Chapter One
Kane
Nine years ago…
The black Mercedes in front of me jerks to the left and then skids into the ditch.
I curse and follow, pulling over despite the chopper waiting on me and a meeting in Houston I can’t miss.
I’ve spent the past year juggling law school and my investment in a small oil company that I’m really close to turning into a future.
I’ve now leveraged my role in the company to the point that it bears my name, but not my full control.
I’m one deal away from the kind of revenue that will allow me to dump the stockholders in the not-so-distant future and take it private, and that meeting is later today.
I am not my damn father, and I’m about to prove that.
I yank my cellphone from my pocket and dial Elizabeth, my assistant, and ask her to push the meeting an hour, if she can, and then step out of the car, the fine leather of my dress shoes crunch on gravel.
I’m dressed for my meeting in a black suit that’s more than a little out of place on the side of the road, but we do what we need to do.
I find two women standing at the trunk of the car in a full-out fight, both of whom I recognize as locals, a few years younger than me but with family roots in the area, one of whom is the sheriff’s daughter, Lilah Love, and not likely to welcome my help.
Her father and mine couldn’t hate each other more, but I’m here.
If they turn down my help, that’s on them, not me.
“Can I help?” I call out.
It’s Lilah who turns toward me and relief washes over her. “Yes. We need a ride. My dumbass friend ran out of gas.”
Her friend’s eyes go wide on me and she grabs Lilah’s arm. “Lilah. Lilah—”
Lilah jerks her arm free and walks toward me. She’s a tiny thing, as pretty as her movie star mother with dark hair to her shoulders and when she stops in front of me her bright green eyes meet mine without a hint of shyness to be found.
“I appreciate you stopping considering my dumbass friend, Alexandra, was too lazy to get gas.”
“I don’t think gas is going to do the trick. She’s in the ditch.”
“Right.” She glances over her shoulder and eyes the car and then me. “We need a tow truck. I guess I shouldn’t have punched her when we got down to fumes, but she shouldn’t be driving if she can’t handle a small distraction.”
I arch a brow. “You punched her?”
“What’s a friend for if not to check you when you’re stupid.”
Holy fuck, this woman is perfect storm of beauty and personality. “I don’t want to leave you on the highway. Can I take you somewhere?”
“No,” her friend says, appearing by our side. “No, you cannot take us anywhere. Jared is coming to give us a ride, Lilah.”
Lilah cuts her a look. “You know how I feel about Jared.”
“Do you know who this man is?”
“He’s not the guy who cheated on you Alexandra. Jared is and if I see him right now, I’ll either punch him, too, or shoot him.” She motions to me. “I’m going with him. Are you coming?”
“No,” she says. “No, I can’t. You can’t. Do you know—”
“—who he is?” she supplies. “No.” She looks at me. “But I have a gun and several knives. I like using them. Do not give me a reason.”
My lips quirk and I lower my chin at her.
“Understood.” I back up to motion her to my car, but she’s already walking.
I snake my keys from my pocket and unlock the door and by the time I’m back in the driver’s seat, Lilah is in the passenger seat, the sweet smell of her a contradiction to her tough-as-nails attitude.
And I like it. Some would say a little too much considering who I am. “Where to?”
She glances behind her to my backseat and the back at me. “You going to the airport?”
“I am.”
“Good. Me too.”
“What about your luggage?” I ask.
“I’ll survive without it. I can’t battle with her for one more minute.”
“The airport it is then.” I place the car in gear and start driving. “You aren’t worried about leaving your friend back there?” I ask, once we’re on the road.
“Her boyfriend will be there soon. I have to get back to school.”
“Which is where?”
“The city,” is all she says, before turning it back on me. “What about you?”
“I’m headed to a meeting in Houston then back to school right after.”
“What kind of business?”
“Oil,” I say simply, not too interested in giving the Love family any insight into my finances or my future. I might like this woman, but her father is my enemy. She might be too, if given the chance, but I find myself hoping the fuck not.
“What are you studying?” she asks.
“Law school.”
“What kind of law?”
“Business. What about you? What are you studying?”
“Forensics.”
It’s a simple one-word answer that’s not simple at all and leads me to my next question. “Not film like your mother?”
Her gaze shoots to mine for a moment before mine is forced back to the road there’s a beat of something between us. “My last name is far more legendary than my own self,” she says dryly.
“As is mine,” I admit, “which is exactly why we carve out our own identity, right?”
“Right,” she says, but she doesn’t expand on that reply. She’s good at that. Saying a lot with a few words. Or no words, for that matter.
At this point, I’m already pulling us into the airport, and a parking spot. I kill the engine, expecting her to bolt. Instead, she sits there a minute, staring forward. I find myself doing the same and there’s a pulse of awareness between us heavy and somehow dark.
And too damn compelling for either of us.
I shake off the urge to see where this can go.
No. Just no. I will not reign that hell down on her.
I reach for the door and exit, opening my rear door, and grabbing my bags.
Lilah joins me and we walk toward the airport.
Once we’re inside, we take turns checking in.
“I’m this way,” she says of a private gate.
“I’m the other. Safe travels, Lilah Love.”
“Thanks for the ride,” she says.
“My pleasure, I assure you.”
“Kane Mendez. I’m glad you didn’t make me shoot you. Of course, I know who you are. I just don’t know what you are.” And with that, she starts walking backward, adding. “Maybe you’ll show me one day.” She turns and walks away.