The Wrong Brother for Brooke (Hot Tide Book 3)

by Michele De Winton

  “No.” she stopped him, quickly. “Just. Why did you say all of that?”

  He did a double take. His comment hadn’t been anything deep, but he’d hit a nerve. A raw one by the look of it. “You’re doing all this because of your brother.”

  It wasn’t a question and they both knew it but Brooke took a deep breath and replied anyway. “Of course not.”

  “Really?” He hadn’t meant to ask so bluntly and he could see that it shocked her.

  “I got the tattoo because my brother wanted to get one to celebrate his life. Whatever else you’re reading into it is your own stuff.”

  He started to massage her uninjured shoulder. It was as tense as he’d expected. As he dug his fingers into the soft tissue between her trapezius, he felt her relax and she took a deep breath as if she was about to tell him something big. He kept up his gentle massage, hoping to feel her relax further. “Brooke? You can let it go. Whatever it is, it’s holding you back. I can feel it in your muscles.”

  It was too much. His nudge shocked her out of her contemplation and she stiffened. “It’s just a tattoo.” Her lips pressed against each other in a tight line as if holding the words inside. Despite moving the massage down to her right arm and into the firm muscles of her bicep she didn’t offer anything else.

  Time to change the subject again. The subject of her brother was obviously a very old hurt, one she wasn’t ready to share with him yet. For a moment he worked on her body in silence and the tension eased out of her. When her muscles had surrendered themselves to him he relaxed too.

  Man, this woman was something else. Full of tension and passion and drive, but under it all were some deep-seated motivators that were taking her concentration away. She was strong as steel under her gorgeous exterior, but there was something else in there that was stopping her stepping into that true power. He hadn’t been kidding when he said he could feel it in her muscles. They fairly sang with the tension, with old hurts that she’d never quite let go of.

  “It was a nice thing you did for that old woman. What did you call her? Tutu?” Coming out of nowhere, the comment was kind. More so than if it had been just part of a conversation about the day. He had always been a sucker for broken souls. Something that had got him in trouble before. Holo was always on at him to raise his prices, but it went against everything he stood for. He treated those who needed it. End of story.

  “Tutu is just what we call grandmothers back home. For me it was nothing. When we get older we get touched less often, but our bodies crave it. Hers needed it desperately. ”

  “Cause she sprained her ankle.”

  “Yes, and because she’s all alone except for her granddaughter. No one hugs her anymore. We need that, humans. We crave it.”

  Brooke was silent again. “It’s true. No one has touched me like this in a long time.”

  He was aware of his fingers kneading her warm flesh. Stroking over her skin. God, she was beautiful. Warm, firm, her mind was still shutting him out and he respected that, but her body was willing. So open and ready for touch.

  “You mean given you a massage?” he asked carefully.

  “No. Your fingers already know what they’re looking for, I can feel that. I mean your hands, you touch me like you want me to know you’re there. Like you’re welcoming me in.”

  That floored him. Both that she could feel anything other than his probing of her muscles, and that she could articulate it so astutely. There was so much more to Brooke Evans than anyone knew, that was clear. And he wanted to hear more of it. He’d come here wanting to heal Brooke, and perhaps to have her, and now he wanted to hear her too, all of her. He knew he’d been right in bringing her here. Holo had been worried that he was leaving the circuit just when he might have a chance of working with more of the competitors and making a steady stream of income, but that had never mattered to Kai. He had enough to get by. Always had.

  He changed the pressure of his massage and she groaned. “Too hard?”

  “No. So good.”

  Her chest rose as she arched her back to give him better access to her sore muscles and he took it, making sure to avoid anything that would trigger pain in her injured shoulder. Long and lean, she had been fashioned by her time in the ocean, muscles solid and powerful. As he watched the tiny movements of her body he longed to touch her everywhere, watch how she would respond if he let himself explore between her breasts, the tops of her thighs, her firm ass. This was new. He’d never become turned on by clients before. Not even when they were naked under a sheet. He’d seen his other clients as bodies in need. Muscles wanting touch, tendons needing manipulation, bones longing to be realigned within their support system. He saw his other clients as lives he touched briefly, but with Brooke, the memory of her bikini-clad body in his hands hadn’t left him. Like she’d imprinted onto him somehow.

  He shook his head. The hot tub hadn’t been his fault but he couldn’t let his hands betray every tenent of his professional practice. Kai made a promise to himself right then and there he would never touch her when she was on his table. Even if she asked him to. This area was sacred, to him and scores of other practitioners.

  “Please tell me this is fixing me. Because if it is it’s the most relaxing rehab I’ve ever had.”

  Kai laughed. “It’s helping. Everything we do in the next few days is going to help. It’s not going to make your injury better overnight though.”

  “Damn it.” She said it seriously, even with her eyes closed, but her face was full of a smile.

  “I might have sounded like I was joking when I said you were married to the ocean. But I meant it. And if you’re not, you should be.”

  “She’s a brutal mistress.”

  “Perhaps. But she’s a fair one.” And then he made another decision. “Shall we make a deal?”

  “What sort of deal?”

