Wright Rival

by K. A. Linde

  I smirked at him. “I think I do.” I pitched my voice low, so only he could hear me. “Sugar daddy.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t have anything on me.” He looked me up and down with disgust. “You’re just a boy. Congratulations on your win. Now, get the fuck out of my way.”

  He dropped his shoulder into me as he passed. Of course, I was a head taller than him, so it did nothing but push him backward. I watched him with a fire-breathing dragon rippling through my chest.

  He wouldn’t get away with this. Not after the shit he’d pulled on Piper. A man like him always won. He was sure of it. But he’d never dealt with me before.

  And I knew just how to break him.

  40

  Piper

  “You ready, Piper?” Blaire called from the living room.

  I was seated at my desk bright and early Monday morning, reading through the winner list for the award ceremony. I’d forced myself not to look all day Sunday as I drove back home. I didn’t want to feel anything but sad that I’d been forced to withdraw from the competition.

  It had been the only reasonable thing I could do. It wasn’t giving up. It was taking back control. It was saying that all of my hard work wasn’t in vain. I couldn’t stand it if the thing was attributed to some asshole who hadn’t done the work. So, I did the only power move I had left.

  And Hollin had won.

  If I couldn’t, at least it had come back to Lubbock somehow. It hurt, not being there, not knowing how I would have done. But less than if I’d had to share the award with that bastard. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  “Piper,” Blaire said, sticking her head in my door. “You coming?”

  “Yeah. Just…finally checking the results.”

  “Hollin won!”

  “You already knew?”

  She laughed. “Uh, duh! It was hard as fuck not to tell you.”

  “I’m happy for them.”

  Blaire plopped down next to me. “You sound really sad when you say that.”

  “I know. But I am happy. I’m also…sad about everything.” I huffed and finally revealed my plan. “I’m quitting.”

  Blaire gasped. “What?”

  “The winery. I’m quitting. I decided on the drive home that I’m not going to work there anymore. I just…I can’t do it. I can’t work for that man. I’d rather find something else to be passionate about.”

  “Wow.” Blaire’s eyes were wide in horror. “But, Piper…it’s your dream.”

  “Trust me, I know. I’ve thought about it. Dad’s going to be pissed, too. I can’t stay either.”

  “I’m sorry.” Blaire stood and hugged me. “You still want to go to the Memorial Day party?”

  I nodded, swiping at my eyes. “Yeah. It’ll be good to be out. Plus, Hollin won’t be there.”

  “Okay. Well, you look hot,” she said.

  I looked down at the pink bikini she’d thrown at me this morning. “I’m wearing your clothes.”

  “Exactly.” She winked at me. “Let’s go.”

  I followed her out of my room, grabbing my beach bag and heading out to my Jeep. I spent a few minutes removing the top, and then we drove out of town and toward Ransom Canyon. Jensen Wright had a lake house right on the water at the bottom of the canyon. It was tradition for him to have a giant party to celebrate the start of summer.

  We parked behind Sutton’s Range Rover and migrated inside. The Wrights were in full swing. Austin and Patrick stood with Julia. She was arguing with them about some old fight they’d had. Apparently, she’d left him at the top of the canyon after he made a move. I cracked up as I passed and found Jensen with baby Logan swaddled across his six-pack. My heart melted. Jensen Wright, baby, six-pack. Dear God.

  “Thank you so much for having us,” I told him with a smile.

  “Of course. I like that the parties are growing,” he said.

  Blaire handed him a bottle of gin. “I brought the goods.”

  “Oh, gin,” Morgan said with a smile. “The good stuff.”

  Jensen laughed at his sister. “Well, Morgan is thrilled. But you didn’t have to bring anything. The wet bar is fully stocked.”

  “It’s nice of them,” Morgan said. “You get Tanqueray. Not Bombay.”

