Page 12

CHAPTER 12

As they walked away, Rhea pulled her hand free and kept her gaze straight ahead as she walked beside Brody.

He didn't say a word.

They pass under the large tree in the center of the Armstrongs’ combined backyard and around the side of the triplex that she'd admired before.

It wasn't until she was sure that they were out of sight of all of the Armstrongs that she turned to look at him. "Are you trying to make your family think that we're... that we're," her hands lifted, and she moved them around a bit as she struggled to find the right word, "together?"

"I'm not really worried about my family and what they think, Rhea. I'm hoping you'll understand that I care about you."

She closed her eyes and stopped moving. "Brody-"

"I more than care, Rhea."

She held up her hand in the direction of his voice and opened her eyes.

He was just an inch or two away from her palm.

She licked at her lips when she imagined what it would feel like to touch him.

To have him touch her.

But to let it happen?

To reach for it?

For him?

There was a lot to gain.

But there was so much more to lose.

"I can see it, Rhea. All those thoughts you're kicking around in your head? I want to know what you've got going on in there. I want to know. I want to know everything you're thinking about. I want to share that with you."

She shook her head and lowered her hand down back to her side. "Did you know?"

A cool breeze blew through and lifted her hair from the back of her neck.

"Did I know... what?"

She looked back at Brody trying to see his face clearly in the half dark.

An outside light was on at the corner of the triplex so she could see some of it.

"Did you ask Kay and Misty to talk to me? Is this all some kind of... I don't know, a plan?"

"A plan? No. Not something I'd involve my cousin in. Or Misty. I think they've all seen me looking at you. I'm not really hiding myself in front of my family, Rhea."

She shook her head and started walking again. "I wish I had that," she shut down the thought and continued to walk away.

"Rhea, please." She heard his hurried footsteps, and she felt him catch her by her arms. "Please don't walk away."

She froze in his grip.

"You don't know..." She shook her head, aching on the inside. "You don't know how much I don't want to feel again."

"Rhea-"

"No," she snapped her head toward him, "I loved him. I loved our life. And I have his child. Chip held me together after I lost him." She pressed her palm over her heart. "It took everything I had not to fall apart or cling to Chip like a lifeline. He needed me to be his mom. He needed me not to siphon his energy. I put on my big girl panties, and I worked. I raised him. And I think I did a good job. This move was to make things new again, Brody.

"A fresh start. I don't want to mess that up. I can't."

"Let me help." His hand tightened around her arm. It didn't hurt. It felt... comforting. Soothing in a way she didn't want to acknowledge. "I can help with all of that. With Chip, too."

She wanted to pull away, but the way he was touching her. The way he had a hold on her.

It was more than physical.

The hours she'd spent with him at the firehouse.

In the rig.

Working with each other. Around each other.

It felt like every hour was tying them together. Wrapping their lives together.

Brody was never far from her thoughts.

And when she felt the pressure of the job, he was there with a soft word and a touch.

When she felt joy, he shared in it.

She looked down at his hand on her arm and then up into his gaze.

The intense brown eyes that were fixed on her own.

The eyes that she struggled to keep out of her thoughts and her dreams.

"When I fell for Charles," her voice was soft, almost hushed. It made sense since she was telling him her own secrets. "When I met him, I was a mess. Awkward. Offbeat. My family, my parents, died when I was young. I didn't know how to connect. He did. Somehow he did." She smiled at the memory. "It was all kind of a miracle, really. Which I didn't fully understand until I met his family."

Brody smoothed his hand down her arm and took her hand again.

He could have just as easily released her arm and took her hand, but he seemed to like to touch her.

And she liked his touch.

More than she wanted to admit.

He folded their fingers together and he gave her a gentle tug, so she'd walk beside him.

The movement helped.

The blood flowing through her body helped a lot.

Especially given all of the thoughts tumbling inside of her.

"What was his family like?"

She turned her head to look at him and saw the intent way that he was watching her. "His family?"

He nodded. "You were saying how surprising Charles-"

She tensed at the sound of his name. "Yes, Charles."

She smiled after another step or two.

"We called Chip Chip from the day he was born which made it easier for me not to hear people call him Charles' name after he was gone."

"Sorry," Brody apologized easily and she could hear the sincerity in his voice.

It helped.

"Thanks."

He gripped her hand a little tighter for a moment before letting his hold ease.

They fell into companionable silence for a number of steps.

"Imagine," she began, "everything that's amazing about your family. All the love you share. How much you love being around each other. The way you care. The Russell family is the exact opposite. So far on the other end of the spectrum, they can't even see your family. Everything they do... is transactional. Love wasn't a commodity they understand."

The tops of the trees over their heads swished and tossed in a night wind that she couldn't see, but she could hear.

"When we married, he had a job that paid so much more than I made. Not that the money mattered to me. As long as we had a place to live, food to eat, our lives together, I was good. But Charles explained that he gave his family money." She looked over at Brody and saw that he was looking at her, his focus on her face, his whole body seemed to be tuned to her. "A lot of it. It seemed like they all were attached to him by a kind of vacuum tube, taking money from him.

