What Might Have Been: Daniels Brother #4 (Daniels Brothers) (29 page)

The foyer to the Collinses’ house was grand and elegant with lots of grays and blues. Max headed down a hallway to the left of the foyer. Trent and Abby followed.

“Are you okay?” she whispered to Trent when Max turned right.

Trent gave her hand an encouraging squeeze and nodded. He didn’t want her to be worried about him at a time like this. While he didn’t quite understand her friendship with Max, he accepted it. “How about you?”

“Scared. Nervous.” She glanced at the door Max had disappeared into, and then took a step closer to Trent. “Are you sure you’re okay being here? I mean, I know my friendship with Max makes you uncomfortable. You don’t have to—”

He cut her words off with a kiss. “Don’t worry about me. I’m a big boy. I can handle watching you comforting your friend.”

She gave him a skeptical look.

Trent pretended to be shocked. “Are you doubting me?”

Abby narrowed her eyes at him.

He wasn’t deterred. Trent tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and whispered, “Because you’ve seen me naked, I’m pretty sure you know just how big of a boy I am.”

A shiver rippled through her body, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. “No problem with your ego, is there?”

Trent pressed a kiss in the hollow behind her ear. “Are you saying I’m wrong?”

Before she could respond, Max reappeared and motioned for them to come in.

Trent wasn’t sure what he’d expected. He didn’t have a lot of experience with death and dying. The last person in his family to die was his grandmother, but he’d been six at the time. He didn’t remember much apart from going to the funeral.

Then again, his grandmother had died from a heart attack. It had been sudden. She hadn’t suffered. The man lying in the hospital bed in front of him was clearly suffering. His skin had almost no color to it and there were dark circles under his eyes. He looked frail, breakable. It was difficult to imagine that six months ago this same man had been running a business.

Abby went to sit next to a woman that was huddled in the corner, who Trent assumed was Max’s mother. She appeared to be lost as she stared at her husband with a blank look on her face. A sob erupted from deep in her throat when Abby sat down beside her.

Max placed a hand on his mother’s shoulder, and then went to stand beside his father’s bed. Trent felt as if he was intruding. Maybe tagging along with Abby hadn’t been the best idea. He didn’t even know these people.

Abby looked up at him and held out her hand. “Katherine, I’d like you to meet Trent Daniels.”

The woman blinked as if only now registering his presence. He wondered how much this woman knew of Abby’s past with his brother.

An awkward silence filled the air. Trent was at a loss as to what he should say. The standard “nice to meet you” didn’t seem to fit given the circumstances.

Max cleared his throat. “Mom, when’s the last time you ate something?”

Katherine shook her head. “I’m not—”

“You need to eat.” Max left his father’s bedside and came to stand in front of his mother. “Starving yourself isn’t going to help Dad. And it isn’t what he would want.”

She hesitated, and then nodded.

Without missing a beat, Max glanced over to Abby. “Can you stay with her while I go make something?”

“Of course.”

Max straightened up and met Trent’s gaze. “I could use some help.”

“Sure.” Trent gave Abby’s hand a reassuring squeeze before he followed Max back down the hallway and into the kitchen.

Max strolled over to the coffeepot sitting on the counter and poured two cups. “Cream or sugar?”

“Just sugar,” Trent said. “Thanks.”

He took a sip of the offered coffee and waited to see what Max would do next. Trent doubted the man actually needed his help.

Several minutes passed before Max finally spoke. “Do you love her?”

Trent paused with the mug halfway to his mouth. It made him bristle a little to have this man ask his intentions toward a woman he’d been in love with for half his life. “I do.”

Max nodded. “She’s not coming back to New York with me.”

It wasn’t a question, so Trent didn’t bother to reply.

“I don’t know. I guess a part of me always thought she’d be there no matter what. That I wouldn’t have to worry about her finding someone she wanted to share her life with.” Max shot him a weary smile. “Selfish, I know.”

