All The Way (All Series Book 3) (10 page)

No Pressure

Four days later Brynn rolled out of bed later than normal. She was exhausted and hated feeling that way. She’d been running around like crazy trying to work and rearrange things just right in the house. She finally got her office set up the way she wanted it here.

Now she would be ready to bring potential buyers through the model home first, explain things, and show more details than she could at the main office. Plus she could show them other options and layouts for them to buy. Having two sets of materials and binders—one at each of her offices—worked the best, and this allowed potential buyers to get a feel for the land and the neighborhood they would be purchasing in too.

But it wasn’t just that that had kept her awake last night. She was thinking about the past Sunday and how much fun she’d had after the women showed up.

Brynn never thought of herself as a social person, at least not until she started selling real estate. Then she realized how much fun it was to talk with people.

She’d always been good with listening and speaking right at the perfect time. Maybe that was what made her such a good salesperson. Either way, she enjoyed it.

She used to enjoy all the get-togethers that her old job entailed. Open houses, cocktail parties, work functions, anything to bring in more business. Sunday afternoon reminded her of those times.

Only she wasn’t trying to sell anything to anyone on Sunday. It was fun, it was relaxing, and surprisingly, she felt right at home with that group of people in the house.

Lots of laughter, lots of teasing, and lots of love, because she could see it in the room that day.

“How are you hanging in there, Kaitlin?” Sophia had asked, slipping her arm around Kaitlin’s shoulders and giving her a little squeeze.

Kaitlin’s lovely face formed a pout. “I’m hanging on by a thread. I’m not sure how my mother went on to have two more babies after Alec and Phil were born. It hurts to lie down. It hurts to sit. It hurts to walk. Heck, it even hurts to breathe at times. It’s like everything is squished inside of me.”

Brooke had nodded her head in understanding. “I know. I wasn’t nearly as big as you obviously, with only child, but I know what it feels like. This pregnancy doesn’t seem as bad, which is a good thing. I guess that is why your mom went on for two more,” she added with a warm smile.

Brooke didn’t look to be that pregnant, but she was further along than Brynn had realized. “Do you know what you’re having?” Brynn asked.

“Another boy. I guess the Mathews’ genes run deep.” Brooke turned to Kaitlin. “Harper is going to be so outnumbered.”

“Who’s Harper?” Brynn asked, confused, wondering if she missed another brother. And why weren’t they using a first name?

Kaitlin ran a hand over her stomach. “My daughter’s name is going to be Harper. Our son is going to be Cameron, which was my mother-in-law’s maiden name. A little of both families.”

“That’s so sweet,” Brynn said, and meant it. It was something she or Drew would do, she knew it. They always tried to honor their mother in everything they did, in every memory. That thought, mixed in with all the pregnant women around her, made her realize how much she missed her mom at that moment, and how much her mom would never get to see. She blinked back the tears before they could fall.

“How’s Cori doing?” Sophia asked the two women.

Brooke answered, “Not much better than Kaitlin.” Brooke turned to Brynn. “Cori is my best friend, who happens to be married to Ryan’s best friend. We’re all really close, as I’m sure you can tell. Anyway, she is due in less than three weeks, but they bumped up her C-section a week. They pulled her out of work two weeks ago, and she’s climbing the walls and driving Jack nuts.”

“Lots of babies coming. That’s great.” Brynn grinned and turned to Sophia. She’d met and talked to Sophia a few times and felt like she could joke with her, so she didn’t hesitate to say, “Not a shotgun wedding for you, is it?”

Sophia threw her head back and laughed. “No, but Phil and I have waited a long time. Were ready to make it official.”

Brynn had heard all about Sophia and Phil’s relationship and how soon their wedding was. She also knew Ben was getting married in the spring. It seemed like this group of friends had weddings and babies every time someone turned around.

Brynn’s alarm went off a second time. Damn, she’d fallen back to sleep thinking about Sunday again. Now she was really late. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and ran into the shower.

