CHAPTER 32
BROOKE

 

I sat at my laptop staring at the blinking cursor. Seventy-five percent done, and I couldn't bring myself to wrap up the damn story. I groaned and slumped over, pressing my forehead against the keyboard. I didn’t care what random letters popped up. Maybe, by osmosis, they would punch the ending of my story into my mind and it would unfold exactly how it was supposed to.

But rarely did things ever work like that.

It’d been a couple of days since I’d heard from Kevin and told him what I thought he should be doing with the mother of his children. I kept chastising myself and wondering why in the world I hadn’t spoken what I truly thought. That I felt she was toxic and manipulative and looking for something he couldn't provide. That there were so many unanswered questions as to why she just popped up out of the blue and suddenly wanted a relationship again. That I got the feeling she also wanted him, not just her kids.

None of that was my place, though. She was the mother of his children and I had no right to come between him and the family he had created. No matter the circumstances and no matter their past, she deserved a fighting chance.

They both did.

Which was fine, because it was still hard to look at Kevin. And even harder to look at Sydney. I still blamed myself for her kidnapping. For being so negligent in allowing the kids to get away from me the way they had. I had had a false sense of security on an island I was completely unfamiliar with, and I’d allowed Kevin’s wealth to blind me to the dangers lurking around us. It didn’t matter that I’d gotten Sydney back. It didn’t matter that I’d rescued her. Had I not been so idiotic in the first place, she wouldn’t have needed rescuing.

I felt tears rising in my eyes as I sat up.

There were random letters filling up two pages at the end of my document, and I didn’t even have the energy to delete them. It was more satisfying than looking at a blank page, so I closed my laptop and allowed the document to save. All that work and inspiration, gone in the blink of an eye.

I had no idea what I was going to do.

Or where I was going to go from there.

My cell phone rang and as I looked over at it, I saw it was Kevin calling. I felt my heart leap against my chest as my hand reached for it, but I paused momentarily.

If I picked it up, I knew I would do whatever he asked of me. And if he was calling to tell me I could no longer see the children because of Sarah re-entering their lives, I knew it would break my heart. It would tear me into pieces, despite how I tried to push him away, to keep my heart locked up from him after what he had done to me.

But the longer the phone rang, the more I yearned for his voice.

The voice of the man I’d fallen in love with.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Hey. It’s me.”

“Hey, Kevin. Are you okay? You sound like something’s wrong.”

“It’s been a long day.”

“It’s only two o’clock,” I said.

“I was calling to see if you would come over for dinner tonight,” he said.

“Tonight?”

“Yeah. Sydney’s been begging to see you, and Daniel’s right on her heels. They keep asking when you’re coming back over, so I was hoping you would have dinner with us again tonight.”

I tried to stifle my disappointment. He was only asking for the kids. “Yeah, sure. For the kids,” I said. “I can’t wait to see them.”

I can’t wait to see you.

“Wonderful. Same time as last time?” Kevin asked.

“Sounds great to me.”

“Well, the kids are looking forward to it. And me. Me and the kids.”

I grinned at his words as I leaned back in my chair, allowing myself to feel the slightest bit relieved.

“Should I bring anything?” I asked.

“Just yourself. That’s the only thing we need.”

His words claimed a chokehold on my throat as a silence fell over the conversation.

“Well, we’ll see you tonight,” Kevin said.

“Yes. Tonight,” I said breathlessly.

I hung up the phone and slowly set it back down on my desk. I looked around my room as his words settled into my bones. Me. The only thing they needed. Not the kids? But him, too?

Maybe I was reading too much into things.

The last thing I needed was to get my hopes up.

Six o’clock came around and I was knocking on the front door of their massive home. I heard the kids running into the foyer before the door creaked open and Daniel ran into my arms. I picked up a giggling Sydney and held her close as Kevin appeared. He had on a pair of tailored pants and a white linen shirt, and it was hard for me to take my eyes off him.

“You’re here!” Daniel said. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I love you, Miss Brooke,” Sydney said.

“Oh, I love you too, sweetheart,” I said into the top of her head. “And something smells good in here.”

“I hope you like duck,” Kevin said with a smile.

“Never had it.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll love what the chef has prepared for tonight. It’s the best duck in the city,” he said.

“Miss Brooke, I went to school today,” Daniel said.

“Oh, really. And how is it going?” I asked.

“Really awesome. I told everyone about swimming and the waterslide and the beach.”

“And I told everyone about you,” Sydney said.

I looked over at Kevin before my eyes drifted to Sydney.

“You told them about me?” I asked.

“Yeah. ’Cuz you’re my best friend,” Sydney grinned up at me.

“Well, thank you, Sydney. I’m honored to be your best friend,” I said.

“What’s that mean?” she asked, scrunching her small nose.

“It means happy. I’m very happy that I’m your best friend,” I explained.

The little girl wrapped her arms around my leg and squeezed. “Me too.”

Dinner was fabulous, and the duck was outstanding. The kids told me about their time back at school and Kevin was quiet, allowing them to talk. I couldn’t really get a read on him. There were times when I could feel his eyes on me, and there were other times when he wasn’t even paying attention. His eyes would be cast out the window into the backyard or he’d leave the kitchen altogether and be gone for a while.

