“Poisoned? On purpose? Did someone do this to you?” she asks like she can’t quite believe it. I want to tell her everything. But I want her to be here with me, when I do.
“I need to tell you the whole story,” I say, “but first, I need you to know how sorry I am for what you thought.”
“No,” Mia says instantly, shushing me. “I’m just so glad you’re okay. Oh, Jacob, I’m sorry for thinking the worst of you, but I just didn’t know what else to think.”
“I never gave you a reason to,” I say. “If I had told you about everything that had been going on in my life sooner, you might have known right away when you didn’t hear from me that something like this had happened, but I didn’t.” I know it’s true. If Mia had known someone was after me, even if I hadn’t told her it was Calvin, she would have been pounding my door down after twenty-four hours of not hearing from me. That’s the kind of person Mia is.
“I had no idea,” Mia agrees. “I was blindsided when you went silent on me like that.” Her voice gets a little softer, and I didn’t even know five days were passing while I was out, but I’d still missed this during them somehow. “After our night together.”
“I know,” I say, “but you should know that the very last thing I want to do is disappear from your life. I’m not playing at anything with you.” I clear my throat, diving right in for honesty because I’ve never been good at playing games with people. “I’m more serious about you than I have been about anyone in a long time. I would never do that to you, Mia, I promise.”
“Oh,” Mia says, hardly a whisper, like she might be crying a little.
“I want this to work. I really do,” I say, truthfully. I know it’s so early, but after the past few days, after nearly dying, after everything, I keep seeing a future with Mia. I keep thinking about my life with her in it for a very long time. Maybe the rest of my life.
“Me too,” Mia says. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Would you like to come up here? I have a long story to tell you, and I’d rather do it in person,” I say. I’m not sure I’m up to driving yet, and I think it’s past time Mia came here.
“I’d love that,” Mia says.
I tell her how to follow the winding paths up to the cabin, and she says she’s going to get changed quickly and be right up. I feel better when we hang up, much better than any dose of fluids had made me feel. Mia is coming here. Calvin is going to jail.
I reach into my pocket and pull out the recipe, remembering. It feels like everything has changed today, and like those changes are just the start. With this recipe and without Calvin, the company will change drastically.
With Mia, I will, too.
Chapter Twenty-One - Mia
I can’t believe it. I can’t believe Jacob almost died.
Even more so, I can’t believe Jacob almost died and I didn’t know. I might never have known. He could have died, and I would have spent the rest of my life thinking he was a terrible person. It’s a terrifying thought. I’d almost lost him, but not for reasons I could’ve ever dreamed of.
I’m so relieved he’s not an ass who lied and broke my heart. I’m relieved he is every bit the good man I thought he was, that he’s serious about me, and that he wants this – us – to work, but I’m shaken to my core at the idea he’d almost died. I keep seeing it in my mind: him lying on the floor, barely alive, and all the while I’d been furious with him.
I’d thought a time or two that he must have had a secret, something he wasn’t telling me that explained everything. I’d dismissed all those thoughts as ridiculous. But I guess they weren’t so ridiculous after all.
I make my way up the unmarked roads that lead to Jacob’s, finding a tiny and rustic cabin at the end of one of them. The property around it is marked with tall evergreen trees, obscuring the cabin from view until you’re almost on top of it. Jacob is waiting for me on the small front porch when I pull up. I run from my car as fast as I can, desperate to touch him after everything.
I throw my arms around him when I get there, and he hugs me back just as tight. I never want to let go. I never want to let him go. I’d been so hurt, so mad at him, so brokenhearted at what I thought was his betrayal, that I hadn’t let myself miss him. Now, in his arms, I think I’d missed him more than I knew how to bear. Like he was a vital organ I suddenly had to do without.
“I can’t believe,” I start into his shoulder. I don’t know how to finish it. I can’t believe any of this.
“I know,” Jacob says, pulling back just a little. “Come in and let me try to explain some of it.”
“Okay,” I agree, pulling out of the hug but gripping his hand. I feel like I need to be touching him, need to anchor him to me so he doesn’t slip away again.
We enter his cabin and he leads me to his couch. The cabin is simple, but lovely all the same. I can see touches of Jacob in it, little things I’m sure he fixed or built himself.
“What happened?” I say when we sit. Jacob pulls my hands into his lap and holds them as he begins to talk.
“You asked me once if I moved here to be closer to business. Truthfully? I’ve been hiding from it,” he says. “This is the cabin where my great-great-grandfather once made whiskey, so it is connected to the business, but that’s not why I’m here. Last year, after a huge fight, my brother started making attempts on my life.”
I gasp. “Your own brother?” I ask. My sister and I have never been close, but I’d never dreamed of letting anything hurt her if I could help it, and I know she’d do the same for me. I can’t imagine what could make a person hate their own sibling enough to want to kill them.
“Calvin’s always been trouble,” Jacob sighs, and I put a hand over his for support since he’s obviously having trouble getting out the words. “Years back, I figured out a way to speed up the distilling business exponentially. I invented and patented the technology, actually, and it took our business from successful but small to internationally-known. It made us a lot of money. I guess because of my contributions, and maybe because I’m the oldest, and our father has been teaching me the finer points of the business end for years,” he says, and I squeeze his hand when his voice shakes a bit, “I stand to inherit the company and all its money once he’s gone.”
