“Well, hello,” I say to the woman from the bar as she steps on the elevator. She smiles up at me through her lashes and turns to face the doors, giving me her backside. My gaze moves downward, taking in every lush curve of her ass before looking at our reflection in the mirror walls. Our eyes meet, I can tell by her smug smile that she caught me admiring her many assets, I give her a sly grin. She takes a step back and brushes against my hardening cock. She wants me.

I swipe her long golden-brown hair over one shoulder and lean in to rub my cheek along her soft skin. She smells of raspberries, and I wonder if her nipples are similar in color. Her head falls backward as I lick her exposed neck, then suck the delicate skin to leave my mark. She grinds her ass against my cock, moaning with pleasure. My hands slide under her shirt, and I yank her bra beneath her breasts. They spring free from the sudden movement, but my hands cover them, squeezing, massaging. She makes the sexiest sound when I pinch the rigid buttons. Her breathing quickens as I slowly slide one hand down her stomach and inch my way under the waistband of her low-rise jeans. She sucks in and presses against me harder as I bypass her panties and find her wet, swollen clit. This time the groan bouncing off the walls is mine.

I make lazy circles around the sensitive bud, taking my time and enjoying her pleasure with the wild ride she’s taking on my fingers. I dip my middle finger inside and feel her muscles pulse and tremor. She whimpers as I return all that liquid gold to her clit and feel her body preparing to come. I pinch her nipple harder…

I startle when the elevator rings. I don’t care if the door opens or who sees us. She’s too far gone. Just a little more…

The ringing is louder. Annoying.

I swear and squint my bloodshot eyes at the clock on the bedside table as I fumble for the ringing phone. I groan and flop back in bed knowing I’m going to answer. If it were any ring but that one, I’d let it go to voicemail and finished my epic dream.

I frown when I run my hand through my hair and come away with flakes of sawdust. Without a bit of guilt, I sprinkle them on the floor for the high-dollar cleaning service to deal with since I’m never home to get the place dirty and connect the call.

“Did I wake you?” a soft, familiar voice asks.

I grin into my phone and throw my legs over the side of the bed. I might as well make a pot of coffee. I know my sister, and I won’t be returning to bed anytime soon. “Yeah, we were working late.” I’d flown back from North Carolina on the red-eye, gone straight to the studio, and filmed until midnight. Which means I’d only gotten—my weary eyes check the clock again—three hours of sleep in the last twenty-four hours. I rub the back of my neck and sigh.

“I’m sorry, E. I forgot it’s three in the morning there,” Belinda says with too much happiness for my partially unawake brain.

“No problem. I’m up now,” I say as I drag my ass out of bed and head to the kitchen to fix a pot of coffee. I have to be on set by five anyway to finish the re-shoots. One of those little pod things will not be enough.

“Did you get the segment re-taped?” she asks.

I grab the glass pot from under the coffeemaker. “We’re working on it. I have one more to do, then I’ll be flying back to you by noon today. I’m really sorry I had to leave. I promised you I’d help you look for a venue, and we will.” Yawning, I blink to keep myself alert as I fill the pot with water and dump it into the machine. A few more hours of sleep would have been wonderful. I’ll sleep on the plane.

“Oh, Elias. I found it. I found the perfect place to get married. It’s in Treemont. The estate’s being renovated, but E, it’s just perfect for the wedding. The town is small, but it’s only about an hour away from Asheville, so there will be plenty of hotels for our guests. We can bring them to the venue by limousine. I can’t wait for you to see it.”

I grab the coffee grounds—Folgers, my favorite—and don’t even bother with the scoop. I just dump some in and push the button to start the brewing. My brotherly senses suddenly go on alert. While I love my sister, she can see roses where weeds grow. Plus, I only left her yesterday. That’s much too quickly to find the perfect place, isn’t it? “What do you mean, it’s being renovated?” The smell of the freshly-brewed coffee is beginning to work its magic.

“Well, the inside of the house is still under remodel, but the wedding will take place outside beneath this giant white oak tree. It’s so beautiful, E. You can see the mountains in the distance, and it’s simply breathtaking.”

