“Thank you.” Wilder’s deep voice still managed to affect me. Even if it wasn’t as powerful of an emotion as it had once been. The sound of it would probably always make me feel something.

  I turned around and looked at Sarah, who was watching me. Her eyes red and cheeks wet from tears. Cleo had caused that.

  Lifting my gaze to Wilder’s, I said, “Call me whenever you need me to help. I’ll be there.”

  He looked unsure. As if he, too, was ready to bar me from his life and Sarah’s. I couldn’t go without seeing her. She was the only family I truly had. My dad had chosen Cleo years ago. I’d slowly lost him to her. When I thought of family now, it was only Sarah I considered as mine.

  “I will,” he replied in a tone that didn’t sound very convincing.

  Unable to look into his dark gaze longer than necessary, I dropped my eyes back to Sarah’s. “The worst is over. She’ll regret it eventually, I promise,” I told her.

  Sarah wiped at her face as she sniffled. “Okay.” Her voice was soft. “But she didn’t even tell me goodbye.”

  I wanted to go run down that stupid, overpriced car my dad had bought Cleo and grab her by the hair on her head and shake her. Why did it always have to be about her? Why couldn’t she see how her actions affected others? Especially the only grandchild she was ever going to have. My children would probably not even get the chance to know my dad, much less her. She’d make sure of it. That was, if I ever had any. Some days, I doubted I’d get the chance.

  “She’ll regret that, and when she makes it up to you, it will be with some elaborate gift,” I told her. “You could ask for that iPad you’ve been wanting,” I suggested with a wink.

  A small giggle came from her, and it was like a balm to my soul.

  “I’ll go load your things. You can say your goodbyes to Oakley,” Wilder told Sarah, then turned and headed to the stairs. Not once looking back at me. No words or promises of when I could see Sarah again. He had reasons to hate me that I understood. There had been times over the years I had hated myself for the same reasons.

  He couldn’t keep Sarah from me. I had come today to help. I had been here to face down the Wicked Witch for them. I had hoped that would win me some trust or a sliver of forgiveness. Not that I cared about how Wilder felt about me. I just wanted him to allow me to continue to be a part of Sarah’s life.

  Three

  Oakley

  Eleven Years Ago

  The energy from tonight’s win had everyone buzzing. Although I understood nothing about the plays they were talking about, it was fun to listen to their excitement. Tucked in close to Wells Jones, the Bulldogs quarterback, I felt lucky. I knew every girl in this restaurant wanted to be me. But I wasn’t with Wells because he was the number one quarterback pick in the nation.

  The reasons I liked him had nothing to do with football. He was fun, we laughed a lot, and my stepmother didn’t approve of his family. They weren’t God-fearing church folks. Which I doubted was the real reason.

  Wells’s family was powerful here in this small town. There were four families that owned most everything. Including the place we were currently in right now. The Jones family was one of those. My stepmother was just angry I was dating him and my stepsister wasn’t. Even if she was too old to be dating a high school boy.

  “I can’t believe you signed with fucking Bama, man,” Storm Kingston groaned, reaching for his drink. “You’re a Georgia boy. They wanted you. We could be playing together next year.”

  Wells shrugged and tossed a fry into his mouth. “It was hard to turn down the chance to play for the most successful coach in college football history.”

  Storm looked as if he disagreed. “Not yet. He needs more wins before he gets that title, and he’s not won Bama’s fourteenth national championship yet.”

  Wells just grinned and ate another fry. “He will. This year.”

  “Let it go,” Sebastian Shephard said from the other end of the table. “He wants to go to Alabama. Leave it be.”

  Storm cut his eyes to Sebastian. “Says the guy who turned down all offers to stay home.”

  “Some of us have other plans for our future. You know, our birthright,” Sebastian drawled, leaning back in his chair as Jade Davis, the head cheerleader, came and sat down on his lap.

  Sebastian might not be the football star, but he owned the title as the sexy bad boy. Jade leaned down and whispered something in his ear. Sebastian winked at her, then patted her butt, causing her to giggle.

