All The Way (All Series Book 3) (7 page)

So she would play by these rules. Work was work, he was right. When they were working, or talking about work, they clicked, and she only saw him in that light. She might still appreciate his good looks and physique. She wasn’t blind, after all, but it really didn’t affect her job if she found him attractive.

Matter of fact, she seemed to work better with him than anyone. Not once had she had to explain anything to him. He just watched her do her thing, absorbed what she was doing and they talked about it after the fact. He didn’t even try to show her up at the consultations last weekend.

He treated her as an equal. Something she always wanted but understood might never happen in the world of construction.

But when he told her he valued her. Well, that was the best thing of all, and deep down she knew that might have pushed her over the edge of reason in agreeing to his conditions tonight. It’d been way too long since anyone valued her.

Getting Cozy

“Everything okay?” Carly asked Brynn the next morning when she came downstairs.

“Sure. Why do you ask?” Brynn said, walking over to the coffee pot. She desperately needed a shot of caffeine. She’d barely gotten a wink of sleep last night. All she could think about was Alec, his hands, his mouth, his eyes, and his kisses, because boy, could he kiss.

It was that last kiss that made her almost change her mind about helping him again today. She didn’t trust herself with him, but after he kissed her, he looked at her, almost as if challenging her. There was no way she could back out then.

“You were awfully quiet when you got home last night,” Carly commented.

“Just tired, it was a long day. It’s been a while since I’ve done any mudding and my arms and shoulders were sore.” Which was why she quickly took a shower. A nice long, hot shower. She felt pretty good this morning, but after another few hours of mudding today, she probably wouldn’t be able to lift her arms up for days.

“So,” Carly started, her lips forming a cheesy grin as she sipped her tea. “How did it go last night?”

“It was fine,” Brynn said, turning away to grab a bowl and a box of cereal. She was afraid Carly would know something happened last night just by looking at Brynn’s face, even if she wasn’t blushing.

“What are you doing today? You aren’t normally up this early on a Saturday, let alone showered and eating breakfast.”

It was true. Brynn liked to sleep in on the weekend, and then when she did get up, she loafed around the house cleaning or doing research on things. She only got up early and showered right away when she had plans. “I’m going to help Alec again today.”

“Hmm,” Carly said around another damn grin.

“Go ahead. Say what’s on your mind,” Brynn demanded.

“Getting cozy with the new boss,” Carly teased.

“I swear you spend way too much time around young kids.”

Carly snickered. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Nope, I didn’t.”

“Which means it’s true. So spill it. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Brynn insisted. “I’m just helping him out. You know I like to do this type of work too.”

“Yep. I know you do, and I know you love your job. But I also see your reaction every time I mention Alec. You were alone with him last night. Anything you want to share?”

Brynn just wanted to scream with the way Carly casually slipped that in there while she batted her eyelashes. Almost like she knew something happened last night. “He’s my boss, Carly.”

“True. But it wouldn’t be the first time someone had a fling with their boss.”

“I’m not having a fling with Alec,” Brynn insisted. It was true, she was
not
going to, and she didn’t have flings. She had thirty days to decide if anything was going to seriously happen with them. There was too much on the line to not take this seriously. And she still wasn’t sure she had it in her to even try for the thirty days. All night she fought an internal battle and decided she was willing to risk it. She was tired of letting the past dictate her future. She’d never been a coward before and she wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of her happiness again. Whether Alec would bring her happiness or not was yet to be seen, but she was willing to explore it.

“But you want to,” Carly said smirking.

Busted. “What do you want me to say? That I find him attractive? Of course I do. You know that.”

“What I want you to do is talk to me. Maybe I can help.”

“Help with what?”

“With what is eating at you right now?” Carly said knowingly.

Again, leave it to Carly to read between the lines and get to the heart of the matter. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to fill Carly in on what was going on just to get another woman’s perspective.

Her friend wasn’t a blabbermouth; she wouldn’t tell a soul. Other than her father and Drew, Carly was the only person who knew what happened at her last job, so she hoped Carly might be able to shed some light on things.

“Oh, wow. You’ve been a busy girl,” Carly said a few minutes later after Brynn explained what was going on.

“Yeah. So tell me. What are your thoughts on it?”

