“Can you prove it?” Mom’s voice rang loud through my car speakers.

I had her on Bluetooth as I pulled up to the front of the downtown building. After my brothers’ visit to the office, and seeing the look of disappointment flash across Cooper’s eyes, I hoped Mom could help me find reason behind this madness unfolding around me.

“It’s too big of a coincidence for it not to be true,” I said.

“Audrey has always loved you, Nolan.”

My chest rose before letting out a heavy sigh. Mom may be right, but that didn’t mean that what Audrey was doing was okay.

“This does seem over the top, even for her.” Mom’s voice was soft yet filled with wisdom. Intelligence I adored.

I thought about it, and I agreed that what Audrey was doing seemed to be more extreme than usual. But it was how she was doing it that made it so bizarre. I didn’t care to know her reason behind it, other than knowing it wasn’t going to work. “I told Cooper I would make this right.”

“You will.”

A big city bus rumbled by. The sharp pang of regret kept my side stitched in an uncomfortable pain that wouldn’t go away. And all I could think about was how I felt like I’d made the mistake of my life when doing something as little as choosing Sophia over Audrey.

“But I don’t know how.” My voice fell flat.

“Nolan, you’ve always been the first to volunteer. The first to commit to tackling the challenges no one else wanted to face. It’s how you’ve been since you were young, how you’ll always be.” Mom’s voice rang through the smile I could imagine filling her face. She wasn’t telling me anything she hadn’t told me before, and I knew the pride she wore when speaking about her children. But what came next was something I hadn’t ever heard her say. “You’re the most responsible of my sons.”

Feeling a sense of encouragement drop my shoulders, I clicked off the Bluetooth and brought my cell up to my ear. “Well, that’s not hard to do.”

Mom laughed. “It’s not easy leading a family—especially our family.” Mom’s tone was back to being serious. “Trust me, I know.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I opened my door once it was clear. Stepping out, I rounded behind my car and peered up at the large building that housed the software company Noah wanted me to check out. I still wasn’t sold on the idea of purchasing a struggling company, especially in an industry we didn’t have any experience with. But that wasn’t going to stop us from doing our research and determining the potential. Because when it came to business, that was all it really was. A simple formula to weigh the possible risk versus reward. Nothing in this world was by chance, and wealth wasn’t created overnight.

“She’s incredible, Mom,” I said with a glimmer in my eye as I thought about Sophia.

A distant siren echoed off the same high-rise buildings the wind howled between.

“You’re the only one who can make these decisions for yourself, Nolan. No one can do it for you. Trust your gut, and the rest of us will follow your lead. Only you will know what is right for you. We can’t make those decisions for you.”

“Then why does it feel like I have to convince my family that I didn’t purposely sabotage Cooper’s race or our relationship with the Rothschilds?”

“Oh, honey. This will all work itself out.”

Leaning against my car, I knew she was right. That was why I was crazy for Sophia. Because I knew one day I would look back at this week and realize I had lost sleep over nothing.

“I’d like to meet this Helen of Troy sometime,” Mom cooed.

I picked my head up and glanced to the doors. “Keep that between us, okay?”

Mom laughed. “I’ll work on your father.”

“And I’ll work on Coop.”

“I love you, baby.”

“I love you, too, Mom,” I said just as Sophia walked out, completely surprising me.

Her long, beautiful hair blew in the wind, and when she lifted her gaze I watched her eyes go round. Her steps faltered for a brief second as her brain registered that it was in fact me standing here as if I had planned to meet her.

My lips pulled at the corners, curling up into a grin.

Tipping her body forward, she lengthened her stride as I pushed off my car and hurried to meet her somewhere in the middle. We both slowed to a stop, our eyes never once leaving the other’s gaze. The world spun around us. I heard nothing but her shallow breaths. Saw nothing but her. And as I raked my eyes over every incredible curve, I couldn’t deny the extraordinary pull of attraction she had on me.

She was professional, sexy, and intelligent.

But when I saw what was clasped around her neck, I nearly died. The memories from that night, the night I made love to her for the first time, had my temperature spiking.

Suddenly, Sophia’s brow furrowed as she clutched her hand tighter to her bag. I watched her gaze water and when it began to flood with recognizable pain, I frowned.

I knew something was up but didn’t have the slightest clue to as what it could be.

Until I glanced to her overflowing tote bag she carried under one arm.

Reaching to her arm, I hated to see her hurting. My stomach hardened as I teased, “Do you cry every time you’re surprised, or just when the surprise is me?”

She turned her head and chuckled. The breeze picked up and caught her hair and I couldn’t get over how impressive she looked. I didn’t know what she did for work, but now that I saw her dressed like this, it wouldn’t have surprised me if she said she was some kind of executive.

“I don’t know why I’m crying.” She laughed as she wiped her cheek with her free hand.

I wrapped her in my arms, pulling her against my chest. She sniffed a couple of times before starting to laugh again. “No, I do know why I’m crying,” she said.

I pulled my head back and cast my gaze down to her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Her eyes danced with mine before she looked around. “Not here,” she said in a small voice that only I could hear.

Taking her by her hand, I guided her to my car. Opening the passenger side door, she lowered herself inside not bothering to ask where we were going. Hurrying around the back, I waited until oncoming traffic passed before getting behind the wheel. As soon as I was safely inside I closed the door, drowning out all the outside noises.

Sophia stared straight ahead.

It was just her and me as the calming feeling of silence fell over us.

Then, as if she had come to some sort of conclusion in her head, she glanced over in my direction and smiled. “I just quit my job.”

My lips parted as my eyes popped out of their sockets.

I didn’t know what to say, how to respond. And though I kept it to myself, I wondered what the chances were that she’d just walked out of a job with the same company I’d come to inspect.

“That’s why I was in the mountains this last weekend.” Her beautifully small voice filled my car with peace as she met my gaze with her own.

“What, to decide whether or not to quit?”

Her eyes fell to her lap. “Because I was passed on a promotion I thought I had been promised.”

I reached over and took her hand into mine. It had been less than 24 hours since the last time I touched her, but I missed feeling her skin pulse against my touch. Loved the way she gave me small smiles when our eyes met. I even appreciated how time slowed to a crawl and how my worries evaporated into thin air when we were together.

“I’m scared,” she admitted.

I squeezed her hand, wanting her to know that she would get through this. It was just a step toward something great. Even if it was hard to see now, Mom always convinced me the truth of that inner wisdom.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do next. How I’m going to pay the bills.”

“What kind of work did you do?”

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “I’m a software engineer.” She paused and looked away. “Was a software engineer.”

Transferring her hand to my other, I lifted my free hand and clasped my fingers around her nape. Stroking my thumbs over her soft skin, I asked, “Do you believe everything happens for a reason?”

She turned to me and loosened her jaw. “What are you doing here?”

I smiled. “It doesn’t matter.”

She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. “How did you find me?”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” My thumb continued to brush over her racing pulse inside her neck. “I didn’t know you worked here. And I certainly didn’t know that you were going to quit.”

She looked toward the building she’d walked out of for the first time since getting into my car. “Neither did I,” she laughed.

“What do you say we get out of here?”

Sophia inhaled a deep breath and nodded.

“No sense in sticking around the place you just quit.”

She looked at me one last time. “Did I make a mistake?”

“You found me. And that can’t be a mistake,” I said, starting the engine and thinking that if having Sophia walk into my life wasn’t fate, having her run into my arms today certainly was.