True North (North Brothers Book 1)

by Amy Knupp

  Mason chuckled at that. “Don’t hold back.”

  “You like to control things,” Cole said.

  “I do. But I’ve been at the helm for several years now, and I’ve learned I can’t do everything myself. Not even close. That’s why I hire good people.”

  “And you think I’m good people.”

  Mason leaned forward, all but getting in Cole’s face. “This is my livelihood, Cole. Our family’s livelihood. And more than that, Dad and Uncle Ham’s legacy. This company means everything to me,” he said passionately. “The last thing I would do is make a mercy hire to a family member.”

  “Okay,” Cole said, suitably convinced. He hadn’t seen Mason get so worked up about anything for a while.

  “You’re a literal genius,” Mason continued, “with more than a decade of experience in construction, including as a foreman. You know your shit, and if you come across something you don’t know, I know you. You’ll research the life out of it. If you need or want any kind of classes or certifications along the way, we’ll cover it. We give our employees the tools they need to better themselves. It benefits them and it benefits the company. Cole, everyone in the family knows you’d be damn good for the company. Everyone but you. So if you can work through all the stuff from your past, you can do pretty much do whatever you want to at North Brothers.”

  The bit about his past put Cole on the defensive, and he reined in his reaction, knowing on some level it was irrational. “You done?”

  Mason sized him up. “No. I have one more thing to say. Dad loved you and he would want you to be a part of his company. That’s not why I’m offering. I’m offering because, frankly, we need you.”

  “How soon?” Cole asked, ignoring the part about their dad. Maybe he would pick that apart later, when he was alone.

  “I need you in Florida on Monday.”

  “This coming Monday?”

  “I know you can’t screw Sierra over. I’m willing to share you for as long as you need to give notice, but we have meetings set up with the architect and two potential contractors.”

  Cole blew out a breath as he imagined giving notice at Dunn & Lowell. Imagined not working with Sierra anymore. More emotion than he would cop to rolled through him, and he worked to keep his face neutral. “It’s a lot to think about. How long can you give me?”

  “How long do you need?” Mason asked, and Cole sensed it was causing his brother physical pain to put the ball in Cole’s court.

  “I’ll let you know something tomorrow.”

  For the first time in ever, he needed to talk through a major life decision with someone. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be Sierra, since the outcome would affect her directly. He hated the thought of that. He couldn’t talk to his brothers, because they had their own agendas.

  Winona it was then. He hoped she was in the mood to advise.

  And he sure as shit wouldn’t be sleeping tonight.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The day after the Eldridge Mansion exploration, at 6:22 a.m., Sierra’s mind was already back on overdrive, spinning with ideas for the proposal for the competition, when Cole had texted. He’d asked if she was planning to hit the office this morning before heading to the worksite, and when she’d said no, he’d asked if he could stop by her apartment before work to talk.

  To talk. Crap.

  Having agreed, she’d rushed through the rest of her morning routine, her nerves in a knot. A talk at this hour couldn’t be good, and she couldn’t help but think he was going to put an end to their non-relationship—the personal one. She tried not to dwell on that thought and the gutting disappointment it brought with it, but even cranking up Maren Morris in her earbuds didn’t help. By the time he knocked on the door, she was busy lining up in her mind all the reasons they were good together.

  “Hey,” she said with a shaky smile when she opened the door to him. “Come in.”

  Absently, she took the teal bakery box from him, vaguely noticed he also carried two coffees, and peered into his eyes, trying to read…anything.

  First thought, he was exhausted. Shadows under his eyes spoke of a sleepless night, and that didn’t do anything to convince her everything would be okay.

  As soon as he closed the door behind him, though, he leaned down and pressed a brief but intense kiss to her lips. It didn’t feel like goodbye, but it didn’t feel like I’m going to lead you into your bedroom for a morning quickie either.

  She wouldn’t be opposed to a morning quickie.

  “What’s up, Cole?”

