Nepotism could be a bitch.

  She just hated when people thought she didn’t work hard for the things she accomplished just because of who her dad was.

  She worked just as hard as anyone else. In fact, harder because she had to prove just how committed she was to being successful.

  SLAM

  Ouch. That really fucking hurt.

  “I am so sorry,” the girl sitting in front of her on the floor said. The girl had been looking down at her phone when she collided right into Sara.

  “Might want to watch where you’re going,” Sara said. She wasn’t being rude. She was the one that was looking at her cell phone, completely unaware of her surroundings.

  The girl raised an eyebrow at Sara. That’s when Sara noticed how beautiful she was. Her chestnut colored wavy locks. They were so unkept, but yet in a remarkably naturally sexy kind of way. The messy look, she guessed they called it. It worked for the girl.

  Her eyes were what really drew Sara in. They looked hazel, maybe brown. But in the center there were some green specks that made them look so captivating.

  She instantly regretted being such a bitch to her.

  “Nice to meet you too.” She brushed off Sara’s snarkiness like it was nothing. It was like Sara didn’t phase her. She found that kind of endearing.

  The girl handed Sara a book she had dropped and stood up. She quickly went back to looking at her phone before striding down the hallway and towards the bathroom.

  Sara rolled her eyes. She was making friends already.

  She quickly found her dorm room and went to unlock it. To her surprise, the door was already unlocked.

  Sara looked around. Her closet was five times bigger. There were two twin size beds. One already had things on top.

  Apparently her roommate had already arrived and wasn’t into locking doors. It might be a prestigious school, but people could still steal from them.

  Sara placed her things down on the free bed and looked around.

  This was going to be her home for a while.

  She looked at her roommate’s side. Her wall already had some pictures up of what she assumed to be family and friends.

  Sara looked closer at the pictures and smiled. Whoever this girl was, she seemed to have a very big family.

  She had always wanted a big family. It was just her and her dad. And of course the hotel staff that she grew up around. But that was different. They worked for her father. It was like they were paid to be her family.

  Sara narrowed her eyes at the one of the girl’s in the picture. Her smile dropped. She recognized the girl.

  “No. No! No! No!”

  The door to the room swung open. Sara looked at the girl the same way she was looking back at her.

  The girl from the hallway that was completely obsessed with her phone, finally put her phone down. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

  Chapter 4: Hayden

  Hayden knocked on the doorframe of Tyler’s office before walking inside. “Lunch is served.”

  “I hope you remembered no…”

  “Mayo. Yes. I remembered.”

  Tyler was Hayden’s best friend. They worked together at their first job out of college. He put in a good word for her at the online publication they worked at together now. He was a photographer.

  She sat down in the chair in front of his desk. He was still working on something on his computer.

  Hayden took a bite of her sandwich and stared at him.

  She needed to talk to someone about Sara. She couldn’t talk to Rachel about this.

  Tyler’s eyes drifted from his screen to Hayden. “I know I’m beautiful, but could you try not to stare at me with such an intense look. It’s kind of creepy.”

  “I have to talk to you about something.”

  He smiled and saved whatever he was working on before looking back at Hayden. “Dr. Tyler, ready to help.”

  Hayden laughed. “I saw someone from my past.”

  Tyler leaned back in his chair. “Go on.”

  “Sara.”

  His eyes widened. He flew forward in his chair, almost losing balance. “The Sara?”

  “The one and only.”

  “Where’d you see her?”

  “Her family owns the hotel Rachel is having her wedding at. And she’s the one in charge of the wedding.”

  Tyler burst into fits of laughter.

  Hayden glared at the man. This wasn’t even the least bit funny. She was going through a crisis and he was laughing at her.

  “This is a serious problem Tyler.”

  His laughter died down. “Oh, yeah. I’m not laughing at you Hayden. I’m just laughing about how extremely small this world is. What are the odds? Out of all the hotels, your sister chooses the hotel that belongs to the family of your ex.”

  “I know. God hates me.”

  He furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m pretty sure that’s not possible. He’s like made of love or something.”

  “Are you a minister now too?”

  “God no. You know I’d burst into flames if I stepped foot in a church.”

  He was exaggerating. Tyler was the sweetest man Hayden knew. If she were at all interested in men, he’d be the perfect guy for her. Best friend was the next best thing.

  “I didn’t need this right now. Seeing Sara was something I never wanted to have to deal with.”

  “This is a good thing Hayden.”

  This was not a good thing. This was a terrible, terrible thing.

  “In what world is this a good thing Tyler?”

  “In a world where you get closure.”

  “I have closure.”

  He scoffed, leaning back in his chair again. “Hayden, you haven’t been in a serious relationship since you’ve been with Sara.”

  “I’ve been in relationships.”

  “The fake one you’ve got going on with Jenna doesn’t count.”

  “There’s been other girls.”

  Hayden for whatever reason couldn’t remember their names at the moment, but there had been other girls. It wasn’t like Sara was the one and only woman she’d ever been with. That would make her kind of sad.