Trent didn’t know what to say, but he felt he needed to respond. Like it or not, Max was Abby’s closest friend. He’d been there for her when she’d had no one else. “I’ll do everything I can to make her happy.”

Max lowered his gaze and stared at the cup that contained his coffee. “I’ll hold you to that. She’s had a lot of disappointment in her life. First her mother. Then her father. Your brother. The baby. I don’t want to see her hurt again.”

“Neither do I.” As they stood there talking about Abby, Trent had to wonder how she would feel about the conversation. Would she be glad they were coming to a sort of understanding, or would she rail on them for talking about her as if she weren’t the strong, independent woman they both knew her to be?

Before Trent could think too long on the subject, Max stood. “We should see what’s in the refrigerator. Uncle Frank went to the store yesterday. I’m sure we can whip up something edible.”

Frank must have figured they wouldn’t feel like cooking. Most of what he’d bought only had to be heated. They followed the warming instructions and loaded it onto a tray before heading back to the room.

Max hesitated outside the door. 

“You all right?” Trent asked.

Max straightened his shoulders and marched inside without saying a word.

Chapter 23

Trent stayed close to Abby as she visited with Max’s mother. He was an outsider and he was okay with that. He might never be fully accepted in the part of her life that included these people.

Max was seeing the nurse out. There wasn’t any more she could do for now. All they could do was wait. They would call her when something changed.

When Max strolled back into the room, he met Trent’s gaze across the room. In a strange way, having Max ask Trent’s intentions toward Abby helped to ease the jealousy he felt. The way Max had approached the conversation was more like that of a big brother, rather than someone who was romantically interested.

Abby hugged Katherine, stood, and walked over to hug Max. For the first time, Trent didn’t feel like punching the other man. “You’ll call me if anything changes?”

“Of course,” Max promised.

She was quiet as they made their way outside. When they reached his house, he grabbed the bag of clean clothes she’d packed when they’d stopped by her apartment earlier out from behind his seat. By the time he rounded the truck, she was already waiting for him by the door.

Trent followed her inside. She went to the refrigerator and began removing containers. He figured she must be hungry—he knew he was. He grabbed some plates and laid them on the counter. She moved with quiet efficiency, completely focused on her task. Her silence bothered him, but he decided to wait her out.

It wasn’t until they were halfway done eating that she spoke. “Max told me Jacob had gotten worse. I guess I was fooling myself into thinking it wasn’t as bad as he said.”

There was something in her tone that made him think there was more to it. “Did seeing him today remind you of your dad?” Abby had come home for a surprise visit and found her dad collapsed on the floor. She’d called for an ambulance, but by the time it arrived, he was gone.

“He was just lying there, not moving, not opening his eyes.”

Abby had experienced too much death in her life. First her mother. Then her father. And even her child. She needed some joy.

“Why don’t you finish your food and we’ll turn in early?” He leaned in as if he was confessing some secret. “I could probably even be persuaded to give you a relaxing back rub.”

Her lips turned up a little. “Just a back rub? No straying hands?”

Trent shrugged. “Not really sure I can make a promise like that. I am a guy, after all.”

Abby lowered her head, but he was fairly sure he saw her smile.

He let it go and took his empty plate to the kitchen. A few moments later, she did the same. It was only the third time she’d been in his home, but already it felt as if she belonged.

When she put her plate next to his in the dishwasher, he closed it with his hip and tugged her into his arms. “I love you, Abigail Hoffman.”

This time he got a genuine smile out of her.

Trent brushed his lips against hers and she sighed.

He took both her hands in his and led her down the hallway to his bedroom. She lifted her arms over her head while he worked her shirt up her torso and let it drop to the floor. Her bra fell to the floor moments later. He wasn’t trying to make it sexual, but it was impossible. The look in her eyes had him longing to be inside her.

When he reached between them to unbutton her shorts, Abby’s hands got there first. She popped the button and lowered the zipper before wiggling her hips ever so slightly to work the material down her thighs.

Trent lowered his gaze to take in the sight of her standing before him in nothing but a minuscule pair of satin panties. He had to remind himself that this was about comforting her. There would be time later to make love to her.

