Page 27 of The Brothers Hawthorne

The patio was covered, tiled, and larger than most homes. Grayson counted seating for thirty. There was a full outdoor kitchen despite the fact that theactualkitchen was visible through four sets of double glass doors. Twin tile staircases stretched up to a second story of outdoor seating.

To his own annoyance, Grayson caught himself staring at the pool. It was wide in some parts, narrower in others, and curved like a river around twin palm trees, each of which sat opposite a firepit. The water was dark blue, the pool lit, even in the daytime.

A treacherous part of Grayson’s mind conjured up the image of his younger self swimming. He tried to direct his attention elsewhere, but his gaze caught on the pool’s edge—and two sets of tiny handprints immortalized in cement.

“Let me do the talking,” Gigi advised as the sound of heels clicking against tile announced her twin’s arrival.

Savannah’s braids were gone now, her long, pale hair held back by a silver headband. Where Gigi was dimples and animated features that looked almost too big for her face, Savannah was angles carved out of ice. She had Grayson’s high cheekbones, his sharp jawline, and eerily familiar eyes that straddled the line between silvery gray and unforgiving ice blue.

She’d looked softer in the pictures he’d seen of the twins together.Less like me.

“I see we have a visitor.” Savannah stayed standing long enough to cast him an assessing look, then sank into one of the many outdoor dining chairs.

“Sav, this is ‘Grayson.’ He’s helping me look for Dad.” The air quotes Gigi put around his name did not go unnoticed, but Grayson was more focused on Savannah’s response.

“Is he?” Savannah returned. Her eyes locked on Grayson’s, and though her expression was perfectly pleasant, it was the kind of pleasant that called to mind his aunt Zara: a sharply feminine smile that saidI could kill you with a strand of pearls.Having taken Grayson’s measure and found him wanting, Savannah turned back to her twin. “I told you, Gigi. Dad left.”

Gigi blew at a piece of hair that had settled over her eyes. “He wouldn’t just leave,” she said mutinously.

“Yes. He would.”

Undaunted, Gigi shot her sister the same round-eyed look she’d used to obtain all that coffee from the cops. “How much do you love me?”

“That question never bodes well,” Savannah replied.

“Grayson and I are throwing a party, but the thing is… we kind of need Duncan’s help.”

“And Duncan would be…,” Grayson prompted.

“Savannah’s boyfriend,” Gigi explained. “Duncan Trowbridge.”

Suddenly, Gigi’s insistence that a party was the obvious next step made more sense. If she could talk the Trowbridge boy into hosting athishouse…

Savannah laid her left hand on her knee and her right on her left wrist.Poise. Elegance.“Sure, Gigi. I left my phone in my room if you want to grab it.”

Gigi beamed at her sister then jackrabbited off, leaving Grayson with her twin. Savannah sat in her chair like a queen on her throne, letting the silence stretch out between them.

It was almost endearing, the way she thought she could intimidate him.

“You’ll be gone by the time she gets back,” Savannah decreed.

“That doesn’t sound like a request,” Grayson noted.

Savannah turned her gaze toward the pool. A slight wind caught her hair, but not a strand ended up in her face. “Do I look like the kind of girl who makesrequests?”

Grayson thought back to watching her sink shot after shot. Something twisted inside of him, and he felt an inexplicable desire to save her from herself.If you never give, Savannah, someday you’ll break.

“My twin is a people person who’s never met a bad idea she didn’t immediately embrace like a long-lost friend. Restraint is not her strong suit.”

“So you protect her.” Grayson kept his own voice even by sheer force of will.

Savannah stood and took a step toward him, her heels audibly striking the tile. “I know who you are, Grayson Hawthorne.”

Somehow, that didn’t surprise him. He had a feeling Savannah Grayson knew far more than most people gave her credit for.

“Do you understand me?” Savannah’s crystal-clear voice went low, her silvery eyes locked on to his.“I know.”

Grayson felt comprehension wash over him. She didn’t just know who he was. She knew who he was toher. And even though Grayson could have stood in a glass elevator in the middle of an earthquake without ever letting his heart rate speed up, he couldn’t shrug that off. He didn’t allow his expression to shift. He didn’t allow a single crack in his iron-clad control—on the surface. But hefeltthe sting of her words.