All The Way (All Series Book 3) (16 page)

Secretive

Three weeks later, Brynn thought back on that weekend. She was sitting at her desk and pushed back from her computer to take a break from work.

She’d been nervous about dinner at Alec’s parents’, but she shouldn’t have been. Everyone but Presley was present for dinner, as she had to work. But Isabel reminded Ben repeatedly to remember to drop leftovers to Presley on his way home so she could have dinner too.

Isabel really did remind Brynn of her own mother, the nurturing quality of her. How she always knew what her kids wanted or liked without even asking, or knew what was going on in their minds.

That day at Mac’s, she hadn’t missed Isabel’s looks toward Alec, nor Alec thanking his mother while Brynn walked away with Harper in her arms.

Isabel seemed to know exactly what she and Alec were having a hard time doing, and she’d stepped in and pushed them along.

At first Brynn was embarrassed when Alec leaned in and kissed her in front of everyone. She’d noticed all the looks the two of them had been getting. Deep down she knew everyone had figured she and Alec were a couple, but that was really their first outing as one.

It seemed once that kiss was done and everything was out in the open, her nervousness about the day diminished.

Only, it returned before going to his parents’ house for dinner the next day. Then she realized how silly she was being. Alec had said his mother sounded like her mother and he was right.

She felt right at home, sitting there at the table listening to Phil and Sophia’s wedding plans for early December, followed up by Ben’s in the spring. Everyone talked about their lives and what they had going on. Even William asked her about her own family a few times.

It was a family dinner like those she had experienced plenty, growing up with her own parents and Drew. One she wasn’t sure she would ever experience again after the death of her mother.

After that family dinner at Alec’s, things seemed to take a turn for the better with her and Alec’s relationship. Nothing seemed secretive anymore, at least in her mind, and she didn’t think in his either. They didn’t seem to stumble and say stupid offensive things to each other anymore either.

For her part, she wasn’t looking over her shoulder for how people might be watching them. Well, not all the time. When Alec came to her house she made sure they were never out in the open. He still stored his truck in her garage at night, then pulled it out in the mornings before his crew showed up.

She didn’t think he did it on purpose. It was rather that when he did spend the night, he just got up early like always, showered, and then drove around the site doing his checks of the homes before the rest of the crew showed up. He even had a few changes of clothing at her place now.

They didn’t spend every night together, either. He was trying to get his own flip done and finally did last week, with her help of course, though she never spent the night at his place during the week. The crew was used to her making them coffee in the morning now, and it was too much work on her part to leave his house early and get home to prep before the crew arrived.

But the last couple of Fridays and a few Saturdays she stayed at his house finishing up the last of the trim work and molding. Now his flip was finally done.

“Do you have a minute?”

Brynn looked up to see Sean standing in her doorway. “Sure, I’m just working on comps for Alec’s flip.”

“He decided to sell it, then?”

“After I researched the area more, Phil and he decided it might not rent as well as turning it around for a quick profit. I think it will sell fast if he puts it on the market in the next few weeks.”

Sean nodded, then said, “Last I knew he didn’t have another flip to work on.”

“No, he hasn’t had time to look either.”

“Where is he going to live?”

Brynn shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve got new tenants lined up to move into Sophia’s house the beginning of November. I’ll get the details on their contract to you by the end of this week for that property.”

“Sounds good.” Then Sean smirked. “He could move into the model home.”

“True. He could. I could always move back in with Carly, or find another place,” she mused. She had thought that might be a possibility, too, but hadn’t wanted her mind to go there just yet.

“I’m sure Alec has no intentions of kicking you out if he moves in,” Sean said, laughing at her.

Well, this was the first time her relationship with Alec had come up in the office. Guess it was time to address it. “Why is that?”

He grinned pleasantly. Sean reminded her so much of Alec at times. “Really, Brynn? We all know. It’s not a secret.”

“Everyone knows?”

“Well, everyone that matters. And if you need to know, everyone is thrilled too.”

“Honestly?” she asked, unsure, and had no clue why.

“Honestly. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Brynn,” Mary interrupted over the phone’s speaker, “Carly Springfield is here to see you.”

“Thanks, Mary. You can send her in.”

“I’ll let you get back to work,” Sean said.

“No stay. I’ll introduce you.”

