Cottonwood Cove Box Set

Chapter 1

one

. . .

Hugh

I’d planted my ass on a stool at the bar at Reynolds’, the restaurant I’d opened a few months back.

Business was booming, and between opening this place and running my parents’ pub and diner for them, I was existing on very little sleep.

I hadn’t expected business to be as busy as it had been since the day we’d opened the doors.

We were understaffed at the moment, and I needed help.

The door swung open, and sunlight flooded the space, highlighting the marble bar top and the rustic wood flooring. My two best friends, Travis and Brax, walked in, letting the door fall closed behind them.

“Hey, sorry we’re late. I’ve got sandwiches.” Travis held up a bag and walked toward me.

“Thanks for picking those up.” I pushed to my feet and made my way around the bar to grab us each a drink. “You guys want a beer?”

“Hell, yeah.” Brax pulled up a bar stool and sat down. The guy was always down for a good time.

“Nah. I’ve got to go back to work, so I’ll just stick to water for now. Those fuckers on the site can’t figure out how to hammer a nail unless I’m standing right over them,” Travis grumped.

I laughed and handed them their drinks, grabbing a Coke for myself.

Travis was a contractor and was responsible for the majority of the new construction in town.

He’d worked on this restaurant for months, and the dude never let up.

But he was a grumpy motherfucker, and most people pissed him off.

Lucky for me and Brax, we’d been his best friends since preschool, so we usually got a pass.

“Are you sure you aren’t just micromanaging them again?” I raised a brow and unwrapped my sandwich.

“Right. You’re a bit of a dick when it comes to work. Are you sure this isn’t you being a control freak?” Brax asked, over a mouthful of food.

Brax owned the largest real estate company in Cottonwood Cove, and he was about as relaxed as you get when it comes to running a business. These two were night and day with how serious they took things, and I fell somewhere in between.

“Pfft… please. I have no choice when every time I look over, they’re fucking around.

” He shook his head before narrowing his gaze at me.

“You look tired. I’m sure you’re ready for Lila to start helping out.

” Travis’s little sister was going to be home for a few months, and she’d agreed to come work with me at the restaurant.

“Yeah. You’re giving me Trav-vibes over here, and I can’t deal with two damn control freaks in my life.” Brax reached for his beer.

“Yeah, I’m fucking drowning, man. The timing couldn’t be better with her coming on board, even if it’s just temporary.” I took a bite of my turkey on rye and shrugged.

Travis studied me. “This place is a huge undertaking, and you’re still trying to run Burgers and Brews and Garrity’s.

You can’t be in three places at once, brother.

And you’re talking about expanding to the city?

You need to figure out how to manage all this shit.

Lila’s brilliant, so hopefully she can help you get things figured out and running smoothly over the next few months. ”

He was right. I’d taken over our family restaurants when my father retired, and since opening my own place, I was stretched too thin.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I actually agree. And you know it kills me to agree with this one,” Brax said, as he flicked his thumb at Travis. “But you need help, or you’re going to burn out.”

“Agreed. And you know I don’t like people in my business, but I obviously trust Snow,” I said, after I finished chewing, referencing the nickname I’d always called Lila.

My siblings were all busy with their own careers, and my youngest sister, Georgia, was taking summer school classes and would be graduating from college in December. I sure as hell wasn’t going to burden any of them with my shit.

“Yeah, I think she’ll help out a lot, and then you can figure out if you need to bring on more people full time when she leaves. She’ll definitely get your ass organized.” Travis reached for his chips and tore open the bag.

“Aside from work, you look like you’re wound awfully tight, so I’m guessing you haven’t been laid in a bit either.

” Brax barked out a laugh. The dude was too loud for his own good.

And, of course, the asshole found it hilarious that I was in a bit of a rut in that department.

I hadn’t been out in two months, and I slept every free minute that I had, but it still wasn’t enough.

“Thanks for pointing that out, dickhead.”

“You’re a lover, man, so you’re always moodier when you aren’t getting female attention. No shame in needing a release, brother.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake—he gets laid plenty. That’s hardly been a problem for him.” Travis rolled his eyes.

