by Candis Terry
Mystery solved.
Responding to a client email regarding the sad situation of the stock market’s effects on retirement funds, Brooke typed in the usual reply.
The stock market is a pendulum. It will swing back the other way. It always does. Don’t panic. If you would like me to set up a teleconference with Mr. Kincade, I’d be happy to do so.
She wanted to add Don’t worry, be happy, but snark with a client was always a bad idea. Everyone had a right to worry about their financial stability. Still, her mind couldn’t be less on work. Someone else claimed first place in that category. Thankfully he had placed himself somewhere else for the day. Because frankly, if she were around him the temptation to strangle his big strong neck might be too hard to resist.
Oh sure, she’d known falling for her boss was the absolute worst idea she’d ever followed through with.
No.
The absolute worst idea she’d ever followed through with had been taking off her clothes and hopping into bed with him.
Yes.
That was the worst.
On second thought, believing their relationship could shift from business to pleasure without him freaking out about it? That was the worst.
She dropped her head to the desk and thunked it several times against the wood veneer. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
Moochie looked up with a tilt of her head that confirmed Brooke had officially lost her mind.
“I know. I know.” She reached down and stroked her hand across her little dog’s silky fur. “Your mommy’s a complete idiot.”
By late afternoon Brooke was eyeballs deep in researching the numbers on an investment deal for a small private company looking to expand their business. She considered getting up and making a fresh pot of coffee even though she’d really like to go out for a run. She needed to get some oxygen to her brain before it dozed off and she had fantasy dreams about her impossibly sexy, frustrating, and delusional boss.
She stood and stretched, but that wasn’t going to help. Maybe she should go for that run after all. She didn’t figure Dec would be back anytime soon. Even if he did come back, what could there possibly be for them to talk about? He’d made his point.
Then again, they didn’t always agree. Points could be argued.
“Right, Moochie my poochy?”
Man’s—and girl’s—best friend wagged her stub of a tail.
The front door slammed so hard it threatened to rattle the old vineyard family photo off the wall. Moochie took off to hide. Brooke looked toward the door and within seconds Dec appeared.
A frown pulled his dark brows together and crinkled the corners of his eyes.
Good God, what had she done wrong now?
He stood in the doorway, broad chest rising and falling on breaths that looked like he’d run a mile. Or ten. But deep in those blue eyes was a well of distress. In a blink, she knew whatever was troubling him hadn’t been caused by anything she’d done.
“Brooke?”
“Yes?”
He came around the desk, pulled her up into his arms, and kissed her like he needed her for air. His embrace was constricting as he hugged her, as if he was afraid she would disappear like smoke.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as his kiss moved across her cheek while he held her face between his hands. When his warm lips slid down her neck she couldn’t help dropping her head back to give him better access. When that sensuous male mouth came back up to her lips and his thumbs stroked her cheeks she flung herself into the sensation.
He looked deep into her eyes. “Please don’t say no.”
How could she possibly refuse?
“I won’t.”
Without another word, he picked her up and carried her into his room. They made it no farther than the door he closed and backed her up against.
Leaning in he pressed his thick erection against the crux of her thighs and rubbed, making her just this side of crazy with need. He fed her wet, hot kisses with tongue tangling passion. His hand traveled down her neck, over her breast, and to her leg, where he hooked his fingers underneath and lifted her thigh up over his hip. He pressed into her and from behind the fabric of his jeans she could feel the hard pulse and heat of his rigid staff.
The T-shirt dress she’d changed into earlier gave him easy access. His hand shot beneath the fabric to cup her sex and massage her with insistent, talented fingers. She grew damp and needy, and she realized that even if she could have this every day, she’d never get enough of him.
“I love that you get so wet for me,” he murmured against her ear. “So hot. So fucking sexy.”
Anticipation tingled down her spine and a whimper of need crept from her lips as she reached for him, palming his erection then giving it a squeeze that had him dropping his forehead against the door.
“I need you, Brooke,” he groaned. “I need you so fucking bad right now.”
“Then take me.”
His greedy fingers tore the pair of lemon yellow panties from her body and flung them over his shoulder. While his fingers once more slipped between her legs, she unzipped his pants and, along with his boxer briefs, pushed them down his narrow hips. Using the door as leverage, he cupped her bottom with both hands and lifted her until her legs circled his hips and locked in place.
He plunged deep.
A gasp burst from her throat as a guttural groan of intense pleasure pushed from his chest. He leaned into her, panting as if he was holding on for dear life. Or as if he’d finally touched the place he wanted to be.
Brooke clung to his broad shoulders, meeting his thrusts, inhaling his masculine scent, and trying to keep her wits about her when every place on her body he touched turned to fire. Unlike the night before it didn’t last long. There was too much urgency. Too much friction. Too much . . . everything.
There was only one thing missing.
A condom.
With a last powerful thrust and groan, Dec dropped his face into the curve of her neck. Against her breasts his heart beat like a wild captured animal. A few heavy breaths later he pulled out and set her feet back on the ground. Then he gathered her up in his arms and just held on.
