The Secret (Single in Seattle 1)
“Come on, you guys,” Chelsea says and takes Vaughn’s other hand. “You can sit by me. I call dibs on Vaughn, everyone.”
While the others laugh, I move to my baby sister’s side and whisper in her ear, “I already licked it, so it’s mine.”
“Damn you,” she mutters and then laughs. “I know, but it’s not against the law to flirt. Vaughn’s a total thirst trap.”
I mean, she’s not wrong.
“You’ve now met the youngest, Chelsea. You can ignore her,” I say as we walk toward the kitchen. “That’s Haley at the stove.”
“Hey,” Haley says with a wave.
“That’s my one and only brother, Keaton.”
Keaton doesn’t say much as he approaches Vaughn and gives him the beady eye as he reaches out to shake the other man’s hand.
Keaton’s only two years younger than I am, and we’re really close. He’s protective.
And I never know what’s going to come out of his mouth.
“Nice to meet you,” Vaughn says.
“And it’ll stay that way so long as you don’t fuck over my sister.” Keaton grins, slaps Vaughn on the shoulder, and then walks away.
“He’s a caveman,” I say and glare at my brother. “You know my dad, of course, and this is my mom, Natalie.”
“We’ve met,” Vaughn says with a smile for my mom. “It’s good to see you again. Thank you for the invitation to dinner.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Mom says. “Livie told us that you had a good time at the party last night.”
“It was great,” Vaughn confirms. “Your daughter is seriously gorgeous, talented, and can work a room full of people.”
“Just like her mother,” Dad says and kisses Mom on the cheek.
“It was so good to see Christian and Jenna,” I add and pop a cherry tomato into my mouth. “He was a little embarrassed by all of the attention, but it was so deserved. And when they played the message you sent, Dad, I think he got misty. You should have gone.”
“I called him earlier in the day,” Dad replies, waving off my comment. “And your mom and I are planning a trip to Montana to see them in a few weeks.”
“Are we all going?” Haley asks. “I love it there.”
“You have school,” Mom reminds her. “But we’ll go again soon.”
“I knew that you two had worked together quite a lot over the years,” Vaughn says, “but I didn’t realize you were such good friends until Liv saw Christian and Jenna and got excited.”
“It was nice to have someone else there that I knew,” I admit. “I’m not exactly shy, but it was still nerve-racking. I mean, Michael B. Jordan was there. And Lily-Rose Depp. Deacon Phillippe. You know, everyone.”
“Including Olivia Williams,” Chelsea says with a grin.
“Olivia Conner,” I correct her.
“That’s dumb,” Keaton begins, but I narrow my eyes at him, and he holds his hands up. “Whatever. None of my business, right?”
“What do you do, Keaton?” Vaughn asks my brother, changing the subject.
“I fix cars,” Keaton says simply, and I snort-laugh.
“No. Keaton hunts down old, rusted-out vehicles and completely restores them into gorgeous pieces of art, then sells them for six figures.”
Vaughn’s eyebrows rise in surprise. “Seriously? What are you working on right now?”
Keaton shrugs as if it’s no big deal, but I can see the pride in his blue eyes. “I have a sixty-nine Corvette Stingray that’s almost finished and a fifty-eight Plymouth Fury that I’m going to restore to look like the car from Stephen King’s Christine.”
“No shit? I want to see that. I’m a huge King fan, and who doesn’t love a Stingray?”
“I’m using Dad’s bonus garage for the Fury. Let’s go have a look,” Keaton offers, and Vaughn immediately jumps up.
“Let’s do it.”
“I’ll go hang out with the guys,” Dad says with a wink and follows the other two out the back door toward the garage.
“Now Keaton will like him,” Haley says with a laugh. “If Vaughn wants to talk cars, you may never see him again.”
“I want you guys to like him,” I admit.
“What’s not to like? He’s hot,” Chelsea replies. “Like, smoking hot.”
“Stop acting so thirsty,” Haley advises our sister. “It’s not attractive.”
“He’s a thirst trap,” Chelsea says.
“I hate that saying,” Mom says, shaking her head. “Thirst trap.”
“You’re married to one,” I tell her. “Sorry, not sorry.”
“You know, I think I’ll call your father that later. He really is a hottie.”
“Ew,” Haley says, scrunching up her nose. “How did you meet Vaughn, Liv?”
“He’s in a movie that I’m doing costuming for,” I reply. “And he totally irritated the hell out of me when I first met him.”
I tell them all about finding Vaughn in my office and what a jerk he was.
“But you also liked him,” Haley says.
“Kind of? I don’t know. I was attracted to him. And then I saw him with his best friend’s baby, and he’s so sweet with that little girl. When I saw that side of him and the arrogant guy with a chip on his shoulder went away, I really started to like him more.”