When she finally felt recovered enough to look at him, she nearly dropped the roller at the dark heat in his eyes.
I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.
She saw wild desire and dangerous lust in his face...but was there really something else there, too? Something that had more to do with emotion than heat?
It was one thing to sleep with Rafe, to be wild. But to actually have a man like him to call hers, not just for one summer, but forever?
Brooke knew the truth in her heart in an instant: She’d never wanted anything so much.
Despite her parents trying so hard to protect her for her entire life, she’d taken a few risks. Moving out to the lake full time, for one. Starting her chocolate business. Forming a partnership with Cord to expand. Now she realized all of those risks were simply trials for the real thing.
For risking her heart.
She knew she should be remembering what Rafe had said to her on the beach: "I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you in any way." He’d said it as if he were certain that he would end up hurting her if they crossed the line of friendship to something more.
And yet, when he didn’t move his finger from her face after he’d removed the paint, but cradled her jaw in his hand and began to tilt her head into the position she now knew he liked best for deep kisses, all thoughts fled but one.
I want this man.
For as long as I can have him.
Chocolate truffles didn’t last forever, either, but oh, how she savored that one perfect taste. She’d do the same with Rafe, would appreciate every precious moment with him, both in and out of his arms.
His mouth was almost on hers when Adam’s voice carried to them from the back door. "Hey, Brooke, you in here?"
A muscle was jumping in Rafe’s jaw when he dropped his hands and took a step away from her. By the time Adam got to the living room, Rafe was already heading out to the truck to start carrying everything inside.
"I didn’t want to forget to ask—is there a way to order your chocolates online?"
"Not yet, but my partner says the new website will be up soon. For now, you can just tell me what you’d like now or call me from Seattle anytime. But, hopefully, you’ll be coming for visits often enough to pick them up from me personally. Rafe obviously loves having you here."
She loved the way the three of them took care of each other. One day she prayed she’d have a family of her own like this, one where the kids fought and scrapped and teased, but loved even more. She smiled up at Adam. He was gorgeous, just like his brother, but he’d never made her heart race the way Rafe always had.
"I absolutely love having the Wild Sullivans back next door, too."
Instead of grinning at her, Adam simply stared at her for a moment, long enough that she asked, "Do I still have paint on my cheek?"
"No, you’re perfect just the way you are." She felt her eyes widen at his words, but they were nothing compared to his saying, "My brother’s one hell of a lucky guy."
Before she could even begin to figure out how to react, Adam was heading out of the room to help carry in the new flooring.
* * *
The sun had begun to fall in the sky by the time they’d put down the new wood flooring in more than half of the small lake house. On top of that, Brooke and Mia had finished painting the living room and kitchen. Rafe was amazed by how much ground had been covered in the past three days, especially with the help of his siblings. He’d be out of Brooke’s house a heck of a lot sooner than he’d thought.
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.