Baby For The Mountain Man

Yes, I knew that all too well. Tobias was well-off, too well-off for his own good. He was wealthy, and his solution to all problems was to throw money at them; it was a strategy that had worked well for him for years though, so I couldn’t exactly fault him for it. But, it wasn’t my preferred way of dealing with problems. If being with Zander had taught me one thing, it was that I didn’t want to ever depend on a man for anything, even if it was my adoring older brother. I wanted to have my own money and make my own way.

“I don’t want your money, Tobias,” I said. “I just want you to give me a spot to rest my head until I can find another job and get my own place.”

Tobias sighed. “Joanna, you’re my sister. It’s my job to look out for you.”

“To look out for me—yes. To take care of me—no.”

“Let me just lend you the money and you can pay it back when you can, then.”

“Tobias, please, I don’t want your charity.”

“Why are you always so difficult?” he said, exasperated. “All right. Fine. How about this, work for me.”

I paused. “What?”

“Work for me. You can work for my firm. You’re looking for a new job, right? So I’m offering you one. With your background in financial planning, we really could use someone like you, sis. And I’m not just saying that. We’ve actually been looking to hire someone for a while now.”

I chewed my bottom lip, considering his offer.

“I know you can’t think of a valid reason to turn me down,” Tobias said, “so just say yes. What do you have to lose?”

“Nothing,” I said quietly. “I have nothing to lose.”

“Then welcome to the team. Pack your bags tonight and make your way over here. And if you really want to do me proud, you’ll burn down Zander’s place in the process.”

I chuckled through my tears. “Thank you, Tobias.”

“No problem..”

I hung up the phone, feeling some of the tightness in my chest starting to loosen. As I made it back to my car, I reflected on Tobias’ offer. It was a good solution, and I had a feeling it would work…

Feeling determined, I headed back to Zander’s apartment. Carefully creeping back inside, I was grateful to find him passed out from his drunken stupor.

As quickly and quietly as I could, I packed everything I owned, ready to leave him behind forever.

CHAPTER 2

Anderson

It was a slow day at the office, but I didn’t exactly mind. Sitting at my desk, I leaned back in my chair and stared out the window, taking in the highway and the constant flow of traffic.

“What’s going on? Working hard or hardly working?”

I looked up to find Tobias, my best friend as well as my business partner at our firm, strolling into my office. Sometimes it was hard to imagine that fortune had been so good to us. We had grown up together, studied together, and now worked together, each of us having more success with our careers that we could have ever anticipated.

“Let’s make a deal,” Tobias had said to me when we were young. “We’re never going to leave each other behind, got it?”

I had readily agreed. “Right. Whoever succeeds first helps the other.”

“That’s right! We make our money together. Partners for life.”

We’d clasped hands afterwards and vowed to each other that we would honor that promise for the rest of our lives.

It had been easy to keep that promise. Throughout our time knowing each other, we had become more than best friends and partners in crime—we were brothers. We knew each other’s families, secrets, strengths, and weaknesses.

“Well, you got to work hard at some point to get to the point where you can hardly work, right?” I said as Tobias flopped into the chair opposite of me.

“Guess you’ve got a point there,” he said, temporarily closing his eyes.