Flood Read online

  Flood

  Stephanie Brother

  Contents

  1. EMMA

  2. EMMA

  3. EMMA

  4. EMMA

  5. CORY

  6. EMMA

  7. CORY

  8. EMMA

  9. CORY

  10. EMMA

  11. CORY

  12. EMMA

  13. EMMA

  14. EMMA

  15. CORY

  HIM

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  EPILOGUE

  PERSONAL 1

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  PERSONAL 2

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Stephanie Brother

  Let’s stay connected!

  Copyright © 2017 by Stephanie Brother

  All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author's imagination.

  Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.

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  1

  EMMA

  “You guys, seriously, we're going to get kicked out of here! They're going to ask us to leave,” I whined, trying to pull Lindsey away from grinding on one of the smooth wooden beams that went from the floor to the ceiling. And judging by the way Cassidy’s skirt was hiked up dangerously high, I suspected we’d get the boot sooner rather than later.

  I quickly grabbed the hem of her skirt, trying to get her to pull it down, but she wasn't having any of it. My best friends all looked at me with the same glazed-over more-than-just-tipsy looks on their faces. I might as well have sprouted a unicorn horn in the middle of my head and started speaking Mandarin—they were neither seeing nor listening to my pleas. With everyone else at the wine tasting bar starting to stare, my sorority sisters and I stuck out like a sore thumb. A very drunk sore thumb.

  Cassidy playfully shoved my shoulder, leaning against the bar to help her seem like she could stand with no problem. "C'mon, Em. This is supposed to be your birthday, after all."

  Others, some of them clearly dressed up for the occasion, whispered to one another, "Can you believe them?"

  "Young ladies acting like a bunch of frat boys…"

  "Clearly thought this was some kind of dance club…"

  "Completely tasteless," a woman who worked at the winery murmured to another employee.

  The older woman closest to us caught my eye as the man she was with didn't even bother to whisper, "Perhaps instead of more wine, they should go eat a heavy meal. And take a nap."

  I felt myself slumping against the bar, not from being intoxicated but out of humiliation. Happy birthday to me, I guess.

  "Yeah, and you only turn twenty-one once!" Lindsey added, a few of the other girls swaying and cheering in agreement. Even without the wine coursing through my veins, I knew my face must have been rosy red. To say I was embarrassed was an understatement.

  I mean… It wasn't that I didn't want to have fun. I'd been looking forward to my birthday since what felt like forever ago, but even more than that, our upcoming graduation from college. We only had two more weeks left to go, and after that? Freedom. Of course, first we had to worry about our finals on Monday, but it was Saturday, and as everyone in Pi Beta Phi knew—Saturday meant party time.

  We'd all been talking about wine tasting for months now, and as much as I loved to have fun with my friends, the one person was right about them acting like they were at a frat party. Shire Hills Vineyard & Winery was supposed to be a swanky, well-known winery with a reputable tasting room—one of the most renowned in Texas hill country, in fact. So my girls being loud and drunk in the middle of the place didn't exactly go over well with the rest of occupants.

  I glanced around at my friends, unable to stop shaking my head at each of their giggling faces. One would think skipping a grade when I was younger would leave me a little behind my peers and maybe more well, juvenile, but at the moment I officially wanted to get my drunken sisters out of here.

  Served them right, though. Being plastered at 1:00 in the afternoon… that's what being a carb and dairy-ditcher will do to you when you add in the alcohol. I don't remember who started it first, but everyone in the house ended up dieting in preparation for our fabulous summer graduation trip.

  Translation—the only thing in the house to eat were shakes for breakfast and lunch. Also a translation—shakes don't fare the best with wine tasting, apparently.

  There was a weird grunt of effort behind me, and when I turned I saw Lindsey picking up a huge bottle of wine that must have weighed fifty pounds, easy. For a moment, I thought it was simply just a prop, but when I really paid attention to the look on her face, and the way her arms seemed to be buckling as she held it up, I gasped. It was one of those huge novelty wine bottles that legit held a whole case of wine inside. "Linds!"

  "Hey ladies," she said, giggling as though it were nothing. "What do you think? How about this for our next party? Alpha Phi would be so jealous."

  Cassidy and a few of the other girls roared with laughter, egging her on.

  "Lindsey, put it down," I said, straining to keep the smile on my face. I almost felt like one of those moms who have a bunch of kids running around their ankles. Which reminds me, I'm never having kids.

  Lindsey sashayed a few steps away from us, pretending to hold up the bottle to drink it. "Forget a keg. This is what the classy people chug."

