The Way You Look Tonight (22 page)

"Go ahead."

"With everything?" Ben asked, double-checking even this.

Rafe ignored the tightening in his gut as he confirmed, "Yes, everything," before they disconnected.

Having Ben do this background check on Brooke was the only way to be one hundred percent sure.

And Rafe had never needed to be this sure about anyone before.

* * *

Brooke was knuckle deep in chocolate ganache when her phone rang. She’d been waiting all afternoon for Cord to let her know how many boxes of truffles he needed for the press. Assuming it was him, she hit the speaker button on her phone with her cleanest finger and said hello.

"Hello, honey," her mother said in her crisp lawyer’s voice. "Your father and I were hoping this would be a good time to finally discuss your new business venture."

Truffles in all stages were strewn across her kitchen counter. Brooke would likely have to work most of the night to pull off her deliveries for the week. But she wouldn’t have given up the time she’d spent with Rafe for anything. A few missed hours of sleep were more than worth the incredible pleasure of being with him.

The sun burned hotter, the sky shone brighter, even the chocolate melting on her fingertips tasted richer now that Rafe had opened her eyes to the sensuality in everything around her.

Knowing that if she had time for Rafe, she should also have time for her parents, she said, "Absolutely. How are you both?" as she continued hand-rolling truffles.

As always, she was amazed by the details of the groundbreaking legal case her mother had won and her father’s game-changing research on the economic effects of cell phones on developing countries. "Both of you are amazing," she told them, meaning every word. She was incredibly proud of her parents and their achievements.

"After your mother told me about your new partnership with my old colleague," her father said, "I gave Cord a call a short while ago."

She barely stifled her groan. She could only imagine the conversation the two of them had had, her father acting like she was still six years old and couldn’t be trusted to cross the street by herself. "I hope the two of you had a nice conversation."

Thankfully, her father confirmed, "Indeed we did. He assured me that he has his eye closely on the ball and will make sure your new store in Seattle is a success."

While it had been exactly the right thing to tell her father, Brooke couldn’t deny it grated that he was so quick to give Cord both the credit and the responsibility for the success of her business expansion. They still acted as if she’d been playing at her business these past years, rather than slowly growing her happy customer base month by month.

Trying to change the subject to something lighter, she said, "I hope you’ll be able to come to our grand opening next month. Especially since we’re having an absolutely beautiful summer here. You both should try to come out for a visit."

"Perhaps we could rearrange our schedules, although we wouldn’t want to get in your way," her father said. "Is the house next door still a vacation rental?"

"Not anymore," she said, unable to keep the smile off her face. "The Sullivans bought it back just this week."

"The Sullivans have moved next door again?"

In the middle of carefully popping the lightly chilled truffles from her refrigerator out of the molds and onto the counter, Brooke didn’t catch the edge to her mother’s question. "Well, Rafe is the one who bought the house, but since his sister and one of his brothers have already come up to visit this week, I’m sure the whole family will be using it quite a bit. They’re all still very close."

"He must be married by now, surely?"

She frowned at the tone of her mother’s question. "Rafe is only in his early thirties. He’s not married. But he does own a very successful private investigation agency in Seattle."

"You sound like you know an awful lot about him after all these years, Brooke."

Though they couldn’t see her over the phone, she lifted her chin in defiance. "We’ve spent quite a bit of time together since he bought the house. In fact," she added, in direct opposition to the voices in her head telling her not to, "he’s been staying with me for the past week."

She could only imagine the coronaries they’d have if she added,
in my bed.
Her parents likely thought—or hoped, anyway—that she was still a virgin.

"Don’t you have the common sense to know it isn’t safe to let a man you barely know spend the night in your home? Haven’t you learned anything at all since you snuck out of the house at sixteen, drank too much, and got into that car with a boy who’d also been drinking?"

"I made one mistake ten years ago.
One!
But you keep bringing it up as if I’ve repeated it over and over every day since then." Hurt radiated from every word she spoke. "Why can’t you trust me, and believe that I know what I’m doing, just once?"

"Why can’t you be smart enough to say no when one of those wild Sullivans tells you he wants to spend the night in your home?"

"Because he’s my friend." But she knew it would be dishonest to leave it at that. Her chin lifted yet another inch as she told them, "And more." Rafe Sullivan was the man she was falling head-over-heels in love with. She didn’t want to hold it in anymore. "So much more."

"Oh no," her mother said in obvious horror. "This was always what we were so worried would happen. We begged your grandparents to put some distance between you and that family and were so thankful when they had to sell the house. But now, after all these years, exactly what we feared has happened."

Brooke’s hands fisted in chocolate as she stared at her phone. "How could you?" Her question was little louder than a hiss of pain. "They were like family, and you wanted to take them away from me? You were actually
glad
when they
lost
their house?"

But it was as if she hadn’t spoken as her father said, "Even as teenagers, those Sullivan boys were dangerous. We always knew one of them would take advantage of the easy pickings next door."

Easy pickings?

My God, was that what her parents really thought she was? Just some naïve girl who couldn’t think for herself? Who didn’t have the strength of will—or enough common sense—to turn away a man she didn’t want? Whom she didn’t care for with every beat of her heart, and every last part of her soul?

But she already knew the answer to that, didn’t she?

It was what her parents had always thought—that she was too fragile, too innocent, too foolish to know how to keep herself safe from harm. Only, now they’d pushed her too far.

It was one thing for them to think she wasn’t capable of making good decisions. But to say that Rafe had pulled the wool over her eyes like he was a dirty old man on the corner in a trench coat drawing her in with promises of candy?

That was what finally made her see—and speak—bright red.

