Working Back

by BJ Harvey

  “I know. My phone came up with your name,” I say, deadpan. I love my sister to pieces but her husband, Flynn, is a saint for putting up with her somewhat ditzy behavior. She makes it cute though… sometimes…

  “Ah, yeah. So how’s it all going?”

  “You mean life? God? The universe at large?”

  “No, nerd. I mean being married to Bryant and living together again?”

  “I know. I was just fucking with you. It’s good. Weird, very strange,” I say, lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. “He saved me from a spider yesterday.”

  “Well, we all know you hate bugs. That’s not exactly a new thing. Why you moved to the one country with all the dangerous bugs and snakes, I don’t know.”

  “The only snakes I ever saw were at Taronga Zoo where I worked, but yes, the bugs were an issue.”

  “Didn’t stop you living there.”

  “Nope. That’s what a six-monthly fumigation regime is for. I wasn’t taking any risks because I didn’t have anyone to rescue me.”

  “And now you do…” she says, her tone all-knowing and sneaky. “That would be the perfect way to get into his bed. Maybe you can’t sleep because you’re scared there’s a spider on the ceiling.”

  “Delilah-Jane, are you saying I should manipulate my way into my husband’s bed?”

  “Firstly, don’t full-name me, and second, why not? You know one of the things you have to overcome—and it’s probably the easiest—is the physical aspect. There shouldn’t be any barriers in that regard because it’s not like you cheated on him or he cheated on you. You simply said no and left the country before he could do anything about it.”

  “Thanks for the ride down Memory Lane,” I murmur dryly.

  “What? You can’t seriously believe none of that is going to come up. And I saw the way he looked at you at City Hall. I’m surprised you didn’t melt there and then.”

  “Oh, I did.” I laugh. “But jumping him before knowing him again would be a huge mistake.”

  “An enjoyable one, though.”

  I shake my head against my pillow. “Be that as it may, I waited years to give him my virginity. I can wait as long as it takes this time around.”

  “Uh, so just in case you’ve forgotten, your hymen doesn’t grow back, and I know you haven’t been living the life of a nun for twelve years.”

  “Well, no…”

  “Exactly. I get you’re emotionally invested in this reunion, and I think we’re all hoping it works out. But seriously, Bakes, you have to jump his bones; otherwise, there’s no way you two will survive your past. Physical intimacy first, then rebuild the emotional kind.”

  “Is that your professional opinion?” I ask.

  “As an amateur marriage counselor/wife of seven years? Yes. Men are visual creatures. I often distract Flynn with sex when I need to. It’s not the healthiest way to deal with confrontation, but by the time we get around to talking about the original issue, he’s definitely a hell of a lot more relaxed.”

  “That’s so bad.”

  “But oh-so-good. You should try it sometime.”

  “I’ll take it under advisement.”

  “You’re okay, though?” she asks, and my heart swells. Del and I were always close, with Abi Cook making up our little female triad. It was strength in numbers against the five brothers we had between us.

  “Yeah, I’m okay. We should get the triad together for a catch-up,” I say.

  “There is no triad anymore. People grow up and move on.”

  “And Abi isn’t exactly a big fan of my current marital status.”

  “It’s more her protecting her brother. It’s the same thing that Ezra and I were doing when we tried talking you out of it before the ceremony. But now…”

  “Now?”

  “You sound different. I can’t put my finger on it, but on Saturday, you were unsure. Tuesday morning, you were literally shaking while waiting for the Cooks to arrive.”

  “I was nervous,” I say, dryly. “I can honestly say Bry threw me for a loop. I expected him to spew hate at me and kick me out, not propose marriage.”

  “Would you do it differently now?”

  “It’s only been two days.” When she doesn’t reply, I feel the need to qualify that statement. “It’s been a good two days though.”

  “Then keep going. One good day, one bad day, one nothing day at a time. That’s my sisterly advice for today.”

  “Thanks, Del.”

  “Anytime. Now, when can I bring Harvey for a ‘my aunt works at a zoo’ playdate?” Harvey is Del’s six-year-old son.

