This morning, she looked positively stunning.
His heart pounded in his head, drowning out everything else. She met his eyes from across the room, offering him a small smile. He grinned back, setting his hands on the arms of the chair to push himself to his feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go say good morning to your daughter.”
“Hold on a second.” Mr. Hamilton put a hand on Brett’s arm, stopping him from standing. “She’s always had a soft spot for you.”
Oh, shit.
Was Mr. Hamilton about to forbid him from pursuing Anna?
He could ignore her overprotective brothers, but he couldn’t betray the man who had taught him the proper way to throw a football. “I’ve always had the utmost respect for you and your family. If you don’t want me to—”
Mr. Hamilton laughed. “What I’m trying to say is that anything you may or may not feel for my daughter is one hundred percent fine by me, Brett. You’re a good boy. Always have been. I’d be proud to call you my son.”
So many emotions swirled through him at the approval from the older man that he couldn’t even move. Relief. Happiness. Respect. Admiration. Fright.
And so many, many more.
“I…I don’t know what to say, sir.” He cleared his throat. “Thank you.”
Mr. Hamilton squeezed Brett’s arm. “I might be her father, and she might be my baby girl, but I’ve never been naive enough to think she would remain a child forever. If she’s going to have to grow up on me, I’d rather she do it with a fine man like you by her side.”
Brett clung to the arms of his chair. Was he actually getting approval from Mr. Hamilton? Permission to date Anna? He wouldn’t have ever thought it would be possible. That he’d be good enough to deserve that. “What makes you so sure I’m the right man for her?”
“I have two eyes. That’s all I need.” Not speaking, Brett sought Anna out again. She was still across the room with Cole and Wyatt, and her back was to him. When Mr. Hamilton noticed where his focus was, he smiled. “Go on, if you’d like. Go say good morning to my girl.”
“I will,” Brett said, still watching Anna. “Thank you, sir.”
As he left the older man’s side, Brett fought the urge to uncharacteristically hug him. He could just imagine the surprised look on his face if he did so. Hell, on everyone’s faces. Everyone but Anna. No one else knew he had an emotional side, after all.
Her brothers thought he didn’t have a heart.
He used to think the same thing.
Sometimes, he still did.
He crossed the room, his eyes on Anna the whole time, his nonexistent heart speeding up the closer he got to her. As he approached, she shot him a warning look and gave him her back. He faltered, his heart twisting. Had he just been reminiscing on how he’d thought he didn’t have a heart all of these years? Now he knew better, because a man who couldn’t feel anything wouldn’t feel like his heart had just gotten ripped out and stomped on.
She saw him coming…
And she rejected him.
Why?
He stopped walking halfway across the room, uncertain of how to proceed in a world where she made love to him, then didn’t want him to approach her. He clenched his fists and closed the distance between them anyway. “Good morning.”
Anna turned around slowly. “Good morning, Brett. How are you this morning?” she asked, her voice cool and neutral.
“Excellent.” He gave Wyatt a quick nod. “Wyatt.”
Wyatt narrowed his eyes. “Brett.”
Brett turned his attention back to Anna, giving her a small smile. Hopefully he was reading into things too much. Putting too much stock in a simple gesture. “Can I borrow you for a second? I have a quick question.”
Anna nibbled on her lower lip. “Certainly. Ask away.”
“Alone,” Brett amended. “It’s private.”
Cole stepped in front of Anna. “I think you should go say hello to Chris instead. He’s watching you quite closely. Too closely, if you catch my drift.”
Brett curled his hands into fists. “I don’t give a damn if the fucking pope is watching me. I need to talk to Anna. Alone.”
He held his hand out to her, catching her gaze and not letting go.
He would give her one chance to show him his suspicions were not correct. That she wasn’t brushing him off now that she’d conquered him and gotten him into her bed. He never would have thought Anna, his Anna, would’ve done that to him.
And yet…she still hadn’t moved.
Hadn’t taken his damn hand.
Chris seemed to come out of nowhere, stepping in front of Brett as if he materialized out of thin air. His jaw tight and his back straight and stiff, he quietly asked, “Why does everyone look so tense over here? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong. No one is tense,” Brett said calmly. “I just need to talk to Anna for a second.”
“Can’t it wait?” Christopher asked, his eyes far too shrewd. “Come into the library with me instead. I wanted to talk to you anyway.”
Brett’s jaw twitched. Was it time for another round of stay away from Anna already? It must be ten o’clock. “No, thanks. I’m good.”
“Oh for God’s sake.” Anna shoved past Chris, shooting him a dirty look. “Me and Brett are going to go talk. We’ll be right back, and then he can talk to you when we’re finished, if he wants to.”
She finally grabbed Brett’s hand and tugged him up the stairs.
Brett glanced over his shoulder, and three of her four brothers glowered back at him. Though he would have to answer to them later, he didn’t give a damn right now. He needed to know what Anna was feeling…
Even if he didn’t really know how he felt yet.
Once they were inside his bedroom, she crossed her arms over her chest. The stance didn’t bode well for their upcoming conversation. “If you’re worried I want more from you than last night, you don’t have to be. We’re cool.”
