Until We Fly (The Beautifully Broken) (20 page)

Brand looks at me.  “Well, Gran taught me everything I know about women.”

This definitely catches my attention.  “And what is that?”

He smiles. “There’s too much to list.  She never hesitated to share her opinion.”

The affection on his face at her memory warms my heart.  They say that if you watch a man with his mother, it’s a good indication of his character.  But I know that if I’d seen Brand with his ‘gran’, that I’d have known all I ever needed to know about him.

“Well, share a couple of things,” I urge him.  “Remember, I didn’t get much advice.  I can borrow yours.”

He chuckles.  “Well, I’m not sure how helpful it will be for you.  She focused a lot on advice about women….on what I need to know.”

I wait. 

He sighs.  “Okay.  Well, she said that women don’t always know what they want, but they almost always know what they don’t want.  Sometimes it takes them a while to narrow it down by elimination.”

I ponder that, then nod.  “Yeah.  She’s right about that one.  What else?”

“One time, when we were about sixteen or so, Gabe and I were at the beach with her.  Apparently, I was staring at some girl in a bikini, and Gran slapped me on the back of the head and told me that women weren’t ‘vaginas with legs’.  I then got a lecture about how women are more than just sex.  It was the most humiliating discussion of my life.”

I giggle at the mere thought. “Did Gabe get the talk too?”

Brand nods.  “Yeah.  He wanted to die.  There we were, right out on the beach in front of God and everyone, including hot chicks in bikinis, and his grandma was talking about sex.”

I giggle again. “She sounds awesome.”

“She is,” Brand says firmly.

Our waitress refills our drinks and I look at Brand. 

“Did she give you any other valuable advice, or was it all about women?”

He rolls his eyes. “Oh, for a teenage boy, trust me, it’s always about the women.”

I stare at him drolly.  He smirks.

“I wish I’d paid more attention to the things she told me back then,” he admits.  “She was really a wise lady, and unfortunately, because I was a stupid kid, I didn’t remember it all. But there was something she told me once, after some girl broke my heart, that has always stuck with me.”

I wait. 

He doesn’t say anything. 

“And that was?” I prod. 

“Well, this chick had screwed me over in a big way.  She was pretty messed up. And I’d come to the conclusion that women weren’t worth it, that they were more trouble than they were worth.”

“I can see where you might think that sometimes,” I nod.  “What did your Gran say?”

“She said… Branden, the best things in life are worth the greatest risk.  Sometimes, before we fall, we fly.”

I stare at him, at the smile that lingers on his lips, and I can’t help but fall just a little bit in love with this big strong man that has held onto such a sentiment from his ‘adopted gran’. 

Knowing him now is so different from being wildly in love with him as a teen. 

There’s so much more to him than I’d ever have guessed before. 

“That’s beautiful,” I tell him simply.  “You’re right.  She was very wise.”

Brand nods.  “She never pulled any punches.  She warned me away from her own granddaughter, too.”

This freezes my hand on my glass. 

“What?” I manage to ask.

Brand chuckles.  “She was very perceptive.  She knew, even before I did, that I was falling for Jacey a long time ago.  And she pulled me aside and in her very direct way, she told me that Jacey wasn’t ready for a guy like me. That maybe she never would be… because Jacey needed someone to tame her.  I was offended at first, because I thought she was saying that I wasn’t man enough to do it.”

That’s what it sounded like to me, too, and I have to wonder if Gran even knows him at all. 

“Then what did she mean?” I ask curiously. 

“She said that I had a soft spot for Jacey and that I’d never be able to give her the tough love that would fix her.  She said I’m the type of guy who will come to your rescue when I’m needed, and it wouldn’t be fair to me if I was with Jacey, because I’d always be coming to her rescue.  She said I need someone more considerate than that, someone who has their act together.”

I swallow hard.  “I think your Gran really was wise.  She nailed you to a T.”

But I don’t have my act together. 

Brand shrugs. “I don’t know about that.  But she was right about Jacey.  I came to her rescue a hundred times over the years.  If I’d been ‘with’ her, it would’ve been a hundred more.  So, Gran was right.”

Our food arrives now and as I’m eating the steaming pasta, I can’t help but consider that. 

