Page 119 of Sterling Heat

My mouth pops open but he holds up a hand. “But you’ve been given a second chance. Take advantage of it.”

“With the bakery.” I clarify. “You think I’d fuck that up? It’s been three years. I’ve been working my ass off for my business, and hiring Rena was one mis—”

“I mean with Enya,” Stone cuts me off.

I snort. “I never had a first chance with her. I don’t have a prayer with someone like her. And you and I both know it.”

“What I know” —Stone pauses—“Is Enya is your one and only.”

Staring at him, I can’t figure out who this man is and what he’s done with my brother. He looks like Stone. He sounds like Stone. But the words coming out of his mouth are not the brother I know.

“Like you had with Bailey?” My brother doesn’t even flinch at the mention of the last girl he officially dated. The one who ripped out his heart and divided two families.

“Not like Bailey.” If I expected his voice to be cold mentioning her name, it’s not. “That wasn’t love.”

He lowers his head, staring down at the gravel edge of the road. Then he lifts his big head so fast I almost flinch.

“Love is having a woman who wants you. And Enya wants you. Love is having a woman trust you, and we both know she trusts you. With her life. With her kid’s life. Love is family, and Enya and Adara are yours, Sebastian. Do not let them go.” He lifts his hand, clenching his fist. “When you have family, you hold on with everything you have to love them. Protect them. Keep them.”

For half a second, Stone’s voice cracks before he clears his throat with a thick cough. He’s done exactly what he’s telling me to do. He has loved us. He protected us when he could. And he kept us together, especially Ford, Vale, and me, when he could have walked away. He could have taken that NFL deal and left. Lived for himself. But he didn’t. He lived for our family.

When Stone speaks again, his voice is calm, almost encouraging. “For once, trust in yourself, Sebastian. Where is your heart leading you?”

Love is family. And I love Enya and Adara. I love us.

The radio on Stone’s shoulder squawks at the same time my phone rings before I verbalize an answer for him. I don’t have hands-free wiring on my older model bike, so I pull my phone from my pocket.

As I lift the device for my ear, I hear the dispatcher loud and clear on Stone’s radio.

“Suspicious activity.” The address is Enya’s house.

“Vale?” I choke as I answer my sister’s call.

“Seb,” Vale’s voice quivers. “It’s Enya. Something’s wrong.”

That’s all I need to hear before I kick my bike into gear and speed off to save my family.

Chapter 34

[Enya]

It was a beautiful summer evening and a motorcycle had just sped down the highway before the house. The same bike has made a drive-by for two nights in a row, and I’m curious if the rider is a neighbor. I really need to meet them even if I can hardly see their homes.

With Adara strapped to my chest in a baby sack, I take a stroll around the yard which is two square acres. As we near the woods on the backside of the lot, a man steps forward and I stumble to a stop. My hands protectively cover Adara’s back and head.

“Hey.” The man holds up both hands in greeting. I instantly recognize him but that doesn’t prevent my heart from racing.

“Goodness. You scared me.” Still clutching Adara to me, I keep my distance despite my vague familiarity with the person who kindly held a door and bought me a lemonade during the Fourth of July festivities.

“I’m sorry.” He lowers his hands and gives me a pouty look, expressing his chagrin. “Did you know there’s a lot on the other side of the trees?”

My brows crease. My understanding is the woods belong to someone living in another state who has a forester manage the land, keeping vagrants off it and preventing local property owners from encroaching. I don’t know why you’d want to own woods in another state, but I didn’t question it when I purchased the farmhouse from Trudy.

“Really?” My voice shakes. I don’t want to feel uneasy around this stranger who has been nothing but kind. However, it’s unnerving that he walked out of the woods on the edge of my property.

“Do you live around here?” he asks, glancing around when the only home in sight is mine.

The urge to get safely back to the house arises, and I don’t know how to word a polite escape.