All The Way (All Series Book 3) (14 page)

Closer

“Enjoy your night with Brynn?” Alec turned at Phil’s voice, just shy of noon on Sunday. He’d spent Friday and Saturday night with Brynn, then left her place less than an hour ago and went home to change before making his way to his parents’ for Sunday dinner.

“Excuse me?”

“Brynn. Did you enjoy your night with her?” Phil asked again, laughing.

Alec looked behind his brother at his parents’ house, but didn’t see anyone. The two of them were standing on the dock looking out over the water. “Why would you ask that?”

“Really? You thought I wouldn’t know?”

Shifting uncomfortably, Alec replied, “That is taking the twin-bond thing too far. How come I’ve never known when you’ve spent the night with a woman? It doesn’t seem fair, if you ask me.”

Phil laughed again, louder this time. “Nothing as complicated as that, I assure you. And keep your mind out of my bedroom.” Alec snorted, but Phil continued on. “I stopped by your house last night to grab a saw blade after a late dinner with Sophia. You weren’t home and we had her car, so I didn’t have my key to your house. I went back first thing this morning and you still weren’t home. It wasn’t hard to piece it together.”

Alec sighed and looked out over the water again. Maybe this was the time to bring it up. Phil was the right person—the only person—that Alec felt comfortable talking about this with right now. “Do you have a problem with it?”

“Not at all. I guess I’m wondering more about what you’re waiting for?”

Alec looked over at his twin quickly. “What does that mean?”

“Why isn’t she here with you right now for dinner?”

“You’re joking, right? Phil, I’m sure you can figure out it’s not been very long. It’s a little early for dinner at Mom’s, don’t you think?” He wasn’t sure why he wasn’t feeling any panic at that suggestion. In the past, he would have with any other woman he’d known for the same amount of time.

“No. Not really,” Phil replied with a shrug. “Let me ask you something. You asked me once if I knew Sophia was the one, and I told you I wasn’t sure. You argued and said I knew all along but was afraid to say it. That I knew because she was the one I would go all the way with. All the way over the top and back. Give her everything, do everything for her, and want her to do the same for me.”

Alec remembered that conversation. He wasn’t sure he remembered those words exactly. Phil always had a way with words, even though he didn’t speak as often. But when he did, you listened, and he was right. “Yeah, so?”

Phil dropped his arm over Alec’s shoulder. “So you’ve gone all the way over, but you’re afraid right now, aren’t you?”

Yep, Phil was always right. “I don’t know the next step.”

“Sure you do.”

“No, I don’t. Where do we go from here?”

“Have you talked to her about it?”

“No.” Alec thought they were going to yesterday, but they never did. After he hugged her in the kitchen and she held him so tight, he just couldn’t push back the fear of voicing what was in his head. He thought maybe she would have, but she didn’t either.

Instead they talked about plans for finishing the basement. He told her to go ahead and start drawing up the layout with Phil and they would work on it together when he was done with his flip.

Her excitement over them doing it together was so contagious that he had no thoughts other than to fall into the excitement with her. It was all she could talk about, her ideas and her thoughts. He was intrigued by her suggestions and that was all they focused on until they went to bed. Then there were other ideas and thoughts in both of their heads.

“Why not?”

“It hasn’t come up?”

“Bring it up.”

“Don’t push me, Phil.”

“Why? You’ve pushed me plenty over the years.”

“True.”

Phil dropped his arm from Alec’s shoulder and said, “Bring her to Mac’s next weekend.”

“What?”

Phil repeated, “Bring her to Mac’s. It’s Zoe’s birthday, then the party afterward. We’ll all be there. Brynn knows almost everyone as it is. Bring her over for that and start that way. It’s not like you need to announce it to anyone at work.” Alec shifted uncomfortably. “So that’s it. You think you do?”

“No. I guess I just don’t want anyone to think poorly of her. You know, sleeping with the boss.”

“They won’t, and those that do will have to answer to us. Alec, you don’t owe anyone any explanations, and you don’t need to announce anything there either. Trust me, those closest to you at work already suspect it.”