He cupped the side of her face. “Lie down on the bed. I’ll go get some lotion from the bathroom.”

Digging through one of his bathroom drawers, he found a bottle of lotion Trinity had bought for him last winter. It was her ritual to buy all the guys lotion. She said there was no excuse for dry, chapped hands. The guys all groaned about it, but most of them used their gift, including him. It was going to come in handy tonight.

Trent palmed the lotion and took a deep breath, trying to settle his libido down before he waltzed back into the bedroom. But all the breathing in the world wouldn’t have been enough to prepare him for the sight that welcomed him. Abby had done as he’d asked. She was lying in the middle of his bed, facedown, her hair fanned out over the pillow, and her barely covered ass beckoned him. He moved toward her without even thinking.

Abby must have heard him because she turned her head so she could meet his gaze. “Am I in the right position?”

He nodded and knelt on the bed. “Perfect. Just relax and enjoy.”

She shot him a skeptical look, and then lowered her head on her hands and closed her eyes.

After squeezing some lotion in one hand, he set the bottle aside. He rubbed his hands together to warm up the liquid, and then went to work on her shoulders. She was tense. It took some effort, but as he continued to knead and caress her skin, he felt her start to relax.

“You’re really good at this,” she mumbled.

He grinned and continued to work his way down her body, loving the way she felt under his hands. When he reached the edge of her panties, Trent debated whether or not to skip to her legs. If he began massaging her backside, he was almost certain it would lead to a lot more than a back rub.

Shifting his weight, he moved to make it easier to access her legs. That was when he noticed a damp patch between her legs. Trent swallowed and did his best to ignore the growing discomfort in his pants. He was a grown man, not a sixteen-year-old boy. He could keep his urges under control.

That was until he ran a hand up the back of her leg and she opened her legs a little to give him better access. Before he could think about what he was doing, the tops of his fingers grazed the seam of her panties. She released a soft moan that went straight to his groin.

“Baby, you’re killing me here,” he said through gritted teeth.

She turned slightly to look at him, her eyes dark and full of desire. “You can remove my panties if they’re in the way.”

He looked at her with all the intensity he felt inside, wanting her to understand that her panties were the only thing keeping him in check.

Her only response was to lift her hips.

Deciding not to fight it, Trent looped his fingers into the sides of her underwear and shimmied them down the length of her legs. Without the thin covering, he could smell her arousal. All he wanted to do was dive in and taste her, but instead he retrieved the lotion and picked up where he’d left off.

This time, however, he didn’t keep it as innocent as he had before. When he inched up her thighs toward her sex, he made sure to tease her sensitive skin. He did it several times before he removed his shirt and bent down to add his mouth to the action. Starting at her calf, he placed little kisses all the way up her leg. He repeated the process over and over again until Abby was lifting her hips and arching her back every time he came near the junction between her legs, silently begging him for more.

Eventually, her patience ran out. “Trent, please. I can’t take it.”

He skimmed his nose across her thigh and up over the swell of her luscious backside. “What can’t you take, baby?”

“The teasing. I can’t take any more. I need you.”

Trent placed a firm kiss to her lower back and stood. He shucked his shorts and underwear, then rejoined her on the bed. Slipping a hand between her legs, he made sure she was ready for him.

Abby spread her legs, giving him unguarded access to her. She arched her back, wordlessly telling him with her body what she wanted. 

He positioned himself between her legs and held onto her hips as he eased inside her. Making love to Abby was the single best thing Trent had ever experienced in his life. There was something about being with her that made him feel as if everything in his world made sense.

There’d always been something about her that had drawn him in. At first, it was how comfortable he felt around her. Then, as he grew and became aware of her as a woman, it became much more. Finally being with her, no walls between them, made things feel more potent than ever. This was how it was meant to be between them.

Trent enveloped her in his arms as they both came down from their climaxes. He held her close, tucking her head beneath his chin. “I want to ask you something.”