Brett’s heart shattered, but he forced his face to remain impassive. “We are?”
“Of course.” She tossed her hair over her shoulders, finally looking him in the eye. “We agreed to one night, and that’s all we’ll have. It’s fine. I’m fine. You don’t need to seek me out to check on me.”
He sank down on the edge of the bed, his body going weak and yet tense at the same time. “I wasn’t checking to see if you’re okay.”
“Then what were you doing?” She lifted her chin. “What did you want to talk about?”
He opened his mouth and closed it. She was giving him exactly what he’d asked for last night. What she promised she would give him. But he didn’t want that anymore. Didn’t want a clean break. What should he do? Maybe he was supposed to pretend he didn’t care. Pretend his nonexistent heart wasn’t breaking.
But the thing was…
He didn’t want to fucking pretend anymore. He’d been pretending not to care about her for years. He wouldn’t do it after last night. “Why don’t you want to talk to me?”
“I was scared.” She wrung her hands. “I didn’t know what to say to you after last night. Or how to act around you.”
He curled his fingers over his knees. “You act exactly the same. Nothing has changed between us. You’re still you, and I’m still me.”
She flinched. “Right. Of course it hasn’t. It was just sex. That’s all. Nothing changed between us.”
He narrowed his eyes. He might not know exactly how he felt about them, but he knew he didn’t like her saying that. “Is that how you really feel?”
“It’s what I expected out of last night.” She made a sweeping gesture with her hand, her face a little bit too pale for his liking. “I told you as much last night, did I not?”
He clenched his jaw. “Last night was—”
“I know.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I remember.”
“Yes. Exactly.” He took a deep breath and met her eyes. “So why are you pushing me away?”
She
shrugged and looked down at the floor. “I’m not. I’m giving you what you wanted.”
“No, you’re not.” He stood up and crossed the room. He didn’t stop until he was directly in front of her. Closing his arms around her, he tilted her chin up to him. “Last night we talked about trying to be something. And now you’re pushing me away. Why?”
“I thought you were just saying those things to be nice.”
“I’m not fucking nice.” He dragged his hand through his hair, taking a steadying breath. Time to lay it all out on the line. “The question here is whether or not you regret what we did last night.”
“No. God, no.” She shook her head, her cheeks finally filling out with color. “It’s just…I woke up, and you were gone. I didn’t know what to think.”
Well, shit.
He got it now.
You’re a fucking idiot, Ross.
Brett looked up at the ceiling and groaned. “I didn’t run away, I left because I didn’t want anyone to see us together.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” She stumbled backward. “Are you regretting last night?”
“Christ. No. No. No. No.”
She raised a brow, a smile tilting her lips upward. “That’s a lot of nos.”
“It needs a lot of nos. I am not ashamed of you. I just don’t want them to know yet. In case you missed it, your brothers are a tad bit on the protective side.” He held up his hand and brought his thumb and forefinger together to emphasize the drastic understatement. “And they tend to get a little bit carried away with protecting you.”
“No, I hadn’t noticed,” she deadpanned.
His lips twitched, but he didn’t smile.
Didn’t let himself smile.
“If they knew we were doing”—he motioned between them, seeming to be at a loss for words—“this, they wouldn’t leave us alone. They would pounce on us, demanding definitions of our feelings before we even know what we are. I don’t know what we are yet, but I want to find out on our own without them breathing down our necks.”
She sank to the mattress, blinking up at him. Digging her fingers into the comforter, she held on tight. “So you want to be with me? Like, actually be with me?”
He sat beside her and peeled her hands off the blanket. Raising them to his mouth, he kissed her knuckles. “Yes. I’m sorry I left before you woke up. It was stupid.”
“Very stupid.” She locked eyes with him, and some unnamed emotion punched him in the chest. “You’ll have to make it up to me.”
“I’ll give you anything you want,” he vowed. “Just name it.”
She nibbled on her lower lip, her eyes rising to his. “You. Only you.”
“You have me.” He leaned in, capturing her mouth under his.
His tongue swept inside, finding hers instantly. Her hands curled into his shirt, pulling him closer. His heart thudded in his ears, and happiness almost overpowered him. How could he go from wanting to curl up in a ball and die a few minutes ago to this sheer satisfaction he now felt?
Anna.
That’s how.
She had a hold on him, and he had a feeling she would never let go. And even worse? He didn’t give a flying fuck. Pulling back, he dropped a kiss on her nose, wanting nothing more than to continue this kiss and see where it went.
But it was daytime, and her brothers would be looking for her any second now. “Did that help?”
“I think so,” she said, smiling slightly.
He ran his thumb over her lower lip. “I wish we could stay in here forever, locked away from the rest of the world.”
“Me, too.” She looked at the door. Footsteps passed in the hallways. More than likely one of her brothers. She stood up and smoothed her pants. “But we can’t. Not yet, anyway. You coming down with me?”
He snatched up her hand and yanked her into his lap.
“Yes.” He kissed her cheek. “But first.” Another kiss, this time at the corner of her mouth. “I need another kiss to hold me over until tonight.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling up at him. “Okay, but it better be a quick one. If Wyatt notices I’m taking too long, he’ll come looking for me. Guess the first place he’ll check?”
