by Jill Shalvis
“That, I buy.”
With a laugh, she wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged him over her. “But it might’ve been a little bit about your ass.”
His hands slid down and cupped hers. “The feeling’s entirely mutual.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He stared into her eyes. “Neither of us are big fans of talking about our feelings.”
She laughed. “True. And . . . ? Because I definitely sense an ‘and.’”
“And . . .” His smile faded from his mouth but remained in his eyes. “I like this.”
She didn’t pretend to not understand. “Me, too,” she whispered, as a new emotion filled her. Relief. “So.”
“So.”
“Does this mean you’re my boyfriend?” she asked.
He wriggled his eyebrows. “Depends.”
She snorted. “On what?”
“Are you going to make me watch chick flicks? Are you going to steal my clothes? Make my lunches?”
She grinned at his teasing words, even as something quickened deep inside her. “Yes on the chick flicks. And I already steal your clothes. But it’s a hard no on making your lunches.”
“That part was just a test.”
“For what?” she asked.
He stroked the hair back from her face. “To make sure you’re really you. If you’d agreed to making my lunches, I’d have known you were an imposter.”
He grinned down at her and then teased her lips with the firm, full softness of his own, hijacking her thinking process. Was she just wishing it to be so, or was he actually making a promise of something more than just a few stolen moments of fire and magic? “To be honest,” she said softly, “you’re actually not my boyfriend.”
He pulled back to look at her.
“Because boyfriends come and go.”
“So do you.” He’d said this lightly, so she knew he didn’t mean to hurt her. And plus, it was the truth.
“I know,” she said. “But you don’t. Even when I’m gone for long stretches of time, even when I haven’t been able to believe in myself, you do.”
“And that makes me more than a boyfriend?” he asked.
She nodded, letting the sounds of the night speak for her as they stared into each other’s eyes. Their bodies were touching from nose to toes, the throb of her racing pulse sounding in her ears, with Garrett’s heart pumping calm and steady against her chest. “A lot more,” she whispered.
His smile faded, replaced by something hot and intense and hungry. She reached for him and he met her halfway, kissing her with a hunger that had her skin coming alive with hot pleasure and her bones liquefying. With a moan for more, she wrapped herself around his hard, hot body, hoping, wishing, as she nuzzled his neck, that she didn’t ever have to let go. She wanted to climb inside him, but barring that, she wanted this—needed this—and she rocked her hips to his. With a groan, he pulled back.
“Don’t stop,” she begged. “Oh my God.”
“Actually, it’s Garrett. And shh.” He nudged her to her back, one big hand cradling the back of her head and the other adjusting her bikini to bare her to the night sky. “I used to think about what it would be like to get you like this.” His hand began exploring. “Don’t close your eyes.”
“I think most people close their eyes before they pass out.”
That made him laugh. “I’ve dreamed of this, Bee. You beneath the moonlight.”
She already knew he was clever and diabolical with his hands and tongue, but she was still shocked when he put his mouth on her and she burst with shocking ease. She was still shuddering when she pushed him down to the rock and returned the favor, wanting to take him apart and put him back together as he just had her. Given his low oath, rough groan, and the way his fingers slid into her hair and fisted, she had done a decent job of it.
When they were both boneless and sated, Brooke let out a contented breath and stared up at the stars while the steady heartbeat of the only man she’d ever loved sounded beneath her ear.
After a few minutes, he tugged her into him and kissed her, slow and hot. “Again?” she whispered in disbelief.
“I can’t get enough of you.”
Ditto. And more terrifying than that, she was beginning to really think that maybe she could actually have this life, with him in it, and that they might really be able to make this work.
Chapter 22
“Don’t listen to me. I’m barely caffeinated—”
A week later, Mindy woke up in bed next to her still sleeping husband and smiled. Tomorrow, she and Linc would leave on their better-late-than-never honeymoon trip to Hawaii. He’d reassured her that Ethan would come through to take over the practice for the week. Originally her mom and dad were going to come watch the kids, but Brittney had offered to watch them instead. Mindy knew she could’ve asked Brooke to do it, but her sister had already done so much for her.
Plus, Brooke had been packed to go back to LA for days now.
But she hadn’t left.
Mindy wasn’t sure why, but she was afraid to ask and inadvertently set her leaving in motion. Either way, no matter how much she wanted to interfere, her sister would figure out her own life.
A life that looked like it would include Garrett. Mindy’s heart felt so full about that, it was nearly bursting. “Need to get up and pack,” she murmured to Linc.
“Babe, you’ve been packed for a week.”
“There’s packed, and there’s packed. I need to add my new bathing suit.”
Eyes still closed, Linc smiled. “I got us a private villa. You’re not going to need a bathing suit.”
Her body tightened in all her good places, and she started to roll over and jump him, but they were attacked by a munchkin with a soft giggle and Cheerio breath.
Mindy wrapped her arms around the sweet, warm body of her baby boy. “You’re up early.”
Maddox tossed his head back and barked as he wriggled on top of Linc, who groaned when a bony knee caught him in the groin. “Parenthood. Not for the weak,” he grated out. Coming up on an elbow, he ruffled Maddox’s wispy dark hair. “How about we let Mommy sleep in?” He rose from the bed and snatched Maddox up, hanging him off his back, much to the little boy’s utter, screaming delight.
