Built Over Time (Middleton Hotels 4)

“Like you’d know anything about it.”

“I’ve had three years of trouble. Now it was all about to be squared away.” I couldn’t wait to get on the flight to her. Maybe if I killed some time, I would be with her faster. “Fine, let’s go for a ride.”

We went to the stables and grabbed two horses. I hopped on Jet, my sister’s horse. While Joey grabbed Willow, his mate. We rode fast and down across the fields for an hour when Will started acting weird, causing Jet to freak out. I was experienced so I managed to stay on as safely as possible, but he didn’t give up and bucked me off, catching my leg in the stirrup then he twisted. My foot came out of the hold, but it also broke.

I started howling in pain as I felt the break. “Bryce, shit.” Joey was at my side with his watch phone calling for an ambulance. “I’m sorry, man,” he said. “Fuck, stay still. The ambulance is on its way.”

I laid there bleeding because the bone tore through my flesh. Within hours, I was waking up in the hospital with a cast on my leg. Joey was sitting next to me and I snarled at him.

“I have to go to Reese. You need to help me.”

“I don’t think it’s okay for you to travel.”

“I’m going to choke your ass. I should have used my damn common sense,” I complained. “Don’t say a word about my plans, but damn it, you’re going with me.”

“Fine. I’ll go with you.”

A knock on the door sounded just before my mother walked in with my father right behind her.

“How’s my baby?” she asked, rushing up to the bed.

I loved her, but she wasn’t the woman I wanted to hold. Fuck, I hope I didn’t miss her.

Chapter 4

Bryce

Six fucking years. How am I still searching for her? Granted the first three, I tried not to. It would have broken my resolve to finish school because I’d be focused on her.

“Mom and Dad sent images to look at for the hotel. Let’s check them out and see what needs to be done. I know you don’t care because you have bigger things planned,” I said to my little sister, Elizabeth.

“You’re an idiot. Just open the files on yours,” she hissed.

I hit the screen on my tablet and my nosy sister leaned over and started swiping. “Stop touching it. I’ll do it,” I snapped, batting her hand away. She was just doing it to annoy me. She got the message, too. I swiped the next photo and froze. Six years…I’ve searched for six years and there, smiling at the camera was the woman I’d been hoping for.

“Come on, scroll to the next one,” she whined.

“How about you take out your damn phone and look at them by yourself. I don’t need your dragon breath on my neck.”

“Someone’s bitchy.” She got away from my desk, then plopped her ass on the large leather sofa in my office.

With a smirk on her face, my bratty sister giggled. “You think she’s pretty? I mean, she’s gorgeous. Will you go all dad on her and carry her out of the hotel?”

“He never did that.”

“No, but he went caveman on Mom.”

“True, but I’m not like him.”

“Bullshit, you couldn’t be more Dad. It’s like mom was just the biological host and you’ve only got Dad’s DNA. Anyways, I don’t have time to chat about this. I’ve got somewhere I need to be.” She got up and left the room with a wave goodbye. Good, I was on my computer in a flash, pulling up the company employee list. I went to the Harley Inn staff and there she was. Harper Simmons. Wow, I’d finally found her. Her hair was a shade darker than the sunny blonde I remembered. Her light green eyes were brighter. And her body was looking more like a woman’s. Even in her work uniform, she looked like a sex kitten. Suddenly, a hint of betrayal flooded my thoughts. She probably gave herself away. What belonged to me had been given to someone else. I had to get to Reese; I’ve waited long enough to claim her. There was a storm coming through, so I wouldn’t be able to get a flight until tomorrow at the earliest. I couldn’t even take the jet because my parents were using it.

I was searching through her information, trying to find out how I missed her all these years. How had she stayed in the shadows of my searches? I opened the email on my phone and uploaded

the photo with a bit of a modification before saving it as my screensaver. It wasn’t long before I was packed with everything I needed to meet my past and future, hell my everything, in Reese.

“I’m coming for you, Harper,” I promised as I jumped in my car.

Chapter 5