She sounds so excited that I hate to bring her down, but logistically, I can’t see it happening. I wait till I take a fortifying sip of the delicious brew before answering. “Belinda, honey…I don’t think that’s going to work. I mean, the guest list is already over two hundred. A little town like that just won’t be equipped to handle such a large gathering.”

“Please, E,” she begs. I hate it when she gets that tone. “Just meet with the event planner. She’s taking care of everything.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. She knows I can’t handle it when she goes all impossibly sweet. I buckle every time. “Honey, I just want you to have the most perfect day.”

“I know, and I thank you so much for everything. But please, Elias. Just meet with her. This is what I want. This is what Wes and I really want.”

I inhale the calming aroma before taking another sip. I’m going anyway, so I might as well check the place out. “I’ll see you in the early afternoon and you can show me what you’ve found.”

“You’re the best brother ever!” Belinda squeals.

I wince, holding the phone away from my ear.

Late that afternoon I’m back in North Carolina, and we’re walking through town, I have to admit that Belinda is right. The town is straight out of a nineteen-fifties movie. Old brick storefronts line both sides of Main Street. What once was had been renovated and repurposed into current businesses. I pull my ball cap lower. So far nobody has recognized me, and I want it to stay that way. I tune back in to Belinda’s running monologue about everything April.

“April said she’ll cover the fold-up chairs in white cotton and tie bows of burlap around them and decorate the bows with a hydrangea arrangement. Doesn’t that sound simply divine?”

I don’t see how that would make a cheap fold-up chair any better. But I smile and appear to be onboard. Making Belinda happy has been my sole focus for many years. “That sounds lovely. But why fold-up chairs? They sound very uncomfortable.”

Her cute little turned-up nose and hopeful eyes swing toward me. “Well, our guests won’t be sitting in them long. Does it really matter?”

“No, I guess not.” The more Belinda talks about the absolutely divine wedding location, the more I find to dislike. After she picked me up from the airport, we drove straight into Treemont and had lunch at a local café. I took my chances on the daily special: chicken fried steak with gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, and banana pudding for dessert. I couldn’t fault the food; in fact, it reminded me of our mother’s cooking. Or at least what I can remember. I’m just glad Todd, my trainer the studio insists I work with, didn’t see the high-calorie, artery-clogging meal I ingested. He’d have me running circuits until I drop.

I glance across the street at an antique store now occupying a building that had once been a movie theater. The old marquee holds posters from movies long past their premieres. What used to be a large department store now houses a coffee shop, a bakery, and a dance studio. An ice cream shop done in turquoise, pink, and black had a neon cone flashing above the plate glass window. I turn toward a high-pitched noise. “Is that a train?”

Belinda laughs and tugs on my hand just like she used to do when she was little and couldn’t wait to get somewhere. “Yes! Come look.”

She leads me to the center of town, where a half-acre plot of land has a four-foot-high chain link fence surrounding miniature towns with a toy train track. The little towns are complete with bridges and a coal station where the train could pull in and refuel. The sight is every big and small child’s dreams come true.

“April says at Christmas time they decorate the towns with little lit trees and garlands. Isn’t it great?”

Her eyes shine brightly with an innocence I hope she never loses. Taking a step closer to the fence, I can’t believe they even have recirculating rivers under those bridges. Remarkable. “It is. I can see why you fell in love with this town, but I’m still not sure about the venue.”

“You will be, Elias. I just know you will,” she looks up and answers with a confident smile.

I’ll keep my opinion to myself. “Come on, let’s go. I’m anxious to see the perfect place for my sister to get married.” Belinda is everything good in my life. Everything I’ve done since I was eighteen years old has been for my sister.

The drive to White’s Manor takes only fifteen minutes. We pull off the paved country road onto a bumpy dirt road. “Is this the driveway?” My voice fluctuates from the jarring ride.

Belinda slows the car to go over an especially deep rut. “Yes, but April said she’s having it regraded next week.”

