Free Seven Night Stand by Nicole Helm

relationship has no bearing on the show, if that’s what you’re worried about. Is there a decent place in Demo to get a cup of coffee?”
    “McDonald’s,” Ryan muttered.
    “It’ll do. I’ll leave you two to your argument and I’ll be back in about an hour. Meet you at Harrington, Nate?”
    Nate could only nod while Ryan stood by, openmouthed. It wasn’t every day a woman rendered a Harrington man speechless, let alone two. Vivvy had a gift.
    “Mr. Harrington.” She walked by without a backward glance.
    “You are Dad, aren’t you?” Ryan said even as his eyes followed Vivvy out the door.
    Nate winced, knowing Vivvy had to have heard the comment before she shut the door behind her. She’d never met Jed, and if Nate could help it she wouldn’t. That didn’t make the insult, and the fact Vivvy of all people had heard it, sting any less.
    “You going to yell at me some more or we going to get some work done?”
    “Dude.” Ryan shook his head. “This is messed up.”
    “Well, I may as well tell you all the messed up. If you plan on crashing, do it at Mom’s. I’ll probably have an overnight guest again.”
    “Seriously? What is wrong with you?”
    Nate didn’t feel like arguing anymore. He didn’t feel like defending himself anymore. He wanted to feel the way he had last night, with Vivvy. The only way to replicate that feeling without chasing Vivvy down was to get in a plane. “Let’s go down to the airport, Ry.”
    “You’re nuts.”
    “Tell me you don’t want to get up in a plane today. You don’t want to forget all this crap and be above it all for a little while.”
    Ryan sighed, pushed his fingers through his hair. “Fine, but I gotta change first.”
    Nate smiled. They might not see eye to eye, but he knew his brother. Like all Harrington men, no matter how “messed up,” they couldn’t resist the sky.
    …
    Vivvy pulled up to Harrington Airfield & Mechanics just as a plane descended. The plane moved out of sight onto the landing strip and she smiled. It would look good on TV.
    Had it only been two days ago she’d shown up half-convinced this was a dead end? It felt like so much longer. For a tiny, private airfield in the middle of nowhere, there was certainly a lot going on.
    She got out of her car and bypassed the office building. She would love to see Nate hop out of that airplane again. He looked good with a plane as a backdrop.
    Okay, he looked good all the time.
    She rounded the corner just in time to see the pilot jump out, but the image made her frown. Nate and yet not Nate. The twin brother.
    Up close it had been harder to tell them apart. They had the same face, the same green eyes. The brother’s hair was cut shorter and he’d been wearing a tailored suit. From far away, though, it was easy to distinguish the two. Even wearing almost identical jeans and T-shirts.
    Nate was broader, and he had been right about the bigger muscles. The twin wasn’t a slouch by any means, but he was slimmer, not quite as built. Even if he hadn’t been wearing a suit that morning she would have pegged him as a guy who worked in an office rather than a man who worked with his hands.
    They might be identical, but Vivvy preferred Nate. He had it all: body, manners, charm. The brother came up short in all three.
    “Hello, again,” the brother greeted.
    “Good afternoon.” Vivvy put a pleasant smile on her face, but her voice was cool. The guy had been a total ass to Nate that morning.
    The thought bothered her. What did she care how one brother treated the other? That spoke a little too closely of connection, and real connection at this point threatened her impartiality. She couldn’t risk that when she had spent the morning formulating some new, clearer ideas for the Harrington show.
    Ideas that didn’t involve the rest of the Harringtons. This morning she’d had no problem convincing herself the ideas were impartial, were necessary to get Nate to agree. Now, feeling protective of Nate