LITMIR.BIZ

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the midst of one helluva dry spell. The handsome but nerdy accountant with glasses and a boatload of allergies wasn’t as appealing as strong and cocky farmers.

      Kaeden was well aware that he was the black sheep of the Strong family. It was a role he adapted to since childhood. When he graduated from Walterboro High School, he attended Clemson, earning his bachelor of science in accounting and then his MBA. All of his brothers went straight to working on the farm full-time after school.

      Adjusting his rimless eyeglasses, Kaeden rose from his seat and grabbed his tailored pin-striped suit jacket from the back of his chair. Usually he would gather up his files and work at home while he ate a TV dinner and watched television.

      “Not tonight,” he promised himself as he strode out of the renovated brick home he used for his offices in Walterboro. The street lights were on and darkness had long since claimed the skies.

      Kaeden unlocked his shiny new BMW 750Li, tossed his suit jacket on the rear seat, and folded his slender six-foot frame onto the Nappa leather seat. If he could be as successful with women as he was with his business, he would have a significant other in his life. His last relationship had ended after only three months because she couldn’t take how much he worked. Felicity thought he was not available enough and Kaeden thought she was too needy.

      Kaeden came to a stop at a red light. Seconds later a yellow Jeep Wrangler cruised through the intersection.

      Jade.

      His heart pumped. He wondered if he would ever get used to the dark-skinned beauty. Ever since the first day she’d walked into Holtsville Baptist Church two years ago in that form-fitting pink dress, the woman had his head spinning. And not once in the last two years had he worked up the nerve to even start a conversation with her. Disappointment and rejection were not his faves. The men of Holtsville flocked around her like bees to the sweetest nectar, and he knew there was no way a woman like Jade would want to be with a man like him.

      She was completely different from any woman he had ever dated. More beautiful. More sexy. More curvaceous. Less conservative. More…everything.

      Pushing away feelings that were more akin to a boyhood crush than anything, Kaeden steered his vehicle down Highway 17 headed toward Holtsville. He wished he could put his windows down, but it was just early May and the pollen count was still high enough to send him into a full allergic fit. He’d been through enough of that as a child. It had been hell watching his brothers and his little sister playing outdoors, watching them through the windows.

      As he turned his vehicle off the main highway onto a long and curving winding road paved in asphalt, Kaeden soon was able to eye his childhood home. The brick two-story structure with plenty of glass windows was enhanced by manicured lawns with topiaries, bushes, and flowers galore—all carefully selected because they were least allergenic.

      Kaeden shook his head at the memory of the landscapers completing rebuilding and replanting the gardens once his parents learned they were so detrimental to him. Yes, he was the black sheep, but his family had always made sure he felt completely loved.

      Parking in front of the house, Kaeden hopped out and jogged up the steps to the front door. He frowned to find it locked. His parents hardly ever locked the door, and he had long since turned in his key once he moved into his own place. He rang the doorbell and even knocked twice. They weren’t home.

      Grabbing his BlackBerry from his hip, he quickly dialed his dad’s cell phone number.

      “Kael Strong.”

      “Hey, I’m standing on your front porch. Where are you two?” Kaeden asked as he jogged back down the stairs to his car.

      “I decided to take my beautiful wife out to dinner. Is something wrong?” Kael answered in the strong and deep voice that his sons had inherited. The voice only hinted at the strength he maintained as the head of the Strong clan.

      “Just looking to catch a home-cooked meal,” Kaeden lied as he climbed back into his car and started it.

      “Not tonight,” his dad joked.

      “Ha ha ha, Pops,” Kaeden drawled. “Talk to you later.”

      Kaeden reversed his vehicle into an arc before driving up the paved drive back to the main highway. “Even my parents have a damn life,” he muttered as he steered his vehicle back up Highway 17 in the direction of Summerville. After over forty years of marriage and five kids, his parents were still affectionate, still fiery, still in love. That’s what he wanted for himself.

      He made a left on Raccoon Lane, slowly taking the long and bumpy unpaved dirt road until he pulled in front of an impressive, two-level brick home. Kaeden parked next to Kade’s new Yukon Denali. A night of good food cooked by his sister-in-law Garcelle and playing with his tween-aged niece Kadina was just the distraction he needed. He jogged up the stairs to the large porch, knocking twice on the door. He waited a bit and then knocked again.

      The door jerked open and Kaeden frowned at the sight of his 6’5” brother standing before him in boxers.

      “What up, little brother?” Kade asked, sounding out of breath.

      “For one, your boxers are on backward, playa,” Kaeden teased.

      Kade smiled broadly, showing almost every white tooth in his head as he shrugged. “You know how it is sometimes.”

      “Oh,” Kaeden said in clarity.

      “Kade, estoy empezando sin ti!” Garcelle hollered from inside the house.

      “What did she say?” Kaeden asked in curiosity.

      “I told your brother I was starting without him,” Garcelle said suddenly in her still-prominent Spanish accent, appearing in the doorway wrapped in nothing but a sheet and a beguiling smile.

      Kade laughed as he wrapped his arm around her and easily picked her up to press his lips against her smooth neck.

      “Bye, Kaeden,” Garcelle said sweetly, waving over Kade’s strong, broad shoulder as her husband stepped deeper into the house and used his foot to close the door in Kaeden’s face.

      He fought the urge to be jealous of his brother’s happiness as he jogged down their steps and climbed back into his car again. Kade had found love twice in his lifetime. First with Reema, whose unfortunate passing had sent his brother spiraling into a life filled with mourning, and then with Garcelle—a fiery and sultry woman who helped him learn to live and love again.

      Kaeden started to just go home to his own town house, but the thought of another lonely night forced him to head over to his brother Kahron’s. Knowing the chemistry he always witnessed between Kahron and his wife Bianca, he didn’t want to run up on another scene of seduction. He grabbed his cell phone and dialed the cell of the brother that he favored so much.

      “If only I could pull all the women Kahron used to,” he drawled, slowing down to pull his vehicle on the side of the road out of traffic.

      “Whaddup, bubba.”

      “Where you at?” Kaeden asked.

      “We’re dropping KJ off to his PaPa Hank and then I’m driving with Bianca to Knightsville for a horse about to foal.”

      Bianca was a veterinarian who operated her practice on her father’s horse training farm. Kaeden’s involvement with the various farms his family operated only went as far as handling the paperwork and paying the employees, but he knew horse foaling could take all night.

      “I was gone drop by for some family QT,” Kaeden began as he watched for a break in traffic to swing his vehicle back down Highway 17. “But I’ll catch you guys another night.”

      “A’ight.”

      Kaeden dropped his cell phone onto the passenger seat. His sister Kaitlyn was off on one of her misadventures being twentysomething and carefree with her other spoiled friends. He knew his brother Kaleb—the ultimate bachelor—was already at his usual after-hours hangout, Charlie’s, playing whist and drinking beer.

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