“He’s still not taking the hint?” Reese asked. “I slammed the door in his face.”
She didn’t bother opening the text; she would deal with it later...or not.
“Maybe I should’ve just talked to him for a bit,” she stated.
“No. Every time you talk to him, that gives him hope. You just need to cut all ties.”
Reese was right, but she really hated being rude. She’d told Chris as nicely as possible that they were really over, and they’d been divorced for six months already. Wasn’t that enough of a sign that she was moving on? One would think divorce would be enough “cutting ties,” but Chris hadn’t wanted the divorce to begin with.
“Don’t worry,” Reese added. “He’ll get the hint once he sees us together and notices my car out front when he drives by.”
Josie laughed. “It’s not like you’ll be here twenty-four hours a day, Reese.”
His eyes flashed to hers. “Sure I will. I can work from here. It will be tricky, and I have to do some traveling still, but you’re the top priority in my life right now. So which bedroom do you want me to take?”
“Bedroom?” she asked. “You mean—”
A naughty grin spread across his face that sent a curl of unwanted arousal through her.
This was her best friend...what was going on?
“I’m moving in, honey.”
Two
Well, this wasn’t what he’d planned when he’d arrived at Josie’s house yesterday. But damn if he hadn’t gotten completely sidetracked by feeling her against his side, having that curvy hip beneath his hand.
He’d always known his best friend was sexy as hell, but she’d always been his friend. Now she was his fake fiancée...how the hell was he supposed to play this out?
What had he gotten them into?
Yesterday he’d needed her advice; he’d needed her guidance and her shoulder to lean on. Not that he did that often, but his life had imploded and he had nowhere else to go.
He was still trying to process everything himself. From receiving a cryptic letter at his office while his father was recovering from heart surgery, to finding out his father wasn’t his father at all...if the letter from a deceased woman was actually true.
Reese sank down on the edge of the bed in the guest bedroom of Josie’s home and clutched the letter in his hands. When he’d left for Tennessee several days ago, he’d told Josie he’d be gone a week. He’d come back after two days.
Traveling from Green Valley, Tennessee, back to Sandpiper Cove, North Carolina, had only been an hour’s flight. Those were the perks of owning your own plane and being your own pilot. He’d taken the time going both ways to think about all that had happened...he still didn’t have a clear picture or any answers.
He’d gone to Hawkins Distillery a few days ago and met with Sam Hawkins and Nick Campbell, the two men who were supposedly Reese’s half brothers. Nick’s late mother had apparently wanted to leave behind a deathbed confession by distributing letters for the three men about their true paternity. She was the one who had mailed the letter to Reese.
They all shared the same father—Rusty Lockwood, billionaire mogul of Lockwood Lightning. Everyone knew the world-renowned moonshine company, but not many knew the man behind it...including Reese.
A week ago, he’d hired an investigator to dig up everything that wasn’t easily accessible to the public, and Reese had also been doing his own online research. On paper, or the internet as the case may be, Rusty appeared to be a saint. The man owned the largest moonshine distillery in the world and donated thousands of dollars each year to Milestones, a charity for children with disabilities.
Unfortunately, last week, Rusty had been arrested for skimming from that same charity, and according to Sam and Nick, Rusty was the devil himself. Both guys had dealt with Rusty for years and neither one had a kind thing to say. They weren’t happy with the knowledge that Rusty was their biological father.
Reese didn’t know what to believe, because all of this had blown up in his face so fast and come without warning. He didn’t like being blindsided by anything, especially not a revelation that meant he might have been betrayed and lied to his entire life.
The letter had arrived while his father was in the hospital, but once he was released, he and Reese’s mom had gone on a relaxing vacation with the doctor’s blessing and Reese didn’t want to mess up their time away.
There had just been so much all at once... His father’s health, the shifting responsibilities of the business, the letter claiming Reese wasn’t his parents’ child...
But by the time his parents got back home, Reese hoped he would have a solid plan and some much-needed answers.
Should
Reese confront them? Or did he just let this knowledge go and ignore the past? What was the actual truth in all of this? There were so many questions and part of him wished he’d never learned the truth, but the other part of him wanted to know the history...his history.