The Way You Look Tonight (27 page)
"If you ask me, I think we made it through our tough times even better than we were before."
Bright hope lit his eyes, and oh, how she loved to see it replace the darkness as he made absolutely sure. "Have we?"
"We have." She took his hand and began to draw him back toward the bedroom. "And now I think it’s time for us to celebrate."
Being wild, she realized now, wasn’t just about sex. It was about wanting Rafe to be her partner in adventures of all kinds—especially the biggest one of all: a love that would last forever.
Of course, she thought with a smile as he scooped her up into his arms and kissed her breathless, she was more than happy to take the wild sex, too.
* * *
Rafe could have kissed her all night long, and never wanted to let her go, but there was one more very important thing he needed to give to her, something she had asked for again and again. Relishing the sweet, soft slide of her body against his as he slowly put her down on her feet in the bedroom, he moved his hands to frame her beautiful face.
"What do you say we get a little kinky?"
Her eyes opened wide with surprise, and then such happiness that he knew he’d been a fool to hold out on her for so long.
"You know how badly I want that," she told him, "but only if you want it, too."
Did he ever want it, but first he needed her to understand why he’d held back before. Looking into her eyes gave him the strength to admit, "I was afraid to trust myself with you. I was afraid I wouldn’t know when to stop, not just during sex, but after. I was afraid I’d give too much of my heart to you and end up like one of my clients, with it broken in my hands after you were done with me."
Her eyes were soft with emotion, and so much love it floored him. "And now?"
"Now I understand that when passion burns this hot, it’s okay to be scared of the power you have over me, the way you turn me inside out with a look, a touch, a kiss." Every word she’d said to him that night at the Italian restaurant when she’d spoken of true love was forever etched on his heart. "And now I know that I can talk to you about absolutely anything, and that you’ll still love me. No matter what."
"Always," she promised as she kissed him. "Forever." Her eyes were bright with anticipation when she drew back.
Rafe gave her one last kiss before moving to sit on the soft chair in the corner. "Take your clothes off, sweetheart. Let me see you. All of you."
His breath hitched in his chest as she reached for the belt on her dress. Rafe’s heart was beating so hard, his blood roaring so loudly in his ears, that he barely heard the leather falling to the rug. She moved her long hair over one shoulder so that she could pull down the zipper along her spine. The blue fabric slid off her shoulders and hips to puddle on the floor at her feet, and when her bra and panties quickly followed, he thanked God that she wasn’t torturing him with a slow striptease tonight.
"How do you want me?"
"Just the way you are." Her answering smile was the brightest he’d seen yet.
Rafe rose up from the chair and took the binding silks out of the dresser without taking his eyes off her incredible beauty. By the time he came to stand in front of her, Brooke’s chest was rising and falling rapidly. He lifted one wrist and gently tied one of the silks to it, pressing a kiss to the inside of her palm and then all the way up the inside of her arm. When colorful silk streamed from both wrists, and she was trembling from the path of his kisses across her sensitive skin, he knelt in front of her. Instead of immediately tying the silks to her ankles, he kissed the soft skin across her stomach, her hips, her thighs, moving lower and lower until his mouth was warring with the silks in his hands for the chance to be against her skin.
"Please,"
she begged.
"More."
He was going to spend the rest of his life giving her everything she wanted, starting tonight. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her to the bed and laid her down in the center.
"Arms and legs spread, sweetheart."
He’d never dreamed that a woman could be this innocent—and naughty—all at the same time. His hands shook as he tied first her wrists and then her ankles to the bed, and when he was done and she was completely open to him, he knew it was more than her body she was baring, more even than her heart.
Brooke had let him all the way into her soul.
And he was the luckiest man who had ever lived.
Seconds later, he had his clothes off and was kneeling between her thighs as starlight spilled in the bedroom window, illuminating every beautiful curve, every sinful stretch of skin. Her mouth was warm and giving beneath his as he kissed her, and though his lips and hands repeatedly wandered over all of her most sensitive spots, he kept coming back to her lips...and to the kisses that had brought him back to life.
Knowing she trusted him enough to completely let go like this—and that he trusted her enough to completely let go, too—was the most beautiful thing he’d ever experienced.
"I need you, sweetheart."
He quickly untied the silks and as Brooke wrapped her arms and legs around him, with Rafe holding on to her just as tightly, he finally saw that the true love that he’d once thought was as rare as the blue moon had been there all along.
* * *
Though Rafe wasn’t even close to having his fill of Brooke, for a few precious moments it was enough to hold her in his arms and know that he’d made her happy tonight. Truly happy.
He gazed down in wonder at the beautiful woman beneath him on the bed. "Once upon a time you said I could ask you anything."
"Anything," she confirmed as she wrapped herself tighter around him, her cheek pressed against his.
He’d planned everything else that night, but pure instinct—and love—was what drove him to ask, "Will you marry me, Brooke?"
"Now, that," she said as she lifted her big green eyes to meet his, "sounds truly wild." And then she pressed her lips to his and whispered,
"Yes."
Epilogue
Later that summer...
"Mom, Dad," Rafe said with Brooke beside him holding his hand, "there’s something I want you to have."
Mia made sure to take a picture of the surprise—and utter joy—on her parents’ faces at the exact moment they realized Rafe had deeded them the lake house. It was theirs again, only this time no bank could ever take it away from them.