Once she was done, she realized she hadn’t grabbed any clothes to put on, so she pulled her little cotton boxer shorts back on, and yanked her tank top over her head. Then she grabbed the towel, dried her hair some more and wrapped it around her head.

Walking into her room she noticed the time and decided to run down and start the coffee first for the men.

***

Alec let himself into the model home. The last three days Brynn had had coffee made and ready for the men. He thought that was so considerate of her. Yesterday, she even put boxes of donuts out on a table next to the coffee too. He’d offered to have Harper’s reimburse her, but she brushed it aside. “It’s the least I can do, Alec. You guys have done so much for me. It’s nothing really.”

He’d already done his walkthrough on all the houses in the development before the crew arrived, which would be in about twenty minutes. A few would be shuffling in within the next ten minutes.

He was surprised that the garage door wasn’t open yet at Brynn’s, so he decided to help her get set up. Maybe he was just earlier than normal, and it wasn’t as if he had anything else better to do.

He wanted to see her again. He hadn’t seen her alone since Sunday. Four long days ago. Only ten more to go and their thirty days were up, not that he was counting. Oh, who was he kidding? Every day he reminded himself hourly how much longer they had to go.

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected Sunday to be like. Some of the closest people in the world to him were there and he was curious to see how she fit in around them. It wasn’t a test, but by time the day was over, he realized she’d passed with flying colors.

She just fit in so well with everyone. He heard her laughing in the kitchen with his sister and Sophia and Brooke. She didn’t even hesitate to bust on Ben either, and she never held back any punches. She kind of reminded him of himself that way.

He’d talked to Ben the other day, who happened to be giving him the third degree on Brynn. Seemed Ben liked her too. He wanted to know what Alec was waiting for, because it was obvious to him that nothing had really been going on.

Alec didn’t want to explain the situation to his brothers. He didn’t even understand it much himself, but he knew he was going to stick to the thirty days. It meant too much not to.

Right now, with each passing day, he felt a bigger and bigger tug toward her. There was no pressure from her, nothing, but he felt a pressure in his chest every time he saw her. Every time he thought of her.

Shaking his head of those thoughts, he walked into the kitchen and noticed the coffee hadn’t been started yet. Odd, was she sick? It wasn’t like her to not be up and moving around. Maybe she was still sleeping. That thought made him smile.

If they were anywhere else in their relationship—and it was a relationship to him right now regardless of what she may think—he wouldn’t have hesitated to run upstairs and help get her out of bed. Or maybe join her in bed.

Turning the water on, he filled up the coffee pots and prepared the coffee in the filter, then started it and turned around to see Brynn standing in the doorway, shock written all over her face.

He only noticed her face for one brief second, then his eyes went to what she was wearing, or how little she was wearing—extremely tiny shorts. He’d bet if she turned around there might be a bit of her cheeks hanging out. Not to mention a tank top that did nothing to hide the fact she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath.

His eyes drifted up further to hers, and the heat he saw in her gaze was just another form of torture to him. She was just as turned on as he was at the moment.

“What are you doing here?” she croaked out.

“Your garage door wasn’t open yet, and I thought I would help you. Guess I’m earlier than I thought today,” he explained.

“No. I overslept. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” He grinned, his eyes lighting up. “Do you always sleep in that?” he asked, moving his hand up and down gesturing toward her clothing.

“Crap,” she said, almost as if finally realizing what she was wearing.

She turned to leave, and he rushed after her. “Oh no. No chance you are prancing around in front of me like that and running away,” he growled and had her up against the wall.

Regardless of how flushed he’d seen her face was, her body was cool to the touch. He felt the water from her hair that had slipped out of the towel dripping on his arms as they wrapped around her neck. He didn’t care. He needed something to cool him down, because he was burning up.

“Alec,” she whispered moments later.

“Shhh. Just a few more kisses, just to hold me over. That’s all I need.” Or so he told himself.

“Just a few,” she agreed.

The beeping of the coffeemaker pulled them out of their embrace and had him jumping back guiltily. He burst out laughing. “Wow, what a great way to start my morning. Maybe I should try it again tomorrow.”

