Brea backed up a step.
Delaney’s spiral-curled hair bounced as she took a step forward. Her smile was as bright as the crystals that edged the bodice of her fitted black dress.
“Hello, Breanna,” Delaney said gently. “Thank you for coming to my engagement party. It means so much to me.”
A slow swallow moved down Brea’s throat. She nodded toward her sister’s left hand, which sported a pear-shaped diamond ring. “That’s lovely.”
“Thank you. I’m just happy to be marrying the love of my life.” She smiled. “Like Naomi, you and I dreamed of when we were kids, dressing up for weddings with a towel for a veil.”
Ward inched aside, giving them space, but keeping his gaze on Brea’s face, gauging her reactions. He hadn’t considered until now that having her spend more time with her family was perhaps the best way to get to the bottom of her reasons for returning after she’d revealed herself as Milla Jones. Sure Shana Mikkelson’s private-eye skills had uncovered Brea’s locale, but with the skills she had from living off-the-grid, she could have disappeared. Instead she’d gotten a lawyer and come back to Alaska.
To what end?
“I want to trust you all.” Brea’s legs folded, and she sat on the velvet settee. “But it’s so difficult to figure out what’s real in my memories, good and bad.”
“If you have any questions, I’m happy to help however I can. I want to help.” Delaney sat beside her, resting a hand on Brea’s arm, her engagement ring catching the chandelier lights. “You don’t need to tell me any details of that memory. You could just ask something, like ‘family vacation to the Gold Rush festival when we were in elementary school.’ I’ll tell you what I remember. You can decide if it matches up with what you recall.”
Brea’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s a good idea. Maybe we can try it sometime next week.”
“Or you could ask me something now.”
Brea hesitated, then shook her head. “This is your engagement party. I don’t want to monopolize you when you should be celebrating your dreams coming true.”
“You’re family.” Delaney waved a dismissive hand, her engagement ring glinting. “And having the chance to talk to you is a joy I never thought I would have again.”
Ward leaned forward in the chair. No one had asked him to leave and he didn’t plan to offer. He couldn’t deny the protective urge to stay near Brea. And as much as he reminded himself of his uncertainty about trusting her, bottom line, he had to make sure she wasn’t hurt by whatever her sister had to say about their childhood memories.
Brea nodded. “Okay then. Tell me about Saturday-morning breakfasts.”
Delaney’s smile spread wide and fast. “I remember all sorts of special times at Kit’s Kodiak Café. But my favorite memory is the morning we shared a candy bracelet...”
* * *
Delaney Steele looked forward to going to Kit’s Kodiak Café with her dad and her brothers and her sisters while their mom had a morning all to herself.
Today was special. She got to sit next to Brea. Brea liked to sit at the end, and Naomi usually sat beside her, since they were twins. But this morning, Delaney had run so fast into the restaurant that she almost slipped on the ice. But she made it.
She had Brea all to herself.
Well, sort of. Everyone was talking so much, Delaney couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Well, everyone except for Marshall. He was quiet, reading a book about horses. If he didn’t have his nose in a book, he was in the stables.
Delaney swung her legs back and forth, her feet not reaching the ground. She loved this place. It wasn’t fancy. She felt comfortable. The diner looked like a big barn near the water. The windows showed a pretty view of a dock stretching out into the lake. Inside, long-planked tables were set up for big, noisy groups—like her family.
Menus crackled in front of the others, but she knew what she wanted off the Three Polar Bears menu. Pancakes and reindeer sausage.
Usually she was impatient to get her food. But today she was content to wait. Besides, their family was well known in this café and they’d be served quickly. But their dad always said not to ask for special treatment.
She and her siblings had been coming to Kit’s for as long as Delaney could remember. Their father brought them most Saturday mornings and even sometimes before school so their mom could have a break. He would bundle them up. He wasn’t good at remembering to match up everyone’s gloves and hats. But they were all warm. Even if Marshall was mad over wearing a pink kitten hat.
Her mom told her once that their dad, who had more money than anyone, was trying to keep them grounded by taking them to regular sorts of places, the kinds that played country music and oldies over the radio. The air smelled of home cooking and a wood fire. The stuffed bear was a little scary, but she didn’t want to admit to being afraid.
Delaney tapped Brea’s leg with her foot. Her sister looked over, frowning. “What?”
“Shhh,” Delaney said softly and held her hand out under the table.
She’d brought an extra candy bracelet, just in case she got to sit by Brea. Delaney had used her allowance to buy it. She kept her hand out of sight, though, so her dad couldn’t see and say they were going to wreck their appetites.
But no amount of candy could make her too full for Kit’s Kodiak food.
Brea smiled. “Thanks, kiddo.”
Kiddo? She was only three years younger. But Delaney had a tough time standing up for herself. It was easier to stand up for others. Like how she’d done a report on saving the whales at school even though the mean girls made fun of her at lunch and called her whale girl. Not that she told her family. She didn’t want to make things tougher for her parents.
