One Little Thing Read Online Free PDF Page B

know it sounds bad, but we really were in love. Even though nothing happened until I was out of his class, there was some backlash, and that caused problems right from the start.”
    â€œYou landed on your feet, though.”
    â€œDivorce is always painful, regardless of how amicable, but for me it was profitable, at least.”
    It seemed Sophie had a mercenary streak, and that surprised him. “Either your ex is generous or you had a damn good attorney.”
    She shrugged a shoulder. “Let’s just say I know some things he’d rather others not know, and he was willing to pay me quite a bit of money to ensure no one found out.”
    Granted, he didn’t know Sophie well—then
or
now—but flat-out extortion was cold.
    She dropped her voice. “I wanted to start my own B&B, so I was happy to take the money, but I wouldn’t have told anyone anything anyway.”
    Whew.
“You had me worried there for a minute, Sophie.”
    She laughed. “It hurt my feelings a little that he even asked me to sign a non-disclosure agreement, but”—she laughed quietly—“the money did help lessen the sting of that. I mean, it’s not like he was involved in something illegal or anything, so there was no moral imperative for me to say what I knew. After all, there’s no need to destroy someone’s life unnecessarily.”
    Boom.
The guilt landed hard. Sophie had no way of knowing that, though. That was his own conscience dropping the hammer. In his defense, though, he hadn’t
meant
to destroy anyone’s life. He’d gone looking for one thing but found something else entirely, and how could he have known what Mr. Shipp would do with that information once he had it?
    That was his defense. He’d been a kid, and it had been an accident.
    But accident or not, it was still his fault.
    For all Sophie’s airy dismissiveness earlier, he heard the bitterness underneath that statement. Maybe the Everclear had loosened her up a little. “Not quite as okay about it as you said, are you?”
    She sighed. “It’s hard to explain. I
am
okay with it. Dad and David were wrong to have an affair, and they paid the penalty for that. But it all should have been
our
business. I’m bitter that Mr. Shipp rained down all that crap on my family when he didn’t have to. I’m bitter he went digging into things that weren’t any of his business in the first damn place.” She stopped and cleared her throat, calming herself. “Sorry about that. I can get a little ranty about it. People who stir up shit for no good reason just piss me off.”
    â€œThat’s understandable.” His conscience might be telling him to tell her the whole truth, but his good sense didn’t want that bitterness turned in his direction. It wasn’t just self-preservation stopping him, though. Sophie was not only holding his arm for support, she was also letting her fingers stroke almost absently against his skin in a gentle caress. He didn’t know if she was even fully aware of what she was doing, but he liked it and it boded well.
    And while he didn’t approve of what Mr. Shipp had done with the info he’d naively provided, Mr. Shipp had kept to the journalistic tenet of protecting his source, and there was very little to be gained with a confession now, even if his dishonesty would make the baby Jesus cry. “I’m surprised you came back to Magnolia Beach, then.”
    Just like that, the bitterness was gone, and Sophie’s tone turned conversational again. “From a business perspective, it’s a wise move. Real estate and the cost of living are quite low comparable to other beach and resort areas, and the Palmer House is ideally located and good value for the money.”
    â€œSo it’s not just nostalgia bringing you back to town.”
    â€œI have a BA from Boston University’s School of Hospitality