Brooke held him, stroked his strong, muscular back and the soft silkiness of his hair. And because she knew he would, she waited for him to let her go. Eventually he did, even if he seemed reluctant.
He kicked his pants the rest of the way off, yanked off his shirt, and stood before her completely nude and glorious. Then he slipped her dress over her head until she was naked too.
He held out his hand. “Come lie down with me.”
She nodded as he pulled down the bedding and they slipped between the covers. He pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head beneath his chin. For what seemed like forever they lay there without speaking, wrapped in each other’s arms.
A million things went through Brooke’s mind.
A million questions.
A million worries.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I lost control. I didn’t use a condom. And I have never done that before.”
“I’m on birth control. And I haven’t been with anyone for . . . well, a really long time.”
“Doesn’t excuse it.” Softly he played with a curled tendril of her hair. Then he drew her closer and hooked a leg over hers.
“You surprised me,” she said, stroking the firm definition of his biceps. “After this morning, I—”
“I’ve never needed anyone like that before. Like this. And I’m not just talking about the sex. I just . . . needed to be close to you.”
“What happened?” she asked, because she knew something definitely had. Normally he seemed like he didn’t need anyone. He always played it calm and cool, until last night when he’d given in and they’d made love. And even though her body still tingled from having him inside her, she knew right now she needed to be a friend he could talk to.
“The woman I told you about that showed up at the office looking for our father?�
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“Yes.”
“Apparently there’s a very good chance she’s our sister.”
“What?” Surprised, Brooke turned her head and caught him with his eyes closed tight as if he could squeeze away the revelation. “How is that possible?”
“She said that her mother died a month ago after a long battle with ovarian cancer. Her mother made a deathbed confession about the father Lili never knew. Our father. She explained that her mother and our father had an affair after meeting at a work function. Her mother knew my dad was married but said there was something too strong between them to ignore. They were together for over a year when she became pregnant.”
“While he was married to your mother?”
He rolled to his back, propped an arm behind his head, and nodded. “Which completely blows the belief that our parents had the perfect marriage right out of the universe.”
“Does she have proof?”
“A written confession signed by her mother.”
“Not a birth certificate?”
“Nope.”
“She could be lying.”
“We all thought about that. But there’s one kicker in the story that raises a whole lot of questions. Like the rest of us, she has our father’s blue eyes.”
“I’ll admit the color of your eyes is unusual. Beautiful. But still, that’s not enough to take her at her word, or to believe a letter that could have been written by her. Right?”
“Right. We’re hiring an investigator to check out her story. Plus she’s agreed to give her DNA to be tested.”
“What if she leaves? Did you get her contact info?”
“Ryan did. It’s a good guess that if we can eventually follow the paper trail of the stolen money, it will lead to child support payments for Lili.”
“You really think so?”
“It all kind of makes sense,” he said. “After having five boys, Mom all of a sudden got antsy to get pregnant again. And then Nicki came along. Thirteen years after Ethan was born.”
“Maybe your mother found out about the affair and the baby,” Brooke said. “Maybe she thought having another child would save their marriage. That’s not uncommon.”
“Maybe. But if it’s true, the bottom line is our father had an affair.”
She laid her hand over his heart. “I’m so sorry.”
“The thing I’m most worried about is what this will do to Nicki. She knew there was a reason Dad didn’t treat her as he should. Maybe it had been because of the guilt he felt for the affair and for not being a father to Lili. Nicki went through a really dark period not long ago. She’s just started to come out of it and act like a happy teenager again.”
“Does she know about Lili?”
“No. We purposely kept her away because we had no idea what Lili’s business was or intentions were. Now that Nicki’s eighteen she’s a voting member of the board. But in our eyes she’s still just a kid whose heart should be protected.”
“You’re all good big brothers.”
“Not really. We’ve all missed the mark at one time or another. But when one of us screws up, there are four more to take his place.”
“I’m sure in Nicki’s mind you’re all superstars.”
He gently squeezed her fingers that lay across his chest. “I appreciate the vote of confidence.”
Though there was much to be said, including Declan’s insistence that they needed to maintain the fragile, professional only relationship, he rolled to his side, pulled her in close, and fed her a succession of lust awakening kisses.
His touch was gentle. His words were hot and dirty. And he made love to her like she was the most precious thing in his world. He made love to her as if he had all day.
But when she woke up a few hours later, he was gone.
Chapter 14
Declan pulled the sweatshirt hoodie up over his head and scrunched his shoulders against the chilly breeze blowing in off the river a short distance away. As he walked along the path that followed the creek through the vineyard, the clouds moved in and obscured the moonlight.
Good thing he knew this path by heart.
About a quarter mile from the cabin there was a small waterfall. Dec had always enjoyed the sound of the water rushing over the rocks and sand. He found it relaxing. Which was exactly what he needed right now. To grab some quiet time to think things through before he screwed up any further.