Brand really is the kind of guy to come to a girls’ rescue. And Lord knows that my life is fucked up. If he were with me,
really
with me, he’d constantly feel like he needed to save me. 

I’m no better than Jacey.

I’m conflicted… between the desperate need that I have to be with Brand, to soak him up… and to let him go so that he’s not hurt by me, or by my life.

When Maria had told me about Jacey before, I’d felt so high and mighty, so judging.   But yet, I know that I have to meet my uncle tomorrow, and he’s going to threaten Brand and me, and still I want Brand. 

Still I want Brand, no matter the cost.

So really, when it boils down to it, I’m as selfish as Jacey ever was. 

Chapter Twenty-Two

Brand

Talking about Jacey makes me uncomfortable. 

Not because I still love her, because I don’t.  Not in that way.

But because I can see that it puts Nora on edge.  That’s the last thing I want. She’s been edgy ever since the dinner at her parents’.  I don’t want to add to that.   

“Jacey’s happily married now,” I remind her as I finish up my lasagna.  “And I don’t want her anymore.”

“I know,” Nora answers.  “And I’m sorry.  It’s not even my business. Who you want and who you don’t want are your business, not mine.”

I put my fork down and eye Nora carefully. 

“Since when?”

  The entire time we’ve been together at the cottage, her actions have been contrary to that statement.

She shrugs. “I just realized that I don’t have the right to dictate anything to you.  That’s all.”

I narrow my eyes.   This is new.  And strange. 

“Weren’t you the one saying that the bullet has already left the gun and that there’s no going back now?”

Something soft flits through Nora’s eyes before she covers it up. 

“Yeah.  I did.  But I can be selfish sometimes. Anyway, what would you like to do this afternoon?”

She changes the subject clumsily and now I’m the one on edge. 

What the fuck?

I shrug, attempting to appear nonchalant.  “I don’t care.  Want to go swimming?”

It’s an attempt to lighten the mood. But Nora rolls her eyes. 

“Let’s not push it.”

I raise an eyebrow.  “Why?  When we first came to the cottage, you went skinny-dipping by yourself.  Perhaps we should go together.  It’d be a whole different experience, I can assure you.”

Nora’s face brightens, the clouds clear, and she’s happy again.

“Sure,” she agrees.  “I’m sure it
will
be far different.”

I pay the check and we head back to the cottage. 

As we walk inside, Nora looks at me.  “It’s broad daylight, you know.”

I raise an eyebrow.  “Your point?”

She grins.  “I don’t have one.  I was just making an observation.” She slips off her shorts. Then her shirt.  Then tosses her bra and underwear onto the couch. 

She stops still and stares at me. 

“I see you haven’t undressed yet.  Are you scared?”

I strip off my shirt. “Nah.  Just distracted.”

I drop my shorts and underwear at her feet. 

“Let’s do it.”

I grab her hand and pull her out the door, determined to not become distracted by the way her nipples point to the sky.  Not yet, anyway.

When we reach the water’s edge, she stretches, lifting her hands to the clouds and arching her chest toward me.

I pretend not to see, although my dick definitely stands up and takes notice. 

Without preamble, I scoop her up, plunge into the water, and drop her unceremoniously into it. 

When she sputters back through the surface, she’s shrieking. 

“This wasn’t what I had in mind when I wanted to skinny-dip with you!” she calls out, chasing me through the water.  I swim hard, away from her. 

Cat and Mouse. 

She’s fast though, and when I slow just a bit, she catches me.  Lunging out of the water, she slams her hands on my shoulders, dunking me. 

I rocket back out of the water and kiss her hard.

She startles, then clings to me, her tongue burying itself in my mouth.  She wraps her legs around my waist and I feel her, the very centermost part of her, pressed to my stomach. 

It makes me instantly rock hard. 

With her wrapped around me, I float a few feet inland to where my feet touch. 

And then I don’t hold back.

I run my mouth along her neck, kissing it where it arches.  I nip at her ear and when she arches backward, I suck her nipples, drawing them into my mouth and teasing them into sharp points. 

She grips my back, her fingernails digging into my skin as the cold lake water chills every part of us.

But we’re heating each other up. 