“First off, I think it’s very sweet that he said it wouldn’t affect your job in the least. The Harpers are good people, really good people. Alec was always nice in school. A little bit of a goofball, never taking much seriously, but still nice at the heart of things. I know he was years ahead of me, but I remember my friend’s siblings always saying how everyone loved him. It was like he didn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

“I can see that. The same with Phil. They’re just really nice guys. I couldn’t ask for better bosses. But that’s the problem. I don’t want anything to mess this job up. And on top of it,” Brynn added before Carly could say a word, “don’t you think it looks bad? I mean, geez, I just started a few weeks ago and here I am kissing the boss. You know me. That is totally
not
me.”

“You’re right. It’s not you, not at all. I’ve never known you to date anyone you’ve worked with even though you’d been asked out plenty. You’ve always kept that separate. Why is that?”

“Because construction is still a man’s world. I wanted to prove myself. If I dated anyone I worked with, even if it was a co-worker, I never wanted it said I was only there because I used sex to get my way. I never wanted to put myself in that position before. So I was always one of the guys on the site. I always joked and laughed and brushed off their passes.”

“But it didn’t make a difference, did it?” Carly said sadly.

Brynn sighed. “No, it didn’t. I still wasn’t taken seriously.” And she didn’t want to think about what really drove her away from leaving that job. She wasn’t a tease or a flirt, and she didn’t sleep her way to the top regardless of what everyone said or thought…or tried to prove.

“So why not try something different this time?”

“I guess you could say I already am. I agreed to the thirty days. We’ll see what happens from there. We’ll use this time to get to know each other better, on both work and personal levels. Thirty days is still a long time away.”

***

Twenty-nine days to go, Alec thought the next morning. He was tired since he’d barely slept last night. Images of Brynn yanking him back and kissing him senseless flashed in his brain nonstop. Not to mention her rubbing up against him on the last kiss he gave her before she left his house last night.

He was crazy to agree to thirty days. What was he thinking? But it had merit. They could see where it took them. He would use the time to find out more about her as a person. There was nothing wrong with that. It’s not like they saw each other all day long at work.

This past week was a prime example. He saw her on Friday afternoon—that was it, all week long. They didn’t even talk all that much the days prior, if the truth were known. So he could handle this, sure he could.

But today would be a different story. When she came in, he was going to be in work mode. She was helping him out and he was going to take advantage of it. They were going to get all the walls done in the last three bedrooms upstairs, which should take less time than all the rooms had downstairs. Then, if she was agreeable, he would take her to lunch, and they would go their own way for the rest of the weekend. A little work, a little pleasure.

The best-laid plans never worked out though. Brynn walked in the door at ten that morning and they spent a few hours working in the bedrooms upstairs quietly, at peace, no sexual tension at all.

Until they were done. Then all of a sudden the air started to sizzle between them. He’d thought he had a good handle on things. He even tried his damnedest not to stare at her in her little khaki shorts and shirt, except it was hard. Casual clothes never turned him on before like this, why now? Maybe because he knew what she could look like dressed up, or maybe it was just something special about her that he couldn’t put his finger on.

When she reached up high enough, her shirt pulled up and he got a glimpse of her smooth flat stomach. And thanks to grabbing her the weekend before, he knew how soft her skin actually felt.

He wasn’t stupid. He felt her eyes on him just as much, not the entire time, but plenty enough. It was almost as if by agreeing to those thirty days the tension was worse.

“This isn’t working, is it?” she asked when she was wiping off her hands.

He wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. He had more willpower than that. He wanted this to work—needed this to work so he could figure out what it was about her. Could she be the one he thought he’d never find? It had sounded stupid to him last night when he thought about it. How could he know this soon? She might be the one he was willing to go all the way with, and there was no chance he was going to blow it. Not without giving it everything he had first.

“Give it time. It’s still new.” He smiled at her, his eyes warming. She smiled right back and he couldn’t help himself. He closed the distance and pulled her forward. “Maybe this will help,” he said with a big wide grin. Then he laid his lips over hers, ran his hands up her arms, then felt her arch into him more. Her body was soft against his, yet hard at the same time. She molded to him perfectly.

After a few minutes, she pushed back, visibly more relaxed, and looked softly at him. “Yeah, that helped.”

He was glad, because he felt the same way. “Maybe we should have started with that?” he suggested.

“Now we know,” she replied, laughing back at him. It was exactly the right thing she could have said. “Just don’t try it in the office,” she warned him. “I don’t want anyone to know what is going on.”

