The paperwork had somehow multiplied overnight. Gavin dragged his hands over his eyes trying to ease the grittiness there. Last night had been—well. There weren’t words to describe the night adequately. Regan had come alive in his arms, waking a deep yearning he’d thought he’d squashed.

He wanted her. Deeply. Permanently. With an ache he barely recognized as his own. She completed him in a way he’d never experienced before. He wasn’t going to let go of that.

Tipping his chair back, he tried to sort out his thoughts. She wasn’t ready for forever. And they’d have to navigate through the landmines their lives had created for them—his kids, her parents, her job situation, hell, his job situation. He’d called Gwen after dropping Regan off, needing to hear directly from her what was happening with Jason.

“What do you want me to say?” she’d asked. “He’s your partner and friend.”

“And you’re my sister,” he reminded her. “If you were having a problem with one of my friends, you should have come to me.”

“I can take care of myself, Gavin.” Her tone had turned flat. “I don’t need you to fight my battles for me.”

“No, you just ask a guy you don’t even know for help instead. What the hell, Gwen?”

“Is that what this is about? My asking Mitchell to hang around some?” When he didn’t respond right away her tone softened. “Look, I didn’t mean for you to find out at all, didn’t want to complicate things. Jason was just hanging around a lot, wasn’t taking the hint that I wasn’t interested. All I wanted to do was provide a little disincentive, make him think I was seeing someone else. There wasn’t anything you could do to help, all right?”

“But—“

“Besides, it seems to be working,” she continued on before he could object that no, it wasn’t all right. “Since that night at the Bitterroot when I went home with Mitch, then again last night at the Bowl, I haven’t heard from Jason. Just, leave it alone, Gav, okay? Let me take care of this my way.”

Gavin understood what she was saying, but still didn’t like it. If his partner couldn’t take no for an answer from a woman, never mind that the woman in question was Gavin’s sister, it didn’t bode well for their partnership.

After that, he’d walked into the office, surprised to find Deanna hard at work, still doing everything she could to set the office to order after the break-in.

From the look on her face, she’d been surprised too. “I wasn’t expecting anyone,” she stammered, shoving her hair back behind her ears. “Julian is in the closet repairing the shelves. I figured it’d be easier to have him do it on the weekend.” When he didn’t say anything she rushed on. “If you’d rather he not be here, I understand.” She looked sad. Gavin couldn’t help but feel a stab of guilt.

“No,” he said, lifting a broken guest chair and moving it to the side of the room, “it’s great. Thank you. Let me know if you need any help. I’ll be in the office.” He hadn’t been keen on having her work for them, but maybe he’d been wrong. And he’d rather have the kid around where he could keep an eye on him. As far as he was concerned, the kid was still a suspect in the break-in, but if his mama wanted to put him to work, Gavin wasn’t going to object.

Sitting amid the regular reports and bills on his desk was an offer from Lilianna Myers, majority owner of Skyhawk Security. She was Mitchell and Logan’s boss. Gavin had worked with her a few times before and liked her. She was smart and ran a quality operation. She liked everything she’d heard about Peaks from Mitch and had enjoyed the partnership they’d created the few times Peaks had reached out, needing more support or manpower than they had on hand. Hence the offer.

In truth, the thought of joining forces with Skyhawk piqued his interest. They were small time, he knew that. They lacked the capital to grow into much more than they currently were, guarding the mountain estates of people who were richer than most small countries. True, Peaks had been extremely successful, but the more he learned, the more he could see that there was room to grow. Land and estate security was one thing, but that was just guarding stuff. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t make an impact. He wanted to do something meaningful. Something more than making sure some rich fucker’s house didn’t get broken into while he was off living a completely different life.

And he wanted to grow. Both personally and professionally.

He hadn’t thought too much about it before Regan came back, but watching her struggle with her next steps and hearing about her profession and the difference she’d made was impressive. She was impressive.

“You’re here early.” Jason strolled into the shared office and dropped into one of the guest chairs across from Gavin’s desk, placing one steaming mug in front of Gavin and cradling the other in his hands. “It’s harder to bounce back from those games than it used to be.”

“Take a few solid licks?” Gavin asked, trying to figure out how to approach everything else they needed to talk about. It hadn’t been that long ago that he’d considered Jason another brother. Someone he could go to with anything. But the man across from him had changed somewhere along the way. It bothered Gavin that he couldn’t pinpoint when that change had happened.