Brynn turned when she heard Carly’s voice. “This is the only way I get to see you…” Carly trailed off when she saw Sean in the office. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were with someone.”

“Carly, this is Sean Callahan; he’s the CFO here at Harpers. Sean, Carly Springfield.”

Sean walked forward and offered his hand to Carly, and Brynn bit back a laugh while Carly stood there momentarily frozen. Then she seemed to snap out of it and rushed forward. “Oh, sorry. It’s nice to meet you.”

“No, it’s my pleasure,” Sean said. “I finally get to meet the woman who brought Brynn to us.”

Carly blushed and looked questioningly at Brynn.

“I’ve mentioned your name a time or two. They know you were the one who sent the job to me when you saw it advertised months ago.”

“Oh. Well, that was for selfish reasons on my part. I wanted Brynn to move closer,” Carly added and smiled, warming up to Sean.

Brynn knew that Carly was always uneasy around men when she first met them. She’d always been skittish, and Brynn knew why, or at least part of the reason. It took Carly a long time to warm up to any man. Even though she joked about dating and men, the truth of it was, Carly didn’t date often. Whenever she warmed up enough to start seeing someone, it never lasted long.

“It was nice to meet you,” Sean said, and left the two of them alone.

Turning to Carly, Brynn said, “So, you came because you missed me.”

“I did,” Carly said, grinning from ear to ear. “You keep blowing me off for a man, just like in college.”

Brynn snorted. That wasn’t true, not at all. “Sometimes I like a man’s company more.”

“I don’t blame you,” Carly said. “Especially one that looks like Alec. Anyway,” Carly waved her hand, “I wanted to know if you wanted to have a drink with me tonight if you don’t have plans.”

“No plans.”

“Good, because I need some adult company tonight. The kids were driving me insane at school today.”

***

“Did you have a good time with Carly?” Alec asked later that night.

“Yeah. I miss her. I like being so close to her now, but I still don’t get to see her as much as I think she had hoped.”

“I didn’t need to come over tonight. Anytime you want to spend time with her, just tell me. It won’t hurt my feelings,” Alec said. He didn’t want Brynn to think she couldn’t have her own life and her own friends. He’d never been that way. He wanted to spend time with her, but not at the expense of her own personal life.

“It’s fine, she just wanted a drink. I should make more of an effort to see her, but I knew with school starting she was busy. And we’ve been pretty busy ourselves with work.”

“True.”

He watched her getting ready for bed. He liked the routine they had, a few nights at her house during the week, one or two nights at his on the weekend. They didn’t spend a huge amount of time together during the days. He just never seemed to be around the office, and when he was, she wasn’t always there. It was working for them, and it was nice that things seemed to be out in the open more.

“Have you decided on what a fair price is to ask for my flip?”

“I’ve got a range. I figured we can talk about it tomorrow at the meeting unless you want to now?”

“No, we can tomorrow.” He tried not to cringe. An eight o’clock meeting with Sean and Phil tomorrow, along with Brynn. He hated meetings. He all but groaned when she texted him before she left for the day, saying that Sean asked her to remind him about the meeting. He wouldn’t have forgotten, he never did. Just because he missed them didn’t mean he forgot; he just got busy and time got away from him.

“Don’t miss it,” she said, smiling at him.

“I won’t. If I ride in with you then I can’t. How does that sound?” She looked startled for a moment and he wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have said that. “Or not.”

“That works. I can run you back here around eleven if you want. I’ve got some appointments unless you need to get back sooner.”

“No. Eleven is good. I’ve got paperwork to take care of and some things to talk to Phil about.”

He pulled the covers back for her to slide in next to him. Then he pulled her close and held her. He loved this time when they just lay together at night. He didn’t think he was sentimental, but something about this downtime together always made him feel good, feel right about her. Right about being with her.

“Where are you going to live if the house sells fast?” she asked out of the blue.

He shrugged. He’d been thinking about it himself and trying to figure out where to go and how to handle this. He wasn’t sure it was smart to move in here with her, except he wasn’t thinking smart right now either. “I guess it depends on how fast it sells.”

He felt her head nod and held his breath. He shouldn’t have expected that she would suggest he move in.

“I can get it listed within the week and run an open house. I’ve got meetings with some realtors tomorrow too, to let them know. I’m trying to form some working relationships with the local realtors.”

