Of course it’s him.

When I heard that the new head of the miner’s union is the youngest guy in history, I just knew it’d be him. The way they were all looking at him that night, like he was the center of attention, someone special, I had a feeling something was up. I knew it would be him, but seeing him in that conference room still surprised me.

It was the deep, ringing desire that flared up that really took me off-guard. I’ve never felt that way before, about anyone. I’ve had one-night stands before, mostly drunken stupid flings in the dorms, and I should be able to separate myself. I should be able to keep sex in one corner, and work in another.

But I suddenly felt it all in that conference room. When he touched my hand and smiled at me, I could see what he was thinking about: my body, sliding up and down his thick cock, his hands on my hips, his lips against my neck.

He kept looking at me that whole meeting until they caught him off-guard. I thought he’d pack it in right then and there, but instead it just made him pay more attention. By the end, I was impressed with Samuel Carter, even if I still think he’s a cocky asshole.

I lean back against the toilet and sigh. All that just makes this so much harder. That meeting in the conference room was about a week ago, and my period’s late. I’m as regular as it gets, and even just a few days late means something’s wrong. Nearly a whole week means something is really, really wrong.

And the positive pregnancy test lying on the floor in front of me isn’t helping with this huge stone of anxiety sitting on my chest.

I can’t even look at it. I get up and pace my bedroom anxiously. I don’t know why I’m staying in my old room, since the master room is technically mine now, but I can’t bring myself to move in there. My dad’s dead, died in some stupid fucking skydiving accident, and my mom’s been dead since I was little. This house, the one that used to seem so welcoming when my dad was raising me, now just seems empty and barren and depressing.

I put my hand on my stomach reflexively, but pull it back. I can’t be fucking pregnant, not with that asshole’s baby. I run back into the bathroom and take another test, but it comes out positive again. I toss it on the floor next to the first one, and the pair stares up at me, physical proof of my utterly changed future.

I don’t know what to do. I leave the bathroom again and get dressed. It’s Saturday, and I can’t go into the office and try to drown out the voice in my head that’s screaming for me to run away. I’m the new president of a coal mining company, a business I barely know anything about. I’m practically relying on Ingram, my father’s old second in command, to run the whole thing for me while I slowly get up to speed. I never wanted any of this, but my father made sure the company would pass into my hands, and the board unanimously voted to make me president the day after he was buried.

I suspect Ingram had something to do with that, but I don’t know why. All I know is, a lot of money just suddenly became mine, along with a company I don’t want. I thought I was going back to New York, back to my life as a budding young urban lawyer, but that future’s gone now.

My life is in Wheelville, and I don’t even know if I want it. But I feel obligated to my father and to this town for some insane reason, and so I’m still here.

I sigh and curl up in a ball on my bed. I grab my phone and slowly scroll through it. An old friend of mine messaged me on Facebook a few days ago, saying we should get together, and so I text her on a whim.

Callie May was my closest friend when I was a little girl. She was a neighbor back then, although apparently they moved in the years since I last saw her. She invites me out to a coffee place in town and I agree to meet her, since it’s way better than lying around feeling sorry for myself.

As I drive over there, I can’t stop thinking about him. Samuel Carter, big and bold and beautiful and so fucking arrogant, is the father of the baby that’s growing inside of me. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t imagine raising a child with that beast. I have a ton of money now, so I can probably get by on my own, even if I don’t stay the President of Evans Energy. Daddy made some great investments, and I’m set for life.

That worries me too. I’ve never had this much money, and I don’t know what to do with it all. I don’t really need to work, but I feel obligated to stay on with the company, to help keep my father’s legacy alive. I’m angry that he died in that stupid accident, but I shouldn’t be so surprised. My father was an adrenaline junky, barely missing death over and over, and finally it caught up with him.

Now I’m here, broken and picking up the pieces.

I park outside of the little coffee shop and spot Callie inside. She’s changed a lot, although of course she has, it’s been over thirteen years. We were twelve the last time I saw her, right before I was sent to boarding school.

“Hi, Amelia!” she says, standing up. She’s a bubbling little brunette in jeans and cowboy boots. Her southern accent is thick, which just makes me smile. I’ve lost most of mine.

“Hi, Callie,” I say, hugging her. “It’s been so long.”

“I know, right? I got you a coffee.”

I sit down and thank her, sipping it. We fall into small talk, basically catching up on each other’s lives. When my father finally comes up, she frowns and sighs.

“I’m so sorry about him,” she says. “Everyone in town loves Tommy.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Tommy?”

“Sure,” she says, grinning. “He always insisted we call him that.”

I sit back, surprised. I never heard anyone call my father anything but “Tom” or “Mr. Evans,” although I only ever saw him around his business associates.

“He did a lot for the town, you know,” she continues. “Funded the firehouse himself for years. Started a bunch of local charities. I think he even bought the public library.”

I nod, smiling to myself. I knew about all that. He was proud of Wheelville, for whatever reason. “He loved his home,” I say to her.