  “Let’s change the topic,” Wells suggested, and I realized his body had tensed.

  What had Sebastian said that bothered him? Was it the birthright comment? I knew the Shephards owned racing horses, and the Jones, Kingston, and Salazar families had something to do with racing horses too. The Shephards had one of the biggest houses in Madison that sat on a huge ranch. It was one of those built in the 1800s, Gone with the Wind–looking mansions. Which added to Sebastian’s bad boy appeal. He was a rich bad boy.

  I felt like it had more to do with the whispers, the bits and pieces of when the adults gossiped. I knew from overhearing people whispers at church that their fathers did things folks in town believed were illegal, but no one wanted to say it aloud or call them out on it. I was almost positive that what I had heard about their families were all bogus.

  “What about the fact that your cousin is back in town? What’s up with that?” Storm asked, looking back over his shoulder toward the entrance of The Doghouse, everyone’s go to place for food after a game.

  “He’s here to see me play.” Wells glanced back, and his tension eased. “Hey! Wilder!” he called out.

  It was then I turned to see this cousin I had never met. There were two guys, but only one swung his gaze toward Wells. A smile spread across his face, and I found myself mesmerized by his dark, deep-set eyes, classically straight nose, high cheekbones, and full, sculpted lips. The way his mouth softened when he smiled made my stomach feel funny. Even if he wasn’t smiling at me. He was older. There was no boyish charm that clung to him. He was tall with broad shoulders and a man’s build. The thick, corded arms that his black T-shirt strained to contain weren’t from lifting weights in a high school gym. They were from something much more intense.

  The door opened behind him, and in walked another man with a dark brown cowboy hat on his head. I knew that face. Thatcher Shephard. Sebastian’s older brother, who had been accused of murder five years ago, but he’d been found not guilty. The dangerous gleam in his eyes always made me wonder if the jury had been wrong. There was something sinister about Thatcher Shephard. His name always seemed to be spoken with a certain amount of fear and perhaps respect in town. He was so much older than me. I knew very little about him. Just what the news and social media had shared.

  “Great. Looks like they’re all here,” Sebastian drawled. He sounded annoyed that his brother was among the older guys.

  I turned my head back around and glanced over at Sebastian, who was whispering in Jade’s ear now. His eyes met mine, and he winked. I dropped mine to stare at my half-eaten burger. Sebastian was a flirt, and I was used to it. At first, I’d thought I’d date Sebastian. But Wells was the safer choice.

  “He came to watch you play tonight,” Wells said to Sebastian, then reached over to take one of my fries now that his were all gone. “Don’t be a dick.”

  “He was only there because Wilder and King were,” Sebastian replied.

  The air around us seemed to grow warmer, as if it radiated electricity. I lifted my eyes to look up at the three men standing in front of our booth. While Thatcher stopped at the chair Sebastian was in with Jade to smirk down at his younger brother, Wilder stood directly in the center. His gaze on Wells.

  “Dad said you were at the game, but I didn’t see you,” Wells told him, looking pleased by the older guy’s appearance.

  “I had to come see what all the talk was about,” Wilder replied. “You definitely got all the athletic talent in the family.”

  “Easy,” the guy to his right said. The one I assumed was King. I had only ever heard of one guy named King, and he was a Salazar. “Let’s not forget my time as the Bulldogs QB.”

  The Salazars weren’t as wealthy as the Shephards, but they were a close second in town.

  Thatcher chuckled. “We haven’t. You won’t fucking let us.”

  King rolled his eyes, but my gaze went right back to Wilder’s face. He was hard not to look at. I kept looking for a flaw, but I had yet to find one.

  “How long are you here for?” Wells asked him while putting his arm back around my shoulders again.

  Wilder shrugged as his gaze shifted from Wells to me. Nothing could have prepared me for the punch having those intense brown eyes locked on mine caused. For a moment, I was afraid I had gasped, but when Wells didn’t seem to notice, I realized my reaction to Wilder had been successfully hidden.