  I snort then sigh down the phone. “Can we at least let me start the job before I call in favors with the zookeepers?”

  “Yeah, maybe,” she replies with a giggle. “You can explain that to him when you come to dinner next week.”

  “Are you inviting me or demanding my attendance?” I muse.

  “A bit of both—and bring your husband. Flynn wants to interrogate him.”

  I frown. “Isn’t it a bit late for that?”

  “Meh. Let him do it and feel like he’s doing his protective duty for his sister-in-law.”

  That makes me smile. “Okay,” I reply quietly.

  “I’ll text you with a day and time for dinner.”

  “Sounds good, Del. Then I can check with Bry and let you know.”

  “Aww, look at you being all wife-like.”

  “Shut it.” I’m beaming now. “I’m still a baby wife.”

  “Yeah,” she says warmly. “But I have all the faith in the world in you.”

  “No pun intended.”

  “Of course it was intended. Love you.”

  “Love you too. I might go do some laundry—see if that levels me up in the wife stakes.”

  “You even have a laundry in that shack?”

  “Ezra has been gossiping again,” I say with a giggle. “It’s a charming shack, and for the time being, it’s our little shack, and yes, it has a laundry.”

  “All right then. I’ll text you next week.”

  “Bye, Del,” I say, and end the call.

  I drop my arm and phone onto the bed. I’m lying there, staring up at the ceiling, my mind running over all the things Del said when something compels me to look. There I find Bryant wearing a Doctor Who T-shirt, one arm bent as he leans against the door frame, watching me.

  “Are you creeping on me?” I ask, trying to remember whether I may have said anything incriminating on the phone.

  “Nah, I’m just looking for spiders,” he says without missing a beat.

  I prop myself up on my elbows and glare at him. “That’s so not funny.”

  “Who said I was joking,” he says, his lips twitching as he makes a show of scanning the room.

  “You’re so mean. Why are you so mean to me?” I say, pouting.

  He just shakes his head, my jutted-out bottom lip obviously having no effect. “It’s in a nice, joking way, I swear.”

  I roll my eyes. “How can I help you today, Mr. Cook?”

  His smile widens. “Well, Mrs. Cook, the guys are about to arrive, and I thought you might wanna come see what magic we’re planning on enacting to turn this ‘shack’ into a palace.”

  I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed. It’s then I remember I’m still only wearing a T-shirt and underwear. My head jerks to Bryant, whose gaze is firmly locked on my bare thighs. His jaw tenses, and he slowly lifts his chin. He may be trying to be a gentleman and not get his fill, but there’s no missing the flash of heat in his eyes.

  “They’re about ten minutes away. I’ll leave you to get dressed.”

  I nod, words escaping me as my cheeks heat. He has one last look before turning on his heels and disappearing from sight.

  I huff out a breath. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before, and it’s not like I was lounging around, naked. Moving to my feet, I shrug and move to the door to close it. If I’m honest, I’m a little peeved—or maybe disappointed is more a
ccurate—by his response. He said, ‘I do.’ That means living together and yes, seeing me in various states of dress and undress. Shouldn’t he want to take a good look when his wife is showing a little skin?

  Del’s words ring in my ear. I have thought about the physical side of my relationship with Bryant. Once we finally crossed that threshold of ditching the V-cards—in a cliched, senior-prom-night-hotel-room situation, no less—we weren’t exactly prudes or chaste. In fact, we went at it every chance we could get. I know the situation is different now, but I’m still a hot-blooded woman who enjoys sex, and I’m not going to cover up around what is now my own home to protect whatever sensibilities my new husband may have. He’s just going to have to get used to seeing my skin. Who knows? My sister could be right. Maybe I do need to remind him that despite everything that happened, there were things we were very good at.

  Just not now, when my brother and his brothers are about to arrive. But soon… very soon. It’s time to show Bryant what life with me is going to be like. He needs to know that I may be older and wiser, but I’m still the same girl who stole his heart all those years ago.

  Now I’m just a hell of a lot more confident in my body, and that is something I definitely can’t wait to show him.