“Hey, maybe I’m tired of the game. I’m getting older. And not all of us are so lucky to marry our fucking high school sweetheart,” I said, shooting Travis a look.

He nodded over a mouthful of food and reached for his water. “Cry me a river. I’m not Hugh fucking Reynolds, Cottonwood Cove’s biggest player.”

“Don’t be humble, you broody bastard. It doesn’t suit you,” I said.

“Please. This fucker doesn’t have a humble bone in his body.” Brax smirked. “Still not sure why Shay agreed to marry you and carry your moody-ass spawn… but I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“You and me both, brother,” Travis said.

“She’s the best. Don’t fuck it up.” I reached for my glass and took a sip.

They’d just found out recently that Shay was pregnant, and he was still processing the fact that he was going to be a father soon.

“Anyway, Snow was in here last night with Delilah, Sloane, and Rina. Are you still pissed about her being back here?”

Travis’s shoulders stiffened at the mention of his little sister’s decision to come back home for a few months.

I wouldn’t bring up the fact that my dick had also stiffened at the sight of her last night.

She’d always been gorgeous and sweet, but hell, when she left Cottonwood Cove four years ago, I’d looked at her more like a kid.

But Lila fucking James wasn’t a kid anymore.

She’d just graduated from college and returned home.

I’d always called her Snow for as long as I could remember, because the girl had watched Snow White more times than any one kid should, and her dark hair and all that sweetness made it an easy nickname to hold on to.

Travis loved the shit out of his wife, Shay, but anyone that knew him well knew that his kryptonite was Lila.

They’d been through a shit ton at a young age, and he’d been looking out for her our entire lives.

The number of dudes the three of us had threatened on her behalf over the years was countless.

And when she’d left for Northwestern in Chicago on a full cross-country scholarship, he’d been proud as hell.

But I knew that it was tough for him having her so far away, as it had always been the two of them against the world.

“She’s refusing to stay with me and Shay because she says we’re newlyweds and are expecting our first baby, so she thinks we deserve some kind of bullshit privacy.

My dad is a fucking train wreck, but that doesn’t stop Lila from wanting to fix him.

She’s too fucking loyal. Too fucking stubborn.

And too fucking good to be dealing with his shit.

I’m sure it’s a big adjustment, as she’s been racing and competing for so long, and now that part of her life is over.

And as much as I want her to come back home, I don’t want her to get sucked into my dad’s bullshit.

She deserves better. She deserves more.” He shook his head.

“Fuck, Trav. You’ve got to chill out. She’s a grown-ass woman.

I say this because I also ran into her last night when I stopped by to have a beer with this fucker,” Brax said, raising a brow at me as if I didn’t remember.

“She was just leaving, and damn, your baby sister has grown up into a fine woman.” He whistled, knowing it would get under Travis’s skin.

We’d seen her over the years since she’d gone away to school, and we’d always given him a hard time about how pretty she was.

“Fuck you. Don’t be looking at Lila like that.

She’s still young. Far from a grown woman.

” Travis shot Brax a warning look. “She got offered a job at that big, fancy company she interned with this past year. She’s so damn smart.

They agreed to hold the position for her until the beginning of September so she could come home for a while and make sure Dad’s okay.

The man isn’t going to change, so I don’t know why she’s insisting on putting her life on hold. ”

I understood his need to protect her, because I had two sisters that my brothers and I were protective over. But this was different. My siblings and I had two parents who worried about all of us plenty. But Travis was all Lila had unless you counted their father, who had checked out years ago.

“Let her come back for a little bit, spend some time with you and Shay. Maybe your dad will clean up his act while she’s here, and then she’ll head back to Chicago. She said the job is waiting for her, so let her take a few months and just relax.”

“Jeez, man. I agree. The girl has worked her ass off. When we were younger, I can’t remember a time that I saw her when she wasn’t out on a run or training.

It took her to college, where she spent four years going to class and racing.

Let her have a break.” Brax shook his head, and I chuckled because the dude was rarely logical, but this was the wisest thing he’d said in a while.

“She seems happy to be home. She’s probably exhausted,” I said.

