Hooked for Life (7 page)

“Lissa?” she interrupted.

“Yeah?”

“Did you ever sleep with him?” She had to know.

Lissa chuckled on the other end. “I wondered if you were ever going to ask! The answer is no, I never slept with him. And before you ask me why not, I’ll tell you. You know Darren has an older brother, right?”

“Yeah, Kurtis, right? I’ve never met him though.”

“Well, he came home from college the summer I was a senior. I fell in love with him.” Brady could feel her hurt over the phone. He had broken her heart. “Long story short, he wanted to keep it just between us and I figured it was just because he was seeing a high school girl. But he dropped me like a bag of rocks at the end of the summer and I haven’t heard from him since. Plus Darren would never touch one of his brother’s ex-girlfriends. Some unspoken guy rule, I think.”

“I didn’t know you had ever fallen in love. Want to talk about it?” It baffled Brady that Lissa hadn’t been able to hold on to a man she wanted. But it might explain why Lissa held all men at arm’s length.

Of course Lissa did and what was supposed to be brief phone call turned into a revealing two hours.

Brady got back into her routine. The only change was her daily talks with Lissa. She didn’t question why they were suddenly so close and it was wonderful to have someone to talk to. But she didn’t bring up Darren and neither did Lissa.

She was thankful she had a ton to do, keeping her days busy enough she only thought of him about a dozen times. She hated she was pining for him, again. Only this time it was worse. She had real images of him in her mind now, not just guesses.

Those images haunted her. Especially at night when she finally fell asleep, he was there in her dreams. Sometimes it was so real that even after she was awake she could still smell him.

But as the days went by and then a week she finally had to ask Lissa what he was up to. Lissa hadn’t seen him, explaining an unexpected business trip had called him out of town.

Darren wasn’t faring much better than Brady. His thoughts went to her constantly and as a result he was unfocused at work and losing sleep. Realizing he wasn’t going to be as productive as he had hoped on this trip, he left it to his lawyer to close the deal up and went home.

The house seemed quieter than he remembered and he could still smell her on his sheets. He was miserable and still no closer to coming to a decision on what to do about it.

Flopping down on the couch, he switched on a game for noise, knowing he wouldn’t really watch it.

The book she had signed for him was still on the floor and he immediately felt guilty for throwing it. Heaving a sigh, he picked it up and smoothed some of the bent pages.

Black handwriting in the back caught his eye and he stared down at it, thunderstruck. Staggering over to the couch, he sat heavily and read it again.

Brady had written “It was always you” on the back page.

Stunned, Darren sat, running through his options. He couldn’t figure out why she would write that, and in the back no less. Did she hope he would never see it? Or was it her way of getting it out? Did it mean she felt something for him?

If that was the case, did she expect him to do nothing about it? Just to let it go?

Well, if that was what she thought then she was sorely mistaken. Lissa was right, he was being a coward and he couldn’t live with that.

If he went to her and told her the truth and she turned him down flat, then and only then would he admit defeat. But not now.

Grabbing his still-packed suitcase, he went to his room, dumped his dirty things on the bed and loaded up clean clothes. He hoped he would need enough for a couple days so that’s what he packed.

Throwing the book she signed on top of his clothes, he zipped it up and was on his way to the airport in minutes.

He knew what city she lived in and booked the next flight, leaving in a half hour. Luck was with him. But he needed her address.

He dialed Lissa’s number and she answered on the first ring.

“Darren, are you back in town?”

“For the moment.” He paused while he listened to the announcement that his plane was boarding. “Look, I don’t have much time, what is Brady’s address?”

Lissa was silent for a second and then she blurted, “Well, it took you long enough!”

He couldn’t help but smile as she rattled off the address.

“Thanks, Lissa. One more thing, don’t warn her I’m coming, okay?”

“That goes against sister code, Darren. She would kill me if you showed up and she was in her sweatpants or something.”

“Please.”

“Oh fine. But you owe me big time.”

“Deal. Gotta go.” Darren had no doubt she would hold him to it. He went to hang up but heard her voice cut through the line.

“Darren?”

“Yeah?”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks, Lissa. I’m afraid I’m going to need it.”

* * * * *

Brady was sitting in her home office, Brett curled contentedly in her lap. She was absorbed in her new book, the words flowing from her head to the page. For the first time this week Darren wasn’t foremost in her mind.

She had come to grips with going back home. It hadn’t been as bad as she had thought. Somehow it had been worse. All her fears of what could happen couldn’t compare to falling for her high school crush all over again.

Only this time she fell as a woman and not a young girl with stars in her eyes. She had to admit, this feeling she had now was a mountain compared to the mole hill she had suffered through before.

But she was happy she had gone home, if for no other reason than she had reconnected with her sister. It was nice to have a formidable ally in another woman. Not to say she didn’t have friends here but no one could compare to the strength of a tie of blood.

Unexpectedly there was a knock at her door. Brett jumped from her lap and she tried to think who it could be. She wasn’t expecting anyone and most of her friends wouldn’t stop in unannounced.

Looking through the peephole, she felt her heart drop when she spotted Darren on the other side. Looking down at her faded jeans and tank top, she wished she had time to change. But at least she wasn’t in her sweatpants. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and they stared at each other.

Brady opened the door wider and cleared her clogged throat. “Come in.”

