Inside Out (5 page)

As she settled back and sipped the tea, her gaze moved around the room. A framed picture sat on the small table in the corner. Taken just two weeks before at a picnic in Brody and Elise’s backyard. Brody and Elise, two of her favorite people. That weekend, those two wonderful people were having an engagement shindig of sorts, hosted by Brody’s brother Adrian.

Elise was as tenacious as Erin was, and friendship with the woman had been inevitable. She’d been in the periphery of the group, though she’d been invited many times. Had watched Brody fall in love, had watched Elise become part of his life, of his family, and when Elise noticed Ella, Elise had simply been Elise. She’d reached out and in doing so had become her closest friend. Elise and Erin, she’d let in, had felt
understood
in a way she rarely felt with others.

As if she’d been summoned, Elise’s text buzzed across the screen of Ella’s phone.
Call me if you’re awake!

Yes, a phone conversation with Elise would be a good thing. She dialed in the number, and Brody answered, making her smile.

“Hey there, Ella. You looking for my missus?”

“Yes, please.”

“While I watch my lovely lady hop around and jiggle, I’m going to continue to keep you long enough to ask how your hip is doing.” He’d nearly finished the tattoo she’d been getting in bits and pieces over the last year and a half. Each new achievement, and he’d add another piece. For a time it had been her secret. Only Brody knew about it. But after a while, she’d told Erin and then Elise. He’d just completed the last major part a few days before, roots and some drifting blossoms at her hip.

Her first tattoo had been small, a silly little four-leaf clover he’d done on her inner arm, near the elbow. Something about it had filled a need inside, the need to mark her progress in an indelible way. It’s how she’d truly gotten to know Brody. He’d always been her boss’s older brother, friendly, but it never went very deep. He was good at his job, good at listening, and over time she’d poured out her story to him.

She understood, totally, why Elise adored him, why her daughter, Rennie, now
their
daughter, lit up every time Brody came into a room. There were very few men in the universe who could hold a candle to him.

“Good. Soreness is mostly gone, and now it itches.”

“Coming along then. If you need me to, I’ll check it for you.”

“Aw, thanks. But I think you might have more things on your mind than looking at a healing tattoo. You ready for the engagement party on Saturday?”

“I’ve been ready to marry Elise for a long time now. I’m just annoyed I have to wait another few months.”

She heard the smile in his voice and smiled herself. They were good together, a family. Unconventional, just like all the Browns were. But it worked, and it was genuine. They gave her hope that once she put dating back on the menu, she might find something like what they had too.

“Stop hogging her.” Elise got on the line, and Ella heard the noisy kiss her friend gave her very sexy fiancé. “I hear Raven is asking to photograph it for that tattoo magazine she works with down in L.A.”

As if she’d bare her back from hip to shoulder for strangers to gape over! Raven could do that, Erin, bold, brash women like them. In any case, things were complicated between Raven, one of Brody’s exes, and Elise in the best of times. Therefore in the time-honored tradition of girlfriends everywhere, Ella kept her distance when Raven was involved. She actually liked Raven because the woman was totally herself. There was pretty much no bull when you dealt with her; she said exactly what she thought, when she thought it. Which was uncomfortable sometimes, but once Ella had gotten used to it, it made her easy to be around. Well, since she’d finally backed off and accepted and respected Elise’s place in Brody’s life.

“Ha. Yeah, not so much. I will be really happy when it’s finished though. What’s up?” she asked.

“Just wanted to check in. You looked tired today. I wanted to be sure you were okay. I would have called, but I didn’t know if you were still with your parents at dinner.”

“I’m good,” she said to Elise and meant it. “I’m making a mental promise to try harder with them. I have a fridge full of leftovers, and now I’m here drinking some tea and trying to wind down for bed.”

“Good. Okay, just FYI, we’re all going out dancing on Friday night. Girls only. Meet me here, and we’ll all get dressed and head out together.”

Ella laughed. “Okay then. I thought I was supposed to plan this, and you said not to bother?”

“I decided going dancing would be fun. Erin says we can make it her baby shower too.”

“I’ll grab some red velvet cupcakes then. That’ll be fun. I haven’t been out dancing in forever and ever.”

