Luke stretched out his hand, his fingers digging into the crimp of rock he was climbing. He’d reached the crux of the climb—the hardest part—and as he assessed his next move, he could hear the clink of Hunter belaying down. His friend had had a ten-minute head start on him this morning, something he’d surely rib him about later.

“See ya down there, Stone!” Hunter called as he joined their friend Simon on the ground.

Sweat dripped down his nose as he dug his feet into the rock, his muscles straining as he reached for the next handhold. At this point, all the handholds were crimps—places in the rock that a man could barely fit his fingertips into. The challenge had his adrenaline pumping as he pressed his thighs against the slate and shifted.

He felt something crumble under his foot and reacted, his hand grasping for the crimp in the rock as his foothold—and the rock underneath it—gave way. His weight shifted on the belay ropes too fast and he winced as he heard the ropes snap, the carabiners rattling as they fell. His feet cut loose completely from the mountain as he scrabbled to keep his fingers in the crimp. For a moment, he was at a dead hang, eighty feet in the air, no ropes, no protection.

“Shit!” he heard Simon exclaim.

“Luke! Fuck! Hang on, I’m coming!” Hunter shouted.

“Wait, wait!” Luke yelled back, swinging his legs, his heel snagging on a jut in the rock. Using at as leverage, he pushed off, grabbing a better handhold as he began his descent.

Ten minutes later, he was back on the ground, his friends looking relieved.

“I was kind of worried there,” Simon said, handing him a bottle of water.

“I promise, I’m not gonna go splat anytime soon,” Luke said with a grin.

“Seriously, man,” Hunter said, shaking his head. “Sometimes you take crazy risks. You gotta take it slower. Margaux’s gonna kick my ass if I get our baby’s godfather killed before he or she is even born.”

. “I had the situation under control,” Luke said. He still couldn’t believe Hunter was going to be a dad. He was so excited for his oldest friend. The kid would be lucky as hell: Hunter was the kind of warm soul who would be an amazing father. “Plus, I’ve got a date tonight. I’m not gonna miss that.”

“You called Nora, then?” Hunter asked.

“Margaux insisted,” Luke said. “And what Margaux wants…”

“Margaux gets,” Hunter and Simon finished in unison, laughing. It wasn’t really that Margaux was bossy—though she had her moments—it was that she was just so damn sweet, the kind of woman who was everyone’s little sister. And she was giving and kind, so whenever she asked for favors, good things always came of them—for everyone.

“I figured it’d been a long time since I’ve been set up by anyone who really knows me well,” Luke continued. “Why not give it a shot?”

“I don’t think I know this Nora,” Simon said.

“Childhood friend,” Hunter explained. “Our mothers are best friends. Nora actually introduced me to Margaux in college. She was back east for school and then in Seattle the past few years. She got a job in Portland, so she just moved.”

“You think they’ll hit it off?” Simon asked, and Luke rolled his eyes. Simon loved gossip, even though he’d never admit it. He was a journalist, so Luke guessed it made sense… but he was also a loyal as hell friend. There’d been a few times in the past when Simon has come through for him in ways he could never repay.

“I actually think you two would be great together,” Hunter said. “She’s totally his type, too—look.” He pulled out his phone and showed Simon a photo.

Luke tried not to look too interested, knowing it’d just spur his friend’s teasing on, but Hunter was right—Nora Phillips was exactly his type. When Margaux had suggested the two get together for dinner, she’d sent him a text with a picture of Nora. She was gorgeous, with deep chestnut hair and a smile that lit up the whole room. Every picture of her, she’d been smiling like the entire world was pleasing her. It pulled at him, made him wonder what type of man could get her to smile at him like that.

It’d been a long time since he dated seriously. He’d been busy the past few years. He’d fucked up a lot in his early twenties—made some selfish choices, wallowing in grief that he should’ve dealt with as a teenager, but had no idea how.

His parent’s tragic deaths in a plane crash when he was twelve had shattered his entire world. His brother, Devlin, had been only twenty at the time, with no idea how to be the guardian of a lost, angry pre-teen. Luke had been sent to boarding school and therapists and all the best summer camps a boy of his social status could attend. But the plane crash didn’t take only his parents away—it took his brother, too. In a different way, but all the same, it changed Devlin forever. Eventually, it broke him. Devlin rarely ventured from his home in the Canadian wilderness, and the last time Luke had tried to convince his brother to join society again, it had ended badly.

He hadn’t seen or talked to his brother in five years. It was another loss, one that he almost felt numb to at times. He wished things were different, but at the same time, it was so damn hard to see a path through the mess the brothers both had a hand in.

There had been a time where Luke thought the loss of their parents would break him, too. But his fight with Devlin—and the pointed silence that followed—was his wake-up call. He got himself together. Committed himself to a new life.

Committed the fortune he’d inherited from his parents to something good.

He now ran one of the largest charitable organizations in the Pacific Northwest. The Stone Foundation didn’t focus on just one cause—instead, he put time, money, and anything else that was needed, into a range of causes and charities. He’d spent most of last year focused on breaking ground on the new domestic violence shelter he’d founded, and now that was up and thriving, he was turning his attention to other pursuits.

Including, apparently, dating.

Jokes aside about Margaux always getting what she wanted, he’d almost told her no when she suggested it at coffee the other day. But how can you say no to a sweet-as-hell pregnant woman you love like a little sister? Especially when she’s giving you fairytale princess eyes? Of course he couldn’t refuse.

But as she’d continued to talk about her friend Nora, the more interested he became. Margaux was not the type of woman who would heap unearned praise on anyone—even a friend—but she absolutely lit up as she told Luke about Nora’s amazing photography and the antics they got up to as college students. When he questioned why she was still single, Margaux had flushed.

“She had a fiancé,” she told him. “But he cheated. When I found out, it was very hard for me not to take a tire iron to his BMW.”

He’d grinned when she’d said it, but felt a familiar stirring of disgust at the idea of infidelity. He’d looked down at the Margaux’s phone again, at Nora’s sunshine smile beaming up at him, and thought the asshole who cheated on her was an idiot.

He’d called Nora up the next day. She seemed surprised to hear from him, her husky voice sexy as hell as she stammered a little. But she agreed to meet him for dinner. “If only to get Margaux off our backs. You know how she is,” he’d added, wanting to give her an easy out if they didn’t click.

She’d laughed at his comment, and the sound—fuck, the sound went right to his dick. His fingers had clenched around the phone, the reaction so sudden it left him reeling. This time, he was the one stammering a little as they set a time and hung up.

“… You ready, Luke?” Simon asked, breaking Luke from his reverie.

“Sorry,” he said as Hunter guffawed.

“Already daydreaming about the brunette cutie?” Simon asked. He jabbed Hunter with his elbow. “Why don’t you and Margaux ever set me up with a gorgeous woman?”

“Just ask her, she’d be delighted to do some more matchmaking,” Hunter said, stowing the rest of their gear in the back of his SUV. “Knowing her, she’s going to get bored on maternity leave. She’ll need something to occupy her.”

“Because a baby won’t be enough,” Simon said with a smile.

“You taking paternity leave?” Luke asked Hunter as they piled into the SUV.

Hunter nodded. “My father-in-law thinks I’m crazy.” He lowered his voice, mimicking his father. “Son, in my day, the women took care of all that, and the men brought home the money.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Just ignore him. It’s great that you’ve got the freedom to do it. Think of all the stuff you might miss otherwise.”

“You’ll be super-Dad,” Simon added. “Maybe Margaux will make you a cape.”

Luke lost himself in their easy banter as they drove back to the city, his mind pulled back to Nora Phillips and her bright smile.