  “Oh, Wilder, this is Oakley, my girlfriend. Oakley, meet my cousin, Wilder,” Wells said as he squeezed my shoulder.

  Wilder nodded his head once as those eyes held mine. “Nice to meet you, Oakley,” he replied, and then those dark pools released me as he turned his attention back to Wells. “Until Monday.”

  “Great! Come to the house tomorrow night. Mom and Dad are headed to Ocala for the weekend. I’m having some friends over.”

  It was brief. So very brief that if I hadn’t been so focused on every breath the man took, I would have missed it. Wilder’s gaze flickered to me before glancing at King to his right and Thatcher to his left.

  “Yeah, we’ll stop by,” he finally said, looking back at Wells.

  And although he didn’t so much as glimpse in my direction again, it felt as if his complete focus was on me.

  Four

  Wilder

  Present Day

  Sarah sat on the sofa with her favorite fuzzy pink blanket over her, Belladonna tucked in close to her side, while smiling down at her phone. There had been very little smiling from her lately. I didn’t know if I should be trying to make her smile or respecting that she was mourning her mother’s death. I wasn’t sure what the hell I was supposed to be doing. We had been here for almost a month now, and I kept thinking tomorrow would be better, but it never was.

  When Sarah started texting, the smile on her face remained, and I watched her, relieved to see some of the little girl that had been there before Sylvia took her own life. This month hadn’t been easy, and I felt like I was failing my daughter at every turn. I’d spent two hours on Amazon last night, looking for books on how to handle this correctly. Three books were on the way, and I intended to read them from front to back.

  Sarah put her phone down and lifted her gaze back to the television. She was watching cheerleaders in pink uniforms and teenagers with green hair in some weird burst-into-song movie. I handed over the remote to her in the evenings. I rarely watched television anyway.

  Her phone lit up again, and she glanced down at it and … giggled. She actually laughed. Fuck, that sound eased the tightness in my chest like nothing else.

  “Who has you so amused tonight?” I asked her.

  Her grin grew as she began to text. “Oaky,” she replied.

  Of course. I should have guessed. Trying not to be jealous of the fact that Oakley knew what to say to make Sarah laugh, I focused on being relieved someone did. I sure as hell didn’t.

  Sarah glanced up at me then. “Daphne has her on a blind date.”

  I had no clue who Daphne was or why the fuck Oakley would need to be set up on a blind date. She was the kind of female who should have been snatched up by now. Some wealthy, powerful, charismatic man should have gotten one look at her and done everything he could to make her his. It was a mystery to me how she’d gone this long without getting married.

  I knew Sebastian had been in love with her and proposed a few years back. Thatcher was horrified that his little brother would want to get married. I was so fucking eaten up with jealousy at the idea of her being married to someone that I almost wept with relief when I found out she’d turned him down. After that, Sebastian had run off to fucking Las Vegas to work at one of the family-owned casinos. Cleo had mentioned two other proposals. I hadn’t known about those, but it didn’t surprise me. Oakley would allow men to fall in love with her even if she didn’t love them. It was just how she was.

  “Who is Daphne?” I asked, knowing it was best that I didn’t know the details of Oakley’s life. Not my business.

  “Oaky’s friend from her job that she quit.”

  When had she quit her job? I never asked questions about Oakley. I’d learned a long time ago not to ask. The more I knew, the harder it was to get her out of my head. But if she’d quit her job, then why had she said she wasn’t always around for Sarah because of work? Probably a fucking lie. She was good at those.

  “She doesn’t have a job?” I asked Sarah.

  Sarah frowned. “No. She has a job. She has her own Etsy store.”

  I knew Etsy was for selling things you made. I knew I should let it go, but I couldn’t. I wanted to find the flaw in the excuse she’d told me about her work getting in the way.

  “What job did she have before, and when did she quit it to have an Etsy store?”

  Sarah scrunched her nose. I never asked her about Oakley. My interest was confusing her. If Oakley was going to be in my daughter’s life, I needed to know details about her.

