Always and Forever: Rugby Brothers, Book 3

by Tiara Inserto

  When Mano asked Aidan if she was going to swim at another meet, Aidan said Eden didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Granddad says she’s acting like a teenager,” Aidan said.

  He stopped asking. He understood she had to reassess how much she wanted her goal. All athletes reached that point at least once in their careers.

  Wasn’t his dream.

  They now met for lunch daily in tree grove, often eating in comfortable silence. Sometimes she’d ask about his past but always on neutral subjects: what do people eat in New Zealand? What exactly was a haka? Who was his favorite player growing up? When she laughed, he would sometimes join her. Then there were the occasional touches, the pat on his back, the squeeze on his arm, the friendly punch.

  He didn’t share with anyone that every time they touched his body would ignite with bursts of desire. The knowledge that she found him attractive was more of an albatross around his neck than an incentive to encourage it.

  She wasn’t the type of woman a man held only for one night.

  He slept better after those lunch dates, then the guilt of finding joy in Eden’s company would keep him up over the next few days. He had promised himself to love only one. He always kept his promises. Always.

  A week after their return from the swim meet, he found a flier with a schedule to get ready for Halloween.

  He stared at it suspiciously. Patty warned him not to disregard it.

  “Are we all really supposed to get our decorations up two weeks before Halloween? A full two weeks?”

  “You better believe it,” she said, pulling out her phone. “Let me show you how we did it last year.”

  Longest fifteen minutes of his life.

  But Aidan and Matthew didn’t forget their side of the bargain. Without prompting, on the Friday the street was supposed to start decorating, Mano opened his door to the sight of the two boys lugging a large storyboard detailing their decorating plans for the house. His job was to string up the lights on the roofline, mainly because Mrs. Yuan wouldn’t allow Matthew up a ladder.

  Matthew handed Mano a piece of paper. “My mom emailed your landlord. These are instructions to where you can find all of her decorations in the garage attic. Can you bring it down by tomorrow?”

  “I work tomorrow, Matthew,” Mano growled, scanning the sheet.

  “It’s okay if you bring it down tonight,” Matthew replied, pushing his glasses back on his nose.

  Fortunately, the team’s next match was in nearby Sacramento. He returned to find Eden on his front porch, sitting cross-legged, surrounded by boxes he had finally located at about ten o’clock the night before.

  “I hope you like puzzles,” she said, raising a wad of wires and light bulbs.

  He didn’t.

  Three hours later, he returned to the porch, biting back the words he really wanted to use. Besides the lights, they pulled cotton to look like spiderwebs, hammered anchors so the giant blowups were secured, and hung ghosts from the trees. Aidan and Matthew were out front, working on the graveyard scene.

  Eden burst out laughing. “I’m an adult. You can curse in front of me.”

  “I know that. But Mum made me promise on her deathbed to watch my language.”

  She stared at him in surprise. He wondered absentmindedly how many men would fall at her feet if she looked at them with those eyes. “That’s what she made you promise?” she asked, incredulity lacing her voice.

  “I had started to play top-level high school rugby, and…well…there’s a lot of opportunity to expand one’s vocabulary when it’s just you and the brothers.”

  She grinned, and he suddenly felt the need to test whether her neck would fit his palm. He bet it would. When did he become obsessed with necks? Margot always wore her long hair down. He loved running his hand through it, as soft as silk were the strands. When she started losing all her hair, he tucked those desires away.

  “Mom! Mano! Come out front! We’re done.”

  “Thank goodness!” Mano threw another wad of lights into the closest plastic tub. “I’m just going to buy some new ones. How much could lights cost?”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “Saving time is the point.”

  “Is this why Halloween never took off in New Zealand?”

  “What insane person lets their children take candy from a stranger? Isn’t that what we tell them not to do the rest of the year?”

  “Spoilsport.”

  “Common sense.”

