by Ally Summers
Within the hour I was airborne.
The buildings looked like strands of Christmas lights when we flew high over the city.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes, sir,” Charles reported.
“Thanks, Charles.”
I didn’t know what I was walking into, but there was no way this woman was going to stand in my way. I wanted that land. My bear wanted it. And I was going to get it.
I hadn’t noticed the cabin when we flew over the forest yesterday. In the daylight, it was camouflaged by the trees. But now in the darkness of night, with no other lights around, I could see the low lights glowing from the house. I pointed to the clearing.
“Put her down there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“This won’t take long.”
Charles landed in the clearing. It was a short walk through the woods. I wasted no time charging toward the house. My bear had an excellent sense of direction.
There was frustration in my stride. Aggravation in my fingertips. My brothers had put this on my shoulders. This woman was only compounding the situation. I wasn’t going to let her stand in my way of success.
My shoes crunched over the gravel driveway. I didn’t have far to go from this point. I felt confident I’d have a deal in my hand when I hopped back on the chopper. My bear wanted this to go through. So did I.
The steps creaked as I walked onto the porch.
My fist met the frame of the screen door. I pounded a few times. Clarence said she had been home. There was a Jeep in the driveway. Where was this woman?
My ears perked. I heard someone stir on the other side of the door.
“Mr. Clarence … I told you I’m not interested in anything the Hawthornes have to say.”
The door whipped open and I laid eyes on the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. All I could see was the dewy glow of her radiant skin. She was wrapped in a towel. Water droplets dripped along her limbs. My chest ached. My head throbbed with an intense pain. It was unlike anything I’d felt before. Lust and want, combined with need and desire.
I was dizzy from her. Almost drunk. I pushed the heel of my hand into the doorframe to brace myself. She was gorgeous.
“Oh my God, you’re not Mr. Clarence.” She moved to shut the door.
“Wait, I’m Mr. Hawthorne.” I shook my head. “Oliver. I’m Oliver Hawthorne.”
If I thought she was going to react the same way to our meeting that I did, I was wrong. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched. She wasn’t happy to see me. Not at all. Most women had a different reaction.
“Oliver Hawthorne? Is that what you said?”
“Yes, that’s right.” My bear was dying to break free. He was tugging and pulling. Yanking me from every angle.
I suddenly realized why this land had been calling to me. Why I had been drawn to it. I was staring at my mate.
“I’m glad you’re here in person so I can tell you exactly what I think about your offer.”
“I hope you’re about to tell me you have reconsidered.” I grinned.
She laughed, but it wasn’t joyful. Her hand gripped the tuck on the towel at her breasts. My eyes had dipped too low. I couldn’t stop staring at her curves.
“Reconsidered? Reconsidered? You think you can buy me with two million dollars?”
Looking at her lush contours, that’s exactly what I thought. I’d pay more if she’d take it. “Do you have a counter offer?”
She had me. My body was alive. My bear was dying to get to her. I’d pay to get on the other side of this screen. She could double it to four million and I wouldn’t say no. I’d pay anything she asked. Anything. My entire life had been built for this moment. I was meant to meet her. To protect her. To give her everything she wanted in life.
“Yeah, I have a counter. Get off my damn porch!” She slammed the door before I could protest and I heard the lock click in place.
I stared straight ahead. What the hell just happened?
Four
Savannah
The next morning, I sat on the front porch with a pad of paper. I needed to make a list of all the things I had to do at the cabin, starting with paint colors. I had to drive into Promise Lake and visit the local hardware store.
I wanted to brighten the place up. I could keep the original wood, but paint it a creamy white. It would give it a cottage feel. I couldn’t wait.
It was hard to fall asleep last night. Impossible, actually.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the two million-dollar offer. Worse than that was the image of Oliver Hawthorne standing on my porch.
I had rushed from the bathtub, thinking Mr. Clarence was back, only to find he had been replaced by an insanely tall, hot wall of muscle. For a second I had forgotten how insulted I was by the Hawthorne Global offer. I could only focus on the sculpted man in front of me. He defied sexy. He defied logic, how perfect his eyes and lips were. No man should look like that. I was a quivering mess. Hot from the inside out.
But in two seconds he reminded me why I was in the cabin. Why I had fled the city. Why I hated men like the Hawthornes. It was easier to harden my heart and tell him no.
It didn’t make it easier to sleep.
I looked at the blank sheet of paper. I needed to get today’s shopping list going.
I divided the page into quadrants and labeled each with a different room. The house and land had also come with a small inheritance. Uncle Seton didn’t have a lot of money, but he left me enough to update the kitchen and bathrooms, and make some repairs. I had to stick with a budget if I was going to accomplish everything I wanted to.
I looked up from my paint and stain list when I heard a car rolling along the driveway. One look at the black sports car and I knew exactly who it was: Oliver Hawthorne.
I didn’t want to speak to him, much less see his sexy smile again.
