One More Taste (One and Only Texas #2)(49)

Ty blocked Knox’s passage to the door. “You show up here with your entitlement, but you’re not entitled to shit. I will not be defeated so easily, boy.”

Lucky for Knox that he’d never expected Ty to make it easy on him. “You’re afraid, but that’s natural. Change is hard.”

“What’s your long game?” Ty said in a low rumble.

Know squared a look at him. “You sure you want to know?”

With a growl, Ty whirled around and smacked the scotch bottle off the table. The glass shattered and the room filled with the noxious fumes of evaporating alcohol.

“I’ll take that as a yes. It’s simple, really. I’m going to bring the resort back from the brink of disaster and make it greater than it’s ever been.”

“And then what?”

Knox debated coming clean, then decided there was no harm in it. “And then, I’m going to strip Briscoe from its name and I’m going to sell it to the highest corporate bidder.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” he whispered.

Knox sniffed. “Do you ever miss Clint? He was your sole brother, only a year and a half apart in age. You could’ve had each other’s backs, but you turned your back on him, and on my mom, and on me and my siblings. You did that, you and Tyson. When Tyson died, my dad didn’t get a penny. He had to scrape his way through life to make ends meet. And now you want me to show you mercy? You want me to pretend that I care what happens to you a year from now? Two years from now?”

The only sound in the room was Ty’s angry breaths taken through flared nostrils.

“What did you think was gonna happen when you brought me here, Ty? What’d you think?”

Ty seemed to collect himself all at once. The rage in his eyes transformed to determination. “Nothin’s happened yet.” Proud words, though his voice betrayed him by cracking once.

Knox didn’t think he’d ever had a more satisfying business meeting in all his life. This moment and the look on Ty’s face, along with the desperate quality to his voice, were going to sustain Knox for a lot of years to come. Long after he’d remodeled the resort and sold it away.





Chapter Eleven

Friday night, Emily was stirring a pot of grits in Knox’s kitchen when the doorbell rang. Carina, who’d texted Emily an hour ago begging for grits and pickled shrimp again. She hoped Knox didn’t mind her inviting Carina to his house without his permission. Ever since Knox and Emily’s momentary insanity at his mother’s house, Emily had done her best to play by the rules and keep her distance from him. She’d even managed to keep her unwanted lusting to a minimum, thanks to Haylie’s help serving dinner every night.

But even if Knox would’ve minded Carina’s presence in his house, it was early enough in the workday that he’d probably never find out, and Emily wasn’t willing to make Carina wait to have her crazy cravings satisfied.

She opened the front door to Carina, who was showing off her baby bump in a body-contouring royal blue sweater dress. Judging by her wide-eyed, awed expression, she was impressed by the grandeur of Knox’s digs. She entered the foyer, her head on a swivel. “So this is his house.”

“This is it.”

“I’ve never been on this property before. I didn’t realize so much space was back up in these hills. And this house … it’s so modern. I can see why he bought it. It reminds me of him.”

“How so?” Emily asked.

Carina lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Some might call it sleek and sophisticated, but I think it’s kind of cold and detached.”

That’s what Carina thought of Knox? Cold and detached? On what planet? “I don’t get that vibe from him at all. Quite the opposite.”

Carina leveled a teasing look at Emily, tapping a finger on her chin. “Let me guess. What’s the opposite of cold? Oh yeah, you think he’s hot.”

Carina had no idea how right she was, and Emily wasn’t about to fill her in. “You’re really getting a lot of mileage out of that joke.”

“I do my best. I smell something yummy other than my grits. Is that chili?”

“Frito Pie. It was Knox’s dad’s favorite and I got ahold of his family recipe. Not that I’m sticking to it very closely.”

“Genius idea.”

“Let’s hope Knox thinks so, too. Come on into the kitchen. Your grits are about done.”

Carina rubbed Emily’s back as they walked. “You’re not only a genius, but a life saver.”

Emily sat Carina at the kitchen table and placed a steaming bowl of grits in front of her. While Carina looked on in rapt wonderment, Emily grated aged cheddar over the grits.

“Sure you don’t want any shaved black truffles on that?” Emily asked.

Carina licked her lips. “Uh-uh. This is perfect.”

“Great. Your pickled shrimp will be right up.” While she dug in, Emily pulled the jar of pickled shrimp from the fridge, then set to work chopping parsley to garnish it with.

She was nearly done when Carina’s cell phone rang. When Carina saw the read-out, she let her spoon fall from her hand. It landed on the table with a clatter. “Oh, please, no, God…”

The shift in Carina’s mood was lightning-quick, calm to panic in an instant as she accepted the call. Emily set down her knife and listened. Her pulse quickened, though she had no idea what was happening.