“And Calvin doesn’t like that?” I guess, shocked and fascinated. It’s like something out of a soap opera. There is something about it that seems vaguely familiar, too, that I can’t quite put my finger on.
“He’s good at going to the parties,” Jacob nods. “He likes to drink whiskey and talk to donors. He’s always wanted to be the face of the company, to take it over in that way. He’s always felt like he deserved it more than me, I guess. We always fought and I always cleaned up his messes, but last year I told him I wasn’t going to do it anymore. That he needed to grow up and stop getting into fistfights at company-sponsored events. He responded by telling me to go to hell and that he wished I was dead.” He pauses and looks down at our hands, now laced together. “And now I guess he was trying to grant his own wish.”
“That’s horrible,” I say, wincing at just the thought of it.
“After the first few attempts on my life, I came out here to hide and try to figure out what to do. I didn’t want our dad to know, and I didn’t want to get the police involved in all that family business. My dad and everyone at the company thinks I’m just taking some time off,” Jacob says, laughing, his voice hollow. I shake my head in disbelief. I can’t believe Jacob was going through so much.
“I’m so sorry,” I say, and then I pause, suddenly remembering why this sounds familiar. “Wait. Jacob, I think I’ve seen your brother in magazines. He’s that Calvin from the whiskey family who gets into public fights?” I ask, gasping again.
“Probably. He loves to be in the press,” Jacob says.
“Your family business is High Country Whiskey?” I ask. I can feel my jaw drop. If that’s true, then Jacob was never talking about a local tourist-trap mountain distillery afte
r all. If it’s true, Jacob isn’t just rich. He’s worth billions.
“It is,” Jacob confirms, looking the slightest bit sheepish.
Holy shit. Well, of all the secrets I thought Jacob could have been keeping, billionaire whiskey heir and award-winning inventor with a brother out to murder him had not been one I’d thought of.
“Wow,” I say. It feels like an understatement. “I had no idea.”
“I thought if I told you, if I got you too involved, you’d be in danger, too,” Jacob says. “I wanted to see you all the time, take you out, tell you everything, but I was afraid it wasn’t safe.”
I nod. It makes perfect sense. “God, Jacob, this must have all been so terrible for you,” I say, still in disbelief. “Your own brother.”
“I always thought he’d grow up and get better. I always wanted him to be better. I thought,” Jacob stops and runs a hand through his hair. “I thought I could figure out what to say to him, how to help him.” He stops and shrugs, frowning. I slide closer to him, wanting to hug him and never let go.
“You can’t blame yourself,” I say. “He caused all this, not you.”
“I know,” Jacob says, shaking his head. “I just wish it didn’t have to be this way. Right now, as we’re talking, he’s probably getting arrested for attempted murder. It’s going to break Dad’s heart.”
“Have you called him yet?” I ask.
“I called you first,” Jacob says. I smile. I’m so glad Jacob is telling me all this now.
“You did?” I ask.
“I had to see you. I had to make things right with you,” Jacob says, and then he shifts his head toward me and leans down, kissing me softly. I kiss back, immediately unsure of what I would have done if I could really never do this again, wanting to kiss him forever to make up for even five days of lost time.
“I’m glad,” I say right into his mouth.
“I thought about you while I was nearly dead on that floor,” Jacob says, voice gruff with emotion. “You got me through.” I lean up to kiss him this time, needing to be close to him.
“Thank god you made it,” I say. Jacob slides his hand up my face, cupping my cheek, and kisses me until I’m breathless. I feel like I want to pour all of myself into the kiss. To let him know all the feelings I don’t even know how to put words to yet.
“Can I show you something?” Jacob asks when we pull back, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.
“Of course,” I say.
“I want you to be the first to see this,” Jacob says, pulling a folded piece yellowed paper out of his pocket. I open it and feel my eyes grow wide.
“Is this…?” I ask.
“My great-great-grandfather’s secret whiskey recipe. I found it under the floorboards while I was inching over them,” Jacob says.
“I guess it does exist,” I say.
“Looks like it,” Jacob says, looking a little wide-eyed himself.
“The company and your family may have lost Calvin for good today, but it’s as if your great-great-grandfather is joining you after all these years,” I say, a little in awe of the paper as I pass it back to Jacob.
“Like I found him,” Jacob says, nodding. “I want to go home and see my dad, tell him about all of this in person.” He looks down, sheepish, and there’s that awkwardness about him I just love. My heart swells in my chest at it. “I’d love it if you came with me.”
“I’d love to go,” I say honestly, beaming. “I have the next two days off anyway.”
“Perfect,” Jacob says, leaning in to kiss me again.
“Let’s go get your company back,” I tell him into the kiss. I feel Jacob smile against my lips, and I smile back.
I can’t believe how this day has turned out. I can’t believe I woke up thinking I’d never see Jacob again, and now I’m sitting on his couch, kissing him and making plans. It seems like I was right about him, like I was right about this town and romance after all.