He groaned and rested his face into the crook of her neck. “This room?”
“Mm-hmm.” She gave him one last kiss, then hopped to her feet again. This time he let her. “See you in my room around midnight?”
He held a hand over his heart, meeting her eyes with a solemnness he knew would make her smile. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Is that a promise?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Hell yeah it is.” He buried his face in her neck, inhaling her sweet scent. “It’s the best, and easiest, promise I’ve ever made.”
“Promise me one more thing?” She looked up at him, her lower lip caught between her teeth. “If you don’t want to come tonight, then don’t. If you change your mind about us, just don’t show up. I’ll be okay if all you wanted was a night of fun, after all. It won’t break me.”
His fingers flexed on her hips.
She had no faith in him, but he didn’t blame her.
He’d just have to show her how wrong she was.
“I promise I won’t come unless I want to.”
And I want to.
“Good. And if you don’t, then we’ll still be friends.” She forced a smile and stepped out of his arms. They flopped to his sides as if uncertain of what they should do without her inside them. “I’ll head down, and you can follow along in a minute when you’re ready.”
He’d follow her anywhere she damn well wanted him to.
Chapter Twelve
Anna practically skipped down the stairs, her heart light and happy. Their one night just might turn into something more. Something meaningful and real. It all fell into place easily, as if it was meant to be. It was nerve-racking.
How often did things work out so easily when love got involved?
Never.
That’s how often.
As she set her foot on the bottom step, Wyatt came bounding around the corner downstairs as if the fires of hell chased him. When he caught sight of her standing at the bottom of the stairs alone, he skidded to a halt. She lifted a brow. “Going somewhere?”
He flushed and smoothed his shirt as nonchalantly as he could manage when she’d clearly caught him red-handed. “I was coming to check in on you.”
She held her hands out. “As you can see, I’m fine. Still in one piece and uninjured.”
He moved toward her, stopping on the bottom step, and inspected her from head to toe, and then back again. Did he think he would be able to spot Brett’s fingerprints on her if he looked close enough? His fingers flexed on the railing. “You took a long time.”
“Last time I checked, I wasn’t a prisoner. Or a child.” She brushed past him. “Brett is a good guy. Why are you so against him being close to me?”
Wyatt flexed his jaw. “He’ll use you and leave you. He’ll break your heart. He’s the rabbit hole—and you’re Alice.”
“Sometimes we need to fall down into the rabbit hole and see what’s there. Experience Wonderland for ourselves.”
Wyatt clenched his jaw. “Even if it’s only going to get you a broken heart?”
“Sometimes hearts need to be broken. If I decide to risk my heart, then you need to let me,” she said softly. “It’s my decision.”
“I know.” He ran a hand down his face. “But it doesn’t mean I have to make it easy on you. Or him.”
She rose on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Spoken like an excellent brother.”
“Excellent?” He perked up. “Your favorite brother, you mean?”
“Hmm.”
She studied him, then turned on her heel and headed into the dining room without answering. He chased after her, his steps mirroring hers. If nothing else, she had gotten him to accept she just might need to take the road with the pothol
es, instead of the freshly paved one. It might be a big mistake, but it was her mistake to make.
And she needed to make it.
Now she just had to convince her brothers of that, if Brett showed up in her room tonight. She still didn’t know if he would or not.
But if he did…
Then she had gotten one brother down, and only had three more to go.
Chris came into the foyer with Nina under his arm. “Where’s Brett?”
“I’m right here,” Brett said, coming down the stairs. He met Anna’s eyes for a brief second, his gaze full of heated promises, then he hopped down the remaining three steps. Anna stifled a laugh at the surprised look on Wyatt’s face. Brett didn’t hop. “What’s up, Chrissy?”
Chris raised a brow at Brett. “You mean besides your mood?”
Brett laughed, but said nothing.
“We were thinking of slipping away to the lake for the afternoon. Maybe renting a few paddleboats. You in?” Chris asked, still looking at him strangely.
Brett looked at Anna for a second, and she gave a slight nod.
Wyatt watched the exchange with pursed lips.
Brett shrugged. “Sure. Why not? Sounds like a blast.”
“All right.” Christopher studied Brett closely. Looking for the reason he acted so weird, she’d bet. With any luck, he wouldn’t find it. “Why are you acting like a cheerleader on speed?”
“It’s your wedding.”
“Yeah. Mine. Not yours.”
“Which is exactly why I’m relaxed and happy.” Brett grinned. “No pressure on me.”
With a shake of his head, Chris turned to Anna. “You coming along, Squirt?”
“Sure. Let me change into my suit and I’ll be back down.” She gathered her hair into a sloppy bun and secured it with an elastic band from her wrist. “Are we all going?”
“Yeah.” Chris looked at his watch. “Meet back down here in ten, and we’ll escape the panicked setup for the wedding for a few hours.”
They all headed off to their bedrooms, Brett following her closely. Too closely, if he wanted to keep their relationship a secret. When his fingers brushed over her butt as she climbed the stairs, she shot him an incredulous look over her shoulder.
The CEO's Seduction (A Hamilton Family Series) Page 11