“Look at our faces... We look as though we’re going to kill people,” she said, holding her hand to her face, smothering a laugh.
Brody’s eyebrows rose. “You think that’s funny?”
She tried to repress her smile, but it was hard. “Well, yeah.”
Her eyes scanned the brief article below, citing the pictures were taken from a fan’s phone; there was also a phone video available online. It featured the bookie saying that Brody had cheated in an illegal street race earlier in the evening, which had started the entire incident.
“Oh...no,” Hannah said again.
“Yeah, that cat’s out of the bag, and then some. I already heard from Jud this morning—he’s the lead publicist with my sponsor—and he didn’t know whether to be angry that I was in a fight, or happy that I was getting engaged,” Brody said, shaking his head. “He suggested that I might want to find someone less likely to get into public brawls,” he added.
“What did you say to that?”
“I told him I’d rather have a woman who can hold her own in a fight.”
Hannah’s grin twitched again, and Brody couldn’t help but laugh, too.
“I thought this was about making me look better, not making you look worse, my love,” he joked.
Hannah choked on her laughter at his endearment. Of course he meant it jokingly, as he hadn’t seemed to think twice about it, but the words had struck her straight in the heart. She turned to the coffeepot to pour a cup and get hold of herself, surprised to find her hands shaking.
She was still tired, and adrenaline had hit her as soon as she saw the paper; that was all, she reassured herself.
“So we probably should go out for a ring after breakfast.”
Hannah was riding an emotional roller coaster of enormous proportions, and it was making her dizzy.
The police had shown up to arrest the bookie and his friends—everything witnessed and attested to by Brody’s fans, so they weren’t detained at all, thank goodness. After returning home, they’d both been charged up and worked off that energy in the most delightful ways, until they’d fallen asleep.
Hannah had woken up wondering how this could be her life. Street races, amazing sex, even midnight brawls with bad guys...and she was getting married.
The newspaper on the table made it official.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Brody took the pot she was still holding—lost in thought—from her hands, putting it on the counter. He pulled her against him, his arms coming around her.
“Yeah, I am, I’m just... It’s a lot to process. I guess I’ll get used to it.”
“I know you will.”
He wrapped her up tight against him, snug and safe, anxiety and confusion melting away like it always did. Being close to Brody was the only time things seemed right. Normal.
It was when her thoughts and emotions weren’t muddled by sex or how perfect he felt next to her that things got a little dicey.
“I was thinking...” she said, facing him. “Maybe instead of a ring, we could go camera shopping? Mine is toast.”
Brody nodded. “We have time to do both. We don’t have to be at my parents’ house until seven.”
“No, I mean, um, instead of a ring.”
“What? Why?”
Hannah shrugged. “I’ll certainly get more use out of it,” she offered with a hopeful smile. “And I never was much for jewelry.”
Hannah couldn’t go through with letting Brody buy her a ring. It wasn’t...right. A camera was much less fraught with complications.
“I don’t know about that,” he said, not conceding as easily as she’d like.
Hannah bit her lip, trying to keep her tone light. “How about I buy my own camera—it’s a business expense after all—and then we find wedding rings we like and split the cost? But no diamond. Just the bands.”
It occurred to her that this had to be the most unromantic discussion of engagement and wedding rings that ever occurred in the history of the world, but Hannah held her line.
“Can I ask why you changed your mind about a ring? You agreed last night.”
“I know it’s probably silly, but I need to hold on to some of the dream, you know? If I ever get married—for real—I want to have the whole enchilada. The romantic proposal, the ring, and have it be perfect. I want that ring to be on my hand forever. This one won’t be.”
Hannah had a deep need to protect that dream; it still meant something.
“Okay, we can do that,” he said. He didn’t look entirely happy about it, but he agreed. “Except that we’re not splitting the cost on rings. And I get to buy you the camera.”
“Brody—”
“Don’t argue. You did lose yours to keep me from getting knifed, after all, and this marriage was my crazy idea.”
Hannah looked away, frowning at the sharp stab of...something...that his phrasing caused. She knew what he meant, so why was it bothering her so much? It was crazy—that was precisely why she was going along with it.
“Okay, you win, but any other wedding expenses we split, so let’s keep them small,” she said brightly, putting her game face on.
She expected him to be happy to have won the debate, but he didn’t look it.
“Hannah, what’s going on?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I can see how tense you are. Something’s bothering you.”
She took a deep breath. Brody wasn’t like the typical men she often heard women talking about, the ones who weren’t attentive or perceptive. He saw too much. Or she didn’t hide her feelings well enough. Or both.
But she couldn’t exactly tell him that...what? She was afraid she might be feeling more for him than she should? That it hurt whenever she was reminded that their marriage wasn’t going to be the real thing? At least not in the forever sense?
