The Way You Look Tonight
Page 31
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Women had always complained that he liked his own space too much, but he hadn’t even come close to getting his fill of Brooke. Maybe after they’d had sex a few times...
No, there was no point in lying to himself when he knew sleeping with her was only going to make him want more of her, not less.
Brooke was back at her house working to finish up a couple of last-minute orders when Adam told Mia, "We’d better hit the road." Rafe’s brother looked around the lake house with clear satisfaction. "The place is starting to come together."
"Once the furniture is in,” Mia said, "it will look even better." When Rafe groaned at the thought of having to furnish an entire house from the ground up, his sister grinned at him. "I already ordered most of the furniture you’ll need. They said they’ll deliver by the end of the week, so you should probably make sure the rest of the flooring is in by then. I told them my big brother deserved the very best."
It was one heck of a surprise. A really good one, given that she had saved him the pain of furniture shopping. Then again, he had a feeling he was going to be a whole heck of a lot less glad when he saw how much of his money she’d spent.
On top of helping him lay the new flooring, Adam had made notes for the handful of renovations he was planning on implementing in his spare time throughout the summer when he could get back up to the lake. Considering his brother was already overloaded by clients who wanted his magical touch on the historic homes they’d purchased, Rafe knew how big a deal this was.
Despite how grouchy he’d been about their abrupt appearance the night before, it meant a hell of a lot to him to have his brother and sister here, all of them working to put their old lake house back to rights. He might have been the one who’d paid for the place, but as far as he was concerned, it was as much theirs as it was his.
"Thanks, guys." He didn’t say for what, but he knew he didn’t have to. Not when his family had always understood all the things he didn’t know how to say.
They found Brooke in her kitchen, putting the lids on a couple of large gold truffle boxes. "We’re here to say good-bye for now," Mia told her, "and to thank you for putting up with all of us on absolutely no notice whatsoever."
"I know we’re not family," Brooke said in a soft voice filled with emotion, "but I’ve always felt like we were. And I love that you came without calling first, just the way family should."
Brooke hugged both Mia and Adam, gave each of them a box of chocolates, and then they were grabbing their overnight bags and heading off to Adam’s truck, leaving Rafe and Brooke alone once again, standing almost exactly where they had been twenty-four hours ago.
* * *
"Our brother has it bad for the girl next door," Adam said to his sister as they left the lake behind in the rearview mirror.
"Of course he does," Mia replied. "Who wouldn’t? I saw the way your eyes nearly popped out of your head when she opened the door last night, and then again when we went swimming this morning."
"She’s gorgeous," Adam admitted, "but he’s dated plenty of pretty girls before."
"She’s also intelligent. Sweet. And, most important, she knew him before everything got warped by his job and all of those scumbags he finds cheating."
"True, though I’m sure whatever she did with him inside while the two of us were out at the bonfire last night doesn’t hurt, either."
Mia made a face. "Seriously, can we not talk about Rafe’s sex life with our friend?"
"Okay," Adam readily agreed.
Too readily, Mia thought. She smacked him on the arm. Hard.
"Ow!" He lifted his left hand off the wheel to rub his tricep. "What was that for?"
"Just because you’re not talking about the two of them having sex, doesn’t mean I don’t know you’re still thinking about it. Probably in play-by-play detail."
He pretended to be playing a bass guitar as he sang a parody of a bad p**n soundtrack. She covered up her laughter with a sound of disgust.
"Seriously, stop it. She’s your brother’s almost-girlfriend. And if he doesn’t manage to totally screw it up, she could be more than that someday."
"Doubt that will stop me," he told her, then pretended to play the bass guitar some more.
Men. They were all pigs. Especially her brothers.
Still, she hoped against hope that Rafe wouldn’t screw things up with one of the most amazing women she’d ever known, and that Brooke could be the one to finally break through the thick wall Rafe had put around himself. Every time Mia tried to talk with him about the knife attack, he immediately shut her down. Something told her that if anyone could break down that wall and heal the inner wounds he wouldn’t admit to, it was Brooke.
Unfortunately, considering that her brother hadn’t even stepped up to the meaningful-relationship plate enough to admit to Mia that he and Brooke were an item, she knew better than to hold out too much hope.
Sighing, she flipped on the radio and was planning to zone out for the rest of the drive when a new song came on that had her entire body stiffening.
Adam startet tapping out the beat on the steering wheel. "This is such a great so—"
She flipped the radio off just as the song was about to hit the chorus.
"Why’d you turn it off?"
"I have a migraine. The music was hurting my head."
She almost never got headaches, but Adam didn’t know that, so thankfully he didn’t ask why she’d had such a strong reaction to the song.
Mia’d had five years to get over it. To get over him. She should be able to listen to his songs, at the very least, without her stomach twisting...without the memories she’d never been able to forget assaulting her.
Chapter Fourteen
Rafe’s brother and sister were finally gone, which meant he and Brooke were finally free to rip off each other’s clothes and pick up where they’d left off the night before. But he couldn’t stop feeling that he’d already pushed her too far, too fast, by taking her the way he had in the linen closet. It didn’t help that they hadn’t had any time alone during the day to talk so that he could gauge how she was feeling...or whether she had changed her mind.
Forty-eight hours ago, he’d been certain that they should curb their attraction to preserve their friendship. Even though all they’d had so far was fifteen stolen minutes of passion, he knew it wasn’t even close to being that simple anymore.
