His Favorite Mistake (Baby Its Cold Out) (7 page)

Chapter Five

Eight hours later, as she took a taxi back to Brody’s home, Reyna was beginning to think Martha Evans’s confidence in her might be misplaced.

              She’d been to four agencies and had never been more discouraged in her life. After spending several hours at each one being tested on her skills and after filling out endless forms, she was told that without a degree, it would be all but impossible to place her in her desired field. The remaining available choices were not very promising. She had three interviews scheduled for the following day, two of which were receptionist positions and the third was in sales. None sounded at all interesting, but at least she would be employed.

             
It was almost eight o’clock when she walked into the house. Brody still wasn’t home. As she walked through the empty place, she understood why he rarely rushed home. The silence of the place was almost deafening. Reyna tossed her bag on the bed and went to the kitchen.

             
For the first time in a long time, she realized she was hungry. Reyna had passed on the kind offer Martha’s made to make her breakfast. During the day, there really hadn’t been time to eat. Now as she looked around the pristine gourmet kitchen, Reyna wondered if she dared to attempt to prepare anything. The place looked magazine perfect.

             
It was obvious Brody rarely used the kitchen. No doubt, he mostly chose to dine out. Not that she could really blame him. It wasn’t much fun eating alone. That was one thing Reyna had found hard to get used to with Cade rarely home.

             
She opened the refrigerator door and stood scanning its contents unaware she was no longer alone.

* * * *

              Brody stood silently watching the girl who looked strangely out of place standing in his kitchen. He just couldn’t get used to seeing her there, but he liked knowing he was coming home to her.

             
She was dressed in loose-fitting dress pants, but he could still see the slim curve of her hip and the way they clung to her bottom. The white tee shirt, although slightly dressier, was similar enough to what she’d worn last night in bed to remind him of everything he hadn’t been unable to forget most of today. How she felt in his arms as she clung to him in her sleep and what lay beneath that innocent white tee shirt.

             
Her body was perfect. Her slim legs tanned against the white panties and shirt was enough to send his mind back to places he’d been going to in his fantasies since meeting her. Someone had chosen to hurt her. Even though she denied it and he remembered every single one of Cade’s graphic details of what she liked, it was evident she hadn’t enjoyed this. It was there in her eyes. The fear and hurt were all too clear, in spite of what Cade told him.

             
Brody must have made some small sound because she turned quickly around, startled by his presence. Her hands dropped to her sides, the fridge slammed shut behind her making her jump. Her gaze collided with his for a moment before looking away. She still couldn’t look at him, he thought a little bitterly. He wasn’t sure if she were embarrassed by their closeness the night -before, or by what he’d discovered about her.

             
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said, taking another step closer. “You look nice. What have you been up to today?”

             
Her fingers automatically went to her hair and he remembered something, some past comment Cade had made about how much Reyna hated her hair, because in her opinion, it always looked disheveled. Of course, he’d taken advantage of every opportunity to steer the conversation to Reyna whenever he and Cade were together. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly at that thought. She had no idea how obsessed he’d become by every little detail of her. She looked stunning to him. A mixture between lost child and very, very seductive woman.

             
His eyes slipped slowly over her body. From the blond curls that had fallen in her face, past the tee shirt that clung to her small, firm breasts, down past her flat stomach to the legs he knew were very tan beneath those starched, pinstriped pants. The way she looked standing there so innocently before him did things to his libido that he found hard to control. His gaze met hers again and she saw his reaction. He couldn’t really hide how much he wanted her. Hell, he really didn’t want to. He liked the way she blushed from her head to her toes every time he looked at her as he was at this moment.

             
“I went job hunting today.” She shook her head making a face that told him just how pitiful the outcome had been and he laughed.

             
“No luck, huh? Well, don’t get too discouraged. Job hunting, especially in Denver, can be brutal.”

             
“I wasn’t expecting you to be home this early,” she said nervously. “I was going to make something to eat. Would you like to join me? I could make us dinner.”

             
He watched her hold her breath. It was hard not to smile and try to ease away her doubts.

             
Brody didn’t want to have dinner with her. Mostly because he wasn’t sure, he could simply share the intimacy of a meal together with her and not want more. Much more. How soon would it be before she guessed the truth? Figured out that this whole suggestion of having her live with him was just a ploy to be close to her for a little while.

             
He realized she was reading his hesitation as rejection. Reyna turned away. She opened the fridge again and pretended to study its contents again.

             
Brody let go of his own breath in a sharp sigh. If he didn’t get control soon, this would never work out. Whatever it was he was trying to get worked out. He forced his less than ‘friendly’ manner aside and steadied his voice.

             
“I’d like that very much. Can you give me ten minutes? I want to shower and change and then I’m all yours. I’ll be back in a second to help you.”

             
She was busy chopping vegetables for a salad when he returned, wearing jeans, and a black pullover sweater. He stepped close to her taking the knife from her unresisting hand. She moved away as if she couldn’t stand to be too close to him.

