Chapter 1

1

Beau

Autumn sighs as she slumps onto the couch next to me.

"Bad day?" I suppress a chuckle, glancing up from my paperwork.

It was my mom's idea to put a couch in the staff room at our family distillery. She didn't account for the fact nobody would want to get off the damn thing because it's so comfy.

"Don't ask."

"Need a shot?" It's only ten in the morning, but what the heck.

She side eyes me, her vivid blue irises have always been beautiful. Her long lashes accentuate them even more. "Don't tempt me."

"Whatever it is, it can't be as bad as the latest Minecraft glitch."

She shifts in the seat, turning her body to face me fully. "I thought you'd moved on from that stupid game?"

"Stupid? How about I wash your mouth out with soap?" I lean over and go for the jugular; in this case, that's the ticklish spot right near her ribs.

"Beau! No!" She slaps my hands away, straightening out her pencil skirt as she tries — and fails — to scoot back. "You're the only one around here that pretends to listen to me. Eden's too loved up with your brother to listen to my tails of woe. Carrie and Tom are in a similar kind of love bubble, and all my other friends are in the city. If you tickle me to death, it'll be up to you to explain to my parents, brother and Grandma what happened. In fact, maybe that's not a bad idea."

I flex my hands into claws. "Not the dreaded Grandma." I pretend to lunge at her, but I don't make contact. "Fine. You win."

Her eyebrows pull together in a frown. "Huh?"

"Well, if you stop talking to me, I've only got Georgia-Blue to annoy the shit out of me, or one of my brothers who only ever calls upon me when shit hits the fan."

My twin sister is half an hour younger than me, but the time stamp matters and I remind her often. My three older brothers, well, I can't tell you who annoys me more.

First we have Gray; he's a lot less intense now he's found his lady love, Hartley. She took over her father's lawyers office in town and the two of them have been living in Hartley's townhouse while they're building a two-story ranch on the property. And it's close to the distillery down by the creek. It's been Gray's dream for years and they're about to move in.

Then Gabriel, the second eldest. He's the CEO of the company now that Dad and Uncle Jack have retired. Aside from his adorable daughter, Trinity who's five, he's also a giant pain in the ass, always thinking he's in charge. Okay, technically he is, but whatever. I admit he's mellowed a whole lot since falling in love with his nanny, Skye. It's made him a better person around the office. Sexual frustration clearly isn't a thing that any of my attached brothers suffer from, that's all I can say.

Then there's Brooklyn. He makes all the bourbon down in the rickhouse and bottles it up with his assistant, Jarrod. He recently reunited with his ex-wife, Eden, except she was never really his ex because the douchebag never filed the divorce papers when he was supposed to. It made getting back together easier on the paperwork front. They have a kid together; my niece, Blake. She's eleven and is cute as a button; clearly she takes after her mother. You could say Brook is the most sensitive out of all of us, including Georgia; the poor guy that gets stuck with her is in for the ride of his life. My sister is my best friend, but she also drives me a little nuts.

Autumn nudges me in the ribs. "I'm sure that's not true about your adorable siblings."

I snort. "Right. Brook texted me yesterday, for example," I say. "Said it was urgent. I raced down to the rickhouse and when I didn't find him, I saw his legs sticking out from under one of the barrels. Turns out it was leaking and he was trying to stop the flow with his hands and a bucket. I thought he'd hit his head and was dead on the floor."

She raises a hand to her heart and lets out a little laugh. "I'm glad to hear he's okay."

"I swear to God I need a vacation." I glance her way again. "What about you? Why were you huffing just now?"

She lets out another long breath, her long bangs blowing up in front of her face. "Do you really want to hear about my love life?"

Uh, oh. Probably not, but I shrug anyway. "Can't be that bad. You've got suitors lined up around the block. If you need me to fight them off, I could come in handy. I did karate for like three years when I was a kid."

"Don't be so dramatic." She laughs.

I chuckle. "What? I've got a black belt in origami."

I'm glad I amuse her. It's good to see her laugh, because despite our goofing around, I know she's been down about something lately. Every time I see her, she has this pensive look on her face like she's deep in thought about some problem she can't solve.

