Page 1 of His Secret Gift

Chapter 1

A New Chapter – Kayla

No way.My mouth drops as I watch Maggie, a small-town farm girl, and Jasper, a British trust fund baby, who Maggie previously detested, start hooking up on my favorite show, Yacht Life.

“Molly?” I call her immediately.

“Are you watching?” she says after picking up.

“Of course, I am! Can you believe it?” I snuggle deeper into the couch and shovel more popcorn in my mouth as I watch them kiss.

“No! But…I like it.” Molly’s fascination withYacht Lifestems from her involvement in her family’s business, Tiffany Yachts, a well-known lucrative yacht maker. She owns a few of them herself but prefers to keep that information private. She has experienced judgement in the past when others have found out her family is extremely wealthy.

“Right?” I feel that delicious pressure and heat raising down below.

However, the line soon beeps to let me know that another call is coming in.

“Ugh.”

“What?”

I hit ignore. “Nothing.” It was my brother, Collin, calling. Don’t get me wrong, I love him to death, but I already know what he’s going to say—Why don’t you have a job yet, Kayla? Do you really get fulfillment out of watching those cheesy reality TVshows all day? The world is your oyster. There’s so much more of it that you have to explore while you’re still young.

My answers to such questions are the following: No, yes, and… blahhh. I enjoy our small town.

But that makes me hear his voice all over again.Indiana lacks culture, Kayla. Culture, fun, and pizazz.

I shake my head again to dismiss such thoughts. “Anyway—”

But I’m silenced again after hearing a rattling at my door.

I stand up immediately with my blood running cold. “Molly? I’ve gotta go.”

Without hearing her response, I end the call. I need the line free if I need to call the police. Setting the phone down, I go over by the fireplace and take one of the pokey instruments that is hanging near it.

Then, I hold it up over my head and look through the peephole to find my brother standing there.

There’s more clanging.

I’m still holding up my weapon when I open the door to scare him for coming over unannounced.

“Jesus Christ, Kayla!”

“Collin?” I drop the weapon. “You could’ve been a robber.”

Now that my brother is assured of his safety, his body relaxes, and he chuckles softly. “A robber? In Aurora? Yeah, right.” He works from home as an IT professional, but he’s dressed fancier than normal—with a light brown button-up and a sweater vest dark green with cream details over it. His spikey, colorless hair and small, silver glasses are still the same, however.

His narrow and often negative opinion of our town irritates me. So, after he drops two plastic bags, which smell heavenly, off on the table, I cross my arms.

“What about what happened to Mrs. Maisey?”

He grins and raises his eyebrow. “Are you referring to the time when her grandson got drunk off of wine coolers at the Fourth of July parade and then stammered into her garage?”

Tucking some of my hair behind my ear, I quip, “He stole a beer from her fridge.”

He makes a funny face and flails his hands in front of him. “Ooh. Big deal. Taking a beer bottle from your grandma’s garage.”

I clench my jaw. “Still.” Then, wanting to change the subject, I ask while gesturing with my head, “What’s all that?”

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