“Seriously?” Alec asked, concerned.

“Yeah, but don’t worry, no one has said anything negative about it. They really haven’t. Listen to me, start with Mac’s next week, play it out and go from there.”

***

“So, I finally get to see your new place,” Carly said. “The coast is clear now. I can’t believe you pushed me aside for a man, Brynn.”

Brynn laughed and grabbed a couple of bottles of water and walked out to the back deck to sit in the sun. She was thrilled when Carly texted her this morning and asked if she could come see her place. But Brynn had to tell her to wait until Alec left. “Yeah well, I’m sure Alec wouldn’t have minded, and he didn’t stay that long. He had to go to his mother’s for dinner earlier today. Then I guess he was going to visit Kaitlin and the babies at the hospital.”

“Tell me how it was,” Carly said, excitement showing on her face.

“We aren’t in college anymore. I’m not telling you about my sex life.”

“Now who is being immature?” Carly said, laughing at Brynn’s scowl. “I don’t want details on sex. Please, I want my own sex life, not details on yours. How was your time with him this weekend?”

“Wonderful. Perfect. Amazing,” Brynn said, her eyes shining brightly.

“I told you I didn’t want details on the sex,” Carly said, snorting.

Brynn snickered. “Well, the sex was better than those words. Anyway, we just click. I don’t know how or why, but we do.” She leaned forward and almost whispered, “He is fascinated with my tattoo.”

“Really? How so?”

“I can’t explain it. This sounds so stupid, but I need to say it out loud. I need to say it to someone.”

“What? I’m not sure I like the look on your face right now. You look scared.”

“I’m not scared. Maybe a little freaked out, but not scared.”

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Carly asked, enraged. “I’ll kill him myself if he did.”

Brynn laughed, she couldn’t help it. Carly was several inches shorter than her and skinny as a beanpole. She blended right in with the elementary school kids she taught. “No, he didn’t hurt me. I told him he reminds me of my father.”

“You did what?”

“You heard me, and he didn’t get freaked out by it. You can pop your eyes back in your head because he thought it was sweet. I think he felt honored by it. I never realized I always say ‘my father,’ I never say his name. Alec asked me his name, then he asked me about my mom. I had already told him about the reason for my tattoo.”

“Wow. You hardly tell anyone why you got that tattoo. I’m surprised you told him.”

“It didn’t even cross my mind to not tell him. Either way, I need to ask you something.” She paused and looked around the yard to see if anyone was there. Not that there would be, they were the only people in the development. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

“I’ve always thought you were a little touched, not full-blown crazy, but try me, maybe you really are. Why do you think so?”

Brynn laughed again. Carly always knew what to say. She had the best personality and the two of them had always hit it off. “I think my mother is trying to talk to me.”

Carly’s eyes watered slightly, and Brynn’s followed. Carly had been by Brynn’s side the entire time she grieved, so she knew what Brynn went through. “I don’t think you are crazy when it comes to your mother. I’ve always thought your mother was with you all along, you know that, but what do you think she is saying?”

“I think she is telling me Alec might be the one, and to not push him away.”

“Do you want to push him away?”

“I don’t know and that’s the problem. Some days I want to have this fun and carefree thing we have going, and other times I want to pull him closer, hold him closer, and not let go, but I don’t want to scare the crap out of him either. Hell, I’m scaring myself just talking about this. But Carly,” she said, hedging, “he doesn’t know about the past. Would he think differently about me if he did? I don’t think I could bear if he looked at me differently if he knew.”

“I think you are worrying over nothing, Brynn. And if he did know what happened and looked at you differently, then you are better off without him.”

Not Light

“Are you sure it’s okay if I go tomorrow?” Brynn asked Alec on Saturday morning. They had decided to spend the day on the lake, but they both had some work to catch up on. It had been a crazy week and Brynn spent more time out of the office than in it. Not to mention, Alec almost never seemed to be in the office.

Alec had left her house after breakfast a few hours ago and said he would be back around noon. She decided to run into the office and get a few things done. Before she left, she threw her bikini on, then slipped a sundress over it. She packed a beach towel and sunscreen, deciding she would meet Alec at his house rather than making him drive back into town.

