around in just shorts and my bikini top if there wasn’t construction happening. Which, now there isn’t.

When I turn back around, The Marina's parking lot is empty and the tailgate of Brent’s truck is all I see.

Jackass.

I get it.

But to be fair, it’s been a year, and Brent hasn’t even finished part one of my plan.

I tried to be patient. He can only send a couple of workers at a time, and I can only afford to let them stay in one of the lodges for free for so long, too. Business is busy everywhere but at The Marina, and everything takes longer with travel time, too.

But screw him. He promised me he’d get the job done, and he just bailed.

Oh god.

He just bailed.

He quit.

My only contractor quit .

“Shit!” I yell and startle when I hear my best friend, Grace, laugh as she stands in The Marina’s entrance.

“Is this a new form of therapy?” she asks.

I huff and march toward her.

“Brent just quit.”

The smile on her face drops. “You’re joking, right?”

I shake my head, push past her into The Marina, and stride right through the mini shop we have until I reach the bar.

Carl is working right now, but he moves on to another area of The Marina when I step behind the bar.

I have three employees as of this moment: Carl, Matt, and Brian. We all share the work between the bar, outdoor food service, the shop, and rentals. Matt is, however, the only cook, so he spends most of his time in the kitchen. I’ve taken over all the cabin cleanings.

Still, none of them will have a job soon if I don't make a plan fast.

“Shay, you can’t afford for him to quit,” Grace says.

“I know.”

“You need a new plan.”

“I know.”

I pour myself a glass of water from behind the bar, then refill Grace’s soda.

“Any chance you know of another contractor?”

Her face scrunches. “The lodge uses Luca.”

Grace’s family owns Lovers Lodge. It’s what our town is known for, and it brings in tourists all year round for weddings.

Multiple magazines have featured them, and they are a thriving business.

Like The Marina, they offer boat and jet ski rentals, but it’s nothing near what The Marina offers.

They aren’t competition by any means, but their business definitely helps mine and vice versa, and every day that ticks by is a day my family's business doesn't hold up.

I release a deep sigh, letting my gaze fall to the back wall that’s all windows. The mountain background and sun over the glassy lake gives the impression that all is calm in the world.

Everywhere but my head, maybe.

How am I going to fix this?

I perk up. Refusing to wallow, I grab my laptop that’s folded up behind the bar’s cash register. I don't have time to waste. I need to find a new contractor.

“Are you going to hire out of state again?” Grace asks.

“Maybe, or maybe just from somewhere else in Wyoming. Wind Valley is only a couple of hours away. They have two construction companies. Fingers crossed that one of them has immediate availability.”

“I think you need to consider hiring Luca.” Grace didn’t waste any time sharing her opinion.

“I can’t.”

“He’s right here, and he?—”

“You know I can’t.” I pin Grace with a glare. She’s been in my life just as long as Luca and knows our history down to the smallest detail of how once, when I was six, I married two of my stuffed animals, announcing them Luca and Shay Asher after they said I do.

Blah. I was a delusional kid.

“You don’t think your family has moved on by now?”

I tilt my head and recall the conversation I had with dear old Mom and Dad last spring.

“You get two summers to turn this place around or we sell it, and do not under any circumstances hire that Asher boy. Understood?”

Grace grins at my impression of my mother.

“She didn’t say that.”

“She did. My brother even added that he’d die before he’d trust Luca to help us.”

“To be fair, The Marina is like the middle man on why you all hate him.”

“He did it to himself.”

She holds her hand up.

“You don't have to tell me. I know what happened. I just … has anyone ever asked him about it?”

“My parents did, and he denied everything. Even did this whole act of "I'll help you find who did it,” but my parents didn't fall for it.”

“Yeah, but what if he actually?—”

“He did it, Grace. He’s the only other person who knew the passcode.”

She nods. “All right, so tell me about your new options for a contractor.”

I spin the computer to face her and for the next two hours, we weigh the pros and cons on who I should hire next.

My cell is ringing the moment I walk through my front door at dinnertime.

I pull it from my back pocket and groan. It’s my brother's name on the screen.

He’s in France with his wife and her family for two more months, so why does he feel the need to call me every single day? Especially when he’s six hours ahead of me and it’s nearing ten at night for him. He should be sleeping or something.

I flop back onto my couch, grabbing a magazine to fan my face as I answer the call. The heat of this day never let up.

“Hello, Leo. Let me guess, baby girl isn’t sleeping again.”

His sigh is loud and clear.

“Not even close. This time change has her so lost, and I told Leslie I’d be on night duty tonight so she could sleep.”

Leslie is my brother's wife and the most patient woman I know. Maybe it’s because she grew up in France and everything is different there.

All I know is that my brother met her the second week of college and they have been together ever since.

They live here in Lovers and have three girls now, but with the new baby, they are back in France to see her family for the summer.

Both my brother and sister-in-law have remote jobs, so it works for them.

My parents are also there because they’ve never been to Europe.

They are making a whole trip of it and will fly back at the end of the summer with Leo and Leslie.

Right now, I’m more than grateful none of them are here to witness my current dilemma.

“That was nice of you.”

“Yeah, well, it’s the least I could do. It doesn't matter that I’ve been practicing this language for more than a decade. Leslie does almost all the translations everywhere we go, so we need her to be well-rested.”

I let out a slight laugh. My brother really does suck at speaking French.

“How’s the trip outside of that?”

“Good. The girls love it here. I think it’s more about the fact that they currently have both sets of grandparents around. Spoiled doesn’t even begin to describe how the days go for them.”

“They should be spoiled. They are Parker girls. We expect nothing less.”

“Don’t I know it. Anyway, how's The Marina going?”

“Good,” I answer quickly. “Really good.”

“I can’t wait to see what you’ve done with it. Is that Brent guy picking up the pace?”

“Mm-hmm,” I say. It's not a lie. He sure got to it when he drove out of town.

“That’s nice to hear. I was worried when he was still behind schedule as we left.”

“Oh, yeah, well, the weather is shaping up again, so we are making better progress.”

Now that was a lie.

“I’m glad. I think Mom and Dad are having so much fun that the idea of selling that place is more appealing now that they could start traveling more.”

“If they just sold it to me, we could all have what we want,” I remind him.

“You know they won’t sell to you until they see you turn a profit. They won’t sell a failing business to their daughter. You can't blame them for that.”

No. I can’t. I just don’t understand how I left for college and they just let it fall apart.

Leo cares about The Marina, but he never dreamed of running it himself one day, and he cares about his family more, which is understandable.

Letting him run it while he was starting a family wasn’t the right move, but I wasn’t around to voice that opinion.

No, I was away at school, earning a degree in business, doubling up on courses over the summer to get back here as quickly as possible just so I could run The Marina one day.

It’s been my plan since I was a kid when my parents would let me help out over the summers in the store or in the restaurant and I saw how happy this place made people.

I loved the atmosphere and the people at The Marina.

Now, I’m finally here to pick up the pieces and time is running out.

“Shay, did you hear me?”

“What?”

“How much do you think you’ll have done before we get back?”

“Enough,” I tell him.

“Enough? Shay, it’s the first of June. We are coming back in September. You don’t have much time.”

“I know. You don’t have to remind me.”

My tone is snappy, but he brings up the deadline at least once a week.

“I’m not trying to bring you down. I just don't want you to waste more time on something that might not make it.”

My eyes sting. Not because he’s hurting my feelings but more because after today, he might be right.

I have just under four months to make a new plan, execute it, and prove to my parents The Marina is worth saving.

And right now, I seem to be alone in this goal.