Their dad always said their mom had the hardest job of all, dealing with the Steele hellions, and the least he could do was give her a break sometimes. He’d rolled out that speech at the start of every breakfast and reminded them to listen to their mom and their teachers. If there were no bad reports, then they could all go fishing with him. Fishing was so fun, they didn’t even tattle on each other. They figured things out on their own when they argued.
She and her siblings had a tight bond. She couldn’t imagine what life would be like without her family. Just thinking about it made her stomach hurt so much she passed the rest of her candy bracelet to her sister...
Back at her apartment, after the engagement party, Brea wasn’t sure if she felt better or worse hearing her sister tell her story about that breakfast morning so long ago, when Delaney had shared her candy bracelet.
Brea’s emotions were all jumbled up. A dangerous state as she stood in her apartment entryway with Ward. He’d insisted on walking her to her door. With that kiss on the dance floor still fresh in her mind—and tingling along her senses—she wasn’t sure it was wise to be alone with him.
Not that she didn’t trust him. He hadn’t pushed faster than she was ready.
But she didn’t trust herself.
The draw to him had grown stronger than ever tonight. It was getting tougher and tougher to resist him and the undeniable chemistry between them. But she needed to remember he was loyal first and foremost to her father, to the Steeles, to the company.
Still, her memory churned with thoughts of his hand on her back at the party, steadying her when she’d needed it. Helping her make a graceful exit when she’d been tongue-tied after Delaney’s story.
Her emotions were a jumble.
She needed an outlet, and the man in front of her was one sexy, welcome distraction.
As he stepped from the apartment building hallway into her entry, he tucked his gloves into the pockets of his long black wool coat. She closed the door and he unbuttoned the coat to reveal his tailored tux. Still, he didn’t move any deeper into her apartment.
Neither had she.
He took her hand in his, his th
umb rubbing along the inside of her wrist. “Are you okay?”
“Of course. I only had two glasses of champagne,” she answered, deliberately dodging the obvious reason he asked.
“I meant are you all right with what your sister said. You’ve been quiet.”
Nerves threatened to return, and she forced something that felt like a smile to her lips. But her lips wavered as words formed. “I was shouting gargoyle in my head.”
His forehead creased with concern. “I apologize. I should have been paying closer attention—”
“That was a joke.” Brea squeezed his hand, his strength and calluses launching a fresh wash of tingles through her.
He shook his head. “What’s happened to you and your family is indescribable and not at all material for humor.”
“I’m working on my attitude.” She kept her hand in his, the warmth of his touch grounding her and exciting her all at once. “Although, somehow I’m still telling lies about us being in a relationship.”
Ward shifted his weight, and she caught a whiff of his spicy cologne and his own musk as the floorboard beneath him creaked. “Your life has been...confusing.”
Understatement of the year.
Brea took a deep breath, her mind racing back to certain touchstones of her complicated existence.
“After my foster parents died, I had my own sort of off-the-grid lifestyle.”
Ward’s strong fingers offered her palms a massage. He looked at her with those deep blue eyes. “I’d like to hear more.”
“I spent some time on my own in Canada, doing jobs for cash. Learning about how the world worked. Trying to figure out where my head was at, trying to figure out what I wanted to do about my...relatives.”
Her blood relations, as well as her adoptive ones. She’d wrestled with reconciling her feelings for everyone. She’d grieved when her adoptive parents died, as had their small community. But then when she’d come across a box under her mom’s bed, her world had tipped.
The box had contained the clothes she’d been wearing that day of the plane crash, along with a mermaid Beanie Baby that her grandmother had given her. The memory of that simple present had made her realize there was no more hiding from the truth.
She needed to go back to see her Steele relatives.
If only her brain didn’t still push back every time she tried to analyze those walled-away years.
“So you snuck into the company.”
She recoiled from his touch for a moment. Her hands to her temples, shaking her head and squeezing her eyes shut. “It doesn’t make complete sense now. I didn’t know who to trust for advice on what would be the best way to approach them.” She shrugged. “I’m here now.”
“And they hadn’t come looking for you?”
“I would have come back in my own time, as myself. I came here in disguise, on my own, didn’t I? I just feel this...reunion isn’t something to rush.” Her mind was a jumble of thoughts from those teenage years. There was so much, too much, to process. She wanted life to be simple for once. “You’re not one to cast stones on role-play for a goal. You’re pretending to be my boyfriend.”
“I could be your for-real lover. Our chemistry is off the charts. Just say the word and we can pursue that.”
His eyes danced with a dangerous anticipation she felt echoing in her blood. In the restless pounding of her heart. In the small step she took toward him.
The scent of the lavender potpourri in a dish in the foyer relaxed her even as the scent of his aftershave tempted her closer. Leaning toward him slightly, her voice dropped a notch, her words breathy, her pulse speeding twice as fast as the soft ticking of the clock. “And that word would be?”
“Let’s have sex? Or let’s go out to dinner? Or how about both?”
Awareness crackled between them, her skin tingling. The heat built to a desire that wiped away the confusion and grief she’d been battling since her sister shared that heart-tugging memory that matched Brea’s recollection to the letter.