No, there was no point in lying to himself when he knew sleeping with her was only going to make him want more of her, not less.
Brooke was back at her house working to finish up a couple of last-minute orders when Adam told Mia, "We’d better hit the road." Rafe’s brother looked around the lake house with clear satisfaction. "The place is starting to come together."
"Once the furniture is in,” Mia said, "it will look even better." When Rafe groaned at the thought of having to furnish an entire house from the ground up, his sister grinned at him. "I already ordered most of the furniture you’ll need. They said they’ll deliver by the end of the week, so you should probably make sure the rest of the flooring is in by then. I told them my big brother deserved the very best."
It was one heck of a surprise. A really good one, given that she had saved him the pain of furniture shopping. Then again, he had a feeling he was going to be a whole heck of a lot less glad when he saw how much of his money she’d spent.
On top of helping him lay the new flooring, Adam had made notes for the handful of renovations he was planning on implementing in his spare time throughout the summer when he could get back up to the lake. Considering his brother was already overloaded by clients who wanted his magical touch on the historic homes they’d purchased, Rafe knew how big a deal this was.
Despite how grouchy he’d been about their abrupt appearance the night before, it meant a hell of a lot to him to have his brother and sister here, all of them working to put their old lake house back to rights. He might have been the one who’d paid for the place, but as far as he was concerned, it was as much theirs as it was his.
"Thanks, guys." He didn’t say for what, but he knew he didn’t have to. Not when his family had always understood all the things he didn’t know how to say.
They found Brooke in her kitchen, putting the lids on a couple of large gold truffle boxes. "We’re here to say good-bye for now," Mia told her, "and to thank you for putting up with all of us on absolutely no notice whatsoever."
"I know we’re not family," Brooke said in a soft voice filled with emotion, "but I’ve always felt like we were. And I love that you came without calling first, just the way family should."
Brooke hugged both Mia and Adam, gave each of them a box of chocolates, and then they were grabbing their overnight bags and heading off to Adam’s truck, leaving Rafe and Brooke alone once again, standing almost exactly where they had been twenty-four hours ago.
* * *
"Our brother has it bad for the girl next door," Adam said to his sister as they left the lake behind in the rearview mirror.
"Of course he does," Mia replied. "Who wouldn’t? I saw the way your eyes nearly popped out of your head when she opened the door last night, and then again when we went swimming this morning."
"She’s gorgeous," Adam admitted, "but he’s dated plenty of pretty girls before."
"She’s also intelligent. Sweet. And, most important, she knew him before everything got warped by his job and all of those scumbags he finds cheating."
"True, though I’m sure whatever she did with him inside while the two of us were out at the bonfire last night doesn’t hurt, either."
Mia made a face. "Seriously, can we not talk about Rafe’s sex life with our friend?"
"Okay," Adam readily agreed.
Too readily, Mia thought. She smacked him on the arm. Hard.
"Ow!" He lifted his left hand off the wheel to rub his tricep. "What was that for?"
"Just because you’re not talking about the two of them having sex, doesn’t mean I don’t know you’re still thinking about it. Probably in play-by-play detail."
He pretended to be playing a bass guitar as he sang a parody of a bad p**n soundtrack. She covered up her laughter with a sound of disgust.
"Seriously, stop it. She’s your brother’s almost-girlfriend. And if he doesn’t manage to totally screw it up, she could be more than that someday."
"Doubt that will stop me," he told her, then pretended to play the bass guitar some more.
Men. They were all pigs. Especially her brothers.
Still, she hoped against hope that Rafe wouldn’t screw things up with one of the most amazing women she’d ever known, and that Brooke could be the one to finally break through the thick wall Rafe had put around himself. Every time Mia tried to talk with him about the knife attack, he immediately shut her down. Something told her that if anyone could break down that wall and heal the inner wounds he wouldn’t admit to, it was Brooke.
Unfortunately, considering that her brother hadn’t even stepped up to the meaningful-relationship plate enough to admit to Mia that he and Brooke were an item, she knew better than to hold out too much hope.
Sighing, she flipped on the radio and was planning to zone out for the rest of the drive when a new song came on that had her entire body stiffening.
Adam startet tapping out the beat on the steering wheel. "This is such a great so—"
She flipped the radio off just as the song was about to hit the chorus.
"Why’d you turn it off?"
"I have a migraine. The music was hurting my head."
She almost never got headaches, but Adam didn’t know that, so thankfully he didn’t ask why she’d had such a strong reaction to the song.
Mia’d had five years to get over it. To get over him. She should be able to listen to his songs, at the very least, without her stomach twisting...without the memories she’d never been able to forget assaulting her.
Chapter Fourteen
Rafe’s brother and sister were finally gone, which meant he and Brooke were finally free to rip off each other’s clothes and pick up where they’d left off the night before. But he couldn’t stop feeling that he’d already pushed her too far, too fast, by taking her the way he had in the linen closet. It didn’t help that they hadn’t had any time alone during the day to talk so that he could gauge how she was feeling...or whether she had changed her mind.
Forty-eight hours ago, he’d been certain that they should curb their attraction to preserve their friendship. Even though all they’d had so far was fifteen stolen minutes of passion, he knew it wasn’t even close to being that simple anymore.
