Page 3 of Endlessly Yours (The Wilder Brothers #10)

My brothers still lived on property with their wives and families.

But I didn’t.

I was a builder, it’s what I liked doing.

So I’d built my home and a few other homes on another section of property that wasn’t attached to the retreat.

Not that I wanted to be alone, which could always be an issue, but mostly because I wanted space and for my business not to be completely wrapped up in the other Wilder businesses. It was always good to have your finger in a number of pots. Everyone else did in the family.

So I had built my home and a few others on the property, so it was nearly a neighborhood, but it wasn’t as if we were an HOA community with a groundskeeper or anything. I owned all of the homes and rented them out, and somehow, I created a fiefdom.

At least that’s what my brother called it.

I shook my head and drove the few miles to the retreat.

I went in through the employee entrance, a new section that we had added in the past year, and nodded at the security who let me through.

It was odd to think that this was our lives now, but I didn’t mind it.

I wasn’t the complete loner and asshole that I’d been when I had first moved here, and I tried to be calmer and nicer.

But there was always an edge of anxiety these days.

And then as I parked my truck next to a familiar SUV, I realized exactly where that anxiety came from.

Of course Rory was here.

She wasn’t going to be at the family meeting, but she was going to be on the property. Doing something. Probably drawing in one of the forested areas or near one of the creeks on the property. I didn’t know precisely what she did, but she was here often enough that I couldn’t escape her.

Lucky me.

Another truck pulled in beside me, and I lifted my chin at Wyatt.

“I guess we’re both running late,” my brother said as he jogged next to me so we could head in to the main area of the estate.

The property itself held a spa, over a dozen little cabins, a whole winery, a large barn and access building that was for the weddings and other events that the family had on hand, and countless other small buildings that helped the resort work.

There were two main buildings, though, that were at least three stories and gorgeous. When a storm had come through and destroyed part of it, it had been my job to restore it.

And it was still one of the highlights of my career.

The Wilder offices were on the top floor of the main building, away from the restaurant and guest rooms.

The fact that there was a large enough meeting space for every single Wilder and their families surprised me to this day. Although I knew that some companies rented it out for their private retreats.

“We’re not that late,” I said as I looked at my phone and cringed.

“Okay, a little late.”

“I really hope there’s coffee,” Wyatt said.

I raised a brow. “I thought you would at least have some coffee in your system with the way that you’re bouncing your toes.”

Wyatt just grinned at me, that leer that made me roll my eyes.

“Oh, that perk didn’t come from coffee.”

“I really don’t want to know what you and Ava are up to.”

“Faith was at a sleepover. It was a good morning. But I’m running late.”

I shoved him as he laughed, and we made our way up the stairs and into the main meeting room.

We were indeed the last ones there, although I knew not everybody was showing up for this meeting today.

“Oh good, you’re here. We have coffee,” Eli said, and both Wyatt and I grinned at each other before heading over to fill up two cups.

We were a large extended family of ten, with Eliza making eleven.

Eliza lived up in Colorado with her family that she had married into, and she no longer had a stake in the company.

Not that she wasn’t part of our family and visited often, but because she had wanted to ensure her brothers had a way to begin their lives fully.

I wasn’t sure of exactly everything that had occurred, but I loved Eliza and her kids.

Each of my cousins and brothers was there, although none of the spouses were.

I had found that odd at first, but it was Eli’s wife, Alexa, who had explained what the meeting was about.

I was also grateful that my parents hadn’t decided to name the four of us with the same letter. The cousins each had names that started with the letter E, and sometimes I still got the names confused.

It didn’t matter that we had all grown up together and knew each other. I couldn’t keep up with it. And now that everybody was having kids, I swore we needed name tags.

“You guys need to have a meeting where you discuss the family at its core. We already had the large meeting with all forty of us. Now it’s time to make a decision,” Eli’s wife and the Wilder wedding planner had said.

So now, it was the ten of us for a meeting that I hoped would go well.

“Now that we’re all here, let’s talk expansion,” Eli said, and I let out a breath and knew it was time.

“Are we talking about on the property or somewhere else?” Ridge asked as he leaned back in his chair.

My brother was smiling more than I’d ever known him to do so, and it made me happy to see.

He put his feet up on the table. Nobody told him to remove them, and I had a feeling he hadn’t even noticed he was doing it.

Ridge ran security with one of the brothers-in-law, with one of the Wilder brothers-in-law, and it all was a complicated system that they seemed to figure out on their own.

“Both,” Eli answered. “We haven’t truly used the acreage that you guys have added.

And we will once we decide if we’re going to add more restaurants or more places to stay or just keep it as it is.

I know we have business plans and we’re ready to go with what we need there, and Brooks is going to be busy. ”

I lifted up my coffee. “I’m working on plans as much as I possibly can. You’re just going to have to be patient,” I said with a shrug.

“And frankly, I don’t want to use anybody outside of our family to build,” my brother Gabriel said. Gabriel was rarely here, considering he was usually out on tour with his band. But this was an important family meeting, and so we were all here together.

“We also don’t want to use a company outside of Brooks. Although I know you do subcontract,” Eli said.

I nodded. “Yes, I can’t do everything.”