  “All of your relationships end badly Hayden. Did you ever think that maybe there’s a reason?”

  “Yeah, it’s called them. Not me.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Wow. My friend, you are even more confident than me. That’s saying something.”

  “I can’t go there Tyler. Sara’s my past. She needs to stay there.”

  “If you say so. But I think that this is an opportunity. Fate is throwing you a chance to get the closure you never got. Or, it could be giving you the opportunity to get laid.”

  Hayden tilted her head in admonishment. “Tyler.”

  “Wedding sex is the best sex there is.”

  “That’s not happening.”

  “Since when do you turn down an opportunity to have hot lady sex?”

  Hayden rolled her eyes at the hot lady sex comment.

  For as sweet as Tyler was, he was also such a guy. “No sex with Sara would be worth opening that can of worms again.”

  “Hayden, that can of worms has been wide open for the last eight years. Close the can!”

  It was a good thing she didn’t actually have to pay Tyler for these little therapy sessions. Because his advice was absolutely awful.

  * * *

  8 YEARS AGO

  Hayden’s roommate was a total bitch.

  She and Hayden were never going to get along.

  Even without the encounter in the hallway, she could tell just by looking at her that she was the stuck up mean girl type.

  Hayden did her best to avoid girls like Sara in high school. And now she was going to be stuck with a Regina George lookalike for the next three months.

  She could feel Sara staring at her. She was wigging her out big time. Hayden finally couldn’t take it anymore and glared at her. Sara’s crystal blue eyes quickly averted to the book she was pretending to read.

  “What?” Hayden demanded.

  “Sorry?”

  “You keep looking at me. What do you want?”

  She shook her head. “Nevermind.”

  “What is it?”

  “I was going to say that I was sorry for being rude earlier.”

  That was the last thing Hayden expected Sara to say. Mean girls didn’t usually apologize for being mean.

  “Even though you were looking at your phone so technically it was your fault.”

  Hayden scoffed. That sounded more like what she expected the girl to say. “Wow. That was some apology.”

  “Well I’m not very good at apologizing. To be honest, I don’t have to do it often.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “We have to live with each other for the next three months. I think we should try to at least not hate each other.”

  “I don’t hate you. I have no reason to. Yet.”

  She pursed her lips and looked back down at her book. “Fine. We can just not talk and completely ignore one another.”

  “Sounds good.”

  The next three months were going to be very interesting.

  Chapter 5: Sara

  Sara brought work up to the penthouse with her. She used to live in the penthouse with her father, but he moved into a house after she went away to college.

  That was her stepmother’s doing. She didn’t like the lighting in the penthouse. And her father had to do everything to make his wife happy.

  The woman was alright as far as stepmothers went. She and Sara just weren’t very close. She was never interested in being anyone’s mother, hence why they didn’t have kids.

  The hotel was hosting a sweet sixteen next month. So Sara had to juggle the planning for that and the planning for Rachel’s wedding.

  They really needed to work on hiring an event planner. Sara wasn’t a party or wedding planner. She had zero experience in this. She hated doing anything she wasn’t great at.

  The elevator dinged. Someone was coming up into the penthouse.

  Sara got up from the couch and walked to the entrance of the penthouse.

  It was kind of late for it to be the cleaning service. But she couldn’t think of anyone else that had the access code.

  “Welcome home bitch,” Jaime said. She had two bottles of rosé with her.

  Sara hugged her best friend. “You should have told me you were coming by. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

  “That’s the point of a surprise.”

  “To give me a heart attack?”

  “Yes.”

  The best friends pulled apart and smiled at each other. “I missed you.”

  “Girl we facetimed everyday.”

  “I know but it’s not the same. I missed our girl nights.”

  Jamie held up the bottle of rosé. “That’s why I brought the rosé.”

  “You’re an angel. I could definitely use a drink.”

  They moved to the living room. Sara grabbed two glasses from the china closet before going to join Jaime on the couch.

  Jaime was looking over the papers Sara had sprawled out on the coffee table.

  “This looks boring.”

  “Sorry. We can’t all be models and live such exciting lives.”

  “Yeah, I know. You’re jealous. Most people are.”

  Sara shook her head as she poured the rosé into the two glasses. She handed Jaime hers.

  They clinked their glasses together before they both took a sip.

  “Ugh, amazing,” Sara said. She loved her rosé. It was her favorite drink by far. She also enjoyed a good vodka cranberry. But she reserved the vodka for the really bad days. She may have had a couple last week after her meeting with Rachel and Hayden.

  “What is all this?” Jaime asked.

  “Just some reports. And planning for a sweet sixteen.”

  She pursed her lips. “Sweet sixteen?”

  “Yes. I’m a party planner now. I do weddings too apparently.”

  “That’s new. I wasn’t aware you were into party planning.”

  Sara took another sip of her drink. “I’m not. Especially not wedding planning. Dad has me on this. The second I can I’m convincing him to hire someone who specializes in this crap.”

  She smiled. “Sounds like someone doesn’t like parties.”