  He took his hands off her and she groaned. “We’re done for now anyway. Sit up and see how you feel.”

  She did and gently, cautiously, rotated both shoulders. “Good. It feels pretty good. I’m not going to be tackling a barrel tomorrow, but maybe next week.”

  He laughed. “Well see about that. But here’s the deal: I will be completely straight with you. No politeness, no hiding from the truth. Full disclosure. It’s the best way I can get you better faster.”

  “Okaaaay,” she said. “What’s the catch?”

  “I want you in my bed,” he said. “I had to stop myself touching you on my table. And that’s never happened to me before.”

  She looked at him hard, but didn’t recoil. “Is that part of the deal? I sleep with you, you get me better?”

  “No!” It came out stronger than it needed to and his voice bounced around the small room. “I mean, no. Absolutely not. I just wanted it out in the open so I didn’t have to hide anything from you. And I would ask that you do the same. Let go of your barriers. It’s a hard and lonely road to the top of the surf circuit. I know, I’ve watched my brother fighting himself to get there. But if you can be real with yourself, really real, you’ll be able to perform better, work faster and work with your body when you need to most.” “Man, you really take all this holistic stuff hard don’t you?”

  He pressed his lips together and she stood. “Sorry, sorry,” she said. “I’m always opening my big mouth. I’m not very good at touchy, feely, spiritual shit.”

  He laughed at that. “You don’t have to get all spiritual .” He mimicked her voice. “But you do have to be open to hearing the things I say.”

  “And you’ve seen something about me you want to share.”

  “I have.”

  “Go on then, spill. I accept your deal or whatever. I just want to get better and get to the top.”

  Kai put a hand on her shoulder and she winced. “That’s what I mean. You throw yourself at everything. At life, at the ocean, probably at whatever it is that made you get that tattoo. That much is obvious, from your injury, from how your muscles fit together, from how we m
et. But if you want to be a top surfer you need to learn to soften more. Be at one with the ocean. Harness the true mermaid that might well be lurking under all this.”

  She snorted. “Okay, okay, I get your point. I’m a loud-mouthed hot-head. I knew that already.”

  Holo’s words came back to him, his warning that Kai was too much of a free spirit for someone so focused. He knew what his brother meant, but he disagreed. Perhaps a free spirit, someone who was attentive to more than just the need to win, was what Brooke needed. “I wouldn’t call you a hot-head, you’re just passionate. Time to let that passion play out.”

  “In your bed?”

  “Are you offering?”

  She looked him up and down. “No.”

  He shouldn’t have been so disappointed. “I’m not giving up yet.”

  “Isn’t that unethical?”

  “I’m trying to make sure it’s not. If you get uncomfortable at any stage I walk away. But I swear I will never touch you inappropriately. Never on my table. And never at all without your consent.”

  Her look was direct, sharper than he expected, then she put out a hand. “Okay. Deal. You’re not that hard on the eyes so I guess I can cope. Just get me better and the rest we can work out as we go.”

  Working out the rest as they went along he could work with. Kai smiled and took her hand. “So you agree you do want to end up in my bed?”

  She laughed. “That’s not what I agreed to and you know it.”

  He smiled in return. “Like I said, I’m not going to do anything that doesn’t have your recovery at the heart of it. I’ll leave making the first move to you.”

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning Brooke woke up feeling the most refreshed she had in a long time. She’d also slept in. Something she hadn’t done in the last five years. The bed was heaven. Soft, but not saggy, it had cushioned her injured shoulder and supported her body. What’s more, the quiet of their retreat, surrounded as it was by rice paddies, was complete. When she’d gone to sleep she’d thought she would miss the lullaby of the ocean, a rhythm she’d had as part of her night routine for almost as long as she could remember. Apparently not.

  It didn’t escape her either that her body felt great. Her shoulder was still sore obviously, but the rest of her felt put together, complete in a way that she hadn’t known was possible. Kainui .

  She walked out from breakfast, full but not stuffed like the day before. Yesterday, Kai had tried to warn her that the food would fill her up more than she was used to but she hadn’t been able to resist. Today she was wiser. She thought about his “deal”, about how open he was in wanting her in his bed. She scoffed out loud. There was no way. She might have missed out on his brother but that didn’t mean she was ready to settle for the next guy that came along. She had standards. High standards. Whoever made it into her bed needed to be in the same world as her. Fighting to succeed, to win, to live by the ocean’s tides. That wasn’t Kainui. She’d only just met the guy and already she knew that he wasn’t that man. He wasn’t driven, not like her. He’d come away with her as if it was nothing.

  As if she’d summoned him, Kai appeared before her. His feet were wet and he had traces of grass around his legs. No, not grass, she realized, rice. “You really did it. You picked her rice for her?”

  “Good morning to you too Mistress Mermaid.” Kai took a swig from his water bottle. “A promise is a promise. It was nice. You can try it out next week.”

  She smiled despite herself. “We’re sticking with this Mistress Mermaid thing are we? So what do I call you? Mr Handsy McHandsburger?”

  Kai snorted the water out of his nose then choked for good measure before descending into a coughing fit. When he’d recovered, he wiped his face with the back of his hand and took a fresh sip of water. “McHandsburger?”