I wasn’t sure what was going on, and I didn’t know if it was my place to ask.

We cleaned up the kitchen before settling in to watch a movie. Both kids insisted on being cuddled up against me, tucked underneath an arm with their heads on my bosom and their eyes trained on the television.

It was so sweet, but it was hard to pay attention with the way Kevin’s arm draped around all of us.

His long wingspan curved around my shoulders before his hand fell onto Daniel’s head. His fingers were stroking through his son’s hair, but I was painfully aware of the heat of his skin along the back of my neck. I tried to concentrate on the movie, but I only took in bits and pieces of it. Every time Kevin moved and shifted his arm it sent shivers down my spine.

“Did you like the movie, Miss Brooke?”

“I loved it, Daniel. That was a good choice.”

“Can we watch another one?” Sydney asked.

“No can do, princess. You two have school in the morning,” Kevin said.

“Aw, but Miss Brooke’s here,” Daniel said.

“And Miss Brooke will come back soon, I’m sure,” Kevin said.

“Can she tuck me in?”

Sydney turned her puppy dog eyes toward me and I was weak against their assault.

“Of course I can,” I said with a grin.

I helped Kevin tuck the twins into bed before kissing their foreheads goodnight. It felt good to be a part of the routine again, even if it was just for one night. I stood in the doorway and watched as the two of them settled down, then Kevin turned out the light as I shut the door.

I didn’t even make it to the stairs before his voice rumbled down my body.

“Why have you been so distant tonight?”

I turned around and looked at him before I kept walking down the stairs.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I said. “You’re the one who kept getting up and walking away from dinner.”

“I wanted to give the kids time with you. And take time to think.”

“About what?” I asked.

“Ladies first.”

I sighed as Kevin descended the steps, his body close to mine as I leaned against the banister.

“I don’t want to be a homewrecker,” I said.

“I’m not following.”

“With what’s going on with you and Sarah. If you guys are trying to work things out, I don’t want to be the thing that stands in your way. If there’s a possibility of fixing this family, despite how I feel, then those kids up there deserve it.”

“How do you feel?” he asked.

I snickered and shook my head as my eyes hooked on the front door. It was right there. A few steps and I would be free from this conversation. Free from the embarrassment of his rejection.

But his hand grasped my chin and pulled my gaze to his, and I was helpless to his command.

I couldn’t hide from him any longer. I had to face this head-on, no matter where it went.

“I love you,” I said breathlessly.

I watched the corners of his mouth twitch as his lips drew closer to mine.

“I love you, too,” he said.

“What?” I asked, not sure I had heard him correctly.

His grin turned into a full-blown smile before he guided my lips to his. The touch of his warmth against mine sent shivers ricocheting throughout my body. Electricity was humming in my brain and my heart was fluttering a thousand times a second.

Kevin was in love with me?

The kiss ended, but I wanted to have him back, to feel him against me again. I wrapped my hands in his shirt and pulled him back to me, our lips colliding again. He pressed me into the banister as his hands slid down my body, massaging my hips as he parted my legs with his knee.

I was panting when I pulled away as my hands drifted around his neck.

“I love you, Brooke. And you’re not a homewrecker. We had a therapy session today, just the two of us. And it was painfully obvious that neither of us was there for the right reasons. Sarah still has a long way to go and—I don’t want her back as a companion. I still don’t believe she’s willing to be a full-time mother and I don’t think she’s right for the family I’ve made with my twins. She’s not happy about it, but the doctor didn’t fight me on it either. I know he saw what I saw. He felt what I felt.”

I gazed up into Kevin’s eyes as my knees began to weaken.

“So, you two aren’t—?”

“No,” he said. “We aren’t. Sarah did this all on her own. No matter the reason for it, it was the choice she made. And she has to reap the consequences of that. You aren’t keeping this family apart. If anything—”

He stroked my cheek with his thumb and I nuzzled into his touch.

“If anything, you brought us back together.”

His thumb stroked over my lip and I pulled the tip of his finger between my teeth.

He groaned and sucked in a breath of air.

I lapped at his finger and watched as his eyes darkened.

“And I know you,” Kevin said. “I know you’re still blaming yourself for Sydney’s kidnapping. And you can’t. None of that was your fault.”

His thumb continued to travel over my jaw and the sensation had my nerve endings humming with electricity.

I was trembling as his knee rubbed against my pussy.

“You have to let that guilt go,” Kevin said. “You saved her. That’s all that matters to me.”

“But, I—”

He crashed his lips against mine and silenced my protest. My hands rushed to his hair, pulling him as close as I could get him to me. I ground down onto his knee and swallowed his groans, feeling the way his hands traced my every curve.

“I love you,” I said into his lips. “I love you, Kevin.”

“Miss Brooke?”

Sydney’s voice at the top of the steps forced us apart quickly.

“Yes, sweetheart? Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Could you lay down with me?”

I looked over at Kevin and he cleared his throat.

“She’ll be up in a second,” he said.

“Okay,” Sydney said.

I smiled and shook my head as I turned my body away from his. I started up the steps, but I could feel his eyes on my ass. I exaggerated the sway of my hips, teasing him as my hand drifted softly along the banister.

Then I turned around one last time to take in his predatory stare before I disappeared to go lay down with Sydney.