"I’m the one who propositioned him." She barreled on despite her parents’ shocked gasps. "He was trying to keep his distance, but I wouldn’t let him. And being with him was the best decision I’ve ever made. Rafe Sullivan is the most wonderful man I’ve ever known. Better than any of the men you thought were so great, so safe. None of them cared about me the way he does."

Maybe he hadn’t actually said he loved her, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t see how much he cared about her in every look he gave her, and feel it in every kiss, every time he was moving inside of her and making her soul take flight.

She heard Rafe’s boots on her front porch and purposely said the one thing she knew would send her parents into even more of a tizzy. "Speak of the devil," she said with particular emphasis on the word
devil
, "he’s just coming up the stairs now. I’ve got to go."

"Brooke—"

She didn’t just hang up on them, she actually pulled the entire phone from the wall, leaving chocolate handprints on everything she touched.

"Thank God you’re here," she said to Rafe when he stepped inside.

He was instantly worried. "What happened?"

She shook her head, reaching for him. "Nothing you can’t fix." As he caught her up in his arms, she asked him, "How did you know I needed you right this second?"

"Because I need you, too. So damned bad that it nearly killed me to leave you alone so that you could get your work done."

"I don’t want to be left alone." Not when he was everything she needed.

"Tell me what you do want, sweetheart."

"You." She pressed her mouth to the pulse point at the side of his neck. "Just you."

Chapter Twenty

Rafe lifted her up onto the kitchen counter so that she could wrap her arms and legs around him as he kissed her. "You taste so sweet."

"It’s the chocolate."

"No, it’s all you."

Her eyes filled up and her breath hitched in her lungs. Just as she’d told her parents, Rafe was different. Special. And he’d always noticed more than other people.

To distract him from the questions she could see in his eyes—questions she didn’t want to answer until she’d drawn strength from the beauty of their connection—she dipped her finger into the bowl of cooling ganache. "Taste this."

She knew she hadn’t fooled him, but he was kind enough to let her sidetrack him as he lowered his mouth to her finger and licked it off.

"Do you like it?"

"I do," he said before he dipped his own finger into the bowl. Instead of feeding it to her, his mouth curved into the wicked smile she so loved to see. "But I’m guessing it will taste even better like this."

He slowly slid his chocolate-covered finger across the upper curve of one breast above the neckline of her sundress. The anticipation of feeling his tongue in the same place held her breath captive in her lungs. Of course, he made her wait by tracing another stripe of chocolate over the other side.

Finally, he lowered his head and slicked his tongue, warm and wet, over her skin. His shoulder muscles were hard beneath her hands as she held onto him for dear life. It was either that or go sliding off the counter in a puddle of liquid heat.

"I was wrong," he said after he’d licked up all of the chocolate.

The feel of his tongue on her bare skin, especially in the middle of the day in her kitchen while she had her legs wrapped around him, had turned her brain to mush. Somehow, she got her synapses to fire enough to ask, "You were?" even though she honestly couldn’t remember what he could be wrong about.

"You taste so good that even the best chocolate in the world can’t compare."

She’d been with men for months who hadn’t made her feel as special as Rafe had in less than a week. She’d always been a little bit in love with him as a girl, had watched him be wild and free with stars in her eyes. But now she knew just how much more there was to him. He was a man who would do anything for his family. He was the P.I. who helped strangers with their problems by tracking down the answers they needed. And he was her lover who whispered the sweetest words she’d ever heard.

How could she do anything but fall all the way?

Brooke cupped his face in her hands and kissed him with all the love in her heart. But even though his kisses were pure magic, right now she needed more. She needed all of him, needed to feel him move inside of her and fill up all the spaces that the phone call with her parents had left empty.

She grabbed at his T-shirt so hard that it ripped as she yanked it up over his head. Her hands were at the fly of his jeans a heartbeat later, and thank God, he didn’t try to stall her this time, wasn’t planning to tease her today until she was begging.

He kicked off his jeans and boxers, and then he was lifting her hips off the counter enough that she could pull off her own dress. She was unhooking her bra when he reached for the lace between her legs and tore it from her body.

The thrill of being wanted, of being desired this much, shook through her. Completely naked now, she threw her arms and legs around him as he fisted his hands in her hair. Rafe tilted her head so that he could plunder her mouth in a sizzling kiss that told her exactly how he wanted her, hot and writhing beneath him, skin damp as she came again and again at his command.

The next thing she knew, he was pushing her bottom toward the center of the kitchen counter, and he was climbing up onto it with her. The granite was blessedly cool beneath her overheated skin, but Rafe’s hands moving over every inch of her were more than enough to warm her again.

Both of them had slid into the chocolate by then and were covering each other’s skin with it as they stroked and touched, licked and nibbled. What a thrill it was to have her two favorite things in the world at the same time: Rafe and chocolate.

She was just thinking how much easier it would be to never taste or make truffles again than it would be to lose Rafe when he sent all thoughts of loss from her head by moving fully between her thighs and driving into her in one perfect thrust.

"Oh God, Rafe."

Her words sounded as if they had come from a great distance rather than from her own lips. She was faintly aware of one of his large hands cradling her head while the other cupped her hip, protecting her from the granite, but she would have gladly gotten a few bruises. She didn’t care about being safe, didn’t care about anything but loving—and being loved—by the most beautiful man in the world. When they were together like this, nothing else mattered, only the joy that took her over from head to toe, inside and out.

She couldn’t stop saying his name as he took her higher, and then higher still, and she finally realized he was saying her name, too, as their mouths found each other again in a heated kiss. Even caught up in desperation, they moved in perfect sync, from fast to slow and then back again. And when the wicked beauty of their lovemaking finally overwhelmed her, she arched back to take him even deeper as he held her tighter than he ever had before. Brooke had never felt more whole than she did as she came apart beneath him, his own release just moments behind hers.