  That he had yet to say a word hadn’t escaped her, and she followed him over to the kitchen island, where he set down the coffees.

  “Sorry to barge in so early,” he said, taking the lid off one, seeing it had whipped cream on top, and sliding it across to her.

  “You’re not barging.”

  He gestured to the bakery box, which she’d set on the island as well. “Muffins from Sugar Babies.”

  Normally she would kill for breakfast from Sugar Babies, but right now she didn’t care about muffins.

  “Thank you.” She watched him, noted that he had shaved, that he was wearing his usual sweatshirt, old jeans, and worn work boots, and the only sign of anything different was his eyes. Besides showing his fatigue, they didn’t meet hers. “What did you want to talk about?” she prompted, because though she didn’t want to hear what she thought she was about to hear, the not knowing was worse.

  “I told you last night I was with Mason,” he said, still not looking directly at her.

  It was his reason for them not being together last night, not that he really needed one, and she definitely hadn’t asked, because she’d spent the previous night with him, and she was trying hard not to suffocate him—with the exception of the impulsive moment in the Eldridge den yesterday.

  “He made an official offer of employment and I’m going to accept,” Cole said, finally making eye contact, allowing her to see, at last, a world of emotion. Emotion that looked an awful lot like anguish.

  It took a moment for the words to register, for her mental whiplash to take hold. “A job?”

  “Special projects manager, he’s calling it. They signed deals for four new stores, all of which need to be renovated. I’ll be overseeing them.”

  “Cole, that’s fantastic,” she said, meaning it, and not just because he wasn’t breaking up with her. “You’re finally going to work for North Brothers.”

  “One thing has driven me since the day you hired me—I never wanted to let you down. And now I am, and I’m sorry—”

  “Are you kidding me? Don’t you dare apologize. You’re going to work with your family. You need to work with your brothers.” She was genuinely happy for him, knew what a big thing this was, how many years it’d taken for him to be able to do it. And she couldn’t discount her relief that he wasn’t dumping her. His new job would certainly solve the issue of whether or not they were open about their involvement at work.

  “I’m leaving you in the lurch,” he said. “I can give you two weeks, but I’ll need to take a day off here and there because Mason has me jumping in right away out of necessity. I’ll put in extra hours when I’m here, whatever I can do to help.”

  “It’s okay, Cole. We’ll figure it out. Whatever you need to do for your new job, do it.” She went around the island to him and put an arm around him from the side, since he made a point of not facing her. “I’m so stoked for you. This was such a long time coming.”

  He exhaled noisily and shook his head. “I feel like shit for leaving you. You’re in the middle of the bank job, in the last stage, the most crucial one, of the Eldridge thing, and now you have to hire too. Maybe I can help with that.”

  “I’d take your help, but I don’t think you’re going to have time, Mr. Manager. I’ll be fine.” Working long hours, but fine, and that was the truth. She’d brought the contest on herself, and she didn’t regret it a bit, with or without Cole. The bank renovation was going well and, so far,
on time. The only thing she’d be adding was a hire, since she knew without much thought that none of her guys were ready to take on foreman responsibilities yet, and she’d figure that out as soon as she had a few minutes to breathe.

  “I wouldn’t have taken it right now if it didn’t seem like the exact right opportunity. In fact, I’d told him and Gabe multiple times I liked where I was working.”

  Sierra allowed herself a minute to imagine going to work every day without Cole at her side. They’d only been sleeping together for a month. It hadn’t been much longer since that fateful evening when he’d volunteered to take her to Kennedy and Hunter’s wedding. It would be an adjustment for sure, on both a personal and professional basis. He’d be tough to replace—he really was that good—but that was her problem, not his.

  “Tell me about the four stores. Here in town?” she asked.

  Since he was still facing the island, as if he needed to shut her out, she pulled the bakery box to her, opened it, held it out to him. He shook his head, so she went for the double chocolate muffin.