She nods, smiling. “That’s why we’re happy you’re home.”

“Yeah,” I say softly, glancing away. “I’m happy to be home, too.”

“I hear you’re having some trouble with Samuel Carter.”

I look back at her, surprised. I’m a little taken aback, and she laughs at my expression.

“Girl, nothing’s secret here in Wheelville. You’ll learn that again.”

I sigh. “It’s not really trouble.”

“He’s the head of the union, and you’re his boss now. You’re, like, enemies, right?”

I bite my lip. “Something like that.”

She leans forward, grinning a little, and for a second I’m terrified she’s going to bring up the night he brought me home. It was dark in that bar, and everyone was drunk as hell, so I’m assuming nobody remembers or recognizes me. Well, he remembers, but I don’t want it to be common knowledge that I slept with him. That’ll only complicate things.

“That Samuel, he’s really something, isn’t he?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, hesitating.

She gives me a sly little smile. “He has a nickname, you know.”

I raise an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Big.”

I stare at her for a second then burst out laughing. It’s the most absurd name I’ve ever heard in my life. “You’re kidding, right? Just ‘Big’?”

She shakes her head, blushing. “He has these… girls, and they all call him that.”

My laughter died down a little bit. “Girls call him that? Like, girlfriends?”

“Not girlfriends, exactly. More like fuck buddies.”

I nod again, my smile slowly disappearing. I shouldn’t be surprised. Samuel is a big man, loud and handsome and outgoing. Of course he has girls fawning all over him in this town. I doubt there’s a guy anywhere within an hour of driving that’s anything like Samuel.

Still, that nickname. I can’t believe anyone would call him that…. but it also makes sense. He’s the kind of man that could protect me, take care of me, at least if I were into that sort of thing. Of course, I’m the president of a big company and apparently I’m rich now, so I don’t need him. But maybe he could take care of me in other ways.

I lean toward her and try to pretend like I don’t care that much. “What else do you know about him?”

She leans back, a wicked little smile on her face. “Well now, Amelia Evans, are you interested in getting some Big?”

I wince at that. “Not interested, exactly.”

She laughs a little bit. “Come on, every girl has a crush on him. Hard not to.”

“We work together,” I admit to her.

She cocks her head. “I heard he’s the new head of the union.”

“And I’m taking over for my father.”

Realization dawns on her face, but I’m not sure if that’s an act. I can’t imagine there’s anyone in this town that doesn’t know all my business intimately, but maybe she just hasn’t heard yet.

“So you guys have to…” she trails off.

I nod. “Right.”

She sighs. “Well, there are a lot of rumors about Samuel.”

“Like what?”

She hesitates a second. “I’m not sure I should say, honestly. I don’t know what’s true and what’s just bullshit. I don’t really know him.”

“I’m just trying to get on equal footing with everyone else in this town.”

“Well, word is he gets around, but that’s not a big surprise. I hear he has a few kids with a few different women… but I think that’s bullshit.”

I wince at the mention of children. “What else?”

“Petty things. Like he used to steal when he was younger, got in some trouble. Some of that’s true, apparently. He’s mainly really well liked. I mean, he’s head of the union. That’s a big deal.”

I nod, though inwardly I’m trying to process all this. Samuel is my biggest adversary, but I can’t see him that way. I just can’t bring myself to think of him as some person that I have to defeat in a contract negotiation.

Fact is, I have sympathy for him and the other miners. I don’t want them to get screwed in this negotiation, but I also know that Evans Energy isn’t doing that great. Coal overall is slowly shrinking as an industry as the world moves away from polluting energy sources. We’re stuck in the industrial revolution while the world moves on from us.

I have to find a balance between what will take care of my workers and what will ensure that the company keeps going. If they get too good of a contract, that might hasten the demise of Evans Energy. If they get a bad one, Evans will keep on going, but they’ll bear the burden.

Callie changes the subject, which I’m grateful for. She tells me more about her life back home, and I tell her about mine. We basically chat and catch up, but I can’t stop thinking about Samuel.

He’s a big man, and apparently he has a following in this town. He has a bunch of girls that call him that. I have no clue how I fit into that little harem he has, or if that rumor’s even true. I don’t know if anything Callie told me is real.

The Samuel I know seemed genuine, and kind, and sexy as hell, but there’s definitely more to him than meets the eye. I don’t know what I want from him, if I want to be involved with him, or if he’s just a business associate. Fact is, we work together, whether I like it or not. And I’m going to have his baby.

That big stranger’s baby. Callie and I finish up an hour later. I hug her goodbye and we exchange numbers. Hopefully I’ll have a friend in this town, someone I can talk to, but I definitely can’t trust her with this news about my pregnancy. Nobody can know about it. I can’t risk ruining this upcoming contract negotiation just because I was too stupid to make Samuel wear a condom.

I’m going to keep going forward. I have no other choice really. I feel like I’m spinning out of control, and there’s nothing keeping me from going completely off the rails.