She needed, craved, a respite from the tension. She wanted to feel the love of this family again, but she was scared if she let her guard down enough to let that happen, she could be opening her heart to a hurt she wouldn’t recover from. The tension of it—the wanting and wishing for an acceptance she wasn’t ready to take—was draining. And it hurt. But with Ward touching her this way, she knew she could put her worries aside for a few hours in his arms. And with the heat simmering in his eyes, his touch stirring her inside, she really, really wanted to lose herself with him.
“And there’s nothing to say we can’t turn this into a real affair. Just say when.” She walked her fingers up his chest to smooth his lapels.
“When,” he growled, clasping her hands. “Absolutely when.”
His mouth met hers again, the kiss deepening in the way it couldn’t in public at the party. And oh my, the man knew how to kiss, fully, his whole attention on her and turning her inside out with the stroke of his tongue and his hands over her clothes...then under. The rasp of his calluses along her tender flesh was a sweet temptation.
A sigh whispered between her lips.
Her restless fingers swept off his overcoat, and then his tuxedo jacket, before tugging at his tie. She couldn’t get him undressed fast enough.
“So, Ward Benally,” she said, her voice husky, “are you sure I’m not taking advantage of you? Because I wouldn’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“If you are taking advantage of me, keep on going.”
She angled back to see if he was teasing her. “Benally...”
“Trust me, I want you, Breanna Steele. Absolutely. Fully. Here and now. Soon, or I’m going to lose my mind.” He growled his chuckle and appreciation.
And she was happy to keep up the pace until his shirt and T were gone, her hips pressed against his, the impressive length of his erection a promise she eagerly anticipated.
He turned her around to pull the zipper down her back, exposing her spine an inch at a time, kissing along the bared skin until she was a quivering mass of need. Her feet shaking, she faced him again, easing the dress down, slowly, savoring the passion and appreciation in his gaze as the dress pooled around her feet.
Emboldened, she stood before him, wearing nothing but a satin strapless bra and matching panties. And by the looks of his erection, which strained against his fly, this sexy man was every bit as turned on looking at her as she was by looking at him. Knowing he wanted her as much as she craved this time with him made her head swim.
Her fingers connected with his chest and static snapped. A tingle radiated up her arm. She reached out again, her touch connecting this time, and she trailed lower, lower still, until she slid her hand into his tuxedo pants.
His eyes slid closed and his head fell back as she stroked, learning the feel of him, anticipating what was to come. His chest expanded with a deep sigh. “We need to move this to the bedroom.”
“Or the sofa is closer.” She arched up on her toes to kiss him again.
“Hold that thought for one second.” He knelt to reach into his jacket...and pulled out a condom. Thank goodness at least one of them was thinking clearly enough to take care of birth control.
Then he returned to her, and her thoughts scattered, instinct taking over.
Their legs tangled as they made their way from the hall to the sofa, leaving a trail of his shoes and her heels. She caressed his pants down his legs. His hands made fast work of her bra and panties.
Flesh to flesh, they tumbled back onto the sofa in a tangle. She nipped along his strong jaw, the leather cushion soft against her back, his touch gentle along her sides.
The thick pressure of him between her legs almost sent her over the edge then and there. Her breath hitched. He thrust deep and full, holding while she adjusted to the newness of him, of them linked.
&nbs
p; She arched into the sensation, taking him deeper inside, savoring the connection she’d dreamt of since she had first met him. Being with him was everything she’d hoped—even more. It was chemistry like none she’d experienced before.
And she wanted more.
He held his weight off her with one hand on the back of the couch. She rolled her hips under his and he took the cue, resuming the dance they’d started earlier. Her fingernails dug half-moons into his shoulders, urgency pulsing through her.
She buried her face against his neck, breathing in the scent of his aftershave. He kissed, nipped and laved his way to her breast, his five-o’clock shadow rasped against her sensitive skin.
Passion ramping higher, hotter, she wrapped her legs around his waist and writhed, nearly sliding from the sofa. But he caught her, steadied her, secured her. His eyes held hers as firmly as his hands. His expression challenged her, encouraged her.
He seemed so in control, it gave her pause. Until she looked closer and saw tendons straining in his neck with restraint. His pleasure pleased her. His gravelly voice filled the air with all the times he’d watched and wanted her as he slid his hand between them. He circled his thumb with just the right skill to take her to the edge, and then he eased back again. Then...
Bliss.
Her release shimmered through her, pulling a cry of pleasure from her with each ripple of her orgasm. He braced his hand against the sofa back and thrust into her, once, twice more. His completion echoed hers, sending more shimmers through her until she was limp in the aftermath.
Somehow he managed to stand. He scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. He eased her onto the comforter and stretched out beside her, tugging a pink quilt up from the foot of the bed. He pulled her close and stroked her hair, his touch gentle.
She kept her gaze from his, not ready to let him see the vulnerability she knew he would find in her eyes. Instead she focused on the glass lamp.
The Secret Twin Page 6