  Around us, the whispering was only getting louder. All eyes seemed to be on us, and as I continually glanced around, my chest tightened. Even the man who was standing by the end of the bar talking with the bartender turned to see what was going on. When our eyes met, I quickly looked away, surprised by the thump in my chest as it loosened up a bit. The man's cowboy hat was now tilted up and I could see his face, the stubble, the dimple in his chin.

  He must have been in his late twenties, standing there swilling his glass of dark wine and studying us. It was like he'd walked right off the set of the latest action movie, with the rugged jeans and matching jacket. Usually all that denim would be a turn-off, but this guy made it look good, like he genuinely just finished roping some cattle. I managed to glance down and see the roughed-up brown boots on his feet, and felt a small smile spread across my face.

  He didn't look like he fit in with all the upper-class sophisticates, yet that didn't seem to bother him one bit. Hell, he even looked like he enjoyed standing out from everyone else.

  "Ooh, look at hot cowboy dude over there," Cassidy drunkenly pointed out, a little too loudly.

  Holly snorted, covering her mouth as she leaned against Cassidy. "I think he likes looking at us," she said, her voice raspy. "Doesn't he look like an older version of Liam Hemsworth?"

  "Guys, please," I tried to beg again, but they just kept going, even Lindsey joining in while still holding the insanely large wine bottle.

  "You know how the song goes—save a horse, ride a cowboy!"

  God, my face burned. There wasn't a hole deep enough for me to fall into, it seemed.

  "Girl, I would rope him up so good…"

  I chanced another look in his direction. The corner of his mouth tipped upward as he caught me staring back at him, and just as I was wondering whether it would be at all appropriate to leave my friends a
nd go apologize to him, something loud and heavy crashed to the tile floor, startling me.

  Knowing in an instant what happened, I rushed to Lindsey's side, careful not to step on the huge chunks of dark glass littered all over the place. "Oh my God, Linds, are you okay?"

  But she just laughed hysterically and all our sisters pointed to the mess, giggling along too. I didn't know whether to be furious or even more embarrassed, especially since now everyone was really looking, and no one else seemed to be amused in the least.

  The guy at the end of the bar was suddenly standing right next to me and Lindsey, bending down with his hat facing brim-up in his hand. "Here," he muttered, his deep voice cutting right through me.

  Ignoring the effect him just saying one single word had on me, I graciously accepted the help and bent down with him, making sure to tuck my knees in under my skirt.

  "Look, girls! Cowboy to the rescue!" one of my friends laughed, causing another chain reaction from the rest of them.

  I groaned, wishing they would just shut the hell up already. "You guys are so embarrassing," I hissed at them, knowing they couldn't care less at this point. "This isn't funny!"

  An older man in a perfectly-tailored suit came rushing out to the floor, his eyes looking ready to bulge out of his head. At the mere sight of him, every single one of my friends, including the culprit herself, Lindsey, all made a mad dash for the exit. I was left to stare up meekly at the guy, my shoulders slumping forward as I pulled myself to a stand. I'd have to spare my anger at them and get through this first.

  "You just broke a fifteen-hundred-dollar bottle of our finest Cabernet Sauvignon!" the man said through gritted teeth, his hands in fists at his side.

  Looking down at the ground where the helpful cowboy was thankfully finishing cleaning up the bigger chunks of glass, I wrung my hands. "I, well, that wasn't actually me who did that, but yes, I do apologize. I'm so, so sorry about that, sir. Is there anything I can do?"

  The man narrowed his eyes at me as if I were a complete idiot. "Why yes, yes you can. You can pay the fifteen-hundred dollars for it."

  I choked on the air I sucked in, my eyes wide. "Excuse me? I'm… I'm sorry, but I don't have… I mean, I can't exactly afford that."

  The man was about to open his mouth and chew me out, but the cowboy—who I really needed to learn the name of because whoa, I just saw his eyes, and I'm pretty sure I've never seen such blue eyes before in all my life—stepped in, looking right at me. "Before this gets ugly, let me fix this. Have dinner with me tonight, and the debt will be forgiven. I'll handle it."

  Blinking twice as fast as normal, I tried to grasp what he was saying. Surely, I’d had more to drink than I realized. "I'm sorry?"

  The quirk of his sexy, full lips before was only a mild teaser for the kind of face-splitting, crooked grin he gave me. My grandma would've said his face was sweeter than sin. "Let me take you out tonight…"

  "Emma," I offered, realizing he was waiting for my name.

  "Emma, okay. If you come to dinner with me tonight then I’ll pay for the bottle. It's on me."

  As I stared my rescuer in the eyes, I struggled to find the words to say, but all that ended up coming out was a barely audible, "Sure."