Maybe I've pushed the jokes too far?

She turns to me. "If only origami could solve my problems. I wish you could, Beauster. Seriously, you should be thanking your lucky stars your family aren't a complete nightmare like mine are and want to control your life."

She's been calling me Beauster for years. It's ridiculous, but also still amuses me.

"That's debatable. My mom has been distracted recently by my three brothers gettin' tied down, but it won't be long before she starts harrassin' me again about when I'm gonna settle down, too."

"Ugh, don't even say the words."

It's no secret that Autumn comes from an affluent family in Memphis. Her family comes from old money. Her parents are very strict and well known in the Memphis community, her dad being a business tycoon and her mom a trophy wife. Even though Autumn is eight years older than me at thirty-three, we get along great. We met a few years ago when we were both at the same event. She was the official photographer for the local paper, and I was there to promote one of our new lines. We hit it off quickly, laughing at the mayor who'd had a few too many ‘samples'.

She's so accomplished and I admire the fact she started her own successful photography business, despite pushback from her parents. She's smart, beautiful and always has a kind word to say about everyone. Even though she's well-to-do, she hasn't got that giant stick up her ass like most people from her high-society upbringing have.

"What did they do now?"

She sighs. "What didn't they do would be a less complicated question."

"I'm open all night."

Her eyes soften and her shoulders seem to relax a little. "You know how I'm expanding my business?" She lowers her voice like someone will hear, even though it's just the two of us here.

"Yeah."

"Well, I've used every single dime I have to start Autumn Leaf." That's her photography studio right here in town, it's just a cute name and it really suits her business. "And… I'll just be frank… I'm shit outta luck where any more money is concerned. I need cash for some new videography equipment and until the wedding season, I've got little to no money coming in, aside from what I'm doing around the distillery."

She's been snapping new photos all over the property for our website and updated our staff profiles recently.

"What do you mean? Can't you just ask your parents for a loan? They're loaded."

She makes that cute sound again as she slumps farther back into the couch. She might wear a hole in it soon, she's that worked up.

"That's just it. They won't lend me any more money. After college, putting the down payment on my house and the office rental, funds have dried up. To top it off, Mom told me I should never have left that jerk Michael." Michael's the annoying and controlling ex that her parents loved because he's rich. He wasn't, however, supportive or loyal or fucking anything decent. "Can you believe that? The asshole cheated on me."

This is where my blood boils. It's like I can feel it surging through my veins whenever I think about it. How anyone could cheat on an amazing woman like Autumn is beyond me. She's the whole package; gorgeous, clever, funny, classy.

"Why would she say that? They both know what he did last time."

"Exactly! But it's my mom mainly, it's like she almost gaslighted me over it, saying that I needed to move back to Memphis and I shouldn't have stayed away this long. Like it's my fault he couldn't keep his dick in his pants."

"Jerks," I mutter. I don't like speaking bad about her family, but that's below the belt. I mean,

her mom can be a pill, her dad, not so much. He seems like an alright kinda guy.

"For the record, your asshole ex is a fuckin' idiot."

Her hand moves to mine, her delicate fingers grazing my skin as she gives me a squeeze. For some reason, the movement goes straight to my dick. I part my lips as she smiles at me. Her smile has always been able to capture me no matter what else is going on in my life. She just has that ability to light up a room. The crease between her brow is still there, but it's not as severe as it was when she first sat down.

"Thanks, Beauster. I can always count on you for a pep talk, but that isn't the end of the story, unfortunately."

Her hand leaves mine and rests back in her lap. I rack my brain to think about something boring, like my inbox needing a serious tidy up, or my car needing a wash. I even imagine cold water being tipped over my head to make the bulge in my pants go away.

What the hell is going on?

This is Autumn. We've been friends forever . She's gorgeous but I don't think about her like that. I have never thought about her like that… Well okay, maybe once or twice. I'm a guy.

Then again, I know what it is. It's not her, so to speak. It's the fact I haven't been laid in a while. I'm not really a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am kinda guy, but I do take care of a woman when I'm with her. I make sure she comes at least once before I really bring it home. And we have a good time. I also make sure she gets home safe if we're not at her place. I'm not a total Neanderthal. The Bassett brothers may have a reputation around town for being strong and capable, but I can't say I've been mistaken for a gigolo.