“Don’t worry. I can control myself there, barely, but I can. It’s only when we’re alone that it seems to be the problem.” Which was true when he thought about that last night too. With other people around he still found her attractive, he still enjoyed being around her, but he wasn’t quite so tempted. Oh, he was tempted, but not like when they were alone.

“Okay. I think I have enough willpower myself,” she joked, then leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the lips that felt just about perfect to him. The teasing, the easiness, and the affection, all of it together wrapped up like the best gift he could have been given at the moment.

Diamond in the Rough

“Congrats,” Alec said, reaching out and giving his brother Phil a hug before they walked into their parents’ house. They had pulled in at the same time, and Alec knew his parents had no idea what was going on. “I still think you picked the wrong brother,” he told Sophia next, leaning down and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“No, I’ve got the right one. But you might have been a good second,” she said, winking.

“Does anyone else know?” Alec asked Phil.

“Just Kaitlin. I needed her help with some logistics while I was there, so that means pretty boy knows too.”

“It looks like we’re the last ones to arrive,” Alec commented, noticing Ryan’s Mercedes and Ben’s SUV in the driveway already.

At the front entrance they all stopped and took off their shoes, lining them up neatly next to the rest of the shoes. No one was allowed to walk into their parents’ home with shoes on. Alec never understood that as a kid, but now, as a contractor, looking down at his parents’ old hardwood floors still in pristine condition, he understood completely.

“Kaitlin,” Alec said, leaning down and kissing his sister’s cheek. “You look ready to burst.”

“Shut up, Alec,” she said lightheartedly.

Presley, Ben’s fiancée, walked into the living room the moment Kaitlin spoke those words. “Don’t mess with a pregnant woman. Don’t you know anything, Alec?”

Alec turned. His face lit up and he walked over and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, too. He didn’t know how his brothers got so lucky in the women department and hated how jealous he felt over it. “I don’t get to see you nearly enough. Ben unlocked you from the basement?”

Ben laughed from the couch. “I only lock her to the bed. The basement isn’t very romantic. That’s why you’re still single, Alec.”

Isabel, who always seemed to hear every conversation her children preferred she didn’t, shouted from the kitchen, “Benjamin, you know better.”

Ryan, who had remained quiet, laughed out loud. “I just love when you get in trouble.”

Isabel came out, wiping her hands on her apron, and leaned up to give Phil a kiss on the cheek, then Alec, and finally a hug for Sophia. His mother never seemed to get enough of hugs and kisses with her children, regardless of the fact they were all full-grown adults, and he hoped she never changed.

“Dinner is almost ready. William,” she called to his father, who was relaxing in his recliner. “Can you come carve the meat, please? Everyone, get what you want to drink and meet us in the dining room.”

Just like that, everyone made their way in because their mother told them to, and you did what she said.

It took less than a minute after they sat before Isabel caught the ring on Sophia’s finger and jumped up from the table. “Oh my God. Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked, turning her already misty eyes at Phil, accusing him.

Alec chuckled and answered for his brother. “You didn’t give them chance. We walked in, and then you kissed everyone and started issuing orders.”

She turned her watery smile to him, swatted his arm and said, “Did you know?”

Alec shook his head humorously. She should know better than to ask that, of course he knew. “What do you think, Mom?”

Then Isabel looked at Kaitlin and narrowed her eyes. “Did you know too?”

Kaitlin shrugged but didn’t bother to hide her grin. “I probably knew before Alec. Phil needed my help,” she boasted.

Quickly, everyone around the table was offering congratulations and the food finally got dished up. Which was good, because Alec was starving. He wasn’t lying when he told Brynn he didn’t cook. There wasn’t much in his house in the way of food. A few snacks or leftovers from take-out. He hadn’t had much to eat other than a donut and the coffee he ran out to get this morning.

“So when’s the date?” William asked.

Phil turned and looked at Ben almost apologetically. “We are hoping for the first weekend in December. This December. Sorry, I don’t want to take away from you guys, or jump ahead of you. I know you were engaged first, but if we don’t do it before the holiday or tax season, we’re looking at a year from now. We just don’t want to wait.”

Ben, always laid-back, said, “Don’t worry about us. I always figured you would be the first of us boys married, now you will be. It’s all good. Right, Presley?”

“Absolutely,” she said, smiling happily, her voice husky. “It actually takes all the pressure off of us if you go first.”