"He had me keep my money separately from his. Saying that I didn't deserve to have them take from me, too."

"You didn't like that."

She smiled and felt those same emotions rushing back into her body.

"I didn't like him thinking that we weren't together. That we weren't a team. A couple."

"A family."

Hearing him say it, she smiled.

"Exactly. He worked incredible hours. There were some days that we hardly saw each other, especially with me working on a rig with the long shifts of my own, some days I'm surprised we had Chip. But we did, and that's when things changed."

Brody led her around a corner and she turned. She didn't know exactly where they were, but she knew that Brody wouldn't lead her too far afield.

"When Chip was born, Charles cut back on his hours at work. He even started to hold back money from his family. They didn't let him have much peace after that, but Charles said that it was important for him to take care of Chip." She sighed and lifted her face into the cooler night air. "And when he passed, he left us some money, and a few accounts. How he kept that money away from his family, I'll never know."

"His family didn't come to you for money? After your husband..."

"Once they showed up on our doorstep. I could tell they were looking for something to use. Or maybe an indication that we had all kinds of money, but we didn't. It wasn't long before they just stayed away. I wasn't a big fan of theirs and they definitely didn't like me either, but I thought with Chip being family that they'd want to see him."

"No?"

She shook her head. "No. They didn't even call to say if they'd come to his birthday party. And they were all a no-show. That was when I decided we needed a fresh start. The opening for the EMT job here caught my eye. I'd seen this TV Show about-"

"Bigfoot?"

Brody sounded so incredulous that they both started laughing.

"Yes. What? Is it so weird? My roommate in college watched old episodes of the X-files and there was always something creepy in the woods."

"And you came here thinking there might be a bigfoot in the woods?"

She sighed. "No. I didn't think there was one here, but the footage showed so much beauty in the area around town that I had to look it up online. When I read more about the town it sounded like a 1950s TV show. Idealistic. Quaint. A great place to raise Chip."

Brody tugged on her hand drawing her closer to his side. "It's a great place to raise kids. My family certainly thinks so."

"Your family would be great raising children anywhere. But that's the difference between you and me, Brody. I needed a place like this. A chance to build a community around Chip. You already have a community. Family who would do anything for you. For your children, when you have them. You've got what you need. I... I'm still building that for myself. You and I? We're not in the same place and we'll never be there."

* * *

He pulled on her hand, leading her to the front steps of his part of the triplex.

He flicked off the light that was on above his front door and pulled Rhea into the circle of his arms.

"Yes. We're different, Rhea, but that's not something that should keep us apart. It's the very thing that should bring us together. You want a community around Chip. You say that I'm lucky because I have one.

"Use it. Become a part of my family. You're already here. My family thinks you're wonderful. They love Chip. I bet we're going to have a veterinarian on our hands."

He felt her breathing with her chest rising and falling against his. Her hands lifting to settle on his arms.

"I can be your partner, Rhea. Not just at work, but at home. I can give you someone to stand by you and lift up your spirits when you're struggling. Rhea, I-"

"You're young, Brody. You-"

"I'm young, okay. Is that supposed to be a reason for me to... what? You're barely a year or two older than-"

"More," she shot back. "I don't know exactly, but I can guess and-"

"So what? You're not exactly one foot in the grave, Rhea. It doesn't matter to me."

"It matters to me, Brody." Her laugh was hard, and he felt it push against him as if it was trying to climb out of her body. "It might sound like fun now, but that doesn't mean it's going to be fun later on."

"Is that what you think I want from you, Rhea? Fun?"

She leaned back looking up at him. Even in the half dark, with only a silver light cast over their features from the moon, he could see her frustration in the line of her jaw and see the ache in her eyes.

She'd never looked so gorgeous. He'd never felt her strength like this. And all because she was trying to push him away.

"Isn't that what you want? You have your whole life ahead of you, Brody. Years and years of fun and it's all going to be yours. You should-"

"You should tell me what you want for yourself, Rhea. Don't you want some fun? Don't you want laughter? Family?"

"I have a family, Brody."

"I have one, too. And based on everything I've seen when you're around my family, you and Chip fit right in."

"Brody-"

"What, Rhea? Why are you fighting this? Why can't we just try?"

"Try? You can try because you don't have to worry about a child right now. You can date. You can have sex. You can wait and see how things will work out. And when you're ready to settle down. You'll have everything you want."

Her hands gripped at his arms, and it felt like she was trying to shake him.

It wasn't because she wasn't strong enough. He'd seen how strong she was working with patients.

He was thinking it was because she didn't have the heart to do it.

"Every argument you have is just an obstacle here, Rhea. You and I can date. We'd have to be creative, but I can do creative. We can wait and see how things work out. We don't have to show affection for each other when we're out. We can keep it quiet if that's what you want. And settling down? Have you seen my family? Not exactly settled-"

"Your family is the definition of settled, Brody."