Mindy loved the sound, but her eyes were glued to her husband’s bare back and the way his pajama bottoms hung low on his hips, showing off a world-class ass.
Mason came racing in. “Me, too, Daddy—me, too!”
Linc obliged, scooping him up as well, and then there were two squealing kids hanging off his back. In less than ten seconds, Millie had joined in, jumping up and down on the bed, impatiently waiting for her turn. Linc added her to the mix. The noise was horrendous. Over all of it, he grinned at Mindy, who felt her entire heart turn over and expose its tender underbelly for this man, whom she’d loved forever and never wanted to be without.
That was when his phone buzzed across his nightstand with an incoming text. Ignoring it in only the way a male could, he carried on with the kids. But when the phone went off for a second time in quick succession, Mindy glanced at it to make sure it wasn’t an emergency.
It was a text from Ethan: Hey, man, the divorce came through. Cookie wants to celebrate for a few days in Mexico to unwind. We bought last-minute flights. You don’t mind, right?
She must have made a sound, because Linc turned toward her and the smile died on his face. “What is it?”
“Millie, why don’t you go to Daddy’s desk and play office with your brothers?”
Playing “office” at Daddy’s desk was one of Millie’s very favorite things, and she looked thrilled.
Linc, not so much, since his office would look like a tornado had hit it when they were done, but he didn’t say a word as the kids ran out with great enthusiasm. His gaze never left Mindy’s as he came close. “What’s wrong?”
She held out his phone. “Ethan left you a message.”
Linc skimmed it and set the phone do
wn without a word.
“Are you kidding me?” Mindy asked. “The divorce came through? I didn’t even know he and Suzanne were getting one.”
He let out a breath. “Suzanne bailed on him a few months ago and filed.”
“So she finally grew a spine and kicked her Peter Pan husband out, and good riddance. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me. And who’s Cookie?”
“His new girlfriend.”
“Oh my God,” she gasped, staring at her husband in shock. “You’re covering for him. Again. You’ve been doing it since he came along when you were four years old.”
Linc’s expression was stoic but steady. “You know he’s had problems. Our mom—”
“Died when he was five,” she finished for him. “And you were nine. You were just as vulnerable, Linc. Just as hurt. And yet you became a functioning adult, a doctor, for God’s sake, who takes his responsibilities so seriously it’s sometimes a detriment to yourself and your relationships.”
“He’s a doctor, too,” Linc said quietly.
“Thanks to you.” Mindy shook her head and backed away. “Listen, you’re never going to see this my way, so—”
“You’d do anything for Brooke.”
She stared at him, feeling tears fill her eyes. “Not fair. You know damn well I failed her. That I let her flounder after her accident because my own feelings were hurt. You’d never do that to Ethan.”
Linc reached for her, but she held up a hand. “No. Listen, I get it, I get why you’d go to the ends of the earth for Ethan. I do. He’s your brother. But he always comes first, ahead of us.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“This isn’t on Ethan. Or even you. It’s on me for not realizing where I stood in the lineup of your life. I’m not your number one. Or even your number two. It goes Ethan, then work, and then me and the kids. Sometimes I think you bought me the shop just to keep me too busy to miss you.”
“Okay, I can see how you got there,” he admitted. “But—”
“And not just about Ethan and the trip, or the shop,” she said. “All my life, I’ve been a people-pleaser. My parents. You. The kids. Everyone. And in hindsight, I think that’s why I cracked.” She drew in a deep breath. “I love you, Linc, but I don’t want to be anyone’s number three.”
“Mindy,” he said, low and serious. “I heard you, believe me. Please, just give me a few minutes to fix this.”
She let her eyes drift closed for a beat, because she had babies with this man. She had a life with this man whom she loved. And she did love him, so very, very much. He wouldn’t be able to hurt her so badly if she didn’t.
“Trust me?” he asked.
She wanted to, desperately. So she nodded, and leaving him to do whatever he was going to do, she went straight to the guesthouse.
Brooke wasn’t there. Whirling, she strode across the yard to Garrett’s house and knocked on the door.
He answered wearing a pair of jeans and nothing else. He had bedhead hair, no shirt, no socks, and a bite mark on his neck. “I need to talk to my sister,” she said.
“She’s not here.”
She stared at him as the implications of the bite mark not being Brooke’s ignited her temper.
Still raw from her fight with Linc, she stabbed a finger into Garrett’s pec. “Tell me you’re not sleeping around on my sister.”
“No. Never,” he said, catching her hand. “And ow.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “She’s with your kids. They just left for doughnuts because apparently you were very busy yelling at Linc. You didn’t kill him, did you? Do you need help hiding his body?”
At that, she burst into tears.
Looking deeply pained, Garrett pulled her in for a hug. She clung for a moment, taking comfort in the embrace of one of her oldest friends before she leaned back and swiped at her eyes. “You’d help me hide his body?” she asked soggily.
“Yes.”
“Would you help him hide mine?”
