Southern Bombshell (North Carolina Highlands 5)

“You can help by forming a majority with me. Transfer—”

“My shares over to you.”

“Temporarily, of course.”

“Of course. That gives you thirty-four percent ownership. Where’s the other seventeen coming from?”

I look at Nate. He looks back.

“Call Reese,” I say softly. “Call her because Silas and I will back you with the capital you need to buy her out. Let us loan you the money. Temporarily, of course.”

Nate smiles for the first time tonight, and my heart turns over. “Temporarily, huh?”

“You can pay me back in a variety of ways,” I say, biting my lip.

Silas chuckles. “You can pay me back in cash. And authorizing some new whiskey recipes. That shit’s fun.”

“Milly here came up with a better name for the ‘Sherry Sunset.’”

“Oh?” Silas raises a brow. “I heard you’re quite the pro at this kind of thing.”

I grin. “Redheaded Romeo.”

Silas raises his hand, and I give him a high five. “Because Nate’s a redhead! And y’all have a Romeo and Juliet thing going on! Shakespeare would love it.”

“And Dad would hate it. One of the many reasons I already sent it to the marketing team to have the branding done.”

Silas smiles. “Excellent. I think it’s going to do very well.”

“Mostly because y’all made one hell of a whiskey.” I flatten my palm on Nate’s stomach. My body still jumps with excitement at the fact that I get to touch him like this. He’s mine to make a whole new family with. “Nate brought some to Thanksgiving, and we all lost our minds over it. By the way, you’re coming to Christmas, Silas. Don’t you dare say no.”

“Hopefully with a new batches to share,” he replies, tipping his head. “Looking forward to it.”

I turn to Lucy, who pokes out her head so she can lick my face. “You’re invited too, little Lu.”

Silas gives his brother a serious look. “C’mon, Nate. Let’s get this done.”

Nate pauses, keeping his eyes on Lucy. “Y’all have a lot of faith in me.”

“You had faith in me,” I say. “As a person. A friend. With you, I’m enough. I’ve always felt like I have so much to prove, you know? To my family, to the world. To myself. But you, you make me slow down. You make me be, when my impulse is always to do. I’ll always adore you for that.”

“See?” Silas says to his brother. “You didn’t have to work for that, did you, brother?”

“No,” Nate replies gruffly, eyes locking on mine. “I didn’t.”

“And I think we all know the distillery is going to absolutely crush it with you at the helm,” I continue around the lump that’s suddenly formed in my throat. “Whatever money we lend you, you’ll make it back tenfold. That faith you have in me? Have it in yourself, Nathaniel.”

“Nathaniel?” Silas drapes an arm over my shoulders. “I probably don’t want to know, do I?”

Nate’s lips twitch. “You don’t. It’s some kind of—”

“Weird Revolutionary era kink I have,” I say. “Because of—”

“Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans,” Silas replies. “And Jamie Fraser in Outlander. He is—”

“Chef’s kiss.” I perform said kiss, pressing the tips of my fingers to my lips. “I have a thing—”

“For redheads,” Silas says, cutting a glance at his brother. “We know. I have a thing—”

“For sweeping historical epics,” I reply. “And, more importantly, depictions of cunnilingus on TV.”

Silas throws back his head and laughs, the sound warm and familiar. “Yes! Men get blowjobs all the time in media. It’s time for the ladies to get their due. Outlander is evening out the scales.”

“I like him,” I say to Nate.

He glances between Silas and me, the edges of his eyes crinkling. He looks partly bewildered, partly amused. “I hoped you would.”

“Anyway, Nathaniel,” Silas continues, “listen to the lady since you won’t listen to me. She’s right. You’ve got some damn good ideas for the distillery. But none of ’em’s gonna come true if Dad’s in the picture. Milly knows it, I know it.” He picks Nate’s phone off the counter and holds it out to him. “Take our money and make the call.”

Nate glances at the phone. My pulse roars in my ears. So many pieces have to come together for this to work.

Lord, I want this to work so badly it makes my chest ache.

I’m nervous, and I’m happy, and I’m hopeful. I’m feeling it all, and judging by the deep furrow in Nate’s brow, so is he.

At last he grabs the phone and gently moves out of my reach. “I appreciate y’all’s support. I do. But even if Reese agrees to sell me her shares, we still have to buy out Dad. Which means more money.”

“Cross that bridge when you get there,” I say. “We’ve made it this far, haven’t we? Between all of us, we’ll figure it out.”

It’s Nate’s turn to raise a brow. “All of us?”