  With that thought in mind, I quickly get dressed and open the door to find the man in question. Time to turn this shack into a palace.

  I almost reach the living area when there’s a knock at the door. Changing direction, I swing it open to find Ez, Jax, Cohen, and two men I don’t know standing on the porch.

  “Hey.”

  “Bakes,” Ez says, stepping forward and pulling me in for a hug. From there, Jax and Cohen follow, Cohen less enthusiastic than his brother, but I already guessed it would take a little more effort to win the youngest Cook brother over than it would the others.

  “This is Matt and Jason. They own the construction company we use for the flips,” Jax explains, introducing the other two men.

  “I saw you at the wedding, but didn’t get a chance to introduce myself,” Matt says, holding out his hand to shake.

  Jason grins and also shakes my hand, shooting me a wink as he does it. “That’s probably ’cause Bryant was shooting daggers at any man who got close to her.”

  My eyes widen. All I remember is Bryant staying clear of me for the entire reception. It was only at the end of the night when we swapped phone numbers, and he told me the time to meet at City Hall, that he finally spoke to me. He was always a little possessive—in a nice, protective, kind of hot way—when we were together. That sparks at least some hope in me, knowing that even before the ceremony, he still felt that way.

  “Hey,” Bryant says, moving in close to my back. I feel his heat, but he doesn’t touch me. “Come in. We might as well stand around the dining table so we can lay out Ezra’s plans.”

  They all follow him through the wide double doors leading toward the kitchen and dining area, leaving me to follow behind.

  Ez waits for me, and swings an arm around my shoulder, looking down at me. “How’s it going?”

  “It’s fine.”

  He lifts a brow, silently asking for more information.

  “Okay, it’s been fine so far. No arguments; not much weirdness. It’s almost like—”

  “You never left?”

  “Yes and no,” I say on a sigh. “We shared takeout on the couch last night. It wasn’t awkward or anything, but there’s this wall up between us.”

  “And that’s to be expected,” Ez replies.

  “Yeah. I’m just not sure how to scale it.”

  My brother’s eyes soften. “Give it time. Take it from a man who has had more than his share of difficult marriages. He needs to know you’re here to stay and—”

  “And getting married on demand wasn’t enough?”

  “Honestly, you had a City Hall ceremony that right now, seems like just a piece of paper. You two have to get to know each other again as the people you are now—not who you were. You broke his heart and understandably, he’s going to be a bit wary.”

  “I know. I just hope I can make it up to him.”

  “Being here and being present will go a long way. But do you want one piece of advice?”

  “It seems my siblings are full of that today,” I remark, earning a puzzled look.

  “God, Del probably told you to jump his bones.” My head jerks back, making him laugh. “Do I know our sister or what? She’s probably not wrong, but I don’t wanna think about that.”

  “I’m not a kid anymore, Ez.”

  He ruffles my hair, earning a huff. “You’ll always be a kid to me, Bakes. Whether you’re thirty-four or sixty-four.” That makes me melt, and his softening gaze acknowledges that. He gives me a squeeze and steps away. “Just make him see you’re in it for the long haul, and that marrying him wasn’t just a means to an end.”

  “It could never be that with him,” I whisper.

  “I know,” he says. “Oh, did you still wanna go car shopping? I’m pretty busy right now, but I can definitely take you on the weekend.”

  I grin. “I actually asked Bry, and we’re going to have a look next weekend.”

  His brows lift before his lips quirk, and he nods approvingly. “See? Baby steps.” He looks in the direction of the living room. “We better get in there, or else he’ll know we’ve been talking about him.”

  I roll my eyes. “Men!”

  “You love it. Now, come see me work some magic.”

  And hand in hand, we move deeper into the house toward the dining room.

  “So get rid of this wall, and push out the kitchen, and we’ll have one huge open-plan room for the main living area,” Jamie says.

  We’re all bent over the house plans which are spread out over the table.

  “And the bedrooms?” Bryant asks, looking across at Ez.