She moved back. “No. I’m so late. I need to get dressed before the guys get here. Go get everything set up, please.” She turned and ran out of the kitchen and upstairs. He was right, she had one hell of a rear end and it was nicely displayed in those little boy shorts she slept in.

Congratulations

One week later, Alec was cursing and swearing as he checked on the electrical work in one of the homes. The subcontractor they hired hadn’t showed up in days, and when Alec finally got ahold of him, he sent over someone Alec had never met before.

He wanted to know everyone that worked on his projects. Always. He wanted references if he hadn’t seen their work before, too. The young guy had come in, spent more time than what it should have taken, and then left before anyone could check to see what he did.

Now Alec was looking it over and felt his blood boiling. It was a half-assed job not worthy of Harper’s work or reputation. He grabbed his phone and made a quick call.

Ten minutes later he didn’t care about the excuses. It wasn’t his fault the subcontractor was overworked and subbed out himself. Alec threatened to pull all of his business and take it elsewhere if someone wasn’t sent over today to fix the mess that was made. And he wasn’t paying for it either, not until it was done right. As laid-back as Alec was, his job was his reputation, his life, his livelihood, and he took it very seriously.

He could fix it himself. He had his electrician’s license, along with his plumber’s license. Anything he could get, he had.

Even if he didn’t do the work himself, he wanted to know it was done right. He wasn’t taking anything for chance, and he never did. But they paid a lot of money to contract the electrical and heating out and he expected it to be done on time, and done right.

“It must not be good if you’re talking to yourself,” Fred, his foreman, commented.

Alec turned. “Damn shoddy work on the electrical. I just got off the phone with Stan. He’s sending someone over today to fix it or we’re taking our business elsewhere.”

“Sorry,” Fred said. “I should have kept an eye on him. I popped in a few times but didn’t check out his work.”

“We’ve all got our hands full, but now we know for next time. If you’ve never seen someone before and they don’t come in with someone you
do
know, don’t let them leave until we’ve inspected their work.”

“Got it.”

“Was there anything else you wanted?” Alec asked, watching his foreman grin at him. It wasn’t often he lost his cool and Fred was obviously finding humor in it.

“No. Just wanted to say that I thought it was really nice that Brynn has had coffee out for us, plus the donuts yesterday. The men were happy about it.”

Alec nodded. He had a good crew. Even though half were new, they were still decent. He didn’t know everyone as closely as he would like, but they were growing so fast and working so hard, there wasn’t time. When they slowed down he would get to know everyone better.

“Some of them have taken a fancy to Brynn,” Fred said, interrupting Alec’s thoughts.

“What do you mean by a fancy?” Alec asked, his eyes narrowing.

Fred raised his eyebrows and his lips twitched. “Nothing more than a harmless crush by the younger ones. She’s sweet, considerate, and a treat to look at.”

“Do I need to issue a warning again?”

“No, like I said, harmless. But maybe you should issue yourself a warning. I’m betting you’re looking plenty with the way you’re reacting right now.”

If Fred hadn’t been employed since day one, Alec wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now. Of course, Fred wouldn’t have said what he did if they hadn’t known each other for years. “Is that a problem?” Alec asked.

“Not with me. Why would it be?” Fred asked, surprised.

“Just checking.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone that was vibrating and read Brynn’s text. “Sorry, I need to run over to Brynn’s right now. She’s got a client there and they want to see the owner.”

“Have fun,” Fred said to Alec’s retreating back. “I’ll lock up.”

***

“I’m sorry, Alec,” Brynn said, thirty minutes later.

“Don’t worry about it. I knew it would happen. I actually expected it before now, and it’ll happen again.”

Brynn was trying not to be annoyed. She knew it would happen too. There were always a select few out there that only wanted to talk with the owner, or at least meet the owners before they made any type of commitment. Only, they hired her so Alec wouldn’t have to do those things, yet she still had to bug him anyway.

