Brothers of Paradise Series

My laptop is familiar-as is the work I was doing. Ones and zeroes flash before me. I don’t do this often anymore, but when I do, I have to make sure it’s perfect. My former brother-in-arms, now turned business partner, is an absolute genius with computers. Me… not so much.

“Concentrate,” Finn says on the phone. “You’re slipping.”

I swear at him. “No, I’m not.”

“You’ve been out of the game for too long.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“All I hear are excuses.” I watch as he completes a loop, finishing off the coding with an eloquent flourish. The screen goes black for a moment before it returns to the graphs and numbers I’m more familiar with.

“All right. Now this I know what to do with.”

He laughs. “Maybe it’s good that we have our respective fields, huh?”

“Yes. Let’s stick to that,” I say, finding the numbers I need. “We’re pulling in considerable capital from the East Coast now. You saw that I got Hornby Defense involved, too. With their backing, we don’t need to take in any more outside investors.”

“Yep, I read that email.”

I shake my head at Finn through the webcam. “You could respond to them once in a while, you know. So I know you’ve actually read them.”

“Yeah, yeah.” In the silence, I hear the clacking of his fingers against the keyboard. “So, how’s home treating you?”

“Good.” I pause for a moment. “Weird.”

“Being back?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s why I never go back. Saves me the trouble.”

“That’s a coward’s way out.”

He scoffs. “That was your way out up until a month ago, so quit playing.”

He’s right, of course, as he is about so many things. Finn has always been a straight shooter. There’s nothing he won’t call you out on, no bullshit he’ll tolerate. It’s why he’s excellent at security software. He finds flaws and points them out ruthlessly, designing systems to combat all forms of security breaches. The last system we designed together just hit the market, and it’s drawing in considerable cash.

“At least I got my head out of my ass,” I say, knowing it’ll draw a chuckle. “If you ever feel like getting some sea breeze…”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says. “I know where you live, Cole.”

“Is the update complete?”

“Yes. Go play with your childhood friends.”

“Fuck off, Finn.”

He laughs. “Talk to you later.”

“Yeah. I’ll update you on the shareholder meeting next week. And please answer my emails.”

“Yes, boss,” he says dryly and hangs up.

I sigh and close my laptop. There’s never a shortage of things to get done. Becoming an independent contractor and entrepreneur meant becoming my own boss, and there was a part of me that relished it. But it also meant I could take on as much work as I wanted. The more hours I put in, the more money I make. And my pile of cash would grow, and grow, and grow.

I might never be able to buy respectability in the eyes of the Paradise Shores elite, but I could buy wealth.

And wealth is power-in all languages.

I look around my fancy home office. I hadn’t lied to Lily. The house had come fully furnished. Only, I wasn’t renting. I bought it.

It had been a crazy decision. And nobody knows-not even Gary. I want the house to be a surprise. A place for him to retire one day. Paradise Shores had become his home as surely as it had mine, after nearly twenty years in the area and in the Marchands’ service. I also know that he couldn’t live in the beach house indefinitely-not once he retired.

He’d done so much for me. It had taken me a few years of adulthood to fully realize just how much. With a child’s eye, it had sometimes seemed self-evident that he was my caretaker. My mom was dead and my dad a drunk-of course my uncle took me in.

But things aren’t that simple, and I know now that a weaker man wouldn’t have been as generous or as strong as he had been.

But the house would also come as a surprise to Lily and her family.

The thought of her made me groan.

Oh, Lily.

I’d screwed it up when she came to my house a few days earlier. I hadn’t been able to stop myself from getting too close, from asking what I wanted to know.

She was kind to tell me her family had missed me. I’m sure Parker had, but I couldn’t for the life of me imagine Henry or her parents giving me a second thought.

Lily, though. She had. I’d suspected she would, and knowing I’d hurt her by leaving was painful. It was a wound I’d made worse rather than better by kissing her.

But damn, what a wonder kissing her was.

The sweetness of her lips, the way she’d leaned into me. The soft skin of her leg where my hand rested. The kiss was painful in its carefulness, in the way I had to hold back ten years of want and need and sorrow.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

It had been an innocent kiss, but it had meant so much more. And Lily knew that too.

Hell. I knew why she’d left so abruptly-I understood it. I’d stirred up things I should have let lie. Damn it, Cole.

The strategy of this operation was simple: ask forgiveness. That was my goal in returning. If I could have her friendship, if I could just have her in my life, it would have to be enough. I knew well enough that I could never ask her to be mine again. I’d hurt her too badly for that.

But now I’d gone and messed up the prospect of a friendship, too. It’s been two days and I haven’t heard a word from her.

Everything in me tells me we need to talk. Knowing she’s in this town and not seeing her, not going to find her, feels like torture. She’s like a magnet to me. Always has been.

But my fear wins. Without time to think, she might push me away. And if she did… It would kill me.

At the same time, I can’t just leave it, either. So I do the only thing I can think of. I drive to the large arts and crafts store just outside of Paradise Shores. Lily had said she still painted, but her eyes had betrayed her. It might not be a complete lie, but it wasn’t entirely truthful, either.

And the Lily I’d known had only ever wished for one thing, every birthday and Christmas. More art supplies.