Claiming Tara by C. L. Rowell

The last time I saw Tara Wilkins, my best friend’s little sister, she was a twelve-year-old brat and I was nineteen and headed off to college before joining the Marines, with every intention of never returning to the small town I grew up in. To my shock and embarrassment, she swore her undying love and insisted she’d wait for me. I never in my wildest dreams thought she meant it.
It’s been thirteen years, but I’m back in Humble, Louisiana, a worldly thirty-two year old with my own small construction business and a bionic foot, a reminder of my time in the military. I advertise for an assistant to answer the phone, schedule jobs, take payments – the tedious monotony I can do but don’t want to.
One guess who shows up to apply for the job. Now she’s twenty-five and all grown up, and I’m hiding erections left and right because Keith, her brother and my best friend and business partner, would kill me if I even looked at her sideways.

The last time I saw James Hyde, he was nineteen and heading off to college and I was almost a teenager. I loved him with all of my heart. Before he left, I promised to wait for him. He said he wasn’t coming back.
Thirteen years later and guess who has returned with plans to start a business with my brother? James, looking even more handsome than I remembered. My feelings for him, if anything, have grown stronger. He’s still the only man I want. Can I persuade him to take a chance on us?