Defiant Heart (Starlight Cove Book 1)

BEING a small-town sheriff did not mean a cushy job with a lot of time off. It wasn’t even 6:30 a.m., and I’d already answered a call for a suspected break-in that turned out to be a rogue raccoon, dealt with a domestic dispute, and changed a tire for an older lady stranded on the side of the highway. That last one was going to make me late if I didn’t haul ass. And I refused to be late, especially when it came to family meetings with my siblings.

I pulled off the highway onto the road clearly marking Starlight Cove Resort and swept my gaze along the path, keeping my eyes peeled for anything unusual or out of place.

Like a 5’4” pain in my ass who just wouldn’t leave.

Or do what she was told.

Or follow the laws so I could stop arresting her.

I’d lost count of how many times I’d cuffed Starlight Cove’s newest resident, Ms. Lancaster. Her latest infraction had been the day before when she’d thought it imperative to chain herself to a tree to stop the much-needed development of a piece of unused land that bordered my family’s resort.

It must’ve been my lucky day, because I didn’t see the infuriating woman as I drove down the path dotted with cottages. Though, it was still early. She probably didn’t crawl out of her gremlin hole until at least eight, so I had a bit of a reprieve.

Outside the passenger’s window, the waves of the Atlantic Ocean crashed against the rocky shore, the water glittering from the sun. I might’ve grown up here and spent every day of my childhood running down these gravel paths, the ocean’s roar at my back, but I’d never tired of the view. Or of this place. It was home.

I glanced at my watch, noting I had only three minutes to spare, and relaxed my shoulders as I parked in front of the main inn that’d seen better days.

This whole place had seen better days.

The furnishings in the cottages were dated, the small front porches battered, and the siding could use a good painting at the very least. The whole place was in desperate need of a giant facelift. For an oceanfront resort, it didn’t get nearly as much occupancy as it should, though that wasn’t a surprise. Not after a couple of big-time house flippers had swooped in during a downturn in the market, bought up a bunch of tiny bungalows on the beach, refurbed them all to look the same, and then slapped them up on the nation’s largest short-term rental site. Tourists flocked to them, which meant some out-of-state team was pulling in the money, not the small, locally run resort that had been in our family—and in this town—for three generations.

We’d been slashing prices and increasing amenities for two years, and nothing was helping. We were barely staying afloat, and it showed. This resort—our mom’s dream—was dying a slow, painful death, and if I didn’t figure something out, and soon, it’d take the whole family with it.

Something I refused to let happen.

I slid out of my patrol car and strode to the door, pulling it open to the sound of my family bickering, as per usual. I followed the noise past the front entry turned check-in counter and through the sitting room until I reached the once-pristine dining room. Now, the navy-and-white striped wallpaper was peeling in random spots, the white wainscoting needed a good painting, and the floors were scuffed and faded. Four out of five of my siblings sat around the oval table—what had once been our family dining table—their attention more on getting their morning fill of coffee than on the fact that I’d arrived just under the wire.

Even though the sun was barely up, Aiden, my Irish twin at eleven months younger than me, was already dressed in a crisp white button-up and tie, his navy suit jacket carefully folded over the back of his chair. Why he felt the need to dress up when the few guests who stayed with us roamed around in little more than swimwear, I had no idea. But since he was the face of the resort and ran this place day-to-day, I wasn’t going to argue.

“So nice of you to join us,” Beck grumbled. His brows were pinched as he stared at me from where he sat next to Ford—his actual twin. The antithesis of Aiden, Beck wore a plain tee, jeans, a backward baseball cap, and a scowl. “Some of us have a job to do.”

I raised an eyebrow at him as I helped myself to some coffee, then pointedly glanced down at my uniform as I brought the mug up for a sip. I was technically on duty, but the weekly family meeting wasn’t something I could get out of. Scratch that—it wasn’t something I wanted to get out of. The only one who managed to do that was Levi, my youngest brother. He only bothered to show up once a month for budgeting—and even then, only when our baby sister dragged him there.

“I’m sure Everly will wait five minutes if you’re not at the diner to open up exactly on time,” I said behind my mug.

“That’s not the point.” He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Our posted hours say we open at seven.”

Oh, I knew what the point was, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the posted hours and everything to do with the vivacious redhead who’d—beyond all reason—befriended Beck when she’d moved here two years ago.

“You bring any muffins, man?” Ford elbowed Beck and glanced around, as if his twin was hiding them under the table.

“We don’t have the budget to feed your ass,” Aiden said, pressing a finger to the stack of papers in front of him that detailed exactly how in the red we were.