She pulled herself up and met his concerned look, giving him the most honest answer she could. “I need to remember that this is an adventure. For it to be fun. I don’t want to dwell on the complications, but I’m not used to being so impulsive, like you are. I’m still figuring out how to handle it all.”
It was the truth, but vague enough that she didn’t humiliate herself by saying that she had to keep her heart protected, or that she had to remind herself not to believe what they had was genuine. Not with him. Brody could turn her inside out if she let that happen. He’d been completely honest with her, and she was the one who had told the reporter that she was his fiancée. So she’d gotten herself into this, really.
Still, it would be all too easy to want this to be real. Really, 100 percent real.
“Hannah, if you don’t want to go through with this, I understand. If you have doubts or worries, that’s okay.”
“No. I want to do it. We’re in it now and, hey, like the paper says, we’re meant for each other—both of us are bad apples,” she joked.
If she was going to try to change—to really change and live more adventurously, she had to stop second-guessing everything, and throw herself in. “So let’s be bad together.”
He smiled. “I think that sounds good.”
“I need to frame that headline, I think.”
“That’s a great idea,” he said with a grin, dipping in for a kiss, and then another. “Let’s be bad right now.”
The kiss got hotter, and all of her worries were erased by the scorching blur of arousal. Would it always be like this? she wondered as Brody stroked her concerns away. Or would their attraction cool, making it easier to leave later?
Stop thinking, her body demanded.
“We have to get ready to go shopping,” she murmured as his lips did delicious things to the nerve endings along her shoulder.
Brody chuckled. “Really? Shopping? Now?”
<
br /> As much as she wanted to continue what they’d started, Hannah also needed to know she could maintain some sense of self-control.
“I really need that camera,” she said.
He drew back, looking at her in astonishment until bubbles of laughter broke through her facade and infected him, as well. She loved his laugh, and she loved laughing with him.
He stepped back and then scooped her up, making her shriek in surprise.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re going shopping, but we need a shower first, don’t you think?”
Hannah sighed. She couldn’t argue with that.
* * *
BRODY HELPED HIS mother pull heavy dishes out of the oven—she’d invited them over instead of everyone meeting at a restaurant. He was thankful, given that the media had been dogging him all day while they’d been out shopping. Somehow they’d gotten Hannah’s phone number, too, and they’d both had to shut their phones off. Brody’s sponsor was thrilled—Brody was less so.
“Hannah seems like a nice young woman,” his mother said casually as she took the foil off a large pan of fried chicken. She’d made enough food for an army, as usual. “Though I couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t wearing a ring.”
His mom’s blue eyes met his over the wide surface of the granite island, and Brody shrugged, wanting to tell the truth as much as he could.
“We both agreed to only wearing wedding bands.”
“This was all so fast, Brody, so tell me, before I read it in the paper, am I going to be a grandmother? Not that I mind, but—”
“No! Absolutely not. Come on, Mom,” Brody said, cursing as he picked up a hot casserole without grabbing a pot holder first, then apologizing to his mom for his language.
“Well, what is someone to think? You never said a word, never mentioned Hannah and we’ve never met her. Now suddenly you’re getting married—and in a matter of days. It seemed logical to think there was a reason, and your father and I are fine with it. We’re quite progressive, as you know, and—”
Brody crossed to his mother and put a hand on either of her small shoulders, looking her in the eye.
“Mom, Hannah isn’t pregnant. I promise. We just...reconnected after having been together before, last year. This time, it was...right.”
Brody turned to the task he was helping with, afraid his mother might see too much.
Because being with Hannah did feel right. Very right.
When she’d refused a ring because she wanted her first engagement ring to be her only one, to have a real proposal and a future with the man who offered it to her, the thought had gutted him.
Another man putting his ring on Hannah’s finger, another man promising her forever. Another man in her bed, and her having his children.
“Honey, are you okay?”
“What? Yeah, sorry, Mom. I can’t believe you made so much food. Who else did you invite, the fifth battalion?”
His mother laughed at his diversion, which was good, because Brody didn’t really want to follow his previous train of thought. What he had with Hannah was good, and he enjoyed it—as far as it went. But their future paths were different. He’d go back to racing, and she’d go off on her own adventures.
He refused to overthink it.
“No, it’s just the six of us, but you know Aiden eats like a typical teenage boy, which means he’ll consume enough for three.”
“Brandi and Aiden will be here?”
“Of course. They want to celebrate your news, too.”
Brody nodded, holding the pan of chicken and the door for his mom as she passed in front of him out to the dining room.
The beachside condo was where his parents had moved after selling their larger home, but his mother had a talent for making any space cozy. The dining room table could hold only the six of them, but the room provided a view of the gulf through French doors. A gorgeous sunset simmered low over the water, casting purple-and-orange light everywhere.
“You can’t beat that view,” he commented, hearing his father chatting with Hannah in the other room, and her laughter floating back. What were they talking about?
