Chapter One
Maverick Storm rubbed his forehead, groaned, then cursed himself for being a fool. There wasn’t enough ibuprofen in the world to beat back this damn hangover, and he should know. Because he’d been popping the son of a bitches since waking up yesterday…afternoon.
“Head still hurt?” his brother Grayson asked, looking amused enough that he felt a bit like punching the asshole.
Of course, punching required moving, and Maverick wasn’t sure he had it in him. It had taken everything just to pull his ass out of bed, get dressed, and make his way to the winery this morning. To be honest, he wasn’t sure why he’d bothered, because it wasn’t like he was going to get a damn bit of work done today.
“I thought you’d be better by today,” Grayson added, still not showing the tiniest inkling of sympathy. “How much did you drink?”
Maverick shrugged. Mainly because he really couldn’t remember.
His oldest brother, Levi, had gotten married on Saturday, something Maverick had started to believe would never happen. After all, his big brother was thirty-eight years old and had beena confirmed bachelor for most of his life. So it was a surprise—though a pleasant one—when Levi fell head over ass for Kasi Mills, who was thirteen years younger than him.
Given the fact Kasi had practically grown up on Stormy Weather Farm, best friends with their cousin Remi, it was nice that the girl who’d always felt like a kid sister to him had become one officially through marriage.
Unfortunately, Maverick had decided to over-celebrate the nuptials, hitting the signature cocktail hard before switching to straight bourbon and then to wine…and maybe a beer or two.
As happy as he’d been watching his brother marry Kasi, Maverick had been in a funk at the beginning of the wedding reception. So much so, he’d considered leaving the party early, not wanting to put a damper on the festivities for everyone else.
When he said he was planning to head out, Remi put the kibosh on that idea, dragging him to the bar instead, and the two of them put one hell of a dent in Kasi’s signature wedding cocktail, some frou-frou, fruity vodka shit that went down way too easy.
After a few—six—of those, he hit the dance floor with his brothers and cousins and a slew of friends. Kasi had lots of single girlfriends, and Maverick had come damn close to dancing with every single one of them.
At some point, his brother Theo convinced Maverick to join him and the groom and the rest of their brothers outside for bourbon and cigars. That was when the night started to get a little hazy, the rest of the reception recalled only in snippets. He remembered being pulled back out onto the dance floor by Veronica Gray. Their slow dance took a decidedly dirty turn, ending when she’d convinced him to join her back at her place. Since they were both too intoxicated to drive, they’d gotten a ride with another couple that was heading home, he and Veronica making out in the back seat the entire way off the mountain.
Which reminded him…he needed to call his buddy Ken and apologize to him and his wife for his extreme PDA in their back seat. Maverick had DD’ed for an extremely intoxicated Ken more than a few times—and even kept him from getting his ass kicked in a bar fight—before his friend settled down in wedded bliss with Stephanie, so he sort of felt like they were even. “Sort of” being the operative phrase, because Stephanie, who was new in Gracemont and didn’t know him that well, had no doubt gotten an eyeful.
If he’d been sober, he never would have made out with Veronica, but if he could rely on alcohol for one thing, it was to encourage bad decisions. Fortunately for him, he’d had enough to drink that he had passed out on Roni’s couch approximately five minutes after arriving at her place, so at least, he hadn’t had sex with her.
Veronica—whom everyone called Roni—and Maverick had known each other since elementary school, the two of them in the same grade. Not that that made her special or anything. Maverick had lived his whole life in Gracemont, which meant he’d known pretty much everyone his age since elementary school. That was the blessing, or curse, of growing up in a small town.
Roni was a perfectly nice girl, but she was also, well…thirsty. She’d been the popular Mean Girl in school, captain of the cheer squad. After graduation, she became the wild party girl for most of her twenties, too footloose and fancy free to consider settling down. Apparently, she rethought that position after turning thirty, and now she was on the prowl for a husband. Big-time.
Which meant rumors of a local legend circulating around Gracemont—a legend regarding his family—had put him and his brothers on Roni’s “hit-it list.”
According to his dad—and Levi and Theo and their cousin Mila—the Storms could recognize their soul mates with just asingle touch. They swore that all it had taken was one touch, and they knew they’d found the person they were going to spend the rest of their lives with.
Maverick had always considered that love-at-first-touch thing a meet-cute story that his parents liked to pull out at holidays and on their wedding anniversary, but he tried not to think about it as more than that.
It didn’t become a Storm legend until Levi said the same thing had happened to him. Kasi had gotten overheated in the summer sun and passed out in Levi’s arms. His big brother swore that was the moment the blinders fell away, and he knew Kasi was his.
Then, the same thing happened to Theo and Mila. And because his family were all big storytellers, the love-at-first-touch thing had suddenly become part of his family’s lore and, before he knew it, everyone else in Gracemont had heard the tale.
To make matters worse, most locals—especially the single women—believed it.
Perhaps the townspeople wouldn’t put so much stock in the ridiculous legend if Levi, Theo, and Mila’s relationships weren’t so damn perfect.
And because Roni was on the prowl, hard, she definitely believed in the legend, which was why he and his four remaining bachelor brothers had been giving her a wide berth. After gossip about the legend began to spread, Roni had found ways to throw herself in all their paths, desperate to make one of them fall in love at a single touch. Which was fucking ridiculous, considering they’d known her for most of their lives.
If Maverick was going to discover she was the one, surely it would have happened at some point during the twelve years they’d spent together in school. It hadn’t. Because she sure as shit was NOT the one.
However, Maverick feared he might have opened a can of worms by making out with Roni on Saturday night, but he figured he’d be okay. When Roni had woken up and immediately tried to make plans for dinner and a continuation of their sleepover, he’d gently—but firmly—told her he wasn’t interested. He blamed the alcohol, then got the hell out of there.
Unlike the majority of his family, who were seeking love and marriage and all that happily ever after shit, Maverick had zero intention of casting off his bachelorhood, content to let the legend take down the rest of his family.
While they might consider that love-at-first-touch thing a blessing, Maverick didn’t agree. Love was a fickle bitch, and he’d decided to avoid it like the plague years ago.
“Are you really going to sit here and pretend to work?” Grayson asked, when Maverick continued to slouch in his tatty office chair, his feet propped up on the desk, staring into space.