  “North Brothers is expanding outside of the state for the first time. Two locations in Florida, one in Alabama, one in Kentucky. I have to be in Tallahassee on Monday.”

  “Whoa. They’re not messing around,” she said, smiling, and not just because the muffin was decadent and to die for. Though Cole had not exactly said how much a part of him wanted to be involved with North Brothers Sports, she could tell he did. Knew he’d been trying hard with his family ever since his mom’s heart attack. How could she be anything but thrilled for him?

  “Birmingham a week from tomorrow. They want to have those two stores open before the holidays.”

  “Do you know how big the reno projects are?”

  “I haven’t even told my brothers yes yet,” he said, finally angling partially toward her. “I wanted to talk to you first.”

  “Well, thank you. And quit worrying about me. I’m really happy for you. You’re exactly what they need. Mr. Manager,” she added with a raise of her brows.

  “You’re not going to let that one go, are you?” he said with the first hints of a smile.

  “Not anytime soon. Come here.” She yanked on his arm, pulled him around to fully face her, and threw her arms around him—finally. “Congratulations, Cole. You deserve it.”

  She heard him inhale deeply, as if taking in the smell of her shampoo, the way she was breathing in his masculine, clean scent. She closed her eyes and allowed herself a second of gratitude that she still had him in her life, like this. Yes, things were about to get batshit crazy in her schedule, but that was okay. She’d make it through just fine.

  And maybe tonight she would have this man back in her bed.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “You absolutely nailed that,” Kennedy said to Sierra a week later—an intense, overpacked week of doing triple duty as she kept the bank project on schedule, interviewed candidates for the foreman position, and put together a formal half-hour presentation for the Eldridge contest.

  Kennedy gave her a supportive one-armed squeeze as they made their way from the room where the three Eldridge finalists had presented their proposals—on camera—down the hall toward the informal reception. The event was being held at the corporate office and studio of one of Eldridge’s networks, Country365. Thankfully, they’d scheduled it in the evening, so Sierra hadn’t had to miss time from the jobsite, but now that she was done with the hard part, she was counting the minutes till she could take off her heels.

  Sierra exhaled for what felt like the first time in the thirty minutes she’d been in the hot seat. “It felt about two steps away from a disaster,” she said under her breath, glancing around to make sure no one else heard her.

  “Are you kidding me? You handled that”—Kennedy, too, checked to make sure no one was listening—“pig like a pro. He’s the ass, and everyone who was in that room knows it now.”

  The pig happened to be one of the four panelists she’d presented to, the producer of Historical Homes, the show that would feature the Eldridge project, from initial applications to the final selection and then the renovation itself. Roger Crum had missed the previous interview round, and that was, Sierra suspected, one of the reasons she’d made it through to this final round. It was clear as fricking day the guy didn’t think a woman should own a remodeling company.

  That fact made her stomach hurt, even though he was only one of four panelists and William Eldridge himself, who she’d never met, would make the final decision on the winner based on the recorded presentations.

  They entered the reception room, where a couple dozen people were milling around, munching on cookies, and drinking what appeared to be champagne, which seemed premature to Sierra. This might be the final hurrah in the search for the winning remodeling company, but she was far from being ready to celebrate.

  “How long do we need to stay?” Kennedy asked, leading the way to the dessert table. Sierra’s sister was not generally a people person, which made it interesting that, in addition to being part owner of Sugar Babies Sweet Shop, she had a flourishing marketing consulting company.

  This time, though, Sierra was on the same page as her sister. “I’m thinking twenty minutes max. Long enough to be seen by the panelists and meet the other two finalists—and devour a few of these cookies.”

  “Not as good as Ivy’s,” Kennedy said after taking a bite of a chocolate chip one.

  “Nothing’s as good as Ivy’s.” Sierra limited herself to two cookies to start with, though she was now famished. She’d been too nervous to eat dinner beforehand. “Thanks again for coming with me,” she told her sister. “I didn’t think I’d be so nervous, but my hands were shaking for the first fifteen minutes.”