  “Forgive me,” he said with an eye roll as he bounced the baby. “Maybe go offer that to Emery and Heidi. They look like they could use a break from the constant, ‘Mom. Mom. Mom. Mommy. Mommmm.’ ”

  I chuckled at the impression of all the kids out on the lawn that led to the dock and lake.

  “On it,” Blaire said, snagging a few limes.

  I grabbed Solo cups, and Morgan headed outside with us. We found Emery, Heidi, and Sutton sitting on lawn chairs, supervising the brood of Wright children. Emery’s one-year-old, Robin, was toddling along after Heidi’s oldest, Holden, and Sutton’s youngest, Madison. David was on his feet, running interference on the youngest ones to make sure no one fell into the lake. Colton, Jensen’s oldest, who was now a teenager, held court with Emery’s nieces, Lilyanne, who was closest to his age, and Bethany; Sutton’s oldest, Jason; and Isaac’s daughter, Aly. Aly and Bethany were best friends, and Isaac and Peyton had agreed to let her spend the day at the lake with Bethany while they were still on their honeymoon.

  “We brought drinks!” Morgan cried, flopping down next to them.

  “Please, dear God,” Emery said. “Anything.”

  Heidi held out her hand. “Gimme.”

  Sutton held hers up with a sleepy smile. “I’m good. I’m nursing this one.”

  “Lame,” Heidi said.

  “Madison kept me up all night for no reason at all. The twos are absolutely terrible.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Heidi said.

  Emery sighed. “Robin is only one and so good.”

  “That’s how they get you,” Sutton said. “Have one, and they’re a perfect angel. The second is a hellion, I swear. It’s like they trick you on purpose.”

  Emery made a face that said, Save me.

  “Speaking of, where are the twins?” I asked Heidi.

  She pointed up the hill and back toward the house. Landon stood with both of the boys in a stroller, rocking them back and forth and doing some kind of silly bedtime dance. All the girls laughed but also simultaneously turned into a puddle of goo.

  “That’s adorable,” Blaire gushed.

  Jennifer skipped down the hill and grabbed another one of the chairs. “Hey, y’all. What a perfect day.” She brought her camera up to her eye and took pictures of us as we poured out heaping amounts of gin to survive the mass of children sprawled across the lawn.

  “Did you come with Julian and Jordan?” Morgan asked.

  “Yeah. They’re still talking to Jensen inside. Annie is attached to Jordan’s hip but should be down here soon, too,” Jennifer said.

  “That’s that engagement excitement,” Heidi said.

  Morgan coughed. “Well, I’m not attached to Patrick.”

  Emery cracked up. “That’s because you’re not like other girls. You’re a cool girl.”

  Morgan threw a pretzel at her face. “Shut up.”

  Blaire passed me a drink, and I leaned back against my chair. I wasn’t feeling chatty, but it was nice to be among the Wrights. They took up so much space that I didn’t have to take up any. A nice contrast to being around my family.

  The day passed by in a haze of booze, snacking, and laughter. I was half-involved with everything going on. The kids bustling around. The parents rushing to help boo-boos and watching as they made silly jumps into the lake. At some point, half the girls got up to go out on the water with the older set of kids. I reapplied lotion and rolled over. Blaire made more drinks.

  The day was exactly what I needed.

  Tomorrow, I had a decision to make. The one I’d never, ever planned to make. I’d gone into business at Tech because all I’d ever wanted to do was run my winery. Now, I was leaving it all behind. I was cast adrift, and I’d hav
e to find somewhere else to work. Maybe for another vineyard. I didn’t have to figure it out today. In fact, I’d promised myself I wouldn’t think about it at all. Yet here I was, thinking about it.

  I downed the contents of another drink, rolled back over, and closed my eyes. I needed to stop obsessing. Things would work out eventually. All I wanted to do today was sit here under the bright rays and do nothing but get a tan.

  I was nearly asleep when everyone around me fell silent. The kids still yelled and cheered and ran around, but the girls stopped all their talking entirely.

  My eyes popped open.