He wrapped his arms around her. "We have very different definitions of the word settled. My family is the definition of unsettling."

She turned her head and looked up at him, her gaze telling him that while she wasn't all too excited about his sense of humor, she found it a little humorous.

"Brody-"

"And as for sex, Rhea? I can give that to you. Hell, I'll give it to you without dating. If you want it. I'm more than happy to."

'No," she shook her head. "I'm not doing this."

He heard the hiccup in her voice.

He felt the arch of her back where his hands were.

And he felt the pebbled tips of her breasts as she pressed against him.

"Do you feel it, Rhea?"

His hands dipped down, sliding over the high, upper curve of her ass, pressing her closer as he stepped closer, his foot between hers.

He leaned in against her, his hips pressing into her softness.

Brody heard her soft moan.

Felt her hands sliding up toward his shoulders.

"Can you feel how much I want you?"

She didn't speak, but she licked her lip, and her gaze dropped to his mouth.

Yeah.

"Can you let me feel how much you want me?"

Her gaze tipped up to meet his, her eyes unsure and still so beautiful he was dying inside to kiss her again. To hold her.

"Rhea?" When she swayed closer to him, he fought off a smile. "Can I?"

He sensed the shift between them. Almost saw a playful smile on her lips.

He changed his thoughts right there. "May I?"

Her arms slid around his neck and her head tipped back, her lips parting.

Fuck, me...

Brody kissed her.

He fucking stole her breath.

He didn't know if it was enough to make her weak in the knees with his lips on hers or his tongue in the heat of her mouth, but he did know how he could prove this... to both of them.

Brody lowered his hand, skirting around her hip and delving between her legs.

Her knees bowed and he leaned in, holding her against the wall beside his door.

He wanted in, but he wanted her to see how it could be with him.

"Rhea?"

He murmured the question against her lips and felt her hips press closer to him. "Show me," she opened her mouth, inviting him in.

And he went.

Tongue and heat.

God, she felt like heaven.

Her breasts, pressed against his chest? Her eyes flickering open and closed. He wanted her, but he wanted her to want him more.

His hand reached down, turning her back toward the corner to hide her from the world.

There was little to no chance that anyone would walk by. Less that they'd see her, but he wasn't taking chances.

His fingers walked up her skirt, bunching up the light and airy fabric into his palm.

Rhea fed on his mouth and what she did to him? Feeding his hunger for her with the way she opened up to him.

And then he felt it.

Her bare skin.

His fingertips.

Holy shit.

And the way her thighs parted as he lifted his fingers toward her heat?

He wanted to bury himself there.

Sink his dick inside this woman who he loved.

Fucking love at their first road-side call!

"Let me in, Rhea. Let me feel you around me."

She didn't answer him in words. She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and when he slipped his hand under her thigh, she lifted it up and wrapped it around his thigh.

"So sweet, Rhea. Let me show you."

And he didn't waste any more time.

His hand smoothed over her inner thigh, rising until he felt the soft sweep of cotton against the length of his fingers, Cotton. Wet cotton.

The way her lips parted as his fingers found the elastic edge of her panties.

"Brody..."

His eyes squeezed shut as she moaned his name and as he pulled the elastic edge away from her thigh, his finger slipped into the slick of her pussy.

One fingertip and then another. He felt his whole world narrow to the woman pressed against him.

She tipped her head back as he felt a finger slip inside of her to his knuckle.

Her eyes opened and he caught her gaze with his.

He swept his finger between her folds again, deeper, and then again deeper still.

She clung to him, her mouth searching for his, her body pulling him in.

He was losing his cool, plunging into her heat and there they were, propped up against the wall beside his front door.

"More," her voice caught in her throat, and he chased it with his tongue.

Like this? He asked her silently. More, like this?

And she met his hand with her hips, giving him her weight and he felt her body pull on his, harder. Seeking more.

He gave her his need, bringing her higher with his fingers wishing he could have thought to take her panties off of her, but she didn't seem to care.

Rhea was wrapped so tight around him, he felt the moment she took flight.

He knew he'd be hard as a pole until later when he was alone, but that kind of pain? He'd take it and love it as long as she let him love her.

Make her come. Make her grip him so tight, he was sure he saw stars.

"Brody, my god..."

He kissed her then. All over her face. Nose. Forehead. Cheeks. And finally her lips.

"I need to walk you back."

He hated bringing her back to the reality of the world around them.

If he could have kept her to himself for a few more minutes he would have but Chip was with his family. Missus Hardy, too. He wouldn't let her have any guilt over what they'd done.

What he'd done to her.

He slowly drew his fingers from her sex, dying to taste her, but he didn't want her embarrassed by what they'd shared.

He took her hand with his other and walked her down the steps so they could move around the triplex and head back across the green.

He needed her to trust him to keep her safe. Because she was already his in her heart. Since the moment they'd met, working together, he'd been stuck on her. Breathing her. He couldn't wait to get even closer to her and hope that she'd come to need him as much as he needed her.