“Somebody write that down. It seems like an important thing to remember,” Wyatt joked. “We can engrave it on a plaque and gift it to Mom for Christmas.”

I threw a balled-up napkin at him, and Ridge caught it before putting his feet down as if noticing that he was tipped back in his chair and could fall.

“We have plans for the acreage,” Eli continued. “But I’m talking about the expansion that we all agreed to, but we need to discuss it one more time because it’s a big endeavor.”

“I’m fine with doing whatever,” another cousin said. “We’ve already decided this as a family without just the main core Wilders.”

“True, but that means that we’re either going to be spread too thin or giving up responsibility. It’s a big deal,” Eli continued.

“We already agreed,” I said with a shake of my head.

“We’re going to buy up the inn and brewery that Roy, your friend, suggested.

And we’re going to do what we did here. Maybe not at this scale, but you’re doing it for a reason.

You have friends getting out of the military that need jobs.

They need careers. So while we’re not going to be on-site every single day, we’re going to train them.

And they’re going to have a path. We already made this plan.

I’m in to help build. Just tell me where to sign on the dotted line. ”

Everybody continued to speak, but in the end, we agreed.

We would be buying another parcel of land and a whole new adventure.

The Wilders were expanding and growing.

And I was going to be part of it.

Which, in the end, was good. Because it would keep me busy.

When the meeting ended, I grabbed my stuff and headed out before people could talk to me. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with the line of questions that had been popping up more than usual.

Namely, trying to set me up on dates.

I didn’t know what it was about married couples, but as soon as they were happy and in love and settled down, they wanted everyone else to do the same.

Had I been that ridiculous when I had been married?

I wasn’t quite sure since my life had been wrapped around work at Amara.

But no, I hoped to hell I wasn’t that annoying.

I looked through my list of things to do for the day and realized that I needed something out of the supply closet. So I opened the door, walked in, and bumped into a soft body with a very familiar smell.

“Wait, don’t!” Rory called out as the door closed behind me.

“Don’t what?” I asked, my voice rougher than intended.

“Don’t shut the door. It’s stuck.”

While the light was on, it was dim, as one of the bulbs had gone out. No one had told me, and we had staff to fix it, but since no one had noticed, I was going to have to do it myself.

“Are you sure you just didn’t turn the handle correctly?” I asked, aware that that vanilla scent was infiltrating my nostrils, and the closet was way too small for comfort. In fact, I could feel every single curve of hers pressed to mine.

And, of course, my dick noticed.

I quickly turned so she wouldn’t feel it against her stomach and tried the handle.

It didn’t budge.

“I might be blonde, but I’m not an idiot. I know how to open a door.”

“Well, why didn’t you call someone?”

“Because my phone is in my office. Why don’t you call someone?” she said.

I reached into my pocket and cursed. “My phone’s in the meeting room. Fuck.”

“Oh, this is great. I am so happy that my claustrophobia is getting a nice little workout today.”

I frowned and turned to her, squinting in the dim light.

“You’re claustrophobic?”

Her chest heaved, her breasts lifting with each deep breath, and I tried not to notice the way that her V-neck T-shirt showed every single inch of cleavage.

I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly watering.

“Just a little bit. And you are very big, Brooks. And you’re taking up way too much space.”

“How long have you been in here?” I asked, my voice deep. Gruff.

“I have no idea. But could you step back?”

“My back’s already to the door, Rory.”

“Oh. Well. I guess the whole us avoiding each other is really going well, right?” she asked, her voice going high-pitched.

“I’m not avoiding you. I’m just staying away from you.”

“I’m so glad that you cleared that up.” She looked down between us and cleared her throat. “Could you really not back up because it’s kind of hard to ignore a certain part of you?”

Damn, it seemed my dick ended up pressed to her stomach, and there was no alleviating that. At least, not the way we wanted to.

“Sorry, I can’t control him.”

“Gee, this isn’t awkward at all. I’m sure someone will come searching for us soon. Or at least you. Ava doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Ava’s at home,” I whispered, my throat tight.

“Oh, crap.”

The dim light wasn’t bright enough for me to see every inch of her, but just enough so I could see those plump lips and the way that she practically shivered in my hold.

Without thinking, I slid one hand around her waist and the other over her ponytail. I tugged slightly and her mouth parted.

“Brooks.”

“Just shut up.”

“Don’t tell me to shut up. You shut up.”

“Fine,” I growled.

And then I crushed my mouth to hers.

I pulled on her ponytail, hard, and she gasped into my mouth as I licked along the seam of her lips. She once again parted for me, kissing me back with as much fervor.

She tasted of mint, coffee, and everything Rory.

I moved into her, grinding myself against her as she slid her hands up the back of my shirt, nails digging into my skin.

I deepened the kiss, practically devouring her as I did the one thing I promised myself I would never do.

I kissed Rory Thompson once again.

And she kissed me back.

And when I finally wrenched myself from her, ready to come in my jeans like a teenager, we both stood there, panting.

“That didn’t happen,” I rumbled.

“The problem is…it did.”

And when one of the cleaning staff opened the door behind me, Rory practically shoved me out of the way and ran. And I stood with my back to the doorway, wondering what the hell I had just done.