  “It didn’t show,” Kennedy said. “Champagne?”

  Sierra shook her head. “It goes straight to my head, and who has time for a buzz? I’ve got a seven-a.m. interview with a potential foreman.”

  “Maybe this one will be the one and you can hire him and inform the panelists it’s taken care of.”

  “I can’t decide which fact hurt me more—that I’m a female or that I don’t currently have a foreman.”

  “Foreman. The assistant guy—Adam?—was really concerned about that, and he’s the one who works closest to Eldridge if I understand right.”

  “You do,” Sierra said with a nervous exhale.

  “You addressed it perfectly by detailing your low turnover rates. I think it could even work in your favor after your answer about searching for the right candidate and not just promoting someone on your crew who isn’t ready for the responsibility because you’re in a hurry.”

  “Yeah? That came out okay?” Sierra had prepared comprehensively, had even had Hayden role-play with her and throw questions at her, but the foreman question had blindsided her.

  “It was a genius answer,” Kennedy told her as she smiled at a couple of the camera guys who’d just come into the room. “What happened to Cole, anyway? I mean, I know he took another job, working for his family’s company, but why now? Did the wedding and reception date scare him off?”

  Sierra smiled as she thought back on that night that had been the start of so much. “He did pretty well with that, all things considered. We, um…” She wasn’t sure what to call it, but her sister didn’t know they were involved. “We’re sort of together.”

  Kennedy’s hand landed on Sierra’s arm as she steered her over toward the end of the cookie table, giving the appearance that they were deep in discussion and shouldn’t be disturbed right now. “You told everyone he was a fake date!”

  “He was, I promise.”

  “But now you’re together? And you didn’t tell me?”

  “You were honeymooning and then newlywedding,” Sierra said. “And I wouldn’t really say it’s official. Cole is convinced he’s not the relationship type, so we don’t talk about it much. I’m trying not to spook him.”

  “Is it serious for you?”

&n
bsp; Nonchalantly grabbing another cookie, Sierra thought about her sister’s question, felt the warmth settle in her chest, and nodded as she smiled at one of the servers behind the cookie table.

  Turning to face the room again and ensure no one was approaching, she confided, “I think it is. I think I might be falling for him.”

  Kennedy wasn’t one to show a lot of emotion, but she let loose a girly excited sound and leaned her head against Sierra’s briefly. “Bring him to Thanksgiving.”

  “Are you listening? Talk about spooking a guy.”

  “We’re not that bad,” Kennedy said, laughing.

  They dropped the conversation as one of the other finalists introduced himself, an older gentleman based in Boulder, and his wife, who ran his office for him. It wasn’t long before the third finalist joined them, the owner of a Memphis remodeling company. He was maybe forty and definitely hot enough for TV, looks-wise, though he’d been unpolished and rough around the edges during his presentation.

  They exchanged pleasantries and complimented each other’s proposals before splitting up as a couple of the panelists—Crum and Preston Morris, who was the host of Historical Homes and becoming a celebrity because of it—wandered in together. They stopped to talk to the Boulder guy.

  “Back to Cole while we have a minute,” Kennedy said.

  Sierra felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her wine-colored blazer, and she pulled it out to see that Cole had texted three times, wondering how the presentation had gone. “Speak of the devil. Let me tell him I’ll talk to him when we’re done here.”

  She typed in a quick message that it had gone well, she was still at the reception, and she’d call him as soon as she got home.

  “What about Cole?” she asked Kennedy as she slid her phone back out of sight.

  “If you’re involved, I’m surprised he didn’t make a point of being here. His trip couldn’t be postponed?”

  “He hated that he had to miss tonight, but his brother needed him.” She explained briefly about the new North Brothers Sports acquisitions, Cole’s position, and how it was such a long time in coming for him to join the family business.