“No more than usual.” Jason leaned back in the chair and stretched his legs out in front of him. “What’s on your mind, Gav?”

So much for easing into the subject. “Gwen. And the firm,” he answered, keeping his eyes on his partner. “Which do you want to discuss first?”

Jason didn’t so much as blink. Instead, he raised a brow at Gavin’s announcement and settled himself more comfortably into the chair. Fine, Gavin would decide.

“We’ve had an offer. From Skyhawk.” Jason leaned forward to take the offered letter and gave it a quick scan. “We’ve talked about it before, but I think we need to take this seriously.”

“We still don’t need them,” he announced, tossing the letter back on the desk. “We’re growing and doing fine on our own. With Erin rehearsing here we can hit her up for a contract, have her mention us to a few of her friends with homes in the area. With your girl being her friend we’re a shoo-in. We’re fine,” he repeated.

“We’re fine in property security, but that’s all. We can’t offer event security, or guards or even expand into business security. We’re not growing.” It was an argument they’d had many times.

“There’s no need to grow,” Jason argued. “We’ve got plenty to cover us.”

Gavin gritted his teeth. They’d talked about this time and again. This time, though, they had options. Solid options that offered more than they’d ever be able to build with their current circumstances. “There’s nothing to prevent Skyhawk from swooping in and opening their own services. That would put us under faster than anything.”

Jason shook his head. “They’re not going to do that. If they were, they wouldn’t be making us an offer. Our clients are loyal; they’ll stick with us rather than go with a big company.”

“Not when they already have other services through that company.” Gavin fought to keep his voice even, but it was the same argument. Jason’s refusal to see the writing on the wall was going to drag them under. He ignored the ball of lead sitting in his gut at his next words.

“Then I think it’s time.”

Jason let out an impatient sound. “Time for what?”

“Time for us to go our separate ways.”

The statement dropped like an anvil between them. Once again, Jason didn’t move, so Gavin plowed forward. “I’ll buy out your share.”

“You’d buy out my share just to turn around to be bought out by someone else?”

“It’s not a buyout. They’re offering a merger. We would hold our current contracts, be able to head up a division of property security under Skyhawk’s capital and with their manpower and support. I can’t figure out why you’re so opposed to this.”

Jason stared at Gavin. “I know what’s going on here,” he sneered. “This is because of your sister.”

Gavin’s jaw dropped. “What about her?”

Jason launched himself to his feet and began to pace the small office, side-stepping the debris they hadn’t cleaned up yet. “She went running to you when I made a pass at her, so that new boyfriend of hers came up with this plan to ruin me.”

Gavin tried to keep his voice even as he stared at Jason. “This has nothing to do with Gwen. This is business. We need this merger.”

“What,” Jason began through gritted teeth, “gives you the right to make this decision?”

“I already own sixty percent,” Gavin reminded him. “My vote outweighs yours. That’s the way it’s always been. The way you wanted it when you signed on to be minority partner.”

Jason jerked as though Gavin had delivered a sucker punch rather than a hefty dose of the truth. “It’s not how I wanted it and you know it. It’s all I could afford at the time. My family didn’t have the means to assist me. I am a self-made man.”

Anger and a stronger emotion he didn’t dare try to identify threatened to take Gavin over his desk, but he shoved it back. “Are you implying,” he said, his voice deceptively calm as he struggled to remain in check, “that I’m somehow not?”

“Who needs to imply it when it’s so obvious?” Jason spat, slamming his mug down on the desk, hot coffee splashing over. “You needed my money for the startup of Peaks, but you never considered me a true partner. I was always lesser to you. You the boss and me the jackass to do your bidding.”

The rage Gavin had been keeping a tight lid on boiled over as he surged to his feet to face his friend. Former friend. Fuck. “Is that really what you’ve been thinking these past six years? That I’ve been lording it over you? If that’s the case, then fuck you. I’ll call the lawyer and accountant and get you a check. We’re through.” He strode around the desk, heading for the door. He had to get out of the office before he did something he’d regret.

Opening the door, Gavin strode straight into his brother. Staggering, Connor shoved him back. Jason pushed his way between them and marched out the door.

Gavin blew out a breath, feeling like he’d taken a blind side hit. What the hell had just happened?

“You okay?” Connor asked as he walked past Gavin and into the office. He’d made himself right at home behind Gavin’s desk and was digging in the right drawer for the bag of M&Ms he kept there.

“That sucked,” Gavin replied, dropping into the chair Jason had vacated.