  She shrugged. ‘You got a better nickname?”

  He looked at her and his bright amber eyes glittered with humor. “How about Poseidon? If you’re sticking with being a mermaid.”

  “That’s taken. By your brother.”

  “Touché.” He walked away and she watched him go. Then, with a start, realized she should probably follow him. The path to the dining area was set with verdant plants and trees, as were all the rooms. But everything converged at the dining room and gorgeous pool. As they walked away from that central point, the paths veered off in different directions, leading guests away from the pool to other rooms hidden from view. She caught up to him and they fell into step together.

  “Do you have your bikini on?”

  She huffed. “You know that deal? Where you’re honest and stuff? Is this where you admit you’re still trying to get me naked?”

  “Oh, I’m still trying to get you naked, but that’s not why you need your bikini. We’re going swimming. Meet you at reception in ten minutes.” Then he turned down a different path and quickly disappeared from sight. “Right.” Brooke couldn’t work out what the feeling was that was rushing through her. She should have been annoyed at being so summarily dismissed, and that he was still being so obvious about wanting to get into her pants, but that wasn’t it. Some small part of her felt flattered that he was so determined to win her over. Some small, stupid part. That wasn’t what she was here to do. She was here to get better. That was all she needed Kai for. Get better, get back in the water. All the rest was irrelevant. “So stop standing here and get in the water.”

  She found him already waiting at reception. “Sorry, took me a while to get into my bikini. I should find a one piece somewhere.” Getting into her bikini had indeed been interesting. She’d given up on tying the cords at the back of her neck and knotted them in front of her before wiggling herself into it instead.

  “Of course.” He grinned, “I’d say you could just swim naked, but I can already hear your response, so I won’t.”

  She groaned. “Except you did.”

  “Oh, you noticed. My bad.” He grinned at her and she couldn’t help herself, she grinned back. His face was just so full of mischief and delight at having riled her it was contagious.

  “Why didn’t we just meet at the pool?”

  “We’re not swimming in the pool. Let’s go.”

  #

  “You sure you know where you’re going? Ubud is miles from the ocean and we’ve been walking forever.”

  They’d caught a taxi away from the built-up area of Ubud, past houses that were more western to Brooke’s eyes, and then out into countryside that was anything but. After a short walk and a promise to meet the taxi in three hours, they’d followed a path that was barely there. A long, practically non-existent, dirt path.

  “I’m sure,” Kai said. “Just keep going a bit longer.”

  They rounded a bend, Brooke in front, and then she stopped and Kai walked into the back of her. “Sorry.” The contact of his body on hers, even by accident, was immediate and tangible. He was hot against her back, his hard muscles against hers. It felt good, right. But he took a step back and the sensation was gone.

  “Path’s just a bit overgrown,” he said.

  “Overgrown? There is no path.” In front of them was a wall of green. Vines hung down and the trees seemed to have engulfed the gap. Even as she peered through it, Brooke couldn’t see a way through. “We’re lost.”

  “No. Not lost. Just momentarily waylaid.”

  “Oh my god. There’s cup half full and then there’s delusional, buddy. We’ve been walking for ages and there’s no end in sight. Give it up.”

  He looked around. “See through there? That gap?”

  She looked, he watched her look, but she turned to him and frowned. “There is no gap. Come on.” Brooke started to turn, frustrated, ready to go but he caught her by her good shoulder and stopped her. “Wait. Look again.”

  He kept his hand on her good shoulder and put his other hand, lightly, very lightly, on her injured shoulder. “Move your whole body. Point it towards the problem.” Remarkably, she did, shuffling her feet till her pelvis a
nd torso were all aligned with where he’d positioned her shoulders. Still standing behind her, he brought his head down level to hers. They both looked at the green. Then he felt the shift.

  “Wait? You mean through there? Has a tree come down or something?”

  He nodded, acutely aware of her breath near his cheek. If he turned his head he’d be close enough to kiss her and if he moved his hands from her shoulders to her hips—no. He wasn’t doing that. “Under the tree, what can you see?”

  “The path.” Brooke turned and for a moment he almost lost his resolve. She was a gorgeous picture: surrounded by green, her dark eyes lit up by the realization that she’d found a way through. He saw himself reflected in her pupils and realized it was because they were so big. Big and open and focused entirely on him. This was more like it; she felt it, whatever it was brewing between them, this confirmed it. So long as he didn’t push it too fast, they’d share something more than treatment, he was sure of it. And he was sure letting go in bed would be good for her too. Release the tension from every part of her body. Holo might think falling in and out of bed with women was just for fun, but it was almost about more than fun. It was always about experiencing the whole person. Being with the whole woman.

  Kai cleared his throat and the moment passed. “Shall we go then?”

  They set off, having to clamber over the fallen log, but it wasn’t difficult and in under ten minutes the sound of water filled the air.

  “A waterfall?”

  Kai nodded.

  “How did you know about it?”

  “Local knowledge is easy to find if you know where to listen.”

  She raised an eyebrow and he chuckled. “The desk-clerk told me.”