  They turned the corner of the house. Eden let out an audible gasp. Aidan and Matthew stood at the entrance to the sideyard with wide grins, obviously pleased with the afternoon’s efforts. The Styrofoam headpieces, although unimpressive singularly, looked remarkably authentic when displayed in a group of almost two dozen. The boys had strategically placed cutouts of scrawny hands, suggesting the dead were trying to emerge from their final resting places. The path that led to the backyard was lined with skulls on stakes, their eyes beginning to glow in the twilight.

  “Can we see the full effect with the fog machine? Please? It’s set up, just in case….”

  “Just in case, eh?” Mano hoped he wasn’t smiling, but the enthusiasm in Aidan’s face was getting to him. He cleared his throat. “All right, let’s give it a go.”

  He returned to the garage to turn on the fog machine then grabbed Eden’s hand instinctively. It felt like the most natural thing to do as they watched the boys laugh and holler as the fog rolled from the corner of the house, a low moan occasionally coming from the same machine.

  Mano smiled. “Well done, boys. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

  “This is incredible,” Eden agreed. She slipped her hand out of Mano’s to start clapping, and he immediately felt the loss.

  He tried to minimize his excitement about Halloween as the week leading up to the day started. His cul-de-sac had transformed into something he didn’t quite understand and never thought he’d participate in.

  His enthusiasm dampened significantly when Mrs. Henderson came by with his costume.

  “We always do a theme on our street,” she explained. He continued to stare at the costume she held out. “It’s superheroes this year. The Yuans are going to be that family from that movie…what’s it called? You know, where the mom can stretch all her limbs and the boy can run on water? No? It’ll come to me eventually. I’m going to be a female Joker.”

  “There’s a female Joker?”

  “Suspend your sense of reality, son. It’s Halloween! My granddaughter wants to be Batgirl, so we’ll match.”

  “Mrs. Henderson, thank you but….”

  “No ‘buts.’ It’s paid for. All the moms want to see you in it.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Consider it our welcome-to-the-neighborhood present. You’re causing quite a stir around here, especially when you’re cutting the grass.”

  “Mrs. Henderson….”

  “It’s fine by me. Carolyn has brought more friends this semester. Nothing like a den full of teenagers to make a woman feel young again.”

  The gold, green, and brown costume hung between them. She looked at him expectantly. He took it and tried to smile. He suspected he failed, but Mrs. Henderson looked satisfied when she left his doorstep. “I’m sure I can find a trident before Halloween. Don’t give up on me yet!”

  When he Skyped with Mitch and Connor, they physically disappeared from the screen, their laughter loud and clear. It added salt to the wounds when their usually more sympathetic wives reacted the same way, leaving him staring at a blank wall for a good five minutes.

  “What happened to ‘thicker than blood’,” Mano muttered.

  “Mate, you got to send us pictures,” Connor said, wiping tears when his image popped back on the computer.

  “Not a chance.”

  “Come on. Fred will love it.”

  “No.”

  “Maybe you could convince them that you could dress up as Thor.”

  “Mrs.
Henderson said they paid for the costume already.”

  “Who’s ‘they’?” Cat Dane had squeezed herself onto the screen, her arm around her husband’s shoulder.

  He hesitated then braced himself for the response to his answer. “Apparently, the moms in the neighborhood.”

  He switched off the connection when a second round of laughter echoed through his room.

  Eden was more discreet when she surveyed the costume. In fact, she didn’t say anything. She just stared between him and the offending garment.

  “Well,” she said, fingering the silver sequins. “It’s…uh…eye-catching.”

  “It’s tight.”

  “I think it’s supposed to be skintight.”

  “I might need a drink on Halloween.”

  “Trust me, you won’t be the only adult living it up.”

  “Suspend all reality,” Mano muttered.

  “What was that?”

  “What Mrs. Henderson said. ‘Suspend all reality.’ Because it’s Halloween.” Mano looked at his costume again. “What are you wearing?”