“That’s true. But I don’t like her living at Dad’s house. He runs with some shitty people, per usual. I don’t want her around all that, you know?” Travis balled up the paper that had been wrapped around his sandwich and set it on the bar.

I understood his concern. We’d always looked out for her.

There was a few years between us in age, and, at times, I knew she resented the way Travis, Brax, and I treated her like she was a little kid.

And if I were being honest, I didn’t particularly like the idea of her staying at her father’s house either.

“You know I’ve got the casita at my place, so I’ll offer it to her when she comes in this week to talk about the job and what she’ll be doing.

Georgia plans on moving in there after she graduates, but that won’t be until after Snow heads back to Chicago.

” Georgia was my baby sister, the youngest of us Reynolds kids.

We were close, and she had already called dibs on the private guest suite, after I bought the run-down cabin two years ago and completely renovated it.

He was nodding around a mouthful of food. His shoulders had completely relaxed.

“Thanks, brother. I owe you one for this.”

“Should I be offended that you didn’t ask me to hire her? We can always use an extra hand at the office, and I’ll bet there’d be a lot of dudes in Cottonwood Cove buying homes if Lila was working there,” Brax said as he waggled his brows mischievously.

“Fuck you, asshole. Not a chance. Hugh would never cross that line, but you think with your dick too much.”

I barked out a laugh when Brax gaped as if he’d just been slapped in the face.

“Hugh thinks with his dick, too. Just ask Tory Hopkins. She drunk-cried to me last week about the way you rocked her world and then left her high and dry.” Brax finished off the last pull from his beer.

I shook my head. “You asshole. Why are you even talking to her about that? We dated in high school, and, if you recall, I found her under the bleachers giving Tony Randall a blowie. So, she can spin that shit however she wants, but I didn’t leave her high and dry.

I left her with Tony’s dick in her mouth.

It’s not my problem that she still misses mine all these years later. ”

“And this is exactly why neither of you fuckers are allowed near Lila. But at least I know this one is loyal as hell, and he’d never make that mistake. You, on the other hand… I’m not sure you wouldn’t cross that line.”

“Fuck off. Have I ever crossed the line?” Brax held up his hands as if he were completely offended.

“You did fuck my high school girlfriend,” Travis reminded him.

“You were on a break!” Brax shouted. “And no offense, but everyone fucked Donna. She was a busy girl.”

“Hugh didn’t, and if you’ll recall… neither did I.

” Travis tried to hide his smile. It was an ongoing joke between the three of us.

Donna had strung him along for a year and a half, which was a lifetime for a teenage boy.

She’d claimed she was saving herself for marriage.

And then she’d dumped him and proceeded to get busy with everyone he knew.

But not me.

I wasn’t that guy.

I loved women, and I enjoyed sex. I dated plenty, but I preferred to keep things casual. Hadn’t found any reason not to yet. And I respected bro code and took that shit seriously.

Brax did, too. He just talked a big game.

“All right, I need to get back to the office.” He grabbed his wrapper and dropped it in the bag before pushing to his feet and clapping me on the shoulder. “Thanks for helping out Lila.”

“Of course. You know I’d do anything for her.”

He saluted me and Brax before making his way out the door.

“I guess I better get back and make sure everyone’s working. We’re busier than usual,” Brax said. “So, you sure you can handle having Lila working here?”

His tone was all tease, but I knew what he was insinuating.

“Of course. I’ve known her my entire life, and she’s Travis’s sister. No problem. Some of us can control our dicks.” I raised a brow and gave him a hard look. I’d always looked at Lila like a little sister. And sure—I wasn’t blind—she was fucking gorgeous now.

But unlike Brax, I knew when someone was off limits.

And I didn’t appreciate the way he was talking about her.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. But damn, she looks good, man. And she’s smart and has her shit together. It might not be as easy as you think, brother.” He smirked before clapping me on the shoulder. “But I’ll be here to talk some sense into you when you waver.”

“Never going to happen. Get to work, jackass.”

He raised his hand over his head and walked out the door.

I chuckled about the fact that Brax was worried. I’d never had a problem controlling myself around women. I wasn’t that guy.

This would be a piece of cake.