Page 21 of Saving it with My Best Friend's Brother

A ghost of a smile touched his lips. We sat in comfortable silence, my thumb tracing the same soothing patterns he’d used on me earlier. The intimacy of the moment should have felt strange, but it felt... right. Like finding the last piece of a puzzle you didn’t know was incomplete.

“I want to tell you everything,” he finally said, his voice carrying that same raw quality from the lounge. “But I need to handle this first. Can you trust me that far?”

I studied him in the harsh office light—his rumpled clothes, the shadows under his eyes, the way he held himself like Atlas bearing the weight of secrets. Everything in me screamed to be cautious, to remember Michael’s warnings about Hunter leaving collateral damage in his wake.

But I thought about how he’d jumped in to help with the housekeeping crisis, how he remembered my favorite bear claws, how he saw straight through my defenses to the exhausted woman beneath. How he’d almost kissed me with such gentle intensity that made my heart race even now. The way he treated Pine Haven not as a business to save, but as a home to protect.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I trust you.”

The smile he gave me was worth the risk—real and warm, reaching his eyes in a way his business smiles never did. He squeezed my hand once, then let go, standing. “You should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be busy.”

I stood, too, suddenly aware of how close we were in the confined space. The scent of his cologne, mixed with coffee and paper, is familiar now. “Hunter...”

“I know.” His voice was soft, intimate. “We should talk about what happened. What almost happened? But not tonight.”

I nodded, stepping back before I could do something foolish like kiss him myself. At the door, I turned back. “Whatever it is? I’m here.”

His expression softened into something that stirred an ache deep inside of me, something dangerously close to what I’d seen in his eyes by the fire. “Goodnight, Amelia.”

I was halfway to my room when I heard his phone ring again. This time, his voice carried clearly through the quiet halls, sharp with fear rather than anger.

“No, you listen. You got your money. Now stay away from my family. And if you ever contact her again...”

The rest was lost as I hurried away, my mind racing. Her? What money? And why did Hunter—confident, composed Hunter—sound more frightened than angry?

In my room, my phone lit up with a text from Michael:Got some interesting info about Miller. Call me ASAP.

I stared at the message, then at my reflection in the window. The woman looking back at me seemed caught between trust and terror, hope and history. Mom’s old advice echoed in my head:“Sometimes the heart knows what the mind hasn’t figured out yet.”

The smart thing would be to call Michael immediately. To listen to whatever information he’d dug up, to protect myself from whatever secrets Hunter was keeping. To remember that business and pleasure don’t mix, that Pine Haven needed a savior, not a romance.

Instead, I turned off my phone and crawled into bed, Hunter’s touch still burning on my skin, his secrets echoing in my head. I could still feel his hands on my face, see the vulnerability in his eyes when he’d asked for my trust. The way he’d looked at me in the firelight like I was something precious to be protected.

Tomorrow would bring enough complications. The review, Crystal Ridge’s threats, whatever Michael had discovered—it would still be there in the morning.

Tonight, I would let myself remember how it felt to almost kiss Hunter Miller—twice—and pretend that was enough. Pretend I wasn’t falling for someone with secrets that could shatter everything.

Because some risks, Mom used to say, were worth taking. Even if they broke your heart.

Chapter Six

Hunter

Icouldn’t focus on Derek’s voice coming through my phone, not with Amelia visible through my office window. She moved through the lobby with practiced grace, stopping to chat with guests, her smile brightening every corner of the room. Last night’s almost-kiss replayed in my mind like a torturous loop—how she’d felt under my hands, how her eyes had darkened, the slight catch in her breath...

“Hunter? You hear any of this?”

I forced my attention back to Derek’s report, turning away from the window. “Yeah, sorry. You were saying about Wheeler?”

“It’s worse than we thought. The county official, James Wheeler? He’s not just taking bribes from Crystal Ridge. He’s actively manipulating property values in the area.”

I moved further from the window, needing distance from the distraction of Amelia’s presence. “How?”

“Selective enforcement of code violations, delayed permit approvals for improvements, fast-tracking competing developments. Classic corruption playbook.” Derek paused, his tone sharpening. “But here’s the kicker: his wife bought significant shares in Crystal Ridge’s holding company.”

“They’re not even trying to hide it,” I muttered, pacing my office. The carpet muffled my steps, worn thin from years of resort managers doing the same anxious walk.

“Gets better. I found emails between Wheeler and Crystal Ridge’s CEO. They’ve been planning this for months. The negative review? That blogger is Wheeler’s niece.”

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