CHAPTER 1
ELIJAH
My best friend since ninth grade looks up from the notepad he’s writing in. “Everything is on track. Eight months to put up a twenty million dollar hospital complex is aggressive, but I can do it.”
I nod my head. “I know you can.” Kane has been my right-hand man since I started the company when I was nineteen. We’ve come a long way in the last sixteen years. Wolfe Construction is now a multi-million dollar company, and I’m proud of it.
Kane rubs his hand across his brow and pinches his temple.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I ask him.
He drops his hand and tries to appear relaxed. “Nothing is wrong. I told you I can handle this, and I can.” He blows out a breath. “I got this, Elijah.”
My forehead creases, and I give him a pointed look. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
His eyebrows lift, and before he can deny anything, I shake my head. “Don’t give me any shit, Kane. We’ve been best friends for most of our life. Spill it.”
He jumps up from the chair he’s been sitting in. “Okay, fine. I might as well tell you. People are going to be gossiping about it soon enough.”
I stand up and clench the back of the chair for support. A few thoughts go through my head, wondering if Kane has gotten himself into some kind of trouble, but I quickly shake that off. He’s been clean for ten years. There’s no way he’s using again. I would be the first to know. But obviously there is something going on here. “What is it?”
He rolls his eyes with a huffed breath. “Samantha is coming back to Whiskey Run.”
Just hearing her name makes my heart rate pick up. I stutter, “Sassy’s coming home?”
I can hear the catch in my voice, and I clear my throat. “Your sister’s been gone for five years.”
I unclench my hand on the chair and cross my arms over my chest. It’s been five years since I first noticed that Sassy, my best friend’s little sister, was everything I wanted in a woman. She was off limits then, and I’ve tried to push her out of my mind, but obviously I haven’t succeeded.
Kane nods. “Yeah, she’s coming home, and…”
His voice trails off, and he grimaces, almost angrily.
I walk around the table. “She’s coming home and what?”
He lifts his gaze from the ground and looks into my eyes. I try to brace myself for whatever bombshell he’s about to drop. By the look on his face, it’s a big one.
He lifts his hand and rubs it through the scruff of his chin. “Samantha is pregnant, and her boyfriend dumped her.”
I grit my teeth. “What the fuck did you just say?”
He nods in agreement. “I know. I get it. I’m pissed, and I have half a mind to go kick the guy’s ass, but Sam made me promise not to.”
A wave of heat flushes through my body. Anger doesn’t even begin to cover it. Samantha is the sweetest woman I’ve ever known. She wants to take care of everyone and is funny and kind. To think she’s been hurt by some dickhead pisses me off. “Who the fuck is he? Give me a name,” I demand.
Kane opens his mouth just as his phone rings. He looks at the caller ID. “It’s her.”
I crowd him as he answers his phone. He leans his head back to look up at me with confusion, but I gesture for him to talk.
“Hey, sis, everything okay?”
Kane shakes his head, and the need to hear Sam’s voice moves me closer to him.
“Shit, it’s okay, don’t cry.”
I clench my fist at my side as Kane continues. “It’s fine. I’ll be there in two hours. I’ll look at your car and get it going. Don’t worry.”
He clenches his eyes shut. “Sis, please, you have to stop crying.”