Nora reaches down and strokes me under the water, teasing my rigid hard-on into steel.  I could etch glass with it now and she knows it.  She smirks as she dips her own head and licks my nipples.

Payback. 

But I trump her when I slide my fingers between her legs and directly into her.

Despite the water, she’s still dripping wet.

For me. 

“Let’s go inside, shall we?” I murmur against her neck.  She nods. 

“Yeah. Skinny-dipping is overrated.”

She’s flushed, almost panting, something that satisfies me. 

I did that. 

I pick her up, carrying her to shore.

“I can walk, you know,” she tells me, laughter in her blue eyes.

“But you’re too slow,” I answer.  “I’m a man on a mission.”

She laughs and I carry her toward the house, both of us as naked as the day we were born. 

And then I stop still.

Because there, sitting on the porch waiting for us, is Jacey. 

She looks tired, but she’s still here, in the flesh, watching Nora and I approach, in all our birthday suit glory.

Nora sucks in her breath.

“Is that…”

“Yeah. That’s Jacey.”

She squirms in my arms, but I hold tighter. 

“You’re more concealed if I carry you,” I point out. 

“But you’re not,” she answers. I shrug. There’s no help for that now.  We’re both naked.  But at least my arms wrapped around her will provide her with just a little bit of cover.

Jacey stands as we approach and there’s laughter in her eyes.  And confusion.  I see her study Nora, trying to figure out who she is. 

“Brand!” she calls out.  “I see you’re doing better… there was no need to worry after all!”

“Is that why you’re here?” I answer.  “Because you were worried?  You could’ve called.”

She grins and takes a step off the porch, her eyes fixed to mine, never flickering below my waist. 

“I knew if I called, you’d tell me not to come.  I had to make sure you were fine.”

“I’m fine,” I tell her, not stopping.  I take the steps two at a time, headed into the house. 

“You’re also naked,” she calls after me.  “Did you realize?”

Little brat.
 

I grin.  Nora glances up at me. 

“Is it okay that I’m here, or?”

“Of course,” I assure her.  There’s a whole lot of self-doubt in her eyes right now, and I want to squash it.  “It’s fine.”

We get dressed quickly, then join Jacey in the kitchen.  She’s sitting at the kitchen table waiting for us, running her hand over the wood of the tabletop.

“I miss this cottage,” she muses.  “There were happy memories here.”

And I had been in the process of making another one, but I don’t point that out.

“Jacey, this is Nora Greene.  Nora, this is Jacey Vincent.  Kinkaide, I mean.”

Nora holds out her hand, but Jacey by-passes it, hugging her instead. 

“It’s nice to meet you.  So nice to meet you,” Jacey gushes.  “I feel like I know you, but that’s not possible, right?”

“Her parents own the Greene estate,” I interject helpfully and Jacey’s eyes widen.

“Ohhhh.  You’re little Nora Greene!  I knew I knew you.  I used to wait tables at The Hill. I remember you coming in sometimes with your parents.  You’ve…uh… grown up.”

That’s a tactful way to skirt around the topic that Nora was naked on Jacey’s beach. 

Nora smiles gracefully, only the barest hint of a blush along her pale cheeks. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Jacey. I’ve heard so much about you.”

There’s the barest hint of acid in her voice, and I wonder at it. Is she jealous?

Jacey looks at me, her brown eyes soft.  “I couldn’t help but notice, as I drove down this road, that your parents’ house seems to have burned down.”

There’s a knowing expression on her face, because she knows me well. 

I nod.  “Yeah. There was a bit of a matches and gasoline problem.  Apparently, when you douse something with gasoline and toss a match onto it, it burns.”

She raises her eyebrow.  “Is the problem resolved now?”

I nod.  “It’s all good.”

“Good.”  Jacey yawns widely, then slaps a hand over her mouth. “God, I’m sorry.  I’m jetlagged.  Dom’s still on-set in the UK and he couldn’t come, but I wanted to be here for a couple of days to check on you.  The jetlag is killing me, though.  I’m gonna nap for a couple of hours, then we’ll catch up, okay?”

“Of course,” I tell her.  “Take all the time you want.  You can sleep in your old room.  Nora’s been sleeping in with me, anyway.”

Jacey smiles knowingly.  “I bet. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”   She heads down the hall, but calls over her shoulder.