  Then, I saw exactly what had forced them to quiet.

  Hollin Abbey.

  41

  Piper

  I jerked upright. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hey, Piper. Can I borrow you a minute?”

  Hollin wasn’t supposed to be here. He’d gotten the hotel for the entire weekend. There were still private events and such in Austin in the morning. This made no sense.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in Austin?”

  He grinned down at me, and something stirred deep in my belly. He looked…fucking gorgeous. He was in jeans despite the heat and a white T-shirt that clung to all of his muscles and revealed all the glorious lines of his tattoos. He’d always been tall, but him hovering over me made it feel like he was massive. And I was in nothing but a teeny bikini.

  His eyes crawled my body, appreciating the naked lines of me. Before he met my gaze again. “I was. I came back early.”

  “Why?” I stammered out. “You won.”

  “I did.”

  “Congratulations,” Blaire blurted out.

  “Yeah! We’re so proud of you,” Jennifer threw out.

  “Thanks.” He shot them both a meaningful smile and returned to me. “So, can I steal you?”

  “Uh…sure.”

  I was too curious to say no. And this was coming one way or another anyway. I just hadn’t expected to see him today. In fact, I’d planned the day around not seeing him and dealing with it all after I quit tomorrow.

  I snatched up my jean shorts and a crop top, drawing them on over the bikini. I stuffed my phone into the back pocket of my jeans as we walked to the lake house. Instead of heading inside, Hollin took the long way around the house. I followed him until we reached the front of the property and found his motorcycle sitting in the driveway.

  “You drove your motorcycle in the canyon instead of the truck?”

  He grinned. “It’s a perfect day.”

  It was. I could only imagine how great it would be to disappear on that bike in this weather. Just ride around and have no cares in the world.

  “So,” I prompted, “what are you doing here?”

  “You withdrew from the competition.”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “After all your hard work, you withdrew. Why would you do that?”

  “I needed to take control back,” I told him. “I couldn’t see another way.”

  “Daddy Sinclair was pissed. He was raging. You should have seen him. He planned to fire you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I don’t give a fuck about him. He can do whatever he wants. I’m done with it all.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is this the reason that you came to talk to me? Because Daddy Sinclair was mad?”

  “No,” he said with a smile that I hadn’t seen in a while.

  One that was so cocky and full of shit that I nearly leaned right into him. I’d hated that smile in the past, but now, it was all I could see. It meant that I was going to be thoroughly fucked until I passed out. It meant that he knew exactly how to take care of me. And God, despite how angry I was with him, I wanted that. I wanted him.

  He stepped up to his motorcycle and opened a bag he’d left here. “I came for this.”

  He extracted a few papers and passed them to me.

  “What’s this?”

  “Just look.”

  I glanced down at the paperwork and froze. The first page was a letter of intent to sell Sinclair Cellars.

  “What the hell?” I gasped.

  “Keep going.”

  I flipped to the next page and nearly dropped everything. This page was the deed to the winery. A deed that I’d only seen once before with my father when he showed me where he kept everything, just in case. That had been years ago. And now, it was in my hands…with my name on it.

  I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. “How? How is this possible?”

  “I might have applied a little bit of pressure.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Might have made Daddy Sinclair realize that running Sinclair Cellars was too much of a hassle. That it might be easier and cheaper to give it back to the person it belonged to rather than, say, lose half of his fortune to his wife when she divorced him.”

  I gaped at him. “He would never buy that.”

  “He would if Eve agreed.”

  “She didn’t,” I gasped.

  He smirked at me. “A little pressure with the right tool gets the desired result.”

  “Hollin, I can’t believe you did this.” I pressed the papers to my chest. “And you had it signed to me? Not to my father?”

  “Like I said…the person the winery belongs to.”

  Tears flowed freely down my cheeks, and I didn’t think; I threw my arms around him. He laughed softly and held me against his huge chest until the tears stilled. Finally, I wiped the tears free.