“That’s good. It takes the pressure off of us.”

“That is what I’m here for.”

“Just that?” he asked. “Right now I was hoping you would be here for me.”

“I’m always here for you,” she said softly.

His heart melted on the spot. He wasn’t sure if she meant it the way it came across or not, but that was how he was taking it.

Couldn’t Say it

Alec leaned up on his elbow and gazed down at Brynn’s sleeping form next to him. He had such an emotional tug toward her and didn’t know why. Sometimes he wondered what spell he might be under and if she even knew it. He had to try to keep it all in. There was something about her that just pulled him, made him stronger, made him a better person. Better than he ever thought he would be. Maybe the person he always wanted to be without even knowing.

He shook his head of the crazy thoughts. He didn’t know where they were coming from.

Slowly, he glided his knuckles over her hair, barely touching her. She didn’t stir, just slept on deeply like she always did.

Lying back down, he stacked his hands behind his head and thought about tonight.

She’d come in the door laughing. He’d actually gotten to the house before her tonight. For some reason it felt odd to him to unlock the door and walk in without her here. He owned the house so he shouldn’t feel that way. Only it felt like her home now, everything in it was hers.

When he asked her what was so funny, she just shrugged and tucked her phone back in her pocket, saying, “Carly is being a tool. She’s around kids so much that she starts thinking like them.”

“So you had fun tonight?”

“Yeah. I always have fun with Carly. She said the kids were driving her insane and she needed some adult company.”

“You should go out with her more.”

“Are you trying to push me away?” she asked, teasing.

“Not at all,” he assured her, then pulled her into his arms for a hug and a kiss. This coming home to her at the end of the day was a wonderful feeling.

“I’ll try. She is pretty busy herself with school. She’s on all sorts of committees too. She has always enjoyed being part of the community.”

“That’s nice,” he’d said.

“Did you eat? I can throw something together quick. We had some snacks at the bar, but I could eat something small myself right now.”

“Whatever you want works for me.”

“I like hearing that,” she said, her eyes sparkling. At that moment, with the look in her eyes and the laughter behind them, his breath lodged in his throat. Crazy, he knew, but he couldn’t help it, it just reminded him again how bewitched he was with her.

She’d thrown together a few sandwiches while he ran up and showered quickly. He’d only beaten her to the house by ten minutes. Actually he’d stayed at the site working until the last of the crew left. Fred, of course, stayed the longest and he knew it was on purpose. Alec almost told him he was calling it a night and was going to drive here just to see what Fred said.

But he didn’t need to worry. Fred burst out laughing after catching him staring at Brynn’s house across the street again and said, “Oh, just go over there and wait for her. I’m done babysitting you anyway.” Just like that it was out. No need to say anything else.

After their quick dinner, he pulled her up to the bedroom and undressed her slowly. Everything he did was slow tonight. He wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t in a hurry.

When they were naked and lying in bed, he reached over her and cupped her face in his hands, his eyes searching hers. He didn’t know for what, but he just wanted to look at her, just follow her eyes as they searched his face. He tried to tell himself he wasn’t looking for signs of something deeper, but he would be lying.

No words were spoken. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her tenderly, sweetly, gently, moving his lips around hers to the corner of her mouth, then covering her completely. Slow and steady. A nice change of pace for them.

He had kissed every part of her body tonight. He couldn’t get enough of her. Everywhere he touched, he had to kiss and then touch some more and go back and kiss again. By the time he was done, she was wiggling underneath him. She’d never said a word, never urged him on, nothing. Just let him do what he wanted to her tonight.

When he thought she’d had enough, he reached for a condom, then covered her body with his again and slowly slid inside her welcoming warmth. She met him with her hips, not fast and demanding like she had before. No, she was almost slower than he was, dragging it out, prolonging that moment when they became one.

He threaded his fingers through hers, and they rocked together to a song in their head that only they seemed to be able to hear. He felt stronger than ever when he was with her and he thought she felt the same way. Or at least hoped she did.

By time they both crested to the top, he held her close, listening to the beating of her heart, matching the rhythm of his. Again as one, so in tune with each other. Always.

They’d been together for two months now. He was counting the thirty days they waited as still being a couple. They’d been dating in his mind. It had all the elements of it but sex. Sex didn’t define a relationship in his mind, not now. It always had before, but with her, he didn’t think that anymore.