I think I am destined for a love story like my grandparents’. I think I’m already living it.
Epilogue - Jacob
The launch party for High County Whiskey’s Nineteenth-Century label is the biggest event I’ve been to in years. It’s a giant glittering affair for the start of what the press is already calling a renaissance and a rebranding for us. The whiskey, made with my rapid barrel-aging technology and my great-great grandfather’s recipe, is getting a huge amount of buzz and has been very positively reviewed by several critics.
It’s being heralded as a sign we’re moving away from scandal and flash and back to our roots: a family-brewed gentleman’s drink. Our new campaigns are subtle, mountain scenery and old photographs, small text blocks with quotes about mountain air inserted throughout them. They were Mia’s idea, of course, and every one of them has been a huge hit for us.
Mia has been incredibly instrumental in all this with the PR needed after the Calvin scandal broke and in helping steer us toward this launch. She says she doesn’t even mind because it’s the kind of advertising work she’s always wanted to do. Dad says he’d hire her to do it full-time if she wasn’t so dedicated to the chocolate shop. Dad and all our staff and family friends love Mia. She’s been a huge hit with everyone I’ve introduced her to.
She’s moved into the cabin with me, and she’s helped me turn it from a hideout into a real home. We’ve been talking about expanding it, taking the tiny cabin that had been where this all started and turning it into the centerpiece of a much larger home. We could easily move out of the mountains, and maybe one day we will, but right now we’re both right where we want to be. I like the idea of keeping the cabin, making it something that fits my new life with Mia, something that uses my money and business to improve it rather than being an escape.
I’m more in love with her every single day, and it’s been such a bright spot in some of the darker days these past few months. Calvin’s trial had been painful. He’d insisted the whole thing had been his friend’s idea, and that he’d only agreed to go along with it because he was drunk. The footage of him at the well, my testimony of his threats and the other events, and those quotes he gave to the press about me being dead weight said otherwise, though. The judge ruled it proved intent, and now Calvin and several of his friends are serving at least fifteen years in jail.
It had been hard for me to hear, and hard for Dad, although I think maybe part of him has had less faith in Calvin than I did for years now. It’s still something I had to wrap my head around, but Mia and I talk about it a lot, and it helps. She makes me see things about Calvin I tried not to for so long.
I push thoughts of Calvin out of my head. Tonight is about new chapters, new beginnings. The room looks stunning, and Mia is on my arm, looking even more than stunning. She takes my breath away. I pull her out onto the balcony when we can get a minute away from all the press and partners.
“Mia,” I say, kissing her under the night sky, “thank you. So much of tonight is because of you.”
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” she says. I smile and reach into my pocket, and then slide down on one knee. Mia gasps. I take her hand and swallow hard. I’ve been planning to do this tonight for the past six weeks.
“Will you marry me? Will you be right here with me for the rest of our lives?” I ask.
Mia nods rapidly, making my heart soar. “Yes!” she says, eyes tearing up. I slide the ring onto her finger and stand up to kiss her, pulling her in tight this time.
“I love you so much,” she says. “Oh, Jacob, I can’t wait to be your wife.”
“I love you,” I say, laughing a bit and brushing a tear from her cheek. “I’m so grateful we ran into each other that first day. Literally.”
“I’m glad I spilled coffee on you,” Mia says, smiling, eyes still watering.
“I’m glad you gave me your number,” I say.
“I’m glad you called,” Mia says.
“I always call,” I tell her, nodding.
“I know you do,” Mia s
ays, kissing me again.
“I love you,” I whisper again, holding her close.
We stay out on the balcony for several more minutes, a private celebration of our own before we rejoin the large one. A few moments just for us.
I don’t know what led us both to a small mountain town at the same time, how life had taken us both on that path, but I’m grateful for it. I wish Calvin had made different choices, but I wouldn't trade what I have with Mia for anything in the world. I don’t know how something so beautiful came out of something so dark and terrible, but if it had to have happened, I’m so grateful it had a silver lining.
It’s hard to believe that almost a year ago, I almost died. But then, with Mia, it’s as if I really started living, maybe for the first time. I can’t wait to keep on living every minute of my life now with her right by my side.
******
THE END
Daddy's Business Friend
Description
He’s forbidden territory.
He’s much older than me. Not to mention my dad’s best friend and ... my boss.
I know I shouldn’t want him, but how much longer can I resist?
All I can think about is his experienced hands, his dark, intense eyes.
He’s known me since I was a little girl. But I’ve grown up, I’m a woman now.
Just once wouldn’t hurt, would it?
Wrong... Here I am, pregnant with his baby.
Have I lost him forever? Or is he man enough to handle the responsibility?
Chapter One
Laken Singleton blew the ash brown hair out of her face as she added whipped milk to a coffee. Tinsel decorated the counter she stood at in honor of the upcoming holidays. She’d been working at Coffee Hut for three years now. She’d just been fired from her second job a few hours ago. The diner she’d been working at was closing down due to decreasing revenue.
Hot CEO: An Enemies to Lovers Romance Page 46