  “Thank you. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for this. It’s too much.”

  He swiped one of the tears from my cheek. “Nothing is too much for you.”

  “Hollin,” I said, pressing my cheek into his hand. “I can’t believe you did this.”

  “It doesn’t make up for hurting you, but I couldn’t let him ruin everything you’d worked for. I had to do something.”

  I met his firm gaze, swirling with emotions. I slowly lifted onto my tiptoes and kissed his lips softly. He stilled completely at the touch, as if shocked that I would even do this. Then, he relaxed into it, tugging me tight against him and crushing our lips together.

  The kiss lasted for an eternity, and I had no intention of ever stopping.

  But finally, he pulled back with a soft laugh. “Well, I didn’t expect that.”

  “I was so mad at the wedding,” I said softly. “What you did was wrong, but I had already been so upset about my dad and the winery and the Sinclairs. It exploded out of me.” I drew a hand down the stubble of his jaw. “You’re getting help for what happened with Tori. You did this.” I gestured to the winery paperwork. “I’m still mad, but…I don’t want to live in a world without you.”

  He kissed me again. “I don’t want to either. I promise that I am going to keep working to be the man that you deserve.”

  “You already are.”

  He grinned down at me. “Well, I wasn’t sure how this was going to go down, but I have another surprise…if you’ll come with me.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “What other surprise? Bigger than this?”

  “Maybe not bigger, but you’ll like it.”

  “All right,” I agreed. “Just let me tell Blaire.”

  I rushed back down the lawn, handing off my keys to my best friend, who squealed with delight when I told her the news. Then, I rushed back into his arms. He passed me a second helmet, and we were off into the wind. The motorcycle handled the canyon better than I’d expected, and I let all the stress melt off of my shoulders.

  We drove back into town and south toward the wineries. I straightened in my seat, wondering what he had in store. I couldn’t imagine anything I wanted more than what he’d already given me.

  Finally, he approached the Sinclair Cellars property. This morning, I’d woken up, thinking that it would be my last as a Sinclair Cellars employee. And now, I was driving here as the owner. It felt unfathomable.

  But before we reached the entrance, Hollin slowed. My dad’s truck was parked near th
e entrance. What was my dad doing here on a holiday? Had Hollin told him about what he’d done?

  Hollin parked in the field next to my dad and killed the engine. He helped me off the motorcycle. My dad stood there, as if waiting for us.

  “Hey Dad.”

  “Mija.”

  “What’s going on?”

  He smiled. “You have a good guy here.” He clapped Hollin on the back. “I’m glad you came to me.” His eyes met mine. “He did what I didn’t know how to. But it’s settled now. The winery is yours. And…he had another idea.”

  I looked between them. Hollin looked ecstatic. My dad as proud as I’d ever seen him.

  Hollin gestured for me to look up. I blinked in confusion as the sun brightened behind the Sinclair Cellars sign I’d seen almost every day as I drove into the winery.

  I shaded my eyes and then gasped. Because the sign no longer read Sinclair Cellars. It had been changed, and now, it read Medina Cellars.

  My hands flew to my mouth. “Ay Dios mio!”

  Hollin put a hand around my waist. “As it always should have been.”

  My dad smiled at us both. “I never had the heart to change it. But this feels right for you. No more hiding behind someone else’s name.”

  My heart swelled with joy at the words on the sign. It was such a simple thing. A small thing that I’d never believed would happen. We’d kept the Sinclair name because it came with prestige. It would be hard, starting all over again with a name change, but I was up for the challenge. Anything to scrub the Sinclairs from every inch of this place.

  It was ours.

  Medina.

  Now, it was reflected in the name.

  I dropped my head onto Hollin’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “Anything for you, Medina.”

  “And you, Abbey? You’re mine?”

  “For as long as you’ll have me.”

  “Forever then.”

  He kissed the top of my head. “Forever it is.”

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  “Can’t keep your hands to yourself for five minutes,” I joked.