Dear Brother’s Best Friend (Naughty Notes #4)

Chapter 1

ELIJAH

My best friend since ninth grade looks up from the notepad he’s writing in. “Everything is on track. Eight months to put up a twenty million dollar hospital complex is aggressive, but I can do it.”

I nod my head. “I know you can.” Kane has been my right-hand man since I started the company when I was nineteen. We’ve come a long way in the last sixteen years. Wolfe Construction is now a multi-million dollar company, and I’m proud of it.

Kane rubs his hand across his brow and pinches his temple.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I ask him.

He drops his hand and tries to appear relaxed. “Nothing is wrong. I told you I can handle this, and I can.” He blows out a breath. “I got this, Elijah.”

My forehead creases, and I give him a pointed look. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

His eyebrows lift, and before he can deny anything, I shake my head. “Don’t give me any shit, Kane. We’ve been best friends for most of our life. Spill it.”

He jumps up from the chair he’s been sitting in. “Okay, fine. I might as well tell you. People are going to be gossiping about it soon enough.”

I stand up and clench the back of the chair for support.

A few thoughts go through my head, wondering if Kane has gotten himself into some kind of trouble, but I quickly shake that off.

He’s been clean for ten years. There’s no way he’s using again.

I would be the first to know. But obviously there is something going on here. “What is it?”

He rolls his eyes with a huffed breath. “Samantha is coming back to Whiskey Run.”

Just hearing her name makes my heart rate pick up. I stutter, “Sassy’s coming home?”

I can hear the catch in my voice, and I clear my throat. “Your sister’s been gone for five years.”

I unclench my hand on the chair and cross my arms over my chest. It’s been five years since I first noticed that Sassy, my best friend’s little sister, was everything I wanted in a woman. She was off limits then, and I’ve tried to push her out of my mind, but obviously I haven’t succeeded.

Kane nods. “Yeah, she’s coming home, and…”

His voice trails off, and he grimaces, almost angrily.

I walk around the table. “She’s coming home and what?”

He lifts his gaze from the ground and looks into my eyes. I try to brace myself for whatever bombshell he’s about to drop. By the look on his face, it’s a big one.

He lifts his hand and rubs it through the scruff of his chin. “Samantha is pregnant, and her boyfriend dumped her.”

I grit my teeth. “What the fuck did you just say?”

He nods in agreement. “I know. I get it. I’m pissed, and I have half a mind to go kick the guy’s ass, but Sam made me promise not to.”

A wave of heat flushes through my body. Anger doesn’t even begin to cover it. Samantha is the sweetest woman I’ve ever known. She wants to take care of everyone and is funny and kind. To think she’s been hurt by some dickhead pisses me off. “Who the fuck is he? Give me a name,” I demand.

Kane opens his mouth just as his phone rings. He looks at the caller ID. “It’s her.”

I crowd him as he answers his phone. He leans his head back to look up at me with confusion, but I gesture for him to talk.

“Hey, sis, everything okay?”

Kane shakes his head, and the need to hear Sam’s voice moves me closer to him.

“Shit, it’s okay, don’t cry.”

I clench my fist at my side as Kane continues. “It’s fine. I’ll be there in two hours. I’ll look at your car and get it going. Don’t worry.”

He clenches his eyes shut. “Sis, please, you have to stop crying.”

Unable to hold back, I grab the phone from Kane. He stands there, mouth agape as I speak softly into the phone. “Hey, Sassy, how you doing, honey?”

She’s surprised to hear me on the phone, but a sob still escapes her. “I’m okay,” she lies.

“Where are you?” I ask.

She names a gas station in a town two hours away. “Sit tight. Okay. I’m going to be there in less than two hours. Don’t stress, okay, Sass? It’s not good for the baby.”

She gasps. “Kane told you.”

I nod my head, avoiding Kane’s gaze. “He did tell me, honey. I’ll be there soon.”

“No! I mean, I don’t want to bother you. Kane can come get me… no rush… I’m fine.”

“Sit tight. Lock your doors,” I tell her before hanging up.

I instantly send Sassy’s contact information to my phone, and then I shoot her a text from my phone. “This is Elijah. Call me if you need anything. I’ll see you soon.”

I hand Kane his phone back, avoiding his gaze. I grab my jacket off the hook by the door, and Kane follows me through it. “Elijah, what the hell?”

Instead of admitting my feelings, I shrug. “Kane, today is the first day working on the new hospital complex, and you just said that eight months is an aggressive timeline. I can go pick up Sassy.”

He’s huffing as he’s trying to keep up with me. “You’re going to miss the groundbreaking.”

I shrug and open the door of my truck. “You will be there. It’ll be fine.”

I get in, but before I can close the truck door, Kane blocks it. “What is this? What’s happening here?”

I avoid his gaze. “What is it? You’re busy, and your sister needs to be picked up. I can do it.” I blow out a breath. “Kane… this is Sam.”

He doesn’t budge. “Are you…”

His voice trails off, and even though I have every urge to push him away from my truck so I can get to Sam, I wait. “Am I what?”

He crosses his arms over his chest and blows out a breath. “Are you the father?”

I push my way out of my truck and tower over my best friend of sixteen years. “Are you asking me if I’m the father of Sam’s child? And if I walked out on her?”

He leans his head back to look up at me.

“She won’t tell me anything about the father.

You have been weird lately. Never wanting to go out like we used to.

And I saw…” He sucks in a breath. “I saw the way you looked at her five years ago.” He throws his hand up.

“And I forgot about it but—” He points toward my office.

“But that… this reaction, this is weird… right?”

I stare at him and shake my head. “Kane, if your sister was with me… I would never walk away from her… or her baby. There would not be any doubt who she—or her baby—belonged to.”

He scrunches up his nose as if that wasn’t clear enough for him. I gruffly answer him. “I’m not the father.”

He doesn’t question me, but he looks at me with a whole other level of curiosity. I basically just confessed to my best friend that I want his sister to be mine. But I can’t focus on that right now. No, the most important thing is getting to Samantha sooner rather than later.

“Now can I go?”

He takes a step back. “Yeah, okay. Hey, Elijah, she’s going to be crying. She’s been doing that a lot lately.”

I hold back my curse. “I can handle it.”

He nods. “Okay. Don’t worry about the groundbreaking. I’ll take care of things here… Just take care of my sister.”

I give him a nod and slam my door shut. I peel gravel as I take off out of the parking lot and head to the interstate.

My hands are clenched on the steering wheel, and all I can think about is the fact that Sam, my Sassy, is pregnant, broken down, and crying.

I press on the gas to get to her faster.