Weeds and brush line the poor excuse for a road. I bet they sold it to Belinda as a natural area, but all that unkept madness looks horrible. I don’t want our guests to think they’re going to a hoedown. We go around a sharp curve, and in the distance, I see a large white house on a hill. I bend lower to see better out of the now dusty windshield. “Is that it?”

“Yes, that’s White’s Manor,” Belinda beams and answers proudly.

I sit in silence as she drives through two rows of old white oak trees lining the entry drive to the house. It’s easy to see that White’s Manor had once been a stately home. “It’s a beautiful old house.”

“It was built in 1910 by the White family at the same time they built the cotton mill in town. Like I told you, April and her business partner Rachael are still working on the inside.”

The outside of the two-story Victorian had been painted a crisp white and had a new silver tin roof reflecting the afternoon sunlight. Not exactly period specific, but economically, tin is the better option. Two massive chimneys rise from either side of the roof like sentinels on guard. A white picket railing surrounds a wraparound porch with eight floor-to-ceiling windows. Six more windows with French doors in the middle lead out to a second-floor balcony above the porch.

Belinda brakes and comes to a stop. “The house takes your breath away, doesn’t it?”

We both pause, taking it all in. Belinda, for the dreams she has for the estate. Me, for critiquing the grade of the land and the quality of landscaping done. I’m impressed, but trying not to be. “It does. They’ve done a lot of work.”

Belinda’s face glows with anticipation as she turns towards me. “Wait till you see the grounds in the back. But let’s go in the front. April said to come and get her when we arrive, since she’s taking the day off and working here.”

Wait. What did she say? “What do you mean?”

Belinda sighs heavily. “Well, she’s a florist by day and works on the house in the evenings and weekends.”

How could a florist afford such a costly remodel? “This isn’t even their fulltime business?”

“Well, it will be, once the business become more lucrative. They have big plans for the future.”

I frown. I just bet they do. I’m beginning to wonder what those plans are and whether they include me. Were these women using Belinda to promote their business? I won’t let that happen. I was stupid and let that happen to me once…never again.

Belinda parks and we walk up a beautifully landscaped brick pathway. I have no complaints or suggestions for the landscaping. The problems start once we walk through the front door. Belinda must have seen the irritation on my face. Things are far from well done inside.

“Elias.” She drags out my name. “Remember, I told you the wedding will be outside. The inside is still under renovation. You should understand what that’s all about.”

I bite my tongue and force a smile to keep from saying what I want to say. I want the best of everything for my sister, and this shell of a house I’m standing in isn’t it.

Belinda shakes her head slowly, letting me know she isn’t pleased. “You stay here, I’ll go find April,” she says, heading for the stairs.

“Be careful and watch where you walk.” I can’t help it. I hadn’t kept her safe for a lot of years to lose her to falling plaster or unstable floors. “You really need a hard hat.”

Her lips thin and her eyes harden as she casts her eyes on me. “Elias, be nice.”

Reluctantly, I give a slight nod. While I wait, I inspect the work that’s already been done. The walls were open, and thankfully I find new wiring and not the old, highly dangerous knob and tube. The old wooden floor had been expertly pieced, and once sanded and stained, the wood will be beautiful. Planks that wide are no longer found, so they must have located reclaimed boards. Maybe from a different part of the house.

“Oh, hi! I didn’t hear you come in. You must be Belinda’s brother. It’s nice to meet you.”

I turn toward the breathless voice to find an attractive woman holding her hand out to shake. The exact same woman who starred in my X-rated dreams just that morning. She pauses and her eyes widen in surprise as recognition hits. I wait for the reaction I know is coming.

I try not to smirk as her mouth falls open. “You…you…” she stutters.

Yeah, I’ll admit, she’s gorgeous, and I find myself even more attracted to her close up. My gaze runs over her golden brown wavy hair threaded through the adjustment band of her purple WCU cap. Stone-washed blue jeans hug her curves and are worn to highlight all the right places. A bright pink T-shirt stretches across her chest proclaiming she’s a Renovation Diva.