When he and his brothers had been younger they’d conned their grandfather into helping them arrange some large boulders at the creek so they had somewhere to sit and drop a pole in to catch fish in the shallow pool. The fish they’d caught had been small and they’d always released them back into the creek. But the thrill of the catch never got old.
He circled around the “No Fishun” sign they’d put up what seemed like a hundred years ago and found his favorite boulder to sit on. The water and night were too cold to dangle his bare feet in, so he settled for leaning back and watching the scattered moonlight dance behind the shifting leaves of the black locust and Norway maples.
He should have brought a bottle of wine with him. But drinking alone had never appealed to him. He should have stayed in bed next to Brooke’s soft, warm body. But he had too much on his mind. She’d been sleeping so peacefully and he’d been too restless to do the same.
Brooke deserved so much better than he was able to give.
He should never have walked into the cabin earlier with her there. Before this trip he’d never had weak moments. He’d always been in control. For the sake of his career he’d had to be in control. But when he’d walked through the front door, torn up by the revelation that his father had cheated on his mother and produced a half-sister none of them had been aware of for the past twenty something years, he’d needed a distraction. When he’d added the worry of how Nicki would handle the discovery of why their father had treated her differently, he’d needed . . . Brooke.
All his adult years he’d trained himself to handle things just fine on his own, including the fact that letters didn’t always look like letters and numbers didn’t always look like numbers. He’d been just fucking fine.
Or so he’d thought.
Now he didn’t know what the hell was going on. It seemed as though every day some kind of problem popped up that required him to step out of his neatly arranged life. The drama had quickly become like someone’s warped idea of a soap opera and unwittingly, Brooke had become his lighthouse in the storm.
“Looks like we had the same idea.”
Dec looked up as Ethan approached and sat down on his own favorite boulder. “You couldn’t sleep?”
“Hell no.” He lifted a bottle of Foggy Noggin Scotch Ale then pulled another one from the pocket of his hoodie and tossed it to Dec. “Figured a walk and a microbrew would do the trick. Turns out I was wrong.”
Dec popped the cap to the bottle and took a long refreshing drink.
“What are you doing all alone?” Ethan asked. “It’s kinda romantic out here.”
“Yeah, well, don’t think about kissing me anytime soon. Unless you want a black eye.”
Ethan chuckled. “No worries. You’re not my type.”
“You’ve got a type?” Dec teased.
“Thought I did.” Ethan slugged down a drink then dangled the bottle between his knees. “Turns out I was wrong about that too.”
“What gives?”
His brother shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’ve been rethinking this whole life thing and how it sure hasn’t added up to what I expected.”
“How so?” Dec figured he knew where his brother was headed, but he also figured maybe the guy just needed someone to talk to. Since Dec wasn’t around all the time and Ethan wasn’t one to pick up a phone except to order takeout, maybe it was time for a little one-on-one bro chat.
God knew he could use one.
“By the time I was sixteen I thought I had everything figured out.” Ethan took another drink and shook his head. “I thought I’d get
engaged to Emily, go to college, get married, build a house, and have some kids. I thought I’d be a Vancouver firefighter. I thought by the time I reached thirty years old I’d be happy as hell and living the good life. Now I’m trying to figure out why I’m fighting fires in the freaking Everglades, dodging alligators and commitment, dealing with the loss of our parents, babysitting a temperamental teenage sister, and discovering that our father cheated on our mom and we possibly have a full-grown sister nobody knew a damn thing about.”
Declan let go a heavy sigh. “I hear that.”
“What about you?”
“Me?”
“No. The asshole standing behind you. Yes you.”
“Guess I’m kind of in the same place you are. I thought being a successful businessman and a millionaire by the time I was thirty was going to be enough. Now I’m not so sure. Now I’m trying to figure out why I’ve always dodged commitment. Why when I go home at night I feel like pulling my hair out. And where the hell I went wrong.”
“Does Brooke fit into that scenario somewhere?”
“Brooke fits into that scenario everywhere. But she didn’t until Jordy opened his big fat mouth and made me take another look at her.”
“Hell, bro, you ought to take several looks at her. She’s hot as hell.”
“God. Don’t you start too.”
“Just sayin’.”
“Yeah, well don’t.”
“Uh-oh. How’d you screw up?”
Declan gave him a look.
Ethan cringed. “You didn’t.”
“Oh. I did,” he admitted, waiting for the regret to sink in. But all he felt was need. “Several times.”
“I won’t ask if it was any good because the look on your face says you’d go back for more if she’d let you.”
“That’s the problem. She’d let me. I’m the one who keeps trying to put her at arm’s length.”
“I don’t mean to seem dense but . . . why?”
“I’ve got a million excuses why, but the truth is I don’t know.” Dec took a drink of ale and shook his head. Something both he and his brother seemed to be doing a lot. “She’s perfect. In every way. I’ve tried to stick to the mind-set of not mixing business with pleasure. I know that doing so has a great propensity to become a major disaster.”