She’d been typing away when Alec showed up at the office asking her what she was doing there. Then he sat down and started to get some paperwork done himself. He was just shutting down his computer when she asked him the question.

“Yes, I’m sure,” he replied.

When he asked her earlier in the week to go with him to Mac’s house for a party, she said yes without thought. Then she found out it was for Mac’s daughter’s birthday and felt uncomfortable, but she hadn’t said a word about it again until now, after she had been agonizing over it for days. “They won’t think it’s strange you’re bringing a date to a kid’s birthday party?”

“Hardly. We are all like family, and this will give you a chance to meet Mac, Beth and Cori. You met Jack at the hospital, and you know the rest of the group. It’ll be fun. Plus Kaitlin will be there with the twins. Besides, it’s not really a party for Zoe; her party is earlier. Mac decided to have an end of the summer party afterward for the rest of us.”

Brynn nodded, then said, “Kaitlin feels up for it? The babies were just released from the hospital a few days ago.”

“Yes. She’ll be fine. Trust me, she won’t be handling the babies for more than two minutes with that group of people there. Plus, remember? Mac is their pediatrician, no worries.”

If he said so. She pushed away from her desk and walked closer to him. “All done now?” she asked after he leaned back in his chair. “I can’t wait to get out on the water.”

He reached for her quickly, shifted, and sat her butt on the edge of his desk. “In a minute. I’ve got something else I need to do first.” Then he stood up and placed his hands on her thighs, sliding the dress up, spreading her legs and stepping between them.

She edged forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, sending him a sexy grin and saying, “What are you waiting for?”

After that, he didn’t wait, only lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her, long and deep. Next thing she knew, he was lifting her up and pushing the bottom of her dress out from under her hips. Before she had a chance to ask what he was doing, the bottom of her bikini was off and on the floor, then the front of his shorts were open.

Reaching in his back pocket, he pulled out his wallet, then a condom. She snatched it out of his hand and rolled it on him, quick and efficient. Seconds later he entered her swiftly. A moan escaped her lips, and her head fell back on her shoulders.

Curling his fingers around her hips, he pulled her closer to him until she was forced to wrap her legs around his back and hold on tight.

It was hurried and urgent. No thoughts whatsoever crossed her mind that they were doing this in their office, on his desk. She was completely consumed with the touch, the feel, and the smell of him—all of her senses were being assaulted. Her hands fisted in his hair while he did his magic.

He feasted like there was no tomorrow on her neck, her mouth, her ears—anything he could touch. Then he squeezed her hips tighter and moved his own in fast short movements, grinding against her, sending jolts of electricity through her entire body. Surely this was what a strike of lightning felt like.

Sensations came rushing to her core, bursting forth, causing her nails to dig into his shoulders, scoring him.

He didn’t stop though. No, he just kept up the motions until she felt him tense.

She swore she could hear the beating of his heart, if not feel it pounding in rhythm with hers.

Moments later, he laid his forehead on her shoulder. “Holy shit,” he breathed out, gasping for air.

She tried to laugh, but couldn’t quite manage it. She needed to suck in some air first; then she did laugh. Raw and free, uncontrolled.

“What’s so funny?” he asked. She could see the uncertainty in his eyes.

“Talk about cliché. It’s bad enough I’m sleeping with the boss, but now I can add doing it with him on his desk.”

He turned serious fast, and she stopped laughing. She hadn’t meant to say it, at least not in an insulting way. Before she could take it back, he said, “It’s not cliché. Nothing about us is.”

Stepping back, he took care of the condom without looking at her. She was at a loss for words. Somehow what she said bothered him. She didn’t need to see it in his face, or his movements, she almost knew the minute it was out of her mouth.

The guy that was always laughing, smiling and joking, had just turned serious and almost…hurt in front of her.

“Alec,” she called his name. He turned to look at her, and she saw the disappointment on his face. What she said was no worse than what he had said to her so many weeks ago about performing a dance for him. She just wished she thought of that before she tried to make light of the situation.

