River of Love(41)

Sam closed the distance between them, anger storming inside him as he met Cole’s opposing stare. He had an insurmountable amount of respect for his brother, and it was that respect that kept him from blowing up.

“You’ve never steered me wrong,” Sam said in a heated tone. “Not in business and not in other aspects of my life. And yeah, I was the guy who took and played and messed around. You’re right about all of that. And you’re right that Faith is good and smart. She’s also sweet, and sexy, and funny, and all of those things drew me to her.”

“You were drawn to her looks. She gets so flustered around you she can barely see straight.”

Sam nodded, fuming inside. “Isn’t everyone attracted to looks first? Weren’t you with Leesa?” He didn’t wait for Cole to respond. “And yeah, she got flustered around me. Sometimes she still does, and that makes me fall harder for her every time. And maybe you’re right about the challenge thing.”

He broke away from Cole, too restless to stand still as he verbalized what he’d known all along. “Maybe it started out as me wanting to win her attention.” He drew his shoulders back and met his brother’s gaze again. “But it sure as hell didn’t stay that way. Everything changed the night of your wedding.”

“Jesus, Sam. You slept with her the night of my wedding?”

Sam scoffed. “That’s what you think of me?”

Cole lowered himself to the chair again with a heavy sigh. “Isn’t that what everyone knows of you?”

Sam crossed his arms, his chest deflating with the piercing truth. He sat across from Cole, wondering why he’d thought this conversation would go any differently.

“Yeah. That’s what everyone knows of me.” Sam scrubbed a hand down his face. “But it’s not who I am anymore. Not with Faith. And I thought of all people, you’d understand that.”

Cole searched Sam’s face, and Sam wondered what he saw. A disappointed brother? A man standing on the precipice of emotions so enormous he had no idea which way was up? Or the guy he used to be?

“Sam, I want to believe you. You’re my brother and I love you. And you’re a Braden, which means somewhere beneath the rough, playboy exterior is a man who knows how to be loyal to more than just his family. Hell, I want you to fall in love and be as happy as Leesa and I are, and you know I think the world of Faith. I’m just skeptical. What happens when you get bored?”

“Christ, Cole. Do you even know her? She’s incredible. I won’t get bored.”

“You don’t know that,” Cole said in a kinder tone.

“I do know it, Cole.” He smacked his hand over his heart. “In here, where it matters. I never thought I’d have to prove myself to you, of all people.”

Sam rose to his feet and Cole followed. When he stepped away, Cole grabbed him by the arm and spun him around.

“Sam—”

“What?” His anger couldn’t be disguised, though he wasn’t sure if he was angrier at Cole for not believing him, or himself, for having boxed himself in with his reputation. He shrugged out of Cole’s grip. “I respect your honesty, and I’m glad you had a good time on your honeymoon. I didn’t mean to fuck up your homecoming. I just wanted you to hear it from me before you heard it from Jon or Ty, or anyone else.” He took a step away, then looked over his shoulder, meeting Cole’s tormented gaze. “Just do me a favor. Don’t let any of this affect Faith’s job.”

“Come on, Sam. You know me better than that.”

With a curt nod, Sam walked away, swallowing the jagged pill of knowing he’d have to prove himself to every goddamn person in town—and he had no one to blame but himself.





Chapter Twenty-Five


MONDAY MORNING SAM went for a run before the sun came up. He hated leaving Faith, but he’d been stewing over his reckless past since his conversation with Cole, and if he was honest with himself, he was disappointed in Cole’s reaction. All of those emotions had him tied in knots, and if he didn’t run off some of the restlessness, he’d explode.

He pushed himself hard, running farther than normal. The familiar pounding on the forest floor usually helped him clear his mind. He crossed the road and entered a trailhead by Nate’s place, catching sight of his brothers heading toward him. He kept up his pace, knowing Nate and Ty would catch up. A few heavy footfalls later, they fell into step beside him.

“Thought you weren’t running today,” Nate said.

“Needed it.”

“Trouble with Faith?” Ty asked.