  “Me? Good lord, nope. I’m not a costume person. Besides, no one goes to the apartments, and the boys will be trick-or-treating with friends. They will finish at the Yuans’ house to count their stash of candy. Patty has pizzas for them before and after the event. It tends to go late, so Aidan will sleep over tonight.”

  “If I’m wearing a costume, you should too.”

  “No way!”

  “Why do I have to wear a costume?”

  “I don’t live on this street, remember? Mrs. Henderson will never forgive you if you don’t wear something. She’s already mad at you that you’ve not shown up for book club.”

  “This is ridiculous.”

  “Think how happy you’ll make all the kids when they see you in your costume.”

  “This is not a good idea.”

  Eden knew she was staring.

  As was Aidan.

  “Where are you going, Matthew?” she whispered.

  “Mom will want to see this,” he said, running out of the front door.

  She was more familiar with Mano’s body now, but the tight-fitting gold spandex-like material brought out elements of his body she hadn’t realized existed. She had suspected a six-pack under his shirt, but even the top swimmers she worked out with didn’t quite have that kind of six-pack. Then there were the green tights that shaped a pair of buns no baker on Earth could form so perfectly.

  “You look like a god,” Aidan said, his eyes wide.

  “That’s it, I’m taking it off!” Mano said.

  “No!” mother and son said simultaneously.

  “Think of the children!” But Eden couldn’t say it with a straight face, and it didn’t help that Aidan doubled over the nearby sofa.

  There was a pained look of restraint on his face when Patty and Mrs. Henderson came by—with the trident—and for a split second, Eden was sympathetic to his plight. Then he bent over to tie his shoes, and that moment was lost.

  The man deserved to be seen tonight.

  Matthew and Aidan had dinner at the Yuans before Charles took them and Lydia trick-or-treating for the first hour. The teens would then meet with some other classmates to canvas the rest of the neighborhood. They lived in a generous area, and last year’s haul was so heavy Aidan’s pillowcase tore at the seams. He was better prepared this year: he double-bagged his pillowcases.

  After the boys left the street, Eden watched Mano offering a bowl of candy to the first set of trick-or-treaters. She had to choke back a laugh when she noticed the protective glance the young father gave his wife as she moved up the steps to get closer to Mano.

  Then her humor was replaced with a soft, warm feeling. The King of Atlantis was on one knee, helping an indecisive little fairy choose between candy or chocolate. A cowboy and a turtle were behind her, but Mano didn’t succumb to the panic of inefficiency. He let the fairy take her time.

  Patty, dressed in a red bodysuit, came up next to her, a bottle of wine and two glasses in her hands. “You should go over there.”

  “This was supposed to be our night,” Eden protested. “Remember? The plan was to sit on the porch together, complain a little, gossip a little, and give out candy.”

  Patty continued to hold out her offering. “I think he needs your help tonight. Besides, he may need a little protection from some of our single parents—moms and dads—wearing a costume like that. I’m buying Mrs. Henderson lunch for thinking of it.”

  “Oh, Patty!” Eden laughed.

  The line toward Mano’s place had grown in the last couple of minutes, and she gently maneuvered her way past princesses, knights, ninjas, frogs, a couple of sheep, and miniature basketball players.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Mano said through the side of his mouth when she reached his side. “This is a nightmare.”

  “The night is still young, your majesty.” She grinned, reaching for the second bowl of candy.

  Side by side, they distributed several hundred pieces of candy and chocolates. One little girl—judging from her age—was probably walking up to the door for the first time by herself. When Mano suggested she take more than one treat, her eyes grew large. “Really? Yay!”

  Mano surprised her with the ease with which he greeted the youngest ones of the night. It was a nice change from the scowl he had recently thrown at a twenty-one-year-old, two-hundred-pound rugby player at practice.

  When given, Mano’s smiles came from a genuine place, but they remained rare. They were still so fleeting that their appearances caught her attention immediately. But she was learning the different nuances in his expressions. She’d take his half-smiles over someone else’s fake full ones. He saved them for moments that meant something to him.