He emerged from the car wearing a pressed white button up shirt and jeans that had never looked so good on a man. I swallowed hard.
He lifted two cups of coffee in my direction as he rounded the corner of the porch. “Good morning. I brought a peace offering.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not interested in a peace offering.” It was hard to be rude to him. He was practically irresistible.
“Not even if it’s from Aubey’s Diner?” He winked.
I twisted my lips together so I didn’t smile. “You know Aubey’s?”
“You would have to be a moron to be from Promise Lake and not know Aubey’s.” He saddled up the porch steps. I noticed how they buckled under the weight of his frame. This man was built like a tank.
“You aren’t from Promise Lake,” I sassed.
He stood next to me, presenting the cup of coffee. I took it before I had realized what I had done—accepted his olive branch disguised in the most delicious twenty ounces of caffeine.
“And how would you know that?” He took the rocker next to mine.
“Because I spent a lot of time here when I was a kid. I never met the famous Hawthorne brothers. Not once.”
“I spent time as a kid here too and I didn’t run into the famous Savannah Galloway either. Maybe you’re the one not from around here.” His tone was playful, but I wasn’t going to take the bait. I knew what he was trying to do. I wasn’t falling for the charm and sex appeal.
I took a sip of coffee. The aroma was too hard to resist. “What do you need, Mr. Hawthorne?”
“Please, Oliver is fine.”
I sighed. “All right. Oliver.” I hated how sexy his name sounded on my tongue. “Why are you here? I doubt you are the town’s new coffee delivery service.”
He chuckled a deep husky laugh. “Not exactly. I was hoping we could continue our conversation from last night.”
I blushed. Last night I had answered the door in a towel. It was hard to know if Oliver was picturing me that way right now.
“There is nothing to discuss. I’m not selling my family’s land.”
He rocked back, sipping his coffee. �
�But you haven’t heard my offer in full.”
“I don’t need to. I don’t want to sell. Uncle Seton didn’t give me this land so that it would fall into your hands. I don’t know what you have planned for it, but it’s not going to happen.”
“See, Savannah I’m a determined man.”
I whipped my head toward him. “I don’t care how determined you are. You have no right to come here and ask me to sell the only thing I have left of him. Who do you think you are?”
I looked in his eyes. Eyes that were a deep green, and hinted of a darkness that made me shiver.
Five
Oliver
I knew exactly who I was. I was meant to be here. To meet her. To take this land into the Hawthorne portfolio. All of this happened for a reason. She was fighting against it, and didn’t even know what she was resisting.
It took all my strength to stay in the chair and not pull her into my arms. I wanted to feel her lush lips against my mouth. I wanted to explore her body with my hands and my tongue. I wanted Savannah. I had to find a way to convince her to be with me and sell me her land. Neither was going to be easy.
“This project is going to happen. So why not make it worth your while? Take the money. I’m sure there’s a lot you could do with two million dollars.”
“I have plenty of money. There is more to life than a high number of zeros in my bank account,” she retorted. “I don’t want the money. I want the land. I want this cabin. I have memories here and I’m not going to let you bulldoze them—or me.”
I tried to quell the anger my bear felt. She was stubborn. I had to be patient and work through this.
“Everyone has a price.” I rose to my feet.
She looked up at me. Something pierced my heart with that glance. I kept from staggering backward.
“I think it’s time you leave, Oliver.”
Was she kicking me off her porch? Again?
I surveyed the railing that wrapped around to the opposite side of the cabin. I strolled toward the wood boards and shoved against them gently. They gave way and cracked.
“What are you doing?” Savannah jumped from her chair and raced to my side.
“You have rotten wood over here.” I placed my coffee cup on the floor and began to ply and wiggle the boards, exposing more loose spots.
She threw her hands on her hips. “Well, don’t tear the railing apart.”
“You need to get this fixed or someone could get hurt.” I looked around for something to brace the railing. I jogged down the stairs when I spotted a pile of leftover bricks next to the driveway. I returned with several in my arms and began to wedge them in between the railings to support the slats so they didn’t cave in.
I stood back to examine the stability. “That should hold until you can get someone to replace all the wood for you.”
“It’s not like I can find someone in five minutes. Promise Lake is the closest town and there’s only one handy man.”
“Eddie?” I chuckled. The man had to be close to eighty years old.
“I keep meaning to call him. I have leaks under the sinks and one of the lights flickers every time I use the light switch. Now I guess I need to add rotten wood to his list.”
I saw the concern in her eyes. Maybe the mounting problems in the house had overwhelmed her. How was she going to take care of this on her own? I wouldn’t trust this kind of heavy lifting to Eddie.
“Do you have any tools here?” I rolled the crisp white cuffs of my sleeves toward my elbows.
“Wait, you’re not—” she stopped. “You’re not thinking about helping me?”
I turned toward her. “Why not?”
“I-I … I don’t need your help, Oliver.”
I brushed past her in search of tools. There was a small shed in the backyard. “You’ve got it.” I waggled my eyebrows before hopping off the porch.