Sam slid him a get real look. “If there were, I’d be with her, not trying to run the fucking frustration out of my body.” He couldn’t believe they hadn’t heard what was going on. He was sure Cole would have confided in one of them.

“What’s the issue?” Nate asked.

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

“No doubt,” Nate said. “But why go it alone?”

Sam chewed on that question as they ran up a hill, then fell into a single-file line to navigate the narrow trail between a patch of pine trees. They’d always leaned on one another, but he’d gotten his reputation fair and square. He’d earned it, even encouraged it, on his own. He could deal with the reputation, but the trouble was, he wasn’t dealing with it on his own. Faith was right there with him, willing to face those who knew him when and hold her head up high, despite how uncomfortable it might be. Goddamn Cole. He’d shaken up Sam’s rock-hard confidence. If his own brother didn’t immediately believe he was serious about Faith, what would the people he used to party with think? And how much bullshit would he have to deal with at the barbecue?

The trail widened and leveled out, and they ran side by side again.

“I’m not going it alone,” Sam finally said. “Faith’s right there with me. And I hate knowing people might not believe I’m serious about her. I hate knowing she might see all the bullshit that went along with my past.”

“Ah,” Ty said. “Now I get it. It’s one thing to know it, but another to see it. That’s easy. You can handle blowing off anyone who comes onto you, and I’ll play interference.” He flashed a devilish grin. “Not like I mind.”

“I can handle anything, but I worry about Faith. I told Cole we’re dating, and he gave me shit. That didn’t help.”

“Of course he did,” Ty snapped. “That’s Cole. He’s the steady hand, the straight-and-narrow road walker. He can’t handle the trails like we can, or the shit that comes with them. He’s worried about his employee, and he knows you can handle anything. But Faith? Shit, Sam. She’s worked for him for a long time. He’s going to worry about her as if she were his sister.”

“Maybe that’s the trouble. I thought he’d see how serious I am about her and accept that I’ve changed, regardless of how fast it happened, but instead he made me feel like I was playing Russian roulette with her life.” At first he hadn’t told Faith what Cole had said, partially because he didn’t want to upset her and partially because Sam knew he’d prove his brother wrong and it would soon be water under the bridge. He’d simply told her that Cole wanted to be sure he wasn’t going to hurt her, which was true. While it wasn’t a lie, he’d omitted part of the truth, and that had gnawed at his gut. He’d come clean last night, and Faith had seemed as pissed at Cole as Sam was with himself for having the reputation in the first place.

“You know Cole has to look at things from all angles to put the pieces together,” Nate said.

“Not with Leesa.”

“Don’t fool yourself,” Nate said. “You think he didn’t approach his relationship the same way he does everything? He might not have shared it with us, but you can guarantee he dissected the hell out of his emotions.”

“Even so, he opened my eyes. Every goddamn person in this town sees me as that guy, and I don’t give a rat’s ass about having to prove them all wrong. But I do care about how it’ll affect Faith.”

“So what’s the plan?” Ty asked.

Sam shrugged, heading for another trail, not yet ready to stop torturing himself. “To be myself. That’s the only person I know how to be, and the fact that it’s a different guy from the one everyone expects doesn’t mean shit. All that matters is that Faith comes out of this unscathed at the end of the day.”

“Nah, you’ve got that wrong,” Nate said. “What matters is that she comes out feeling even more confident about your relationship, which she will. Because you’ve never set your sights on a damn thing and half-assed it.”

They ran together a few miles and spent the last twenty minutes giving one another shit about everything and nothing, which helped Sam get out of his own head. As the sun crept over the horizon, he broke away and headed home.

He looked out over the water, thinking about how much he’d always loved living there, on the water and in Peaceful Harbor. Sam knew he was as imperfect as the rocky riverbed, but in his heart, regardless of how many times he’d gone over the falls, despite the dents and scars he’d accumulated along the way, he also knew he was perfect for Faith. She needed a man who was loyal, a man who adored her, a man who cared about the things she was passionate about. Sam was that man.