Her own eyes watered. “I didn’t mean it that way, and I don’t want anyone to think it. I guess that’s why I said it. Trying to make light of it, but it’s not light, not for me at least. Not what we did, and not what people might think, and definitely not what I feel.”

He held her stare for a few seconds, walked over and hugged her tight, and she held on just as tight as she had last weekend. She wished she’d thought before she spoke the words.

Then he pushed her back and held her by the shoulders, staring so deep into her eyes she couldn’t look away even if she wanted to. “No, it’s not light, and it’s not funny either. It’s serious for me. I need you to know that. You accused me of not being serious once and that was never the case, not then, and sure the hell not now.”

She nodded in agreement, blinked the tears from her eyes and kissed him lightly on the lips. She didn’t know what else to say. She couldn’t tell him why she really said it, not the complete reason. It was stupid and she had to stop thinking about things in the past. What she had here wasn’t like her last construction job, she believed that wholeheartedly.

Before she could say another word, he took her chin in his hand. “If anyone ever makes a negative comment about us—what we have, what we do, anything—I want to know, and I’ll deal with it.”

She’d never seen such a fierce look come into his eyes before. Again, all she could do was nod her head.

***

“Geez, Alec. In the office?” Phil asked five minutes later, after Brynn left to get some lunch for them to take on the boat.

“Honestly, Phil. I’m getting a little freaked out about how you seem to know all this about me. I’m starting to believe you’ve got some secret powers and I’m kind of jealous.”

Phil laughed. “No powers, just smarter than you.”

Snorting, Alec said, “Hardly. What are you doing here?”

“I came in to get my laptop. I left it here and the plans for Sophia’s greenhouse are on them. I ran into Brynn in the parking lot just now. Her face promptly turned bright red, so I put two and two together, in case you wanted to know.”

Alec shook his head. Phil was back to the wisecracking brother he remembered from so many years ago. He was glad to have him back, and he had Sophia to thank for that. “Greenhouse, huh? You haven’t said anything. When are you going to do it?”

“Next spring. We’re too busy right now. I’ll figure it out when the time comes.”

“Where are you putting it?” he asked, relieved that he had something to focus on rather than his encounter with Brynn a few minutes before. He hated how something wonderful between them turned into something uncomfortable.

He’d been so frustrated when she said those words, trying to make a joke out of what they had done. Who knows? Maybe he was being overly sensitive. It
was
a funny comment. Any other time, or any other woman, he might have laughed, only it didn’t seem funny to him right then. It felt wrong. What he had with Brynn wasn’t wrong, and the truth of the matter was he was hurt to think she might be trivializing things.

He guessed he understood now why she got so defensive when he made the comment about her dancing for him before, but that was before they’d gotten closer.  Now there was no way around it, he was hurt and a bit insulted she said what she had. Especially coming from someone who took so much offense from his comment.

By time she left, he realized that maybe he was wrong though. He’d seen the tears come into her eyes and the regret over the words, then the emotions following when she said it wasn’t light, what they had. Another misunderstanding, and it seemed they were both tripping over each other and crossing lines they shouldn’t be.

After this weekend, they were going to have to sit and have a conversation on where to go next, how to handle these things. For now though, he would focus on Phil.

“I’m going to add it to the back of my office. I’ll put a door between the two rooms, but I think it’ll be nice to know she’s in there nurturing her plants while I’m working. Soothing, I guess.”

“Let me know when you’re ready to get to work. We’ll figure it out and get it started.”

“Will do. Are you heading out to the lake today?”

“Yeah. I thought it would be a nice day on the water.”

“You know where the keys to my boat are. Help yourself.”

“I’m taking Ryan’s out.”

“That works too,” Phil said, nodding. “I’m surprised you don’t have your own boat by now. You’ve got plenty of places to store it, even if you aren’t living on the lake just yet.”

“Soon, I think. I’m getting closer to moving on the lake too.”

“Really?” Phil asked, smirking more than Alec felt comfortable with. He picked up a piece of paper, crumpled it into a ball and threw it at Phil.

Phil caught it and tossed it in the trash, then laughed. “Have fun today.”