  “I love parties. So long as I’m not the one that has to plan them.”

  Sara wasn’t a big fan of weddings. She felt intimidated by them. Especially when it was a wedding for someone that was the same age as her. It made her feel like she was doing something wrong with her life.

  Then again, some of her acquaintances weren’t as obsessed with their careers as she was. Sara had different priorities. Finding love and settling down wasn’t one of them right now.

  “Is that what has you so down?” Jamie asked.

  “I’m not down.”

  “Sara, I know you more than I know myself. Your texts have been short and sweet the last week. Something’s up and I demand to know what.”

  Sara smirked. “Oh, you demand?”

  “Yes. I’m trying my hand at being more assertive. Is it working?”

  A teasing smile crossed Sara’s lips. “Maybe a little.”

  “Come on. Tell me what’s up.”

  Sara took another big sip from her glass. “Remember that girl I dated freshman year?”

  Jamie crossed her legs, twirling her hair as she leaned back on the couch. “Hayden. How could I forget the infamous Hayden?”

  Jamie never met Hayden in person, but they did meet each other through facetime.

  Aside from that, Sara went on and on about Hayden to Jaime. Jaime was also the one that helped Sara get through the break up.

  Sara finished her glass of rosé before saying the next words. “She’s the younger sister of my new client at work.”

  Jamie sat forward and put her glass down on an empty spot on the coffee table. “Shut the front door.”

  “Jamie, we’re twenty-six. I think you can curse now.”

  “How did it go?”

  “Terrible.”

  “Did she slap you?”

  Sara looked at her friend in shock. “No.”

  Jamie scoffed. “I would have.”

  “Jamie.”

  “What? I still think that was the dumbest thing you ever did.”

  To be fair, Sara did too. Breaking things off with Hayden was her biggest regret in life. Even when it was happening, she knew that it felt wrong.

  But she did it anyway. And here they were.

  Eight years later and she was still living with regret.

  “I can just tell that she’s still so angry.”

  “What did she say?”

  “Nothing. She pretended not to know me. She didn’t show any anger because her sister was there. But I could tell. I know her. You know?”

  Jamie smiled sympathetically. “I know.”

  You didn’t get as close to someone as Sara and Hayden did and not pick up on a person’s tells.

  There were so many things Hayden did that Sara loved.

  The cute way she stretched when she first woke up in the morning. The way her nose wrinkled when she was annoyed by something. She did that a lot when they first met.

  And you didn’t want to ever take her phone away from her. Hayden was obsessed with her phone. The woman could never unplug to save her life.

  The first few days in that tiny dorm room were torture. Sara kept on wanting to talk to Hayden. Most times she chickened out. The times that she did say anything to her Hayden would get this look in her eyes. She really couldn’t stand Sara at first.

  Sara got that look last Tuesday when Hayden saw her.

  Sara knew everything about Hayden.

  Or, she used to.

  “You want to know what I think?” Jamie said, pouring them both more rosé.

  Sara squinted her eyes. “Maybe.”

  “I think you should try to fix your mistakes. Ask her out.”

  “She has a girlfriend.”

  “So?”

  “Jamie!”

  “JK, calm down.”

  “And Hayden’s smart. Way too smart to give me a second chance at breaking her heart.”

  “Sara, you’re not the same person you were then. You’ve grown up. You can’t seriously think you’d ever do that to Hayden again.”

  “I know I wouldn’t. But I can’t expect Hayden to forget how terrible I was to her.”

  “But you’ll never know if you don’t try.”

  It was a nice thought. Getting back together with Hayden after all these years. But so much time had passed. They were different people.

  Maybe too different.

  * * *

  8 YEARS AGO

  Sara got up early and went for a jog before grabbing a shower and getting changed for the day.

  Hayden was still sleeping. That girl slept like a rock. Sara even accidentally dropped some things from her desk and Hayden didn’t even move.

  She looked cute when she slept. Sloppy, but cute.

  Not that Sara was watching her sleep or anything. She wasn’t at all the stalker type.

  She’d be lying if she said she didn’t find Hayden extremely sexy.

  There was something about her. Sure she was gorgeous. Sun-kissed skin, dark brown hair, hazel-green eyes. She was beyond gorgeous. She reminded Sara of a Greek goddess.

  But it wasn’t any of that. It was how Hayden carried herself.

  Sara could tell she was going to be a strong, independent, fearless woman.

  She found her confidence sexy as hell. It was a major turn on.

  After Sara got dressed, she went to the cafeteria to get a coffee and a muffin. She decided to grab Hayden a coffee and a muffin, too.

  Sara really wanted them to get along. And it wasn’t because she was attracted to Hayden. She was sure Sara wasn’t into girls anyway. She just didn’t want to have to spend the next three months living with someone that hated her.

  When she got back to the room, Hayden was already up and dressed. Sara smiled. “Oh, you’re up.”

  Hayden didn’t even bother looking at Sara. She was packing up her backpack. “I have a class. Have to grab a coffee before class.”

 

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