4. Kane
four
Kane
I wake up with Sophie in my arms. The storm is still raging outside, but in here, everything feels perfect.
Which is exactly the problem.
In a few days, the snow will stop, the roads will clear, and Sophie will go back to her corporate life. She'll present whatever offer Morrison has authorized, and I'll have to choose between financial security and everything my family built over five generations.
Except now there's a third factor I never anticipated: the woman sleeping peacefully against my chest, who's managed to turn my entire world upside down in less than forty-eight hours.
"You're thinking too loud," Sophie murmurs without opening her eyes.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you."
She lifts her head, brown eyes soft with sleep. "What time is it?"
"Early. Sun's not even up yet."
"Good. I wasn't ready to face reality anyway." She traces patterns on my skin. "Kane? Last night... it wasn't just physical for me."
I tighten my arms around her. "For me either."
"I know this complicates everything."
"Understatement of the century." I press a kiss to her head. "Sophie, there's something I need to tell you about the farm."
She goes still. "What?"
"It's not just family sentiment keeping me from selling. The operation is in trouble. Has been for the past two years."
"What kind of trouble?"
"Financial. Equipment failures, late spring weather affecting sap runs, increased competition." I run a hand through my hair. "I've got maybe six months before the bank starts foreclosure proceedings."
"Kane..." There's something in her voice I can't quite read.
"So when you present Morrison's offer, understand that part of me wants to take it. Not because I don't love this place, but because I'm not sure I can save it anyway."
She's quiet for a moment. "What if there was another way?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if instead of selling to developers, you found investors? People who understand the value of preserving heritage operations?"
Hope flickers in my chest. "Sophie, you work for the people who want to buy this place. Helping me save it would be working against your own interests."
"Would it?" She sits up. "What if Morrison's clients considered a different kind of investment? Agritourism, artisanal products, heritage preservation—there's a market for that."
"You really think that could work?"
"Maybe. If we positioned it right..." She trails off, shaking her head. "Listen to me. 'We.' Like I'm going to be here to help make it happen."
"What if you were?"
The question hangs between us, loaded with possibility.
"Kane, I have a life in Toronto. A career, responsibilities. My mother depends on me."
"I know."
"The promotion I'm up for would mean financial security I've never had."
"I know that too."
She searches my face. "Then what are you asking?"
"I'm asking if you've ever wanted something badly enough to change everything for it."
Before she can answer, her phone buzzes on the nightstand.
"I thought you said there was no signal," Sophie says, reaching for it.
"There shouldn't be." I watch her face as she checks the screen. "What is it?"
"Text from my boss. Somehow got through." Her expression shifts. "The Morrison board is getting impatient. If I don't have a signed agreement by end of week, they're pulling the offer."
Reality crashes back in. "How long is that?"
"Three days. Maybe four, depending on when this storm clears."
I feel something crack in my chest. "So much for taking our time."
"Kane, there's something else you need to know about the Morrison offer."
"What?"
"It's substantial. More than substantial."
"How much?"
She tells me the number, and I feel like I've been punched. It's enough to pay off every debt and set me up for life somewhere else.
"Jesus, Sophie. That's..."
"I know."
"That's enough to solve every financial problem I have."
"I know."
I stand up, needing distance. "And you're telling me to turn that down for some hypothetical investor scheme that might not work?"
"I'm not telling you to do anything. I'm just saying there might be alternatives."
"Might. Maybe. Hypothetically." I run my hands through my hair. "Sophie, that's my family's survival."
"It's my survival too!" The words explode out of her. "Do you think I want to be the person who destroys something you love?"
"Then don't be."
"It's not that simple. I need this deal. My mother's medical bills, my career, my entire future depends on closing this transaction."
"Your mother's medical bills?"
Sophie wraps the quilt tighter around herself, suddenly looking small. "She has multiple sclerosis. The treatments, the care she needs... insurance covers some of it, but not enough. Without this promotion, without the salary increase..."
She doesn't finish, but the fear in her eyes tells me everything.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it doesn't change what I have to do. Because knowing why I need to take your farm away doesn't make it easier for either of us."
I sit back down, the fight leaving me. "Christ, Sophie. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place."
"I'm sorry," she whispers. "I never wanted it to be like this."
"Like what?"
"Like choosing between saving someone I love and destroying someone else I..." She stops.
"Someone else you what?"
"Someone else I'm falling in love with," she finishes quietly.
The words hit me like lightning. She's falling in love with me, and I'm falling in love with her, and in three days one of us is going to have to destroy the other to save what matters most.
"Sophie," I reach for her hand.
"Don't." She pulls away, standing and reaching for her clothes. "This was a mistake. All of it."
"You don't mean that."
"I do. I let myself get caught up in the romance of being snowed in, of this place, of you. But the storm's going to end, Kane. And when it does, we're going to be right back where we started—on opposite sides of a deal that one of us has to lose." She pulls on my flannel shirt. "I need some air."
I follow her after pulling on my jeans. She's standing by the window, staring at the falling snow. She's never looked more beautiful, and she's never felt further away.
"Sophie," I say quietly.
"Three days," she says without turning. "In three days, the storm will be over and we'll have to make our choices."
"What if we don't have to choose? What if there's a way to save both the farm and your mother?"
"How?"
"I don't know yet. But maybe if we work together instead of against each other, we can find a solution."
She turns to face me, hope warring with fear in her eyes. "And if we can't?"
"Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But Sophie, what we have... it's worth fighting for. You're worth fighting for."
"Even if it means risking everything?"
"Especially then."
She studies my face, then nods slowly. "Okay. Three days to figure out how to save everything that matters to both of us."
"Three days," I agree, moving toward her.
"And Kane?"
"Yeah?"
"For the record, you're worth fighting for too."
I pull her into my arms, holding her tight against my chest. Outside, the storm continues to rage, but in here, with Sophie in my arms, anything feels possible.
Even saving everything we both love.