"Rafe? You’re giving us the deed for the lake house?" Her mother, Claudia, had tears of joy in her eyes as she pulled her son into a warm hug. "Oh, honey, you’re simply amazing."
Her father, Max, wrapped his arms around his wife and his son. "Thank you," he said, his low voice thick with emotion.
Mia sniffled a little, but she refused to cry during the best day she could remember having in years. Along with her parents, all of her brothers except Ian were back at the lake for the weekend. So far they’d been swimming and waterskiing and hiking, and she’d laughed more with her family and her new sister-to-be than she had in a very long time. The sun had set, the bonfire was roaring, and they were about to bust out the s’mores, when Rafe had decided it was finally time to give his parents their anniversary gift.
She’d thought he would do it earlier, but Rafe had seemed a little distracted ever since Brooke had tied her hair back with some really pretty silk scarves after their swim. Lord knew the heat from the way they looked at each other would have been enough to roast the marshmallows even before they’d lit the bonfire. They’d disappeared into the house with some lame excuse that no one bought for a second and hadn’t returned to the group on the beach for quite a while.
First her eight cousins had all found love, and now her brother. She had no doubt whatsoever that Rafe and Brooke had what it took to make love last, just like her parents.
Who, she wondered, was going to be next? Adam? Dylan? Ian? Or maybe one of her many cousins on the East Coast?
Just then, Dylan picked up the guitar he’d brought with him and started playing one of her parents’ favorite songs,
The Way You Look Tonight
. Just as they had when she was a kid, her parents started slow dancing in the sand, the water from the shore lapping over their bare feet. Soon, Rafe and Brooke joined them, so much in love that it was almost hard for Mia to watch them without longing for something that beautiful for herself.
When the song ended, Dylan quickly switched gears from the old standard to a new rock song. Damn it, she thought as the s’more she was eating turned to cement in her stomach, did he have to play
that
song? Even all these years later, Mia couldn’t believe she’d been stupid enough to fall for a rock star whom her family and friends never even knew she’d been with...
Her father sat beside her on the log and put his arm around her. "Penny for your thoughts, Pumpkin."
Mia knew she should tell her father she was too old for the nickname he’d given her as a little girl. Maybe next year.
"I’m just so happy for Rafe and Brooke, and that her relationship with her parents seems to be a little bit better now, too." The Jansens had spent part of the day at the lake with everyone before heading into Seattle to meet with some colleagues that evening. Things weren’t perfect between Brooke and her parents, but Mia could see how much it meant to her friend that they were trying. Just as much as it clearly meant to them that Rafe would obviously give his life for the daughter they’d always protected so carefully.
"Your mother and I are happy for them, too." She could feel her father’s warm brown eyes on her. "I’ve got another penny on me if there’s something
you
need to talk to me about."
Mia forced herself to take another bite of her dessert. "Everything’s great," she said a little too brightly. "My business has never been better, I’m with my favorite people in the world tonight, and I’ve got a date tomorrow with a hot firefighter I met in town. What more could I want, apart from another s’more?"
But before she could reach for the bag of marshmallows, her father kissed her on the forehead. "I love you, Mia."
The only way to keep from crying on his shoulder was to laugh, which was why instead of roasting her next marshmallow, she tossed it at Adam’s head. Seconds later, the campfire erupted into a full-on food fight where no one was safe from flying chocolate or puffed sugar.
Mia had her family, her friends, her career. One day soon, she was going to finally meet a guy who would make her forget all about
him...
and then she’d have everything.
~ THE END ~
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The first eight books in Bella's New York Times & USA Today bestselling Sullivan series are now available:
(Chase & Chloe, The Sullivans #1)
(Marcus & Nicola, The Sullivans #2)
(Gabe & Megan, The Sullivans #3)
(Sophie & Jake, The Sullivans #4)
(Zach & Heather, The Sullivans #5)
(Ryan & Vicki, The Sullivans #6)
(Smith & Valentina, The Sullivans #7)
ALWAYS ON MY MIND
(Lori & Grayson, The Sullivans #8)
* * *
Please enjoy the following excerpt from the first book in Bella Andre’s New York Times and USA Today bestselling Sullivan series...
THE LOOK OF LOVE
Chloe Peterson is having a bad night. A really bad night. The large bruise on her cheek can attest to that. And when her car skids off the side of a wet country road straight into a ditch, she’s convinced even the gorgeous guy who rescues her in the middle of the rain storm must be too good to be true. Or is he?
As a successful photographer who frequently travels around the world, Chase Sullivan has his pick of beautiful women, and whenever he’s home in San Francisco, one of his seven siblings is usually up for causing a little fun trouble. Chase thinks his life is great just as it is—until the night he finds Chloe and her totaled car on the side of the road in Napa Valley. Not only has Chase never met anyone so lovely, both inside and out, but he quickly realizes Chloe has much bigger problems than her damaged car. Soon, Chase is willing to move mountains to love—and protect—her, but will Chloe let him?
Enjoy the following excerpt from THE LOOK OF LOVE...
Chase almost missed the flickering light off on the right side of the two-lane country road. In the past thirty minutes, he hadn’t passed a single car, because on a night like this, most sane Californians—who didn’t know the first thing about driving safely in inclement weather—stayed home.
Knowing better than to slam on the brakes—he wouldn’t be able to help whomever was stranded on the side of the road if he ended up stuck in the muddy ditch right next to them—Chase slowed down enough to see that there was definitely a vehicle stuck in the ditch.