  “She worked for a company in Atlanta—uh, marketing, I think is what she did. But she had to be out of town a lot and …” Sarah paused and looked down at her phone. “And she wanted to be home more. She missed me. So, she quit and started selling things on Etsy.”

  Why the fuck had no one thought to tell me any of this? Oakley had quit a marketing job in Atlanta because she felt that Sylvia was that bad off? Jesus Christ! Had she not thought to call me?! Tell me, Sarah’s father?! I tried to control my mounting anger. She’d kept it all from me. Just like Cleo.

  Sarah’s phone lit up again, and her sad expression vanished. Her smile had returned. Fucking Oakley.

  “She’s full of jokes tonight,” I said, hoping my annoyance didn’t bleed through into my tone.

  “Daphne has been dating Tanner and wanting Oaky to go on a date with his friend Hamilton. She gave in and went tonight.”

  I bit my tongue before I could blurt out, Someone needs to warn Hamilton.

  I knew Sarah wouldn’t understand. She thought Oakley had hung the moon, and maybe she needed a female to look up to, but, damn, I wished she had a better one.

  Sarah’s phone lit up, and she looked back at it and giggled again. If she was on a date, why was she texting her niece? It was fucking rude, and I didn’t like Sarah thinking that behavior was acceptable. She needed a role model, and Oakley wasn’t that. Even if she was making Sarah smile.

  “It’s not polite to text when you’re on a date,” I pointed out.

  Sarah was smiling brightly down at the phone again. “He doesn’t mind,” she said, then held up her phone to me. “See.”

  The first thing I saw was Oakley sticking her tongue out and crossing her eyes. Even making a ridiculous face, she was gorgeous. The guy beside her was making a stupid face, too, and looking real damn happy to be doing it. They were taking a selfie together—for Sarah. How fucking sweet. The poor bastard was already walking the plank to heartache, and he didn’t even know it.

  Unable to sit here and act like I wasn’t angry, I stood up and walked out of the room before I made a comment that I would regret.

  Oakley had always been that girl. The one men wanted to possess. The girl they’d give up everything for. Then, there had been me. Helplessly fucking obsessed with her. Completely in love, and she’d crushed me. I couldn’t truly hate her for it. Not after Sarah. Sure, I’d gotten drunk and fucked Sylvia, who had thrown herself at me. But Sarah had come from that night.

  More laughter came from the living room. I jerked open the cabinet and got down a whiskey glass. I needed a drink.

  “DAD!” Sarah called out.

  I dropped the ice into the glass. “Yeah?”

  “Oaky said that she can come stay with me when you go out of town next week. You don’t have to hire that Ms. Maynard to come. She will do it for free, and I want to see her.”

  I closed my eyes and swore under my breath.

  Ms. Maynard was a former neighbor of mine who I hired to stay with Sarah a couple of times when I had to work late or the one night I was out of town. Sarah had complained that she smelled of mothballs and made her go to bed by nine, but other than that, she had done a good job.

  “It’s for five days. Doesn’t she need to work or whatever she does?” I asked, trying not to sound as irritated as I was.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t want Sarah to see Oakley. I just thought it was best that I take Sarah there to visit for a day after she settled in here. The settling wasn’t going smoothly though, and I hadn’t had time to take her for a visit. The main issue was, I didn’t want Oakley here, in my house.

  “She works from home, so it’s no problem!” Sarah called out.

  Picking up the bottle of whiskey, I didn’t even measure the shots, but filled the damn glass up. Fucking hell. I wasn’t going to get out of this. Was Oakley trying to piss me off? She was on a date, for Christ’s sake! Did she have to butt into our life while she was with some guy?

  “SO, can she?” Sarah asked.

  I took one long drink, then sighed. “Yeah. Sure.”

  The loud squeal of delight that rang through the house was the first bit of joy that these walls had heard since we had moved in here.

  I’d not wanted to raise Sarah in my old apartment, so I bought this house in a nice subdivision with a great school system the week after Sylvia’s death. It was a new build, and we had moved in the day after I signed the papers.