  It was easy to associate his lack of expressions with lack of emotions. The opposite was true; he had them all. He had simply learned never to show them.

  By nine o’clock, they were back inside the house and the doorbell finally stopped ringing. Eden ran to Patty’s to check on Aidan but was promptly shooed back to Mano’s with a pizza and brownies. “Don’t come back. Aidan’s fine. We’ll make sure he’ll be at school on time,” Patty said.

  When Eden returned, she was sorry to see Mano back in his regular shirt and shorts, relief etched on his face. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, a glass of iced water against his forehead.

  “That was one of the hardest nights of my life.” He looked up. “Patty sent food?”

  “You know it! Aidan and Matthew are negotiating candy, and I was told not to come back again!” Eden pulled up the barstool next to him. “Dig in, I’m starving.”

  She closed her eyes, taking in the flavors of melted cheese and tomatoes on a warm crust. Such simplicity became grand under the encouragement of hunger. But when she opened her eyes again, it was a different type of hunger that met hers.

  He was going to hide it. It was what he always did whenever they touched. He did it well. But she was no longer a stranger. She was starting to understand this man in front of her.

  He moved back slightly, as if in defense.

  Was it the half bottle of wine she had consumed that encouraged her bravado? Or was it the hours of interaction with happy people that made her braver, bolder?

  She reached for his face, gently cupping his cheek. He stayed motionless, as if paralyzed by her touch. She slid her hand up toward his hair, pulling on it lightly as she followed the curve of his head toward his neck.

  “Eden, I don’t think—”

  “Shh,” she whispered before claiming lips she wanted to taste again.

  He was ready for her this time.

  This wasn’t the tentative brush of lips from weeks ago.

  He responded immediately to her invitation, with a desire that ignited hers instantly. Strong, muscular arms wrapped around her body, pulling her firmly against him.

  She fitted into his body, her long, lean length complementing his thicker frame. His hand fol
lowed the curve of her back, inch by inch, a slow, upward caress that was both tortuous and inflammatory.

  She gasped in protest when he moved away. He leaned his head against hers, their joined irregular breathing loud in the quiet of the house.

  He gently pushed her head into the crook of his neck, speaking into her hair. “I think you can feel how much I’m attracted to you, but this isn’t good for either of us.”

  His words seared through her heart. She had expected them but didn’t want them. “Was there a line I shouldn’t have crossed? But I’d be lying if I said I’m sorry I did.” She turned her head slightly. “I’ve told you before, one kiss doesn’t mean I expect a tomorrow from you.”

  “The right man can promise you that. I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” she challenged.

  “Both.”

  “Scared?”

  “Yes. I’ve been told to accept my limitations.”

  She turned her head, breathing in his scent in the crook of his neck. “I thought world champions didn’t see limits.”

  “Eden,” he growled.

  Her fingers followed the lines of his neck down his torso then back up his neck. “No limits, tonight, Mano. Suspend reality with me.”

  “Eden—”

  “Please.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  It began the same way most nights since Margot left.

  He’d awake on an unknown beach, crashing waves so loud, it eradicated all other sound. He’d push himself up onto on his knees before sitting back on his hunches. Raising his arm to protect his vision from the sharp rays of the afternoon sun, a vast blue sky taunted him with its emptiness: cloudless with not a bird in sight. He’d scan the ocean but knew who he’d be looking for would not be there.

  He waited for the cry from an unknown woman absent from his view.

  He’d be faster this time. He’d get to her, to save her.

  But there was no voice in the wind.

  He frowned. She would always cry out. For him.

  He started to run, feet sinking slightly in soft sand. He’d find her this time. He’d be quicker. He had always tried before, but whenever he thought he was close, the winds would die down suddenly. The waves ceased to exist; their erratic rhythm stopped abruptly.