  “We’ll keep the three current bedrooms, but make the master suite bigger and add in the en-suite here.” He points to a large void off Bryant’s current room. “And once the basement is dry-walled, there’s the option of halving it and making a guest room down there with a small window at ground level.” Bryant nods and returns his gaze to the plans. Ezra was still establishing himself as an architect the last time I was home from college. Seeing the design he’s come up with for what I first saw as a disaster with four walls, I’m in awe of his vision. “This is awesome, Ez.”

  Jax lifts his head and winks at me. “Your brother definitely has a knack for seeing the potential in these houses we flip. You should see the finished Barbie Dreamhouse. That project was mammoth, but we just accepted an offer yesterday and made a hundred grand profit.”

  “Wow,” I say, my voice full of wonder. “You guys must be over the moon.”

  “That project was Jax and Jamie’s baby. We were just the hard labor when needed,” Cohen says with a grin.

  I look between the brothers. “I think it’s awesome you guys do this together.”

  “We do too. Although, this is the first time Bryant is going to be living and breathing construction,” Jax says, elbowing his twin in the arm.

  “Yeah, yeah. It’s about time I tried out building life,” Bryant replies with a laugh.

  “We’ll just see how well those pretty hands of yours handle a hammer,” Jase jibes.

  Bryant chuckles. “I might surprise you.”

  “How about you, Faith? Have you ever done any renovating?” Matt asks, brow quirked.

  “Unless you count painting our college apartment bright purple in our senior year, not really,” I reply. Bryant’s head jerks back, but he quickly schools his expression. A quick glance at Ezra’s face tells me he didn’t miss it either.

  “Well then, I’m not sure about purple, but we never turn down extra hands when it comes to decorating and staging,” Jax says, maneuvering the conversation back to safer ground.

  “And we’ll try and keep the disruption to a minimum, Faith, but at some stage, you guys will be confined to one room unfortunately
. Or fortunately,” Jase says with a wink. “You are newlyweds, after all.” My eyes dart to Bryant’s amused face.

  “That’s okay. We’ll only need one habitable room at a time so we can just work around whatever you need,” Bry says.

  My eyes widen at Bryant’s words because there’s no missing the fact he’s just told everyone that we’ll be sharing a room—and a bed. Definitely something I thought I’d not only get a say in, but also, a development I didn’t see happening so fast.

  “When do you think that will that be?” He directs the question to Matt and Jase.

  Matt looks down at the plans, then back to my husband. God, it still seems surreal to think of him that way. “I’d say two weeks after we start. Then we can really get stuck in with the redesign and relining the walls.”

  Bry’s eyes drift across the table to me, his gaze roaming my face before a slow-growing grin transforms his features, and fuck, it’s hard not to melt on the spot when he looks like that. There’s a boyish charm to that man that I remember falling for way back at the start.

  Ez, Jax and Cohen all look to me, probably expecting a reaction to the news I’m being forced into close proximity by my husband. But I don’t give them one. When my eyes drift to Bryant, I meet the amused gaze of a man who knows he’s just shifted the goalposts and, by announcing it to the room, has made it near impossible for me to say anything about it without causing a scene or turning the conversation awkward. Two can play this game, Mr. Cook.

  “Yeah. It seems to be a waste to keep two bedrooms livable at a time. Bryant and I can just top and tail like we used to do as kids,” I say with a smirk.

  Jax chuckles. “As kids, yes. That’s before you upgraded to a different kind of—” Ezra makes loud gagging noises, Jamie snorts, Cohen’s eyes bug out before crinkling at the sides, and Matt and Jase just laugh. Bryant, though? His eyes are locked on mine, and they’re blazing, his lips curved up in a lascivious smile that promises retribution in hopefully enjoyable ways.

  “And we’re definitely not kids anymore, babycakes,” he says, his voice so low and deep I feel it fire through me like a lightning bolt straight to my libido.

  “Damn, is it getting hot in here or is it just me?” Jase says, but I’m locked in my husband’s stare. He quirks a brow as if he’s expecting me to give in, his eyes turning appreciative when I don’t back down.