All Chapters of Rewrite Our Story: Best Friend's Brother Second Chance : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

My shoulders shake violently as I try to take a calming breath. It’s something momma taught me to do. In through the nose, out through the mouth. I repeat the motion a few times before my small, shaking hand reaches up to grasp the doorknob. It’s cold against the inside of my palm, causing the hairs on my arm to raise. I pause, waiting to turn it as I peek down at my clothes.Momma would be horrified if she knew I was running around in my nightgown with a cold bite in the air.Too bad Momma isn’t here anymore.I stare at the door, my mind racing with how much things are going to change with Momma gone. Deep down, I know I should turn in the hallway and slip into the room where my best friend sleeps. Pippa could sleep through anything. She probably wouldn’t even wake up if I crawled into bed with her. I could pretend, just for a little while longer, that Momma hasn’t left us.It wasn’t Pippa I wanted—or needed. At the same time, I knew it was wrong to open his door and slip inside his

CADE - PRESENTMy eyes flick down Mare’s body as she gawks at me in what looks like disbelief. Her gloss-coated lips part as she stares a hole right through my head.I’m not sure I blame her. The last time we saw each other—the last time she saw me—we were standing at this very airport. She’d offered to give me everything she had to give but I denied her. I walked away from her.It seems she hasn’t forgotten how we left things.I haven’t either.“Did that big city steal your voice?” I ask, pulling one of her blonde curls. Her hair is much longer than the last time I saw her. I loathe how much more tamed it looks now that she’s all grown up. Maybe it’s the fact that the carefully styled locks are just another reminder that she left our small town and didn’t look back once. She adapted to city life like it was made for her.Like her place wasn’t at the ranch where mine would always be.Mare scrunches her nose at me. If it’s an attempt at a snarl, she epically fails. It’s much cuter, and

He nods, fixing the ball cap on his head. “Yeah. You should've.”I have to look away from him, turning to face the window as I try to rein in my emotions. When Cade reaches in front of him and turns on the radio, I let out a sigh of relief. The truth is, I don’t have a good enough excuse to explain my absence. At the time, I thought it was the only excuse needed. My heart was broken, and I couldn’t face the man who broke it. I thought because Pippa came to college with me, and I saw Linda and Jasper when they came up to visit, that everything was fine. Pippa went back to Sutten when we graduated, and I told her I couldn’t go with her.I’d secured a major book deal, on the first book I wrote, shortly after moving to Chicago. Life got busy, my heart didn’t heal, and I never got the nerve to return to Sutten.But I should have.Every time Linda called to catch up, I could tell she wanted me to come home. If I wasn’t so selfish, I would have. Deep down, I knew I’d always feel hurt, no mat

Pippa watches her brother with concern. Despite being a few years apart, the two of them are closer than most siblings. I remember the fights they got into when we were kids. Even though they fought a lot, their arguments never lasted long. Cade always ended up letting Pippa win. He’d apologize, even when it was typically her that was supposed to be the one apologizing.“How’s he doing?” I ask, unable to help myself. Despite Cade always working closely with their father so he can take over the ranch one day, he was still a momma’s boy. He was sweet to her. If anyone could pull him out of a bad mood it was his mom. He’s got to be hurting. But in typical Cade fashion, you’d never know it.“You know Cade,” she answers sadly, picking up a picture of Cade and Linda from when he was a baby. “He won’t really show—or tell us—how he’s feeling. But I know it’s not good. All he’s been doing is working.”“That doesn’t surprise me.”“He was the one to find her.”My head whips in her direction as d

My heart lurches in excitement. It’s like it wants to jump out of my chest and prove to Cade right here and right now that it’s completely his after one simple sentence.“Understood?” Even with the boyish haircut, I’m realizing how much Cade is no longer a boy and now every bit a man. He’s grown into his wide shoulders. Dark stubble now peppers his cheeks. Even the tone of his voice is more commanding. It’s deeper and seems to wrap around me and caress different parts of me.All I can do is nod. Words don’t come to me. I’m too locked in on what’s happening between Cade and me in this clearing.He taps my thigh, a slight smile on his lips. “Get up real quick.”I do as he says, but stare at him, confused. I watch his moves closely, wondering where he’s going with this. Maintaining eye contact, he reaches into the pocket of his worn Levi’s. He pulls out a black lighter. The air around us becomes thick as he inches across the grass until his knees bump against mine.His full lips tilt up