Sophia turned to Kaitlin. “You’ll be ready by then, don’t you think?”

“It gives me three months or so to get back in shape after having twins. Geez, thanks for being such a great friend, Sophia,” she said sarcastically, even though there was laughter in her eyes.

Ryan reached over and picked up Kaitlin’s hand. “You’re going to look beautiful no matter what. You do right now, regardless of how much complaining you’ve been doing about your figure.”

At any other time, Alec would have thought his brother-in-law was being cheesy. That it was just another line, but it wasn’t. He could see—could see the love behind Ryan’s eyes when he looked at Kaitlin; everyone in the room could. And there went the twinge of jealousy again.

“Do you know where the wedding is going to be?” Isabel asked. “With this short notice I’m guessing it won’t be that big?”

“It’s going to be in Manhattan, I’m afraid. My mother’s husband has some connections, and we’ve got a list of three restaurants that we want the ceremony and reception at. I’m betting one of the three will work out. And no, not too big. I want all the kids there, so I’ll make sure it’s set up for it.”

Alec nodded. That was his family, and Sophia fit in perfectly. It was her day, her wedding day, and she was making sure it would be comfortable for everyone’s kids, because she knew no one was going to want to leave their kids behind, least of all Ryan and Kaitlin.

The more he thought about it, there would be quite a few kids there. Ryan’s brother, Lucas, had a toddler. So did Lucas’ brother-in-law, Mac, who also had a five-year-old. Not to mention Cori and Jack, Ryan’s best friends and close friends with all of them, would have a newborn too. No, no one would want to leave their children.

Thinking about all of those families, all of those couples with kids of their own or kids on the way just depressed him. He was happy for everyone, he truly was, but he never thought he would be the last one standing. Not one bit.

After dinner Alec took his beer with him down to the dock. It was a nice day, and he’d been spending most of his weekends working indoors. He needed some air.

When he heard the footsteps behind him, he didn’t need to turn to know it was Phil. “What’s up with you?”

Alec turned and addressed his twin. “Nothing. Why?”

“You’re awfully quiet today. It’s not like you.”

Alec shrugged. There was no hiding anything from Phil, so he wasn’t even going to try. “Just thinking.”

Phil nodded and stood next to him for a moment, quietly watching the water. “Your day will come.”

He laughed. “I’m not looking for it, or wishing for it, Phil. So I’m not stressed or worried either.”

“Aren’t you? Looking for it, or maybe wishing for something?”

“Where is that coming from?” Because Alec really wanted to know. Yes, he and Phil always knew what the other was thinking, but this was a bit too close for comfort.

“I watched you when Mom brought up Brynn today.” Alec turned with a start, but Phil continued on. “I don’t know what’s going on. I know you, I know you’ll be careful, and in a situation like this, you’ll probably beat yourself up over her working for us, but don’t. Think it through, work it out, but don’t wait, Alec. Don’t wait to find what you’re looking for; don’t make the mistakes I did.”

With those last words, Phil walked away. Alec watched him go, knowing this was another thing for him to think about, because Phil was right: he didn’t want to wait. No more than twenty-eight days—and he was counting them down.

***

Brynn spent her day driving around Saratoga looking for houses for sale. She was trying to find that diamond in the rough.

After spending the last two days working on Alec’s home, she had the itch full force to find her own flip, or her own home. Maybe she would find the perfect spot, the perfect one, and she would keep it. It would be her dream home.

Only, in her mind, her dream home was brand new, new everything. She always leaned toward modern and streamlined. Even a rehabbed house wasn’t brand new. It wasn’t just hers alone; it was someone else’s first.

That was why living in the model home appealed to her so much. She was the first. The first one to stay there and form some memories in the house. She could say she put her stamp on it before anyone else.

So after driving around and not finding anything that caught her eye, she found herself nearing the lake. She knew the Harpers all lived on the lake—well, most of them anyway. She didn’t know where, and it’s not like she was looking for them.

But she drove around, found a public beach, and parked. Walking out on the beach, she looked around. It was so pretty. The houses were all right out of a picture book. Some old, some new, some downright stunning, others tiny and quaint, and that was only a fraction of them.

She wondered if there was any land available. Wouldn’t it be nice to live here? Look at this every day. Every morning wake up and watch the sun rise over the water while she drank her coffee.

She never saw herself living on the water before, but now, looking out over the lake, she could completely imagine herself there.