He left his suitcase by the door as he came in, glancing around him briefly, and she wondered what he thought of all the clutter. She wasn’t much of a housekeeper. She liked things out in the open where she could find them.

There were stacks of papers and reference books on every available surface. To the untrained eye it looked as if she was the most unorganized person in the world. But really everything was neatly categorized—in her mind.

She couldn’t help running her eyes over him. She had missed him so much, even if she wasn’t ready to tell him so. She was acutely aware of how much now that he stood before her. Then she noticed the book in his hand, the same one she had signed for him, and her heart stuttered before it started pounding. He had obviously seen the back.

He held it up, catching her eye. “I think you owe me an explanation.”

“What?”

“Why did you write that in the back of the book?” He stalked toward her and she took a step back. He looked mad, his hair stood up at odd angles as if he had been running his fingers through it and his eyes were bright and focused on her.

She didn’t know how to answer him. But she knew there was only one way, the truth. The thought had her insides going shaky and her stomach erupting in butterflies.

“Brady? Answer me, please.”

“It’s the truth, Darren. The simple truth.”

He heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “That’s a clever way to not answer me.”

“I answered you.”

He went to the couch and flopped back on it, his legs spread. Brett immediately jumped from his perch on the back into Darren’s lap. He scratched the cat absentmindedly before patting the seat next to him. She knew it was silly but her heart melted at the sight of Darren and her kitty.

Brady sat down, keeping some much-needed distance between them. Otherwise she might just beg to take Brett’s place in his lap.

“I guess I owe you an apology,” he began. “It didn’t work out like I had expected when I asked Lissa to talk you into coming home.”

“Wait. You wanted me to come home?” He just looked at her and she mentally kicked herself. She should have known something was up. Lissa did few things without ulterior motives.

“I wanted you to come home so we could get to know each other better because…” He cleared his throat and Brady was shocked to notice he was nervous. Turning toward her, he took her hand.

“Brady, I’m in love with you and honestly I think I always have been. After we spent that night together it only made it more true.”

She sat stunned, her heart pounding and her hands going sweaty. “Darren, we hardly know each other,” she reasoned.

“We have known each other for years. I think I knew when I asked Sherri to marry me and all I could picture was you.”

“You broke it off with Sherri because of me?”

“I didn’t love her, Brady.”

“But you can’t love me, Darren.”

“Why not? I’m willing to accept you don’t love me right now but we are adults now and you can’t tell me you don’t feel anything for me, otherwise you wouldn’t have written that in my book.”

He was right but she wasn’t sure where they would go from here and what his intentions were.

“Even if I do have feelings for you, Darren, what can we do about it? I live here and you live there and what happens if your friends are around? Are you going to treat me like you did with Mike? Because, honestly, I won’t deal with that.”

“I don’t expect you to and I’m sorry about it, I forgot I told him he could stop in over the weekend. He just had exceptionally bad timing. I know you never liked him and the other things we can deal with. All I want is a chance, Brady.”

“A chance at what, Darren?”

“You aren’t going to give me an inch, are you?”

She took pity on him but she wasn’t giving in, so she gave her head a small shake. She wanted it all.

“Fine, I guess I better do it right then.”

Brady’s thundering heart stopped altogether when he got down on one knee in front of her and took her hand.

“Before you get too excited, I’m not proposing just yet. But just so you know, it’s every man’s dream to see the woman he loves go all pale and shaky when he gets down on one knee.”

The sarcasm wasn’t lost on her and she waited for him to go on.

“Brady, I think we could be good together and I just want you to give me a chance to make you happy.”

It was perfect, just the right thing to say, and she smiled at him before she threw herself at him, fusing her mouth against his even as he tumbled backward on the floor.

“That was quite a tackle. You could have just said yes.”

“Are you complaining?” she asked with a grin.

“With a feisty redhead plastered against me? Never.”

“Good.” Brady felt a strong surge of emotion inside her, the kind that clogged her throat and made her heart race.

Looking down at him, she saw him smile up at her and her belly flip-flopped. He was sexy as hell, his bright-blue eyes staring up at her.

Sitting up, she put her hands on his chest to brace her arms and she had an overwhelming urge to rock his world like he had hers.

Standing, she held her hand out to him and he stood before taking it.

She led him down the short hall to her bedroom. He glanced around before grinning at her and she was thrilled she could make him so happy. But she was about to do better than that.

Pushing the jacket he had on off his shoulders, she laid it over the back of a chair. Then she evaded him when he tried to kiss her, giving her head a little shake.

“What game are you playing, Brady? I want a kiss.”

“And you will get one. When I’m ready to give it to you. Sit,” she said as she gave him a gentle push and he sat on the edge of the bed.

Brady knelt in front of him and unlaced his shoes. She took them off and then his socks.

Briefly she debated what to remove next and decided his shirt had to go. Pulling it out of the waistband of his pants, she tugged it up and he helped her pull it over his head.

He seemed to understand she had a plan and let her take control. He sat, silent and strong, not giving her any reason to lose her nerve and stop.

She liked the feeling of control she had over him at the moment. She took her time looking her fill at his sculpted chest. He was responsive to her every touch.

Starting at his shoulders, she ran her nails gently down across his pecs and then lower down over his hard abs. His muscles contracted and his breathing got heavier.