Southern Bombshell (North Carolina Highlands 5)

“Milly, he just broke off his engagement, what, twenty minutes ago? This all seems really sketchy.”

“It’s definitely sketchy—”

Thea cuts me a look. “It’s also incredibly romantic.”

“—but only because we both fucked up the first time.” I let out a breath. “Look, Samuel, I need you to trust me, all right? I also need your word you’re not gonna pull a Tybalt.”

“Who the fuck is Tybalt?”

“Love the Shakespeare reference!” Hadley says, offering me a fist bump.

I roll my eyes as I give him the knuckles he’s seeking. “Never mind. Just promise me you’ll give Nate a chance.”

“I don’t like this.”

“I don’t like you most of the time, but I put up with you.”

Thea laughs. “Burn.”

“Emma would probably say the same,” Samuel replies.

“Poor thing. I don’t know what she sees in you.”

“Besides my good looks and impressively massive—”

“Samuel, come on.”

“Wine cellar. I was going to say wine cellar. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“I will if you let me bring Nate to Thanksgiving.”

Another pause. Thea and Hadley are staring at me now, eyes wide with anticipation.

“Please,” I say. “Remember that time I helped you and Emma iron some shit out? Now look at y’all—you’re so damn happy together it’s nauseating.”

“He makes you happy?”

“He does.”

“Fine,” Samuel says gruffly, and my heart leaps. “But the price of admission is a bottle of Appalachian Red. I also reserve the right to pat him down or eject him from the premises at any time.”

I grin. “Patting him down’s only gonna make you jealous.”

“Why? Because he’s got a bigger gun than me?”

“Nate hates guns. But he does have an impressively massive—”

“Whiskey collection!” Thea says.

“Penis!” Hadley shouts.

“Milly,” Samuel continues, “you just promised to get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Heart. I was going to say heart. Jeez, you need to take your own advice.”

“So,” Samuel says. “You gonna tell the others, or am I?”

I swallow, pulse already skipping a beat at the idea of sharing this news with the rest of my family. Mom will be fine with it. In fact, I think she’ll be excited to finally hang with Nate. Hank will probably be cool with it too, considering he pulled one over on the family a year or so ago with his now girlfriend, Stevie. I’ve been confiding in Rhett all along, so he’ll understand. I hope.

But Beau and Samuel? They’re going to be a much tougher sell, even with Beau’s assurances he’d do what he can to make things right.

I’m up for the challenge.

“I will,” I reply. “This means a lot to me, Samuel. Please don’t fuck it up.”

He sighs, and I can picture him tugging a hand through his hair. “I make no guarantees. But I’ll try.”

It’s not the greatest answer. But I’ll take it.

I hang up and look at Thea and Hadley, who continue to stare at me like I’m not their boss and therefore don’t have any right to privacy.

Aw, who am I kidding? I wanted them to hear all that. It was going to come out sometime, and I am so done playing coy when it comes to Nate. I learned my lesson the hard way that nothing good comes from keeping secrets.

I just need Nate to learn that lesson too.

“Welp,” I say, pretending to sort through some printouts on the table. “Now y’all know. Nate Kingsley and I—”

“Are in love!” Thea says, darting across the room to wrap me in a tight hug. “I’m so happy for y’all!”

“The timing is weird,” I begin. Also, there’s the small issue of not knowing whether Nate’s in love with me.

“Means you really want it,” Hadley replies sagely. “We liked Reese. I know you did too. But I think we could all see there weren’t any fireworks between her and Nate.”

I blink, shocked. I thought I was the only one who saw that lack of chemistry. “You picked up on that?”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Thea says. “They were almost too polite with each other, you know? Like they were acquaintances or something. We’ve done enough weddings together to recognize a crazy-in-love couple versus a lukewarm one.”

Hadley nods. “Nate and Reese were definitely lukewarm. Don’t get me wrong, they seemed to be good friends, but not much more.”

Still, I question how easily my employees are receiving the news that I’m hooking up with a guy who was a client a week ago. One who was engaged to somebody else.

“For the record, she broke up with him,” I say. “Nate and I, we didn’t—”

“Milly, stop.” Thea pulls back to search my face, smiling. “For the record, you don’t need to explain anything to us. You’re glowing.”

“Honey, you’re radiant,” Hadley adds. “Looks like pound town’s treating you well.”

I let out a bark of laughter. “As a matter of fact, it is. Mostly because it’s miles away from the rat race that’s become my life recently.”

“Right.” Thea steps back and pushes up her sleeves. “So what can we do to make your stay in pound town more pleasant? Perhaps more permanent too.”