Carae's Touch (Long Line of Love, #4) (3 page)

"So I did. What about my car?"

"I'll drive it to your house while one of my brothers follows in mine." He rose and offered her his arm.

She stood and slipped her arm through his. "Lead the way and I'll follow."

"Where will you follow?"

"Anywhere you lead."

W
alking in the moonlit garden beside the woman whose existence he hadn't even been aware of two hours earlier, Brandon Grayhawk struggled with his emotions. For the first time in six years, a woman other than Rissa had managed to garner both his physical and emotional interest in a manner that made nonsense of any resistance he felt capable of offering.

While he fully accepted that his overwhelming need for sexual intimacy after years of celibacy was normal, he found the emotions Carae stirred in him troubling because he had already lost the one woman he'd considered his sheenea. He and most of his brothers believed that an individual's happiness was determined by the ability to find and enter into a committed relationship with one's sheenea. He defined sheenea as the one person in the universe who completed him and help make him who he was.

Losing one's sheenea held grave consequences for Brandon who believed he would never know emotional happiness without her. He'd spent the years since Rissa's death celibate and wallowing in a pit of despair so deep, he'd needed the help of his brothers to even climb partway out.

When he'd lost all hope and least expected it, he'd walked into Layton's living room, looked out the French doors, and saw a woman standing alone on the patio. To his surprise, he'd felt drawn to her without even seeing her face. With a first glance, he noted she was of average height and possessed curves in all the right places. As she turned, he saw she was pretty with warm dark skin and full lips he immediately wanted to taste and kiss. Although she bore no resemblance to Rissa, who had been a stunning brunette who could easily have graced the cover of any magazine, he'd been drawn to her.

One look at her face and all his pent up sexual desires, along with an overwhelming emotional need had assailed him. Tossing caution to the winds, he'd walked out onto the patio, looked down into her eyes, and lost all common sense.

Moving towards her, the opening line to one of his favorite songs played in his mind, "
Some enchanting evening, you may see a stranger..."

And as in the words of the song, he'd been drawn to her across Layton and Tempest's crowded living room.

Recalling how needy he'd felt when she held him as he shivered in her arms, he stopped, and turned her to face him.

She smiled up at him. "Decided you can't bear to share even a moment of my time with your brother after all?"

He laughed and then surrendered to his emotions by engulfing her in his arms.

She pressed close, lifting her head to brush her lips against his cheek, close to but not quite touching his mouth. "I like this so much I can do this all night," she teased.

Aware that he wanted far more than a hug from her, he released her. Given his reaction to her, he knew he needed the release that only sex could give him. But he couldn't afford to sleep with one of Lelia's friends.

"That's a charming sentiment but I think it's time I took you home."

She sighed and shook her head. "You're not going to make this easy. Are you?"

"There's nothing to make easy. I don't date my sister's friends."

"Oh, give it a rest, Brandon. Yes, I'd clearly love to get to know you, but that doesn't mean you should overreact. So get over yourself already and take me home."

Her assertion that he had overestimated her interest in him annoyed the hell out of him. He was tempted to ascertain for himself the level of her interest. As he reached for her hand, Bancroft suddenly rounded the hedge. "Am I interrupting?"

Certain Bancroft's intervention was intentional; he gave his twin a long cool look. "As a matter of fact, you are."

"My apologies, Hawk, but since I'm here, introduce us."

He turned to find Carae's gaze locked on Bancroft who smiled at her with an undeniable intimacy. "Carae this is my brother, Bancroft. Croft, this is Carae Harrington."

Bancroft clasped her hand between both of his. "I'm delighted to meet you, Carae."

She smiled. "The feeling is mutual."

"Yes?"

She nodded. "Oh, yes."

"Then perhaps we can exchange numbers." He glanced at Brandon. "That is if you don't mind."

Damn right he minded.

"Why should he mind? He tells me he's too old for me and doesn't date Lelia's friends," Carae said, hoping her remark would spark a positive response in Brandon.