  2

  EMMA

  I fidgeted with the hem of my dress, completely nervous. Never in all my life had I been put in such an odd situation that had my heart racing this fast. I'd basically just agreed to have dinner with a stranger—an insanely sexy stranger, but still. He'd singled me out from the rest of the girls, and while they were pretty sloppy and definitely drunk, I couldn't help but feel flattered.

  Imagining what he would pull up to the front of the campus apartments parking lot in, I smiled to myself. Maybe it'd be a beat up pick-up truck like all the country singers crooned about in their songs. Or a tractor. Or hell, what if he actually trotted up on horseback? Anything was possible in Texas.

  But when a sleek silver Mercedes-Benz pulled up slowly around the curb, I anxiously looked all around me, wondering why the driver was stopping. I nearly took a few steps back when he rolled down the window to get a good look at me. "Miss Emma?"

  I bounced on the balls of my feet, wearing a slightly confused smile. "Yes?"

  The driver simply put the car in park and got out, coming around to open the back passenger-side door. "I'll be your driver this evening," he said, tipping his hat to me.

  Wait… what? Was this guy for real? "Are you…" I let my voice trail off at the patient expression on his face. Clearly this was my ride, whether I believed it or not, so, not wanting to seem rude, I nodded and slid into the car, still baffled.

  This wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Not even close. Not only had I figured my date (whose name I still didn’t know, crazily enough) would pick me up himself, but I thought it would be in some kind of rugged vehicle befitting a true cowboy. Did this guy who was so strikingly out of place at the winery have money or something?

  Slowly my curiosity faded into a calm sort of contentment, the beautiful winding roads and green hillsides covered in wildflowers doing wonders for my mind. The sun was starting to set in the west, the last dying rays of gold shot through with crimson and rose finally slipping behind a larger hill, leaving the road in its massive shadow as we passed. It took me a moment to realize that the dark coming from behind us wasn't hills in the distance but storm clouds, the first lightning strike making me jump while I wasn't paying attention.

  With any luck, I wouldn't get caught in the storm tonight. Although with how I’d left things back at the Pi Beta Phi house, I wouldn't have been surprised if I did.

  I frowned as I looked out the window; my friends’ careless attitudes today were still bothering me.

  "I cannot believe you all just fucking ditched me at the winery like that! On my birthday, no less! Could you have been any ruder?"

  Of course, they all played it off like it wasn't even a thing. "Don't act like you didn't get anything out of it," Cassidy said, pulling her hair up into a messy bun. "A nice date with a hot-ass cowboy? If you want to trade places with me, just let me know, Em!"

  They'd all just died with laughter, still drunk from the day-drinking while I was getting ready, but my gut was twisted up inside. Even as I sat there comfortably in the luxurious car, the quiet and colorful ride somewhat calming, I was slightly less than terrified.

  Truth be told, I'd never been on a blind date before, and while plenty of my sorority sisters and a handful of my other friends had all been on dates set up through Tinder or some other app, none of them had ever done something quite like this. For some reason, I couldn't see the mysterious and sexy cowboy swiping right on anyone.

  After absentmindedly checking my phone for the millionth time, I felt the car slow down. We'd been driving for an hour, easy, which made me wonder just where in the world we were. Who brought their blind dates all the way out this far? There was a small stab of apprehension in me when my mind automatically went to the worst scenario.

  What if this guy was a serial killer or something? What if this whole thing was some kind of weird, twisted way of him doing God-knows-what to me? I had to steady my breathing and chuckle nervously to myself. "You're being ridiculous," I muttered to myself under my breath as I kept my eyes glued on my purse in my lap.

  "I'm sorry, miss? Did you say something?"

  I quickly shook my head, but had my keys strategically in my hand, just in case.

  We pulled to a complete stop and when I turned to look out the window, my jaw dropped.

  We were now in front of a humongous, sprawling ranch tucked away on top of a lower hill that led down to the flattened valley. Lights were lit all along the outside of the main house, with its fancy lodge-style architecture. All wooden beams and heavy stone work. The circular driveway could've easily fit twenty cars, yet it had a downhome feeling to it with the four rocking chairs and swing on the wide front porch. Even in the dimming light of day, I could tell that this place must've been worth a fortune.

  Was this my cowboy's… home?

  CORY

  Inviting beautiful strangers to have dinner at my house wasn't exactly a pastime of mine, but when Emma walked into the house, I began to wonder why I hadn't done this more often. I knew she was gorgeous at the winery; she easily stood out from the rest of the girls she was with, and that nervous little grin on her face as she looked over at me? Even if the Cabernet Sauvignon hadn't crashed to the floor, causing my winery to lose out on about fifteen-hundred bucks or so, I would've made my way over to her and invited her anyway. The wine incident just made it that much easier. Albeit a little bit more expensive.