             
“Something smells good.” Brody watched her curiously, trying not to let her see how much her retreat hurt. Reyna opened the oven and looked inside. Her hand went uneasily up to tuck a wayward curl behind her ear. He was quickly becoming familiar with that little move. He knew what that gesture meant. She was all nerves around him.

             
“It’s salmon and it’s ready. I thought we could eat outside on the deck, if that’s okay with you. It’s such a nice evening for October.” He smiled at her edginess and took the dish from her, following her outside.

             
She was right, not that he ever really noticed the world outside of work anymore.

             
Tonight, the evening was cool, with a slight touch of the winter to come on the breeze that carried the sounds of the city up to where they sat drinking red wine.

             
They talked about small things throughout the meal. He noticed she was actually relaxing a little.

             
Brody listened while Reyna told him about her day and the job interviews she had scheduled for the following day. “Reyna, you know if none of those positions work out, I can help you. All you have to do is ask.”

             
“No, Brody—at least not right away. I want to try to find something on my own. I don’t want to depend on you for everything. You’ve done too much as it is. Do you understand what I mean? It’s important for me that I learn to stand on my own two feet.”

             
His eyes searched her face wondering if she realized just how small and breakable she appeared to him. Even now, when she was fighting to control her own future, her eyes were begging him to understand. He did. He knew just how important it was to stand alone in a city that could easily destroy a person if they gave an inch.

             
“I do understand. I know how important self-reliance and integrity can be. Sometimes it’s all you have. But my offer to help will always be there, no matter what happens and without any attachments.” He hesitated for a moment. He had to be so careful not to break the small amount of trust he’d achieved with her. He wanted to ask her about the bruises fading on her body. He needed to know who was responsible for hurting her in such an inhumanly male way, but he dared not knowing she wouldn’t answer him. It was too soon.

             
So instead of pushing, he listened while she told him about her childhood, growing up with her grandmother.

             
“Cade mentioned something about your parents dying when you were just a child. That must have been hard. Growing up without them in your life.”

             
Although she still smiled, her expression held a sad wistfulness.

             
“I was only five when they were both killed in a car accident. I didn’t really understand why they never came back to me. Gran said I cried for weeks after, although I don’t really remember much about that time. I guess I blocked the hurt out somehow. I was so lucky I had Gran. She was so good to me.”

             
“You have a cousin, right? Living here in the city?” Brody saw her expression change. He’d gathered Reyna and her cousin weren’t all that close when Reyna didn’t mention her cousin as a possible solution to her homeless state. Not that Brody minded. He hated to admit it, but he’d been thrilled they weren’t close.

             
“Yes, but Jenna and I don’t have much in common and we’ve never really been all that close.”

             
“So you were happy living with your grandmother?”

             
“Yes, Gran was great. As tragic as it was to lose them both at one time, they wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. They were so much in love with each other. I think it would have been impossible for one to go on without the other.”

             
This surprised him. He would have thought a child five years old would never have noticed such a strong emotional love as what her parents clearly had felt for each other.

             
“Most parents tell their children fairy tales. My mother used to tell me stories of how she and my father met and fell in love. Mom knew it was love from the moment she saw him. They were so happy together.”

             
Brody watched her as she spoke about her parents and their happiness and wondered how someone who had endured so much tragedy in her own life could still hold onto the belief in fairy tale love stories as she so clearly did. He wondered what she would say if he told her the truth about her husband. Cade was certainly no prince charming at all. He’d made it a point of boasting about the women he’d slept with after being married for such a short time to Reyna.

             
It wasn’t his right to take her memories away. It wouldn’t make her love Cade any less. The very thought of his friend’s cruelty still had the power to anger him.

             
“You really believe in that fairy tale? Love at first sight? Even in this day and age? Is that what happened with you and Cade?”

             
Reyna didn’t look at him but she didn’t need to for him to see her reaction to those words. Brody hated himself for trying to make her see the truth. She needed to believe in those fairy tales to hold onto Cade.

             
“Yes, I do believe that. I have to.” Her answer, spoken so softly, was little more than a whisper. He had to strain to catch the words but he couldn’t mistake the appeal in her voice. She still hadn’t answered his question about Cade. She was deliberately avoiding it and he found himself pressing her once more, realizing there was something about her lack of answer right now that wasn’t quite right.

             
“Is that how you felt about Cade, Reyna? If that’s true, then for the rest of your life, are you planning on living in the past? You’re twenty-three years old. You have your whole life ahead of you. You shouldn’t give it up to live in the past. Sometimes, we imagine things we want to believe are true when, in reality, they’re just something we’ve created in our minds. Something that helps us face the truth.”

             
She shook her head not answering the question, her silence sending his imagination out of control. Maybe all those things Cade had told him about Reyna were true. Maybe she’d been just as unfaithful as Cade. Maybe she wasn’t the sad widow she appeared to be.

             
“What about you? It’s obvious you’ve been hurt by someone. What was it that turned you so against love? Who was she?” The moment the words were out, Brody could tell she regretted asking them.

             
His laugh sounded anything but humorous. Brody found himself wondering again just, what she would say if he told her, the only woman he would ever love was sitting next to him now, lost in her past.