“Friday. My house no later than seven. You’d better bring some hot clothes, or I will dress you myself,” Elise warned, and Brody chuckled in the background.

“You doing all right? Anything I can help with?” Erin was the official maid of honor, but she and Ella had shared a lot of the duties.

“It’s all good. I’m marrying Brody in a few months. What could be better than that?”

Ella smiled, truly thrilled for both of them, and for Rennie too. “You’re right. I’ll see you Friday.”

3

Cope knew exactly what he was doing when he showed up at Brody’s door on Friday night. Brody had invited friends over for a guy’s night while the women would be heading out dancing. Not a bachelor party with strippers or anything. Brody and the rest of the crew were past that.

He had no intention of sitting around playing cards and drinking beer while Ella was out looking hot and dancing at a club. In a while, he’d make the suggestion that they go out and connect with the ladies to have a unified bride and groom party. The rest of the guys would pretend to fight the idea for all of thirty minutes, and then they’d head out.

The idea that men didn’t want to be in the company of beautiful women when they were dressed up and ready to dance and have fun was absurd. He found men who proclaimed to want man caves, without the presence of women, hard to understand. If the ladies didn’t want them along, that would be different. He wasn’t a stalker or anything. But from everything he’d ever learned about women, they liked being around their men too.

“Wait up,” Ben called as he caught up with his brother on the porch. “You can carry this.” He shoved a bag full of chips, dogs and five kinds of dip at Cope.

“Glad to be your pack mule. I hear that happens to you when you get old.”

“What? You’re smart enough to con younger people into hauling your shit?” Ben snorted. “Hey, listen, I’m going to support you when you inevitably suggest we go and hang out with the ladies, won’t I? You can carry some chips.”

Oh. Well, yes then. “Sure.” He shrugged, and they went into the house. The place had been a single man’s paradise a year before, but now a family lived there. Cope liked it better now. He smiled as he thought of Brody’s daughter. Rennie’s backpack was hung on a peg near the door, her little rain boots lined up under the bench. They’d filed all the paperwork for Brody’s formal adoption of Elise’s daughter earlier that week. She was a tough little girl, smart, funny, and his friend loved her fiercely. Watching them grow into a family had taught Cope what it meant to truly love another person. He wanted that, craved that connection and rhythm that was so much bigger than him.

The sound of laughing women caught Ben and Cope both as they slowly entered the main family room where Brody sat talking to Adrian.

“They’re jammed into our bedroom.” Brody tipped his chin in the direction of the back hallway leading to the master bedroom. “Women and skimpy clothes all over the place.” He grinned. “I’m a lucky man.”

Cope grinned right back at him. “I happen to agree with you. Speaking of pretty women, what about the youngest one? Where’s Rennie?”

“Her grandparents picked her up from school. They’re keeping her this weekend. But she’ll be at the engagement party tomorrow.”

“Dude, don’t forget to tell them she got an A on her very first essay.” Adrian shook his head at his brother. “She was quite insistent that everyone would want to know.”

“My kid is smart. Everyone knows that.” Brody tried to sound tough, but Cope heard the pride and love in his voice. “She was pretty damned proud of herself. Elise and I told her if she kept it up, we’d go to Disneyland next summer.”

A burst of laughter and chattering from the bedroom rose and then faded again. Todd came in the front door with a few more of their friends. Cope half listened to them, taking the beer handed his way, nodding his head. But his attention was focused on that hallway.

The door opened, and the sound level rose enough that the men silenced, their attention snagged as they turned toward the uniquely female noise.

Elise came first, her pale, elegant beauty highlighted by a deep red sweater and a black skirt that came to mid-thigh. The woman had spectacular legs, no doubt. Brody’s mouth curved into a smile as he took her in. Envy crept into Cope’s heart; he wanted that. Wanted to look at a woman and know she was the one.

Erin looked pretty and damned pregnant in a high-waisted dress with big red roses on it. Ben sighed happily as she headed straight to where he stood with Todd. For that moment, everything was right in their world, and Cope would do his best to continue to attempt to mediate the damage between their father and sister and Ben.