I heard her groan in frustration. I chuckled. This was going to be fun.
Six
Savannah
I stared in disbelief as my sexy adversary jumped from the porch and strolled away from me. What in the hell did he think he was doing? I thought I had asked him to leave, but he was doing anything but that. He had made it clear he was staying on his own terms.
I leaned over the porch to watch his irresistible backside. I chewed on my bottom lip when the rail started to give way. I jumped back before it splintered any further. “Shit,” I whispered.
I had almost fallen off the porch just to watch his ass. I shook my head. And to top that—he was right. The railing was completely rotted. I had almost fallen through it. How was I going to handle all of these projects?
Oliver returned with a crowbar.
“What are you going to do with that?” I asked.
“I need to rip this railing out and start over. It’s easier than going through the few good pieces.”
I blinked. “What?”
I moved out of the way instinctively as he took giant strides toward me. His biceps flexed under his shirt. I had to hold the sigh between my lips.
“It will be easier to measure for new pickets if I just take out this whole section of the railing. Stand back.”
I did as he asked and watched in amazement as he started to pry and dislodge the wood from the rest of the porch.
“I thought you were the tech guy,” I stammered in awe. Watching his body bend and tighten with flexed muscles was more than what I had expected. Every part of him was in amazing shape.
He laughed, tossing a rotten board over the side of the porch. “I am the tech guy.”
“Tech and brawn?” It was almost too good to be true. He was the intelligent arm of the company. And yet, he was also physically the most perfect man I’d ever met.
“Don’t know that anyone has described me like that before.” He adjusted the crowbar and yanked until the next slat was free.
“Do you always do this?” I asked.
“Do what?”
“Waltz in and take over.”
He stopped and looked at me. Something zinged through me with his stare.
“I haven’t even begun taking over yet.”
I swallowed and had to look away. The heat shot straight to my cheeks. The tops of my breasts burned. His shameless flirting was working. I was melting in front of him. I couldn’t let Oliver Hawthorne think he had the upper hand. This wasn’t going to work.
“I didn’t ask for your help,” I blurted out.
“You didn’t.”
He continued to work, ignoring my vicious stare.
“Fine. I’m going inside. And you can just do whatever it is you think you’re doing out here.”
“Fine.” He twisted a stake out of the floorboard. “Sounds good to me.”
“Hmph!” I let the screen door squeak close behind me. Now what? What did I do with a sexy tech billionaire on my porch?
I peeked out of the tattered curtains. My jaw dropped when I saw him unbutton his work shirt. Slowly he peeled it from one arm and then the other. His muscles glistened in the sunlight. I turned quickly, before he caught me gawking at him.
I hurried to the kitchen and started washing the coffee pot. I needed to keep myself busy while he destroyed my porch.
The racket was too much. Every time I turned I heard the ripping and yanking of his sudden construction demolition. I spent the entire day finding ways to distract myself. I managed to put away everything in my closet, organize the bathroom, and line the shelves in the pantry. I never made it to the hardware store for paint samples.
I started washing dishes when I heard him bang on the screen door. I jumped.
“I need to run to town,” he announced from the other side of the door.
I leaned against the counter, wiping the water droplets from a platter. “Why?” I questioned.
“I need to get the wood to replace the railing. I don’t want to leave things like this.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll be back in the morning. I think it’s getting too
late to get it in tonight.”
I tried to seem uninterested, but I was far from it. If he gave me a time, I might set a timer.
“Fine.” I held a platter tightly in my hands that I had washed six times.
He turned and I watched as he climbed into his expensive sports car and backed out of the winding drive.
I finally let out a pent-up breath.
I didn’t know if he was going to come back tomorrow. I shouldn’t care. I shouldn’t want him to step foot on this property again. I knew what he wanted. He wanted to seize it. Take it for himself. There was nothing altruistic about him working on the railing. I knew that. I knew the angle he was playing.
I looked out the window. The problem was that I wanted him to play it.
Seven
Oliver
I had never intended to work on Savannah’s cabin. Repairing a railing I was going to turn around and demolish didn’t make a hell of a lot of sense. But I was still doing it. It was an excuse to be near her. To spend time at the cabin.
And for once, it felt good to be outside. To use my hands for something other than researching new data companies, or writing some new form of code for Hawthorne Global.
My bear liked being on the land. He felt calmer. At peace. I hadn’t made it over the threshold yet, but there was something about the cabin that pulled me in. It was the kind of place I could imagine my brothers and me using as a getaway from Denver. A place near Promise Lake where we could let our bears roam free.
Savannah had hundreds of acres I could explore. A low growl erupted from my chest, vibrating against my ribs. There was Savannah to explore. Every damn beautiful inch of her. But she wouldn’t let me anywhere near her.
I slammed the tailgate on the truck closed and hopped in the truck behind the wheel. I never had an excuse to drive my truck in the city, but today it made perfect sense.