"You sure you don't want that shot?" I brace for more bad news as she takes a long, slow breath.

"Get this, my grandmother said she'd give me the rest of my inheritance."

My eyebrows shoot up. "That's perfect then, right?"

But her annoyed expression tells me otherwise."It would be if she wasn't living in the nineteenth century. There's a catch."

"Uh, oh. I smell trouble." I wince, waiting for whatever it is she's about to spill. Whatever I'm expecting, it isn't what comes out of her mouth next.

"The woman is out of her damn mind! The stipulation in my family is that we can get half our inheritance when we're twenty-one, and the rest when we get married."

Oh, I see the issue now. "So you have to find a groom? I'm sure there's more than one willing participant, even if it is a little severe…"

She shakes her head. "No, no. You don't understand. In my family, they arrange marriages."

My eyes pop wide. "W-what?" I definitely haven't heard this before.

"Yep. We can marry whoever we want, of course, but if we want any of the family fortune or assets, then we have to abide by Grandma, and she has her rules."

I slap a hand over my mouth like that's going to be able to stop me from commenting. "Holy shit." I do a double take. "Wait, does she have a groom lined up already?"

Autumn snorts a laugh. "Oh, she has several dozen lined up. She'll do the courtesy of letting me pick one from her top three, but I don't get a say in anything else."

"I didn't know people still had arranged marriages in America." My hand lifts to scratch my head in confusion. For some reason imagining Autumn hitched to some weird guy she doesn't know makes my hands ball into fists. I don't like the sound of that one bit.

"Only crazy control freaks like my family." She leans forward, pressing her hands over her eyes, her waist length chestnut hair cascading over one shoulder. Autumn always looks immaculate and so well put together. Her makeup is always flawless and she dresses well even if it's just jeans and a t.shirt.

It's like she just wakes up like that, even though I'm sure she doesn't. It's effortless. She'd look elegant in a paper bag…

"So I take it you're not gonna go along with it?"

She sputters a laugh. "Like hell I am! I'm going to go to the bank for a loan. And if they say no, I'll beg my brother. I'm sure Anton will lend me what I need, but he's also known to be a giant jerkface when it comes to money."

I've met Anton a couple of times — he seems like a good guy.

"I can lend you some money," I say, not wanting it to sound like I'm trying to be a hero. "How much does equipment cost these days?"

She removes her hands from her eyes and leans back, reaching up to my arm and giving my bicep a squeeze. Of course, all the blood rushes to my dick again. This is insanity.

"I can't ask you to do that. I need extra money to fix my roof before winter and get a few other things done. It's too much. I'll figure this out on my own."

"Just sayin', I can help, if you get stuck."

She smiles warmly and it reminds me I like it so much better when she looks happy.

I don't notice how white and straight her teeth are.

I don't notice how pretty a shade of blue her eyes are.

And I sure as shit don't skate my eyes down her sexy body.

Stay focused.

I don't know what's gotten into me, but maybe it's because she's newly single and like I said — I haven't been laid in a while.

"You're the best." She gives my cheek a squeeze like you would a five-year-old child.

My dick all but shrivels up. That's one way to make it go away.

I give her a cocky smile, hiding the fact that I'm mad at myself about how I've been hard this entire conversation. She's a friend. Nothing more.

She needed someone to vent to, and here I am noticing her curves like I haven't seen her a million times before.

And she just made the ‘friends' part abundantly clear by squeezing my cheek like a good boy.

It's not like I have the guts anyway. Even if I did, she's not interested. Not like that. I'm twenty-five and she's thirty-three. I play video games and still live with my parents. Well, sort of. I have my own pad but it's technically still attached to the main house. There is nothing about me that Autumn Davenport could possibly want in that way.

I just curse the lucky bastard who'll be the one to share her bed and make her laugh. He has no idea he's the luckiest man on the planet.

And I'm Beau Bassett. A hopeless romantic who needs to get out more.

Maybe then I'd stop this ridiculous notion about me and my best friend.

No good can come of that.