Despite Ben’s happiness and success, their father and sister had walled Ben out of their life because his brother had found his happiness with a man
and
a woman. It galled Cope to no end. Ben had been the golden boy, the kid who rarely got in trouble in school, got great grades. He had been a good cop, a good friend and no doubt, he was a great brother. Their father’s reaction to Ben’s unconventional relationship was stupid, and it had split their family in half.

He turned his attention back to the hallway. Waiting. Anticipation and then a punch to the gut followed as Ella came next, her normally sleek, short red hair tousled and curled. Her face, usually bare of makeup, bore just a bit, enough to line those spectacular eyes. Her lips were stained dark, calling to his gaze, leaving him wondering for the millionth time what she’d taste like.

She wore pants. She usually did. He’d always assumed it had to do with the scarring she ended up with after her ex-boyfriend attacked her. The bastard had had every intention of killing Ella. So, to Cope, just being alive and beautiful, being strong in the wake of such a terrible ordeal, meant she won.

It didn’t hurt at all that she had great legs and wore the pants well. Tight, with boots on her feet, showcasing legs that went on and on and on.
Damn
. The shirt,
shit
, if you could call it that, was more of a corset with barely enough fabric to cover her areolas. Her breasts made him lose his hearing for a few moments. She didn’t often have them on display, a pity because it wasn’t like she could hide their size, even in a T-shirt. Just then they heaved up, mounds of creamy flesh, freckles sprinkled across the luscious curves.

Christ.

“Wow. You ladies look gorgeous.” Brody got up, moving to Elise, and no one else existed for the two of them for long moments. Their connection was palpable and staggeringly intimate to see. Cope couldn’t tear his attention away for a long moment.

“You guys just going to hang out here all night?” Elise asked, blushing as she broke her gaze from Brody.

“Maybe.” Brody grinned and kissed his wife-to-be quickly before turning to his sister. He touched Erin’s belly and kissed the top of her head. “You better take care of yourself.”

“You can’t smoke indoors anymore, so the air will be clean of that. I have no plans to drink, and I have enough energy to sit at the table and watch everyone else dance while I eat a few of the red velvet cupcakes Ella brought.” Erin smiled sweetly at her brother. “Anyway, we all know you’ll show up in an hour or two, so I’m sure Ben and Todd will take care of me once that happens.”

Cope moved nearer to Ella so he could speak just to her. “I like that color on you. Sets off your skin and hair.” The shirt was deep blue with just enough purple to compliment her skin outrageously. The breasts helped, in the way breasts always did. But this was more, and he let himself drift a little closer, breathing her in.

Some things were natural; flirting was one of them, and he realized that simply because he’d given up his wandering, it didn’t mean he couldn’t use every skill he had to lure Ella. He smiled as she drew in a shaky breath.

“Thanks. It was Erin’s idea. I don’t normally ...” She waved around her breasts. “You know, show this much boob.”

He was sure his grin was wolfish because she was ringing his bell like it was dinnertime. Christ, what she did to him without even knowing it. “Ella, I must dissuade you from that policy. You have beautiful breasts. They’re a delightful addition to anything you wear. Trust me, please.”

Her laugh was sultry. On a lower register than her speaking voice. Which wasn’t that hard, given her normal voice. And beyond sexy. He was sure that was her sexually interested laugh. She’d finally reacted to him as a woman did to a man she was
truly
flirting with. Victory flushed through him, and hope that things could move forward with her at long last.

“I’ll, um, keep that in mind.” Her lips quirked up in one corner.

“You know, you’re like a cartoon character. Like a quirky super-hero.”
Holy shit
, did he just say that out loud?

Her eyes widened, surprise washing over her features. His heart began to plummet into his gut when genuine pleasure pushed the surprise back.

“Andrew, I gotta tell you, that was one of the most awesome things anyone has ever said about me. Wow.” She cocked her head, the grin on her lips zinging through him like a pinball. “Thank you.”

He ducked his head, fighting off a blush. “Well, sure.” Who knew he was even capable of a blush these days? Damn, he was sweet on her.

Before he could say anything else, the others called to her that it was time to leave.