Brooke stirred the paint with a long wooden stick, then carefully poured it into a clean plastic tray. The two of them had been good enough friends that Brooke was more than a little surprised that Mia hadn’t brought up Rafe yet. Mia had never been the kind of person to hold things in, something Brooke had always envied about her. Envied, and was trying to emulate more and more.
Which was why she decided to break the ice by saying, "When we were friends as kids, we were never quite old enough to talk much about boys."
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Mia’s brush still where she was painting the trim along the ceiling. "We didn’t need to talk about it for me to know that you had a crush on Rafe."
Brooke felt a flush creep into her cheeks. But she had to do more than be brave enough to bring up Rafe with Mia, she had to follow through with the rest of the discussion...wherever it led.
She put down her roller and admitted, "My crush never went away."
Mia laid her brush down, too, and climbed halfway down the ladder. "He obviously seems to feel the same way."
From the look on her friend’s face, Brooke prompted, "But?"
Mia sighed. "I love my brother, even though I want to punch him sometimes. You’ve probably noticed he’s changed since we were kids."
Brooke nodded. "He told me a little about the work he does as an investigator. I can’t imagine how awful it must be to catch that many people cheating on their marriages."
"Wow," Mia said, "I can’t believe he even told you that. He never talks about work. Not even with us." Her worried expression fell away, to be replaced by a wide smile. "Then again, you’re not like any of the other women he’s been with."
"We haven’t exactly—" Brooke cut herself off as she realized they actually had, at least on her end, last night in the linen closet. She let out a strangled laugh. "Is this conversation as awkward for you as it is for me?"
Mia laughed and said, "The really awkward thing would be if you started giving me the dirty details."
"No," Brooke promised, "I swear I’m not going to do that. Ever."
"Not that you’ve asked for my blessing," Mia said, "but I want you to know that you have it. Although there is one condition. Well, two, actually."
Knowing how close Rafe and his sister were, Brooke felt her heart thudding in her chest as she asked, "What are they?"
"One," Mia said as she held up her index finger, "don’t ever lie to Rafe or cheat on him. I can’t think of anything that would break my brother as fast as that would."
"I would never do those things," Brooke immediately protested.
"I know that, but I wouldn’t be doing my sisterly duty if I didn’t say it. So don’t be mad at me, okay?"
"Of course I’m not mad at you," Brooke reassured her old friend.
"Good, because the second condition has to do with your forgiving nature."
Brooke raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"You know how guys are kind of clueless and they sometimes screw stuff up without meaning to? Especially when they get scared about things moving too fast or being too good?"
"You’re the one with four older brothers, so I’m not going to doubt that you’re right."
"If he screws up—"
Brooke cut Mia off. "Honestly, there’s hardly anything to screw up yet."
Mia waved that off. "There will be. And if I know my brother at all, he’s not going to just let himself fall merrily into happily ever after."
"Happily ever after?"
Brooke couldn’t breathe quite right anymore. She and Rafe were going to have a summer fling. They were going to get a little wild together. No one was aiming for a proposal and a ring.
Or was she?
If Mia could see that she was freaking out, her friend didn’t show it as she said, "He’s my brother so I have to love him, no matter what he does. But you get to make a choice about loving him."
Loving him? Of all the ways she’d thought this conversation with Rafe’s sister might go, she hadn’t taken it anywhere near this far.
"Mia, seriously, we’re just—"
"I know, it’s just a summer fling. But if it ever becomes more, and Rafe starts to screw things up, all I’m asking is that you try to remember that men are idiots...and that I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you."
"He—" Brooke swallowed hard. "He looks at me a certain way?"
Mia smiled and leaned in as if she had a secret to share. "He looks at you like you’re going to be a heck of a lot more than just a summer fling."
Brooke was glad that she and Mia were talking, but she simply wasn’t sure what to say to happily-ever-afters and more-than-summer-flings. Telling herself it wasn’t fair if they only talked about her, she asked, "What about you? Anything or anyone on the horizon?"
Mia shrugged. "They’re all just summer flings for me."
Brooke cocked her head. "There’s never been anyone special?"
"I thought so once, but I was wrong."
The pain in her friend’s voice stunned Brooke. But before she could offer comfort, Rafe and Adam pulled into the driveway behind the house. As if she’d gotten a lucky reprieve, Mia went to see the flooring they’d picked out at the hardware store. Clearly, Mia was more comfortable talking about other people’s love lives than she was about her own.
"Everything going okay?" Rafe asked as he moved beside her a few minutes later.
She’d just picked up her paint roller again and was having a heck of a time trying to act like everything was normal. Especially when she was still reeling from the conversation she’d just had with his sister.
"I don’t want you to wear yourself out on my behalf."
He was standing close enough to her that she could feel his heat radiating through to her skin. "Everything’s great."
Her voice came out a little on the squeaky side, but thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice the higher pitch.
"I’m glad to hear it, although you do have a little paint right here."
Her eyes fluttered closed as his fingertip lightly brushed her cheek. She couldn’t find her breath for a long moment, not when every word, every kiss, every caress from the night before came back to her in a sweet rush.