"That would also make my twin too old for you," he pointed out.

"As you pointed out, he's not quite as old as you are."

"Don't be ridiculous," he said, annoyed.

Bancroft released her hand and turned to face him. "Do you mind?"

"What the fuck, Croft. Do you have to flirt with every single woman you meet?"

"I take it you do mind, Hawk."

"Yes, Croft, I do mind." He placed his hand on Carae's back and urged her away from Bancroft.

"So it's like that, is it?"

He stopped near the open French doors and turned to face her. "What's like that?"

"Despite what you said earlier, you're not interested and you're going to make damn sure none of your brothers are either?"

"Is that what you think, Carae?"

"Frankly, I don't know what to think, Brandon. One minute you're pinning me against the swing while biting my ear and feasting on my neck with the ferocious appetite of a starving vampire and the next you're reminding me that you don't date your sister's friends again. And this after spending most of the night flirting with and flattering me."

"I didn't bite your ear or feast on your neck."

"Is that going to be your story tomorrow when I wake up branded with a neck full of hickeys and teeth prints on my ear?"

He brushed a hand against her neck. "Did I hurt you?"

She leaned against his chest and stared up into his eyes. "I'll let you in on a little secret, sweetie. I loved every second of our intimate interlude and I'm betting you did too although I'm sure hell will freeze over before you'll admit it. Or are you going to surprise me and admit that you were seconds away from palming my breasts and kissing the taste off my lips?"

After all his protestations about not dating Lelia's friends, her accurate assessment of his physical desire pissed him off. "Correct me if I'm wrong but you were the one who kissed me."

"I wouldn't actually call it a kiss. But even if I had kissed you, I did it in an attempt to offer comfort. You were the one who took it to another level by humping me and going all vampire on me."

"Humping you? Next you'll be claiming I had my zipper down and my hands inside your panties."

"Mmm." She curled her fingers in his hair. "I think you mean my almost nonexistent thong and don't you wish?"

Thoughts of his hands on her naked flesh, positioning her pussy to receive his cock, made him burn. "Yes," he admitted. "As a matter of fact I do."

"Down boy." She licked her lips, smiled and walked away.

Aware that nearly everyone in the living room seemed to be watching, he resisted the urge to slap her ass and slowly followed her inside.

After briefly speaking to Lelia, she continued walking across the room towards the double doors leading into the hallway.

Where the hell was she going without him? "Carae?"

She paused at the doorway to make a fanning motion. "I need to freshen up."

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to find Layton standing behind him.

"So?"

With that one word Layton managed to convey a wealth of meaning.

Although two years Layton's junior, they were so close he often felt as if he had a second twin in Layton. The glade where he and Carae had talked was a popular spot during parties. He knew his brothers had run interference to ensure that he and Carae had it to themselves. So there was no point in pretending. 

"I like her," he said simply.

Layton smiled. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. She makes me want to sing again."

"So sing, but before you go bursting into song, refresh my memory. I know we were introduced but I don't remember her name."

"Carae Harrington."

"Pretty name."

"Pretty woman."

"So?"

"So?" He grimaced. "She's a friend of Lelia's."

Layton shrugged. "Don't let that be a stumbling block for you."

"That's only one of many."

Layton squeezed his shoulder. "Kick them all to the fucking curb, Hoss. Please. You've grieved for Rissa and now it's time to move on. You have a right to be happy."

Intellectually, he knew Layton was right. Emotionally he still spent part of most days missing Rissa and regretting having driven her into the arms of another man. "I know that I do."

"But?"

He sighed. "But it shouldn't be at Carae's expense."

"You must know how many women would willingly risk getting hurt to help you heal."

"I like her more than any woman I've met in years. I don't want to hurt her."

"I know and I share your concern, but she's an adult. Let her make her own decisions."

He shook his head.