I start to take up where were we left off at the bar, but then I remember why I’m here. She’s cute, but cute doesn’t mean I want her handling my baby sister’s wedding. I frown. “Yes, I’m Belinda’s brother.”

“I didn’t realize. She never mentioned you by name.” She shifts anxiously and squares her shoulders. “You were at the Skybar.”

I cock my head. “Yes, I saw you, too.”

April pulls nervously at the hem of her T-shirt and her breathing quickens. “I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you. It was so dark inside and that ballcap you had on was a pretty good disguise. I love your show. Rachael and I watch Facelift Reno all the time. We even learned how to strip by watching your show.” She gasps, and her posture suddenly stiffens.

I enjoy her face turning a bright, embarrassed red. I could say something and put her out of her misery, but yeah, that’s not going to happen.

“Paint!” She blurts out in frustration. “Paint stripping, not clothes stripping. I mean it would be silly to think we learned how to strip out of our clothes on your show. But we don’t! I mean, we never strip our clothes off. Well, maybe when we bathe or go to bed.” April takes a breath and swallows, finally running down. She squeezes her eyes shut, and she may be getting ready to hyperventilate. I want to laugh out loud, but again, this is much more fun.

With a fortifying breath, she tries again. “Excuse me. Let’s start over. Welcome to White’s Manor. As you can see, this part is still under renovation, but if you’ll come with me, I’ll show you the rooms we have finished where the bride and groom will change before the wedding.”

“There you are, April!” Belinda says from the framed-out doorway.

April tips her head to the side with a staged smile in place. “Belinda, you didn’t mention who your brother was. I’m afraid I’ve made a horrible first impression by fan-girling on him.”

Belinda laughs and swats my arm. “He gets that all the time, don’t think anything about it. Sometimes I forget he’s Elias Holt from Facelift Reno. He’s just my brother.”

“Why don’t you follow me? I’ll show you around.” April leads the way through a maze of varying degrees of renovation. From framed-out walls to completed bathrooms with subway tile on the walls, penny tiles on the floors, and claw-foot bathtubs big enough for two. My mind goes to sharing that huge tub filled with warm water dripping all over April’s body. I turn quickly to leave that scalding vision.

I make the appropriate comments during the venue tour. The back patio is remarkable. And the fact that April and her business partner had DIY’d it is impressive. The white oak tree against the mountains would be a serene and uplifting place for weddings. Even the old barn would be excellent for receptions and events. I rub my hand over the aged oak beams and take in the excellent joining work of the timbers. If it were mine, I could see my workshop here. One day, White’s Manor will be a popular event venue, but what I’ve seen isn’t up to our standards, and it certainly won’t do for my sister.

Belinda clasps her hands under her chin like she’s praying for me to give her the answer she wants. “So, what do you think, Elias? Isn’t it perfect, just like I said? Ours will be their first wedding and the first wedding April has ever planned. How lucky am I?”

Her first. Now I know something is going on. I’ll not have some amateur handling my sister’s wedding. It’s just a little too convenient that April’s house needs renovating. “It’s something, all right. Belinda, could you give me just a moment with April?” Our eyes meet, and I have no trouble understanding my sister’s silent threat to be nice.

“Sure, I’ll just walk back up to the house.” She pauses for one more direct gaze.

I wait for Belinda to be out of hearing range before I turn to face April. I cross my arms over my chest and widen my stance. A look of dominance I’ve perfected over the years. “Tell me Ms.…”

April gives me a polite smile and answers, “White.”

Well, that’s interesting. “Ahhh, like the house?”

April’s eyes narrow catching on to my distrustful tone. “Yes. White’s Manor was built by a distant relation. But my family has never owned it. Until now.”

My nostrils flare at the polite bite of her answer, and I take an intimidating step into April’s personal space. A waft of berries hits me, and I’m taken back to my dream of us in the elevator, my hand down her pants. “Well, Ms. White. Tell me what your motive is.”

April’s eyes are glazed with confusion as her chin rises. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid I don’t underst...”