“How about you idiots all shut the hell up so we can get started?” Addison, the youngest of our brood and only girl, said, her tone all business. For being such a little thing, she never showed fear or backed down from any of us. Though, she hadn’t exactly had a choice, growing up with five older, overprotective brothers who weren’t inclined to give her even an inch.

“How about you bite me?” Beck mumbled behind his coffee mug, but he turned to face her, just the same as the rest of us.

My four brothers and I may have been bigger, stronger, and older than she was, but nobody harbored a mean streak like Addison, and she had no qualms about unleashing it on us. In fact, she seemed to take great pleasure in it.

I settled into the seat next to Aiden and leaned back in the chair, taking a sip of coffee. It was black, just how I liked it, and utterly delicious. Beck ground this special blend himself, but hell if I’d let him know how much I loved it. He’d probably stop bringing it to meetings out of spite.

“Let’s get on with it, then,” I said, jerking a chin at Addison. “I can’t stay here all morning.”

Unlike the rest of you… But I left that part unsaid. They all worked at the resort—Aiden on main desk duty, Beck running the diner, and Addison running, well, everything else. Ford was our resort handyman in addition to his firefighter duties for the county. And Levi was the captain of the boat tours—when he bothered to give them. I was the only one who didn’t rely on this resort for their livelihood.

And it ate at me every day.

I loved my job, loved the routine, the certainty of it, but not a day went by that I didn’t wonder if everything would’ve been different now if I hadn’t veered off onto this path. If I’d stuck close to home and stepped into the family business instead of venturing out on my own.

Would she still be gone?

Addison stared at me as she took a slow, deliberate sip out of her coffee mug, one eyebrow raised slightly as if daring me to say a word while she took her sweet-ass time. When my only response was a tick of my jaw, she finally cleared her throat. “I got an email from a travel magazine, Weekend Wanderlust. They’re doing a spread on the best coastal resorts in the country, and they’re sending someone to check us out to see if we’d be a good fit.”

Interest piqued, I sat up, bracing my elbows on the table, and leaned toward her, my brothers all mirroring my position. “Is that a popular magazine?”

“Second-largest circulation in the country.”

“Holy shit,” Ford muttered under his breath.

Addison nodded. “I don’t need to tell you guys just how important this is for the resort. Getting selected to be included would be a huge write-up and would mean national publicity for the resort. Which means an influx of new guests, which means an influx of money.” She pinned each of us with a stare. “Desperately needed money.”

“Yeah, we get it,” Ford said, folding his arms behind his head as he leaned his chair back on two legs. “We’re broke. So you keep telling us.”

“She keeps telling you because nothing’s changed.” Aiden shoved a few papers across the table toward the twins—the budget, no doubt. I didn’t need to see it. I’d already caught a glimpse last night when I’d swung by to see him after my shift. Right before I’d transferred some money from my account to the resort’s.

To say it wasn’t good was an understatement.

“You’ve known me for thirty-two years, so I’m not sure why you think these numbers are going to mean anything to me.” Ford passed the papers over to Beck without glancing at them. “You know I was more of a shop guy than algebra.”

“Then let me put it in clear terms for you,” Addison said. “We’re—”

“Fucked,” Beck finished for her, his eyes scanning the papers.

“Fucked,” Addison confirmed with a nod. “If we don’t figure out a way to get paying customers here, and fast, this resort is going to fold whether we want it to or not.”

I glanced around at my siblings, each of their mouths set in a grim line. They knew as well as I did that we’d been running on fumes for far too long. This wasn’t sustainable, but we didn’t have a choice. Our whole lives were here, wrapped up in these nineteen cottages amid the winding road that followed the curving shore of the ocean. The ocean that had been our backyard our entire lives. They were in the walls of this home that we’d turned into the main inn nearly ten years ago.

“How long?” I asked, voicing the question everyone was wondering but unwilling to ask. How long did we have until we would have to call it quits?

Addison lifted a single shoulder. “Couple of months, if we’re lucky. We’re coming into tourist season, so that may save us a bit. But it’s bad.”

Aiden closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Ford ran a hand through his hair, dividing glances between Aiden, Addison, and me. And Beck…Beck just looked resigned.

I may not have worked at this resort, but it was as much mine as it was theirs. And none of them was in the right mind to take the reins, too close to see the forest for the trees. So I did what I did best and stepped up to take the lead.

“Tell us what you need from us,” I said to Addison.

The corner of her mouth twitched—the only sign of her gratefulness—and she nodded. “Ford, I’ll need your help working through a list. We don’t have much of a budget, but—”

“Do what you need,” I said. “I’ll cover it.”

