They were filming a segment on the fireplace in the living room, and Cole was there with his family—his mom, Drake, Gabe, and Mason—to watch the filming process…or so Sierra thought. Andy, Sierra’s new foreman, who was thankfully too old and too ugly for Cole to be jealous of, was assisting as she measured and installed the supports for the mantel—a thick, heavy slab of oak whose beauty came from the wood itself instead of any carving or decoration. The piece was at the center of Cole’s plan.

“How much longer do you think?” Drake said in a low voice to him at a moment when the cameras weren’t on.

Cole looked at his Timex and realized they’d been there for over an hour already. He’d gotten so wrapped up in watching Sierra that time had flown by. “Why? You got a date or something?” It was a Wednesday, and filming was supposed to go till six, but it was after that now. It didn’t matter the time or day though. Drake usually had a date, and it was usually with a different woman each time.

“Not tonight,” Drake said. “I have to pick up Ezra’s little sister, Mackenzie, at the airport. She’s moving back to town.”

Ezra was Drake’s best friend, had been for years, though the guy had some kind of jet-setting career now where he was usually doing business somewhere in the world besides the States.

“Knowing you, you’ll turn it into a date before the night’s over,” Cole said, smacking his brother on the back.

“Nope. No chance. Ezra would bust my balls if I so much as looked at his sister. I’m just hoping I can recognize her. I haven’t seen her since she was fifteen and a pain in the ass.”

The camera guys signaled they were ready to roll again, shutting Cole and his brother up. As Sierra rechecked that the supports were level one last time, Cole’s heart sped up and his hands started sweating as he stuck them in his front pockets. He watched Andy, who stood off to the side now, for a nod. Seconds later, he got it, and Cole hurried out of the room to the hallway through one of the two arched doorways, and Andy met him outside of the other.

“You ready for this?” the foreman asked quietly.

“So damn ready,” Cole said with a smile, hoping his nerves didn’t show.

Together the two men lifted the mantel, Andy closest to the living room, just feet away from Sierra, who was talking away to the camera, explaining every bit of what she was doing. They slid the long chunk of wood onto Cole’s shoulder just as Sierra said they were ready for it.