“We enjoy it every single day. The ones from the bedrooms are equally nice, and to be able to walk out onto the beach? It’s heaven. Of course, it’s all because of you, my dear,” his mom said with a smile, squeezing his arm and kissing his cheek before she returned to the kitchen.
He knew she meant because he’d made the down payment his anniversary gift to them, and he knew the previous owner of the condo, who’d given him a deal.
That his parents were happy meant everything to Brody. They’d always been there for him, and he never forgot that.
Because of that, lying to them about anything made him feel sick. He was lucky she’d gone back to the kitchen and that Brandi and Aiden’s voices filled the front entry as they arrived, or he might have spilled everything to his mom right then and there.
Everyone came in then, Aiden looking as if nothing had happened the night before as he leaned over the table rubbing his hands together at the sight of the fried chicken. Brandi followed, but she didn’t look as happy as her son, completely ignoring the food. In fact, she looked ticked, and made a beeline directly for Brody.
Great.
“What is going on?” she asked Brody as she pulled him over to the French doors.
“Listen, I would have told you, but we only just decided that we wanted to—”
“I don’t mean about your engagement. I want to know why you think you had the right to promise Aiden that you’ll help him get his license and take him to the track? Teach him to drive? Are you out of your mind?”
Brody took a breath, but he was somewhat relieved she wasn’t asking about him and Hannah.
“Brandi, it’s the safest option. Let me teach him, work on the car with him over at the farm, and that will keep him out of street racing. That’s the deal I made with him. He will get himself killed if you insist on controlling him. What he was doing out there last night was a lot riskier than anything he’ll do with me.”
“How so? You’re teaching him to race. You’re feeding that need in him, and I won’t have it,” she said, her entire body vibrating with tension.
Brody glanced out at the shimmering water, then back at his sister. He could only imagine what she’d lost when Aiden’s father had died, and he knew how difficult it had been for her. And he hadn’t been around nearly as much as he should have been to help. Not for her, or for Aiden. So he was going to help now, but he could see the fear in her eyes. Somehow, he had to convince her to let it go.
“Believe me, Bran, that need is part of him. It’s his father in him, and it won’t go away. Let me help him do it right.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want him racing at all. I want him to go to college, to find something else—”
“You can’t make those choices for him. It’s painful, but you can’t. Let me teach him, maybe get it out of his system, and who knows what will happen in a few years? Maybe he’ll decide it’s not for him.”
Brody didn’t believe that; he saw the fire in the kid. It had been in his father and in Brody himself. He had to get Brandi to see reason.
“That’s another thing. You’re giving him a car?”
“No. It’s Marco’s old car, and it’s been at the farm for almost two decades. It’s a rust bucket now, and it will take at least two years for us to fix it up, so he won’t get it until he’s over eighteen anyway. But he’s going to have to learn to be patient and to earn it. I promise.”
Brandi’s eyes glistened with tears as she stared at the water, but she didn’t shed them as she met his gaze again.
“You think this will keep him off the streets?”
“I do. It’s the deal I made, and I’ll m
ake sure he sticks to it.”
“Okay. I still don’t like it, but I know you’re right. He’ll get himself arrested or worse in these illegal races, so if you can stop that, then I’ll go along with it. Maybe throw some better math grades in the deal, as well,” she said with a smirk.
Then she hugged him.
“It’s good to have you here now, Brody. Aiden needs you, and I do, too. I guess I should say congratulations,” she continued, kissing his cheek. “And for what it’s worth, I met Hannah briefly at the house and I liked her. I think you’re going to be okay.”
He watched her leave, glad to have settled the issue, but feeling more and more pressure of his own making. So many promises to keep—to his family, to his sponsors and to himself. Somehow he had to make it all work, though in his heart, he had no idea how the heck he was going to pull that off. Brody looked out at the diminishing sun, feeling as though he was sinking with it.
9
HANNAH WAS UP EARLY—surprising, given that she and Brody had made love long into the night again. They couldn’t get enough of each other. As if they were real newlyweds, or almost newlyweds, unable to come up for air.
She’d enjoyed his family, finding them as charming as their son was. They’d welcomed her warmly, though with a certain amount of curiosity, of course. Hannah almost wished they had been less friendly so she wouldn’t have liked them so much so quickly, but that was impossible. They’d made her feel like part of the family right off.
But she’d decided before she fell asleep that she was going to stop worrying about all of it. It would work itself out, and in the meantime, she would enjoy this gambit instead of constantly undermining it with doubts and worries.
At the moment, she fussed around the big kitchen, making breakfast and smiling as she searched for some of the fresh oranges she’d seen in the fridge. She’d make some juice while the eggs and bacon sizzled on the stovetop. Brody had still been snoring when she’d left him in bed, and she wanted to surprise him.
As the juicer whirred, she plated the eggs and bacon, grabbed toast from the toaster and arranged it all on a tray she’d found in the pantry. A carafe of coffee completed the arrangement.
Rock Solid Page 11