I cut her off. “Oh, come on. No need to be shy. Are you hoping my show will take over and finish the renovations of your house?”

April’s posture tightens and her hands close into fists by her side. “What?” she snaps through clenched teeth.

I watch her face closely. I’ll give her acting props. She’s playing it like a professional, but I’ve had plenty of experience with opportunists. My baby sister isn’t going to be used. “Or maybe you want to use my name to promote your business.”

Her lips curl into a sneer, and instead of retreating, she takes a step toward me. “Mr. Holt. I don’t know what you’re getting at. Until you arrived, I didn’t even know who Belinda’s brother was. And just so I make myself clear, I certainly didn’t know the man I saw in the bar was Belinda’s brother, either.”

I can’t decide if her fascinating blue eyes have a rim of darker blue or black. Where did I just go? I jerk my attention back to the irritated woman before me. “Oh, come now, Ms. White. Do you expect me to believe that? I bet you Googled Belinda and found out she’s my sister. Why else would an inexperienced wedding planner offer to pull off such a high-profile wedding? And what a coincidence that I have a very popular renovation show on television, and you just happen to have a house that needs a great deal of renovating.”

Her head jerks back as if I’d slapped her, and I can feel her cold glare locked onto mine as she raises her chin defiantly. Her voice starts out low, each word crisp and precise. “How dare you accuse me of using that sweet young woman as a pawn. You have a very over-inflated ego, Mr. Holt. I may not have planned a wedding by myself, but I learned from the best. My mother was a wedding planner for twenty-four years. I never would have agreed to Belinda’s request if I hadn’t known I could do a good job for her. I genuinely like your sister. But I can’t say the same for her brother. Please extend my apologies to your sister. White’s Manor is no longer available.” With a flip of her ponytail, she whips by me and storms to her old pickup. I watch her rounded butt taunt me as her hips sway seductively side to side. For a moment I zone out, lost in my own fantasies starring her ass in the air and my cock balls-deep inside. Her back arches, giving me just a hint of her perfect breasts jiggling to our movements. She moans each time I bottom out and that only makes my hands tighten my grip on her hips to push harder, our skin slapping loudly time after time. When I feel the burn and pull of my release approaching, I’d demand she come. I am, after all, a gentleman. She’d scream, shouting my name as she comes and her vise-like grip surrounding my cock would be spectacular. I’d go deep once, twice, three more times, then I’d pull out and come all over her back.

I’m not proud of the fact that that I’ve just been extremely rude to April and then had devious fantasies about her. I have no idea why she affects me so strongly. Whether in my dreams, daydreams, or in person, she turns me rock hard. Dirt flies from the rear wheels as she speeds down the driveway with a cloud of dust following in her wake. I’d love to capture that passion and fire someday. But with the way I just acted, I can’t see that happening. At the bar, we had a connection, but I’m afraid I’ve blown it.

“Elias…” Belinda shouts as she runs into the barn, breathing hard from her sprint. She stabs a finger in the direction of the disappearing truck. “What have you done?”

I scrub my hand down my face, erasing all my previous wicked thoughts, before turning to face my irate sister. Tears are already forming in her eyes. I hate when she cries. “I may have over-reacted.”

“What did you do?” she whispers.

I hate what I’m about to say. “Honey, how do you know April isn’t using you to get to me? You have to admit her house needs a lot of work.”

Belinda steps out of my arms and her shoulders slump. “Oh, Elias. Please tell me you didn’t say that to her? You couldn’t be more wrong. April had no idea who you are.” She sniffles. “Is it so hard to believe that April would want to help me just because she likes me? Don’t you trust my judgment? I’m not ten anymore, E. I’m grown up, and I’m in love with a wonderful man who I’m going to marry. Here.” Her head falls, and she walks slowly back to the car. “Or at least, I was.”

“I’m sorry, Belinda,” I apologize, feeling like an ass. “I’ll make this right.” How, I have no idea. But I will, because not only did I upset my sister, but I was also rude to a woman who didn’t deserve it. When had I become so jaded?