Turning his head, he looked at her again, wishing. Wishing he could say the words that were stuck in his throat right now. He knew he loved her, but he couldn’t say it. He didn’t even know
how
to say it, and was hoping maybe she would have said it first.
Maybe she will.
Then he could just return those words. Or maybe she didn’t love him and that was why she wasn’t saying it—that stupid humongous fear flying over his head.

He’d never said the words to anyone else before. He’d never been in a serious enough relationship to feel what he felt for her. Not even close.

It had been said to him a few times and he always managed to wiggle out of returning the words. He never felt it was right to say it if he didn’t mean it, and he never had.

But now he did mean it, now he did feel it. Only he couldn’t say it.

***

Brynn glided through the dream. She was so happy, so carefree. Everything in life was going so well. It was everything she always dreamed of. She only wished her mother were alive to see how her dreams had come true.

She was working at a job she loved. She was making her mark on the construction world. Not everyone respected her, she knew that, but she was working through it.

Not everyone was going to change and accept a woman in her position, but she had good employers and they supported her. They helped pave the way; she just had to keep her eyes open for those that didn’t accept it. Those that were old fashioned.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she was walking through the new house with her clipboard, checking to make sure everything she ordered was done for the day.

Hearing a noise behind her, she turned quickly and scanned the site. Her hardhat slipped to one side, so she lifted a hand and adjusted it back in place.

Moving around more, she didn’t see anything that could have caused the noise, so she went back to her checklist, smiling away, not a care in the world. Just happy to be doing what she loved so much.

A loud clatter had her swinging around and gasping, hot fingers of fear running up her spine.

She bolted upright in bed, her breath panting and her heart beating a mile a minute.

“What is it?” Alec asked, sitting up next to her, his hand rubbing up and down her arm. How he knew she was frantic was beyond her, but she appreciated that he was trying to soothe her.

“Nothing,” she replied. “Just a bad dream.”

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked after she lay back down, and he pulled her close. She knew he could feel her heart still beating rapidly, but she couldn’t say it. She couldn’t say what the dream was about. She hadn’t said it to anyone before, not the complete truth of it. Not everything, only what she needed to say after it happened.

“Yeah,” she lied.

A few minutes later she felt Alec’s breath on her neck, the even breathing of him relaxing back into sleep. The rain started to fall outside, a calm tranquil sound against the roof, and soon her body was drifting off next to him.

A loud clap of thunder had her tensing again, but she convinced herself enough to not sit right up in bed. Alec barely stirred, just pulled her in closer and held her tight.

She lay there longer trying to get back to sleep, but her mind wouldn’t relax enough. Then she heard creaking, probably the house settling. The wind was blowing pretty hard too.

Then she heard it again and sat up, waking Alec up again.

“What’s wrong, another bad dream?” he asked.

“No. I heard something. Listen,” she told him.

He did. They both sat there and listened and both heard the creaking again. “It’s just the wind.”

“No, I heard something else.” She didn’t want him to think she was crazy. Maybe she was, but it sounded like something was moving against the house. She would never go back to sleep until she knew for sure.

He reached over and turned the light on. “I’ll go check. I’m sure it’s nothing though.”

She watched him pull his jeans on, so she threw the covers back. “I’m going with you.”

He looked over and smirked at her. “What’s the matter, you don’t think I can protect you?”

She knew he was joking, but she took his comment seriously. “I trust you to watch out for me and be there for me.”

His smile faded, and a soft look came into his eyes. He reached for her when they both heard the noise again, louder this time. “The wind is really bad out there. It’s probably stuff blowing around. I better go and check out the properties right now. Shit, not what I wanted to do in the rain.”

“Then I’m coming with you. We can get it done faster.”

As they made their way down the stairs, they heard the noise louder, coming from the backyard. Detouring that way, they saw all the deck furniture had been overturned and the wind was moving it all over the deck. Well, at least that explained the noise.

The rain had let up just enough for them to rush outside and grab the chairs and bring them in the kitchen without getting completely drenched. The table was too heavy and too big, but Alec turned it on its side and wedged it into the corner.

Once the deck furniture was taken care of, he and Brynn finished getting dressed and got in his truck to drive around the development, looking for any damage.