“Hell no. You’d come back from the dead just to haunt me for the rest of my life if I did that.”
She rolled her eyes and then stared at him. “Are you one hundred percent serious about Brooke?”
“Yes,” he said, without hesitation, and then paused, eyeing her like she was a locked-and-loaded rattlesnake. “You’re not going to cry again, are you?”
“No.” But she totally was. She looked around for a diversion. “I heard you’ve been looking for your dad.”
Garrett shrugged. “I can’t just leave him out there on the streets.”
“That’s where he was before he showed up.”
“But I can’t go back to the past, to before I knew he was sick. Life’s annoying that way.”
“Yeah.” She huffed out a sigh.
He let out a low laugh. “Okay, let’s hear it.”
“Hear what?”
“Whatever Linc did.”
“Do you have caffeine? This story requires caffeine.”
They ended up in Garrett’s kitchen, leaning against the counter, mainlining coffee as she told him.
Garrett didn’t look surprised. “He feels responsible for Ethan,” he said, “who, in spite of being a doctor, is also clueless, hapless, and incredibly needy. That drives Linc crazy. I hope you get that part of what he loves so much about you is that you’re none of those things. You’re smart, too, but you hold your own, and you’ve never been clueless, hapless, or needy a day in your life. He’s lucky to have you, Min, and believe me, he knows it.”
“I just don’t want to be the last one he thinks about.”
Garrett laughed. “Are you kidding? You’re all he thinks about. He just knows that you’ve got what it takes to run the world you two have created so he can run his. You’re everything to him. Let him prove it to you.”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll try.” She paused. “You seem really happy. It looks good on you. Now that I know about your past with Brooke, what you were to each other, it makes so much sense, you and her. I just wish you could’ve told me.”
Looking regretful, he shook his head. “I couldn’t have explained it to myself back then, much less to someone who loved her as much as I did. And then when she was gone . . .” He shook his head. “It nearly killed me.”
“Me, too,” she said softly. “She said she needed space, and my parents and I made the mistake of giving it to her. We all reached out, but she wasn’t great at responding or keeping in touch. I let myself get hurt by that instead of reading into it that maybe she needed me. I’m having a hard time forgiving myself for that.”
Eyes shadowed with the memories, he nodded. “I was no better. I figured she’d moved on from me and her silence only proved it.”
“I think she’s going to let us in now. Do you think there’s really a chance for you two?”
“Depends on who you’re asking.”
“You,” she said. “I’m asking you.”
“Then yes. But it’s not up to me.”
“I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“Neither do I.”
“You love her,” Mindy said softly, her heart squeezing in happiness for two of her favorite people.
“I do.”
“Does she know you bought this place from Ann to someday fill it to the brim with your own family?”
At a sound behind them, they both turned and found Brooke standing in the doorway, covered in Mindy’s children. Millie was on her back, piggyback-style, and Brooke had Maddox and Mason each under an arm. All three kids were holding on to a bag of what were presumably doughnuts, since there were chocolate and sprinkles all over their faces. They were each grinning from ear to ear.
Not Brooke, though. She was staring at Garrett. “I mean, it makes sense,” she said, joining their conversation. “You’d make a great dad.”
Mindy stood, heart in her throat at the look of utter devastation on her sister’s face, who clearly knew she couldn’t help Garrett fulfill his dream. “I’m sorry, Br
ooke. Don’t listen to me. I’m barely caffeinated—”
“Mindy,” Garrett said quietly, eyes on Brooke. “I need you to give us a minute.”
“Yes, but—” Oh God, this was bad. “Brooke, I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth. Those were my words, not his, and—”
“It’s okay,” Brooke said. “Don’t worry about it.”
That was hard to do when Brooke was looking like Millie had the day Mindy and Linc had ruined Santa Claus for her. Feeling like she’d just set a train in motion that couldn’t be stopped, Mindy opened her mouth, but Garrett put his hand on her arm. “I’ve got this. Take the kids home, okay?”
Mindy pulled Millie from Brooke’s back, and then her two boys. When she leaned in to kiss Brooke’s cheek, it was icy cold. “I’ll be right next door if you need me,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry.” And then, though she didn’t want to, she left.
Chapter 23
“I want your everything.”
Garrett shut the door behind Mindy and turned to Brooke, whose eyes were hooded, expression completely closed off. She’d shut down, retreating inside herself, which was terrifying because the last time she’d done so, he hadn’t seen her for seven years.
“Tell me you’re not going to let an overheard conversation and a simple misunderstanding derail you. Or us,” he said.
“There’s no getting around the fact that it’s still your dream to fill this place with kids,” she said, turning away. “And no matter how much I love you, I can’t give them to you.”
All he heard were those three little words she’d never said to him before, and a wave of relief and exhilaration knocked into him. Pulling her around to face him, he dipped his knees to look into her eyes, his heart swelling in his chest. “You love me.”
“Of course I love you!” she cried, flinging her hands up, which was better than how she’d been working her thumbs frantically over the tips of her fingers, back and forth, giving him a good idea of how upset she really was. As if there’d been any doubt.
“I’ve always loved you,” she said. “But I can’t love you enough to make up for the fact that I can’t give you children.”