Bancroft came up to stand beside them. "Do you still need me to follow you?"

The thought of driving her home and immediately leaving no longer held any appeal. "I'll call you when I need a ride home," he said, reaching in his pocket to give Bancroft his key fob. He glanced towards the double doors. "I'll see if she's ready." 

In the hallway, he walked to one of the three powder rooms on the main floor of the house. Five minutes later, Carae emerged looking so lovely he wanted to sweep her into his arms and kiss her breathless.

"Missed me?" She asked, smiling at him.

He nodded.

She caressed his cheek. "My, aren't we feeling magnanimous."

What he felt was plain, unadulterated lust along with a pressing interest in knowing everything about her. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Yes you can, but only if you promise not to tell me that you don't date Lelia's friends."

"All right."

"Don't you want to qualify that with a but?"

"No." He glanced down the hall towards the staircase. "I need a few minutes to say good night to my niece and nephew."

"I'll go say goodbye to Lelia and thank your brother and sister-in-law."

He nodded.

She pressed her warm, sweet lips briefly against the corner of his mouth before turning and walking down the hall.

He stared after her, his gaze locked on her rear. Damn it looked big, round, and eminently spankable. Inhaling slowly in an effort to wrestle his passion under control, he walked down the hall and ran up the stairs. Halfway down the second floor hallway, he opened a door.

A small, pretty girl with dark skin and a long braid over one shoulder, sat up in bed with her arms extended. "Uncle Daddy!"

The way his life was going, having Layton's kids call him Uncle Daddy was as close as he'd ever get to having anyone call him Daddy. Shaking off memories of the child who had died with Rissa, he walked into the room, sat on the bed, and engulfed her in his arms. "There's my sweet girl."

After going into the adjoining room to speak to Malita's twin brother, Brandon, he walked back downstairs to find Carae standing by the entrance door with Bancroft, Lelia, and Layton's wife, Tempest, who was pregnant with their second set of twins.

Although he knew they must all have questions, he was in no mood to linger or give them an opportunity to give him the third degree. He kissed Lelia and Tempest's cheek, nodded at Bancroft, and escorted Carae out to the oval in front of Layton's mansion.

"Where's your car?" he asked.

She walked over to an older model sedan and handed him the keys.

Once they were inside he turned to look at her. "Where would you like to go for that drink?"

"What I'd like is to dance in the moonlight with you until I can barely stand up and then I'd love you to pick me up and..."

"And?"

"Fill in the blank, sweetie."

"If I did that, God only knows where we'd end up."

"I know where I'd like to end up."

So did he. "And where is that?"

"Spending the night talking to you until you feel comfortable enough to tell me about her—them."

He shook his head. "I told you I don't want to talk about them."

She touched his arm. "Okay. I can wait until you can and do. In the meantime, I'm ready to go home."

"What about that drink?"

"Maybe another time."

Damn. "Where do you live?" he asked.

She gave him her address.

He took out his phone and texted Bancroft to follow them after all before he started the car and drove off.

There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but given his intention to avoid a relationship with her, none of them felt appropriate. Noting that her car could handle it, he reached in his jacket pocket for the flash drive he carried with him.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Some of my favorite songs."

"Don't you store them in the cloud?"

"I do, but I keep this for the times when I don't have internet access. Do you mind?"

"Of course not."

"Do you mind if I sing along?"

"Sing to me, sweetie," she invited.

Although that's just what he wanted to do, he remained silent through some of his favorite songs,
You Light Up My Life, Here's Some Love,
and
Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
However, with the opening bar of Ray Charles belting out
If You Were Mine
, he found himself singing along.

When the song ended, she touched his thigh. "Whew. What a wonderfully sexy singing voice you have."

"Thank you."

"I have news for you, sweetie. If I were yours, I don't imagine I'd ever want to leave you and I'm thinking if I'm not very careful you'll go straight to my...what did he say?"

"He said she went straight to his brain."

"I like the sound of that."