“I imagine it did,” Connor said around a mouthful of candy. “Your receptionist had her phone in her hand and was about to call me when I showed up. I guess you guys were getting pretty loud.”

Gavin closed his eyes at the thought of what he was going to tell Deanna. “Why are you here?” he asked. He’d deal with the staff later. Right now, he just needed a distraction.

“I came to check on Julian and I need a favor. I need to borrow your cabin.”

“Okay.” The request wasn’t all that unusual, but the way Connor said it this time had Gavin pausing. “What’s going on?”

At first, he didn’t think Connor was going to answer him, but then he let out a breath and dragged his hand over his face. “There’s something going on with Bethany.”

Gavin frowned at the thought. “For real? I thought that was just your imagination. What’s up?”

“I don’t know.” Connor looked worried. It was a look he didn’t wear. Ever. Even when told he was going to become a father at the age of eighteen he had greeted the news with a stoicism of a much older man. The fact he was worried now said more than anything else. “She’s been acting strange for the past couple weeks. Nothing major, just distracted, off somehow. But over the past week or so she’s become even more withdrawn. Emotional. I’m pretty sure she’s planning on leaving.”

Gavin blinked at the words. Bethany and Connor were a unit. They always had been. He simply couldn’t believe that Bethany was going to leave or do anything even remotely close to that. “Of course you can use the cabin, man, but I think you’re wrong.”

Connor ignored Gavin’s comment. “I need to plan a weekend for just the two of us. It’s been too long since we’ve done anything like that.”

Connor was wrong about Bethany. Had to be. “When do you want to use the cabin? Thanksgiving is coming up, so you’re going to want to go before then, right?”

“Yeah. Shit, I forgot about Thanksgiving.” Connor was once again rubbing his hand down his face and Gavin felt like an ass for not being more supportive. “I just can’t think straight. Everything’s always been about Bethany and Andy. I mean, even with the way it all happened, there was never any question that we’d be together, you know?”

“You need to talk to her, man. Tell her all that and find out what’s really going on.”

“I’m going to talk to her. At the cabin.”

Gavin shook his head. “Before then. Unless you can manage to sneak her away today, you shouldn’t wait.”

This time Connor shook his head. “Every time we try to have a conversation there’s an interruption. We went to the Bitterroot and all of you showed up. I took her into town for a fancy dinner and Erin and Mitch wound up at our table.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. That was the trouble with a small town.

“She’s got too much going on with her mom and dealing with Andy and that band of jerks he’s been hanging around with. She’s terrified he’s going to wind up on drugs or OD like one of those other kids.”

“Okay, so I get why the cabin, but why wait? You’re planning on having this conversation. Why not just grab her and go for a drive and lay it all out?”

“I want it to be perfect for her.” Connor pulled a little black box from his pocket and put it on the desk between them. “I want to ask her to marry me again.”

Gavin blinked, unable to believe what he’d heard. “Pardon?”

Connor nodded. “We rushed into it the first time because we were expecting Andy and getting married provided her with a bunch of benefits she wouldn’t have had otherwise. The Army took care of her medical and everything, so it was important to just do it. But I want her to want to marry me. To spend the rest of her life with me because she wants to.”

Gavin shook his head, trying to understand. “She’s still married to you, despite the fact that you’ve turned soft. Dealt with a bucketload of bullshit to get to this point. You guys have beaten all the odds. You’re solid, Connor. More than any other couple I know.”

“That’s just it. We did it because we had to. But now? Now it’s time to ask her and have her want to.”

“Have you been reading Cosmo? What does that even mean?”

“You’ll get it when you finally find someone you’ll fight to keep rather than let them walk away.” Connor sounded smug, the prick. He always thought he knew better than anyone else. It would be damn annoying if he wasn’t right half the time.

“Fine,” Gavin said. “We’ll drive up there and make the cabin proposal-ready whenever you want. It’s not being used right now anyway. Just be sure not to tell me any of the details. I don’t want to know.”

Connor laughed and slapped him on the back. “You’re going to want to pick up,” he said, waving to the debris strewn around the room as he turned to leave. “If Gwen or Regan sees this they’re bound to be upset.”

Gavin looked around the office again and shook his head. “When did things start getting so complicated? Used to be that no one would have dropped in when I was working.”

Connor was laughing again as he walked out the door, the prick. He could hear him assure Deanna that everything was fine. When had everything gotten so complicated?