“I hear you have an admirer,” he said, pulling her away from her annoyance.

“Who?” she asked. She had no clue what he was talking about, and she had to fight the dread creeping in under it all.

“Fred said a few of the younger guys have a crush on you.” His eyes were twinkling and she knew he was just picking on her.

“Really? That’s sweet. It’s always nice to be appreciated. I bet it’s because I make a mean cup of coffee.” She teased him right back, enjoying the banter they always casually lapsed into, trying to push back the fear from the past.

“Oh, I appreciate you just fine, and it has nothing to do with your coffee.” He reached for her and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her waist. He just held her and it felt good. Too good. It wasn’t supposed to feel like this, not with someone she wasn’t even sure if she was dating yet.

“Alec, there are too many witnesses right now,” she cautioned him. They were in the house alone, but anyone could walk by one of the windows in her office on the way to the garage for a drink.

“Don’t care,” he replied and laid his lips over hers.

“I do.”

“You’re so hard sometimes,” he said after giving her another quick kiss on the lips and releasing her. Then he was reaching into his pocket for his phone, turning a ghostly shade of white seconds later.

“What? What is it?”

“Kaitlin. She’s in labor. That was Phil. He and Sophia are getting my mom and heading to Albany Med.” He looked up at her, fear in his eyes. “Why are they going to Albany? Something must be wrong. I’ve got to go.”

He turned to leave, but she laid her hand on his arm. “Wait, let me drive, you’re in no shape. Please try to relax. Cori had her baby today too. Maybe Kaitlin was already there when she went into labor and it’s nothing more than that?”

“How do you know about Cori?”

“We talked about it when the girls were here. I’m sure it’s fine, Alec, but let me get my keys and we can leave.”

“No. I can drive, but come on, you can keep me company.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

They’d been on the road for about twenty minutes and it was still dead quiet in the cab of Alec’s truck. She finally turned to him. “Are you okay? You should be excited. You’re going to be Uncle Alec soon.”

He turned his head. “It’s too early, isn’t it?” he asked, the fear not diminishing in the least. If anything, he looked to be working himself up more.

“No. It’s okay, Alec. She is less than four weeks early. She hit the thirty-six-week mark on Monday. She’s out of the danger zone for twins.”

“How do you know?”

She chuckled. “Don’t you pay attention to your sister’s life? I know because we talked about everything when we were all together moving me in.”

“Oh,” he said lamely. “No. I don’t pay attention to those things. I just ask how she is feeling.”

“And comment on how big she’s getting,” she said, trying to tease a laugh out of him.

“Well that’s a given. I’m supposed to do that.”

Brynn felt better that she got him to relax a little. He even gave her a little laugh. It would be fine; she had every confidence in that.

***

Walking into the waiting room, they saw Phil, Sophia, Lucas, Brooke, Ben, Isabel and a man she thought must be Alec’s father, along with another older couple. The male bared an uncanny resemblance to Lucas, so it must have been Kaitlin’s in-laws.

“What happened?” Alec asked in a hurry.

Ben shook his head. “I hope this is the last time I need to explain it. Maybe if you showed up with Phil, I wouldn’t have to keep repeating myself.” There was nothing but laughter in Ben’s eyes when talking to Alec, and Brynn was just reminded again how close this family was. “Kaitlin was sitting with Cori and laughing about Jack’s reaction to Summer’s birth when Kaitlin grabbed her side and bent over. Jack rushed over to her as she stood up fast. That’s when her water broke, and all hell broke loose then.”

Alec shook his head, and turned to her. “Jack is Cori’s husband. He probably picked her up and carried her out of the room.”

“Damn close,” Ben said, laughing. “Except even as big as Jack is, I’m not sure even he could lift Kaitlin right now.”

“Benjamin! That’s not nice, don’t you pick on your sister. You’re going to have a pregnant wife someday. How would Presley feel if you said that about her?” Isabel said, scolding her son, but trying to smother her laughter.

“I’d kick his butt.”