She pursed her lips like she wanted to argue but must’ve thought better of it, because she continued with a short nod. “I’d like to get as much cosmetic work done as we can. We need to make this seem like a no-brainer. That Starlight Cove is the perfect, picturesque location with perfect, quaint residents. That it’s basically a modern-day Mayberry set on the ocean, and this resort is the perfect getaway for some peace and quiet.”

Ford crossed his arms and nodded. “That should be easy enough.”

Addison snorted. “Normally, yes. But after Brady cuffed his friend yesterday, I’m not so sure.”

“My friend?” I asked, incredulous. That insufferable woman wasn’t anything remotely close to a friend. “Aren’t you the one who kept telling me not to arrest her again?”

Ford glanced at me, brows raised. “Wait…who are you arresting? And what do you mean again?”

Addison waved a hand to dismiss his questions, her focus still on me. “I know you have some vendetta against Luna doing yoga on our property—”

“For the twelfth time, Addison, she doesn’t have a license,” I snapped. “And, as you’ve so eloquently put it, we’re broke. If she’s doing yoga on our property, she”—I held up my hand and counted off on my fingers—“one, needs a fucking license to do so, and two, should pay us for the use of the land, at the very least, considering we’re broke.”

“That’s—” She cut herself off, her head tipping to the side. Before saying anything else, she pulled out her phone, her thumbs a blur on her screen as she mouthed whatever note she was writing herself. “That’s actually not a bad idea…” she murmured.

“What’s not a bad idea?” Beck snapped. “Jesus, woman, I’m going to cut off your morning coffee if you can’t focus during these meetings.”

“Don’t threaten the person with the contacts to get you your beloved blackberry vanilla bourbon jam.” She glared at Beck, who looked like he wanted to strangle her but finally settled back in his seat with nothing more than a grunt.

“As I was saying…” She raised her eyebrows at us, as if daring us to talk back. When none of us did, she continued, “Right now, I’m more worried about what’s going on at the boundary of the resort. Luna’s latest stunt is drawing negative attention.”

“The development of the land,” Aiden clarified, sorting through his stack of papers before he found what he was looking for and tossing it to the middle of the table.

The glossy, trifold brochure boasted a company called Holton Real Estate Group. Showcased on the front of the pamphlet was a variety of buildings they’d done, all big-box stores. Unlike the house flippers who’d swooped in, made their changes, and fucked over the town without so much as a peep, this company had held a meeting in town hall and informed everyone about their plans. From what they’d shown, this new store would bring more jobs into Starlight Cove—something we could definitely use—and provide a shopping experience we’d usually have to drive an hour-plus for. It would breathe some much-needed life back into the town, which would bring more revenue, which would be a good thing for all the residents and businesses, us included.

“More accurately, her protesting it,” Aiden said. “Brady took her to the station yesterday for it, but she swore she’d be back.”

I grunted in the affirmative. “The she-devil doesn’t know when to quit.”

“Okay, so what does this have to do with the resort and the article?” Ford asked, brows drawn.

“Any stink that’s raised around town could be a sign to the magazine that Starlight Cove is too volatile of a destination to promote,” Addison said. “Their whole vibe is rest and relaxation, and driving past a protester chained to a tree with sirens flashing just to get to the resort doesn’t exactly scream peaceful.”

“I hardly think that old bat Mabel and her Facebook Lives will draw enough negative attention to warrant concern,” Beck muttered dryly.

“Maybe not. But if this journalist shows up and catches wind of it, or if Luna refuses to back down without a fight, that could draw enough attention to be a detriment to us,” Addison said.

I scrubbed a frustrated hand over my short beard and sighed. With all the work that needed to be done on the resort, the last thing any of them needed to worry about was this thorn of a woman who was hell-bent on making our lives as difficult as possible. “You guys just focus on getting the resort spruced up as quickly as possible. I’ll handle Luna. Besides, maybe she’ll surprise us and give up.”

My radio crackled to life, and my deputy’s voice rang out. “Sheriff, we’ve got a trespasser down at the old Williamson property. Reports claim she’s chained herself to a tree. Again.”

“Well, so much for that.” Beck stood and slapped a hand on my shoulder. “But maybe swing by the diner on your way out. I’ll send you with something to sweeten the deal since your approach can be a bit…brusque.”

That was something, at least, because I didn’t think Luna would be inclined to agree to help us after I’d read her her rights and tossed her, handcuffed, into the back of my patrol car for the second day in a row.