Brynn turned to see who made the comment. Since the tall brunette in scrubs walked into the room and straight up to Ben to lightly punch him in the arm, Brynn figured she’d just got her first look at Presley. Alec confirmed her suspicions and made the introductions, then introduced her to Lucas’ parents as well.

“What’s the news, Presley?” Michele, Ryan’s mother, asked.

“They’ve got her in a birthing room resting right now. Contractions are coming fast, and there is no stopping them. Looks like the twins are ready to come out and meet their family, but there is still time, so everyone just relax. Ryan’s a wreck right now. I’m sorry,” Presley said, turning to Michele, “but it’s really funny to see him so disheveled.”

Brooke smiled. “Lucas was the same way. Held it all together and then with that first contraction when I let out a whimper, he turned white as a ghost. I thought he was going to pass right out.”

“I was not,” Lucas said, indignant. “I just hated to see you in such pain.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” Brooke said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

“Anyway,” Ben said. “Jack ran out and got Kaitlin a wheelchair and then rushed her out to the nurse’s station, and they started moving fast once they realized what was going on and who she was. Let alone, who was pushing her.”

“Why’s that?” Brynn asked Alec.

“Jack’s an orthopedic surgeon here, so they know who he is, not to mention once he said Kaitlin’s last name, they knew it was Lucas’ sister-in-law. He’s the Head of the Legal Department here. Needless to say, everyone moved fast.” Alec turned to Ben. “I wonder how many tickets Ryan got on his way here?”

“Not one, he’d just left himself. He was here for Summer’s birth. He didn’t even make it back to his office across town before Jack texted him.”

“Everyone settle in then, it might be a long night. Ben,” Presley said, “why don’t you go get some drinks for everyone?”

“Why me?” he asked.

“Because you know your way around this place better than anyone.”

“I’ll go with you,” Lucas said. “Might as well stretch my legs now. We can run up to my office and I’ll grab some work too.”

Two hours later, Brynn’s back was killing her. The chairs weren’t very comfortable. Ryan had been coming in and out giving reports. Kaitlin was doing well, and her contractions were coming even faster now. All four parents had gone in at one point or another to visit with her. Even Brooke and Sophia went in, but none of her brothers wanted any part of it. She could see that, though they were all trying to laugh and joke, all three of them were on pins and needles.

Jack had come in to get an update so he could report back to Cori and was just getting ready to walk back out of the waiting room when Ryan raced in, whiter than Brynn thought was possible. “Isabel,” he rushed out. “She wants you. They are rushing her into surgery now.”

Pandemonium broke loose, as all four Harper men—their father included—turned just as white as Ryan. Isabel and Ryan ran out of the room. Lucas stood up. “I’ll find out what’s going on.”

“I’m coming with you. Between the two of us, we’ll get answers,” Jack said, and Brynn watched them exit the room just as fast.

Presley hurried over to Ben, who looked like he might pass out. She knelt in front of him and placed her hands on his face. “Ben, take a deep breath. She’s in good hands, and you know that. Everyone here knows that,” she said, looking around the room. “We’ll get some answers in a few minutes. It’s going to be fine, everyone relax.”

Ben touched his forehead to Presley’s and whispered, but Brynn still heard. “Nothing can happen to her—to her or the babies.”

“And nothing will,” Presley said back.

Brynn turned her head and saw Sophia clutching Phil’s hand while she rubbed his back. Neither of them looked to be in good shape right now. William was sitting with Ryan’s parents and they looked equally as bad. Brooke was holding it together and trying to calm the parents the best she could. Brynn turned her head and looked at Alec. He looked lost, scared, and totally zoned out. She reached down and held his hand in hers, then pulled his head on her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.” And she really hoped it was.

It seemed like forever before Jack and Lucas returned, but it was probably less than twenty minutes. “Here’s the story,” Lucas started. “It looked like Cameron was in distress. His heart rate went sky high and they didn’t want to take any chances. Kaitlin was and still is fine. And they said Harper is fine too. We should know more very soon.”