Mia threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, a feisty little cub who’d grown into a woman who loved with the ferocity of a lioness.
"I just keep thinking about that psycho who came after you in Seattle. You know how terrified Mom and Dad were about it, but you have to know they weren’t the only ones. We all were."
"I love you, too, sis." He hugged her back hard enough to lift her small frame off the floor before setting her back on her own two feet. "Come on, let’s go find Adam and get that bonfire and the s’mores started."
* * *
As Rafe and Mia got a bonfire going in the firepit on the beach, Adam finally emerged from beneath the house, brushing cobwebs from his shoulders and hair. When Brooke walked down to the beach to join them with four champagne glasses in her hands, Rafe noticed that she had changed into jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Still, even with denim on instead of the sexy-as-hell white dress, she couldn’t mask her natural sensuality. Instead, the hints of bare skin and lush curves hiding behind the fabric almost made her allure more potent.
Here was yet another reason it was crazy to think about being with Brooke beyond a summer fling. How could he live his life wanting to kill any guy who looked at her—even his own brother? Especially when a guy couldn’t help but look, despite the fact that she wasn’t purposely flaunting anything.
With a flourish, Mia popped the cork on the Sullivan Winery bottle, fizzy liquid bubbling over the lip onto the sand. Each of them grabbed an empty glass, and after Mia filled them, they raised them in a toast.
"To Rafe’s new lake house."
"To Mia for finding the listing before anyone else could," Brooke added.
"And to Brooke’s amazing chocolate truffles," Rafe said, barely able to take his eyes off her incredible beauty in the firelight long enough to turn to his sister and touch glasses.
They all toasted and drank, then found spots in the sand to stretch out.
"I love that you make chocolate truffles for a living," Mia told her old friend. "Your grandmother and grandfather would be so proud."
Brooke’s eyes immediately dampened as she gave his sister a slightly wobbly smile. "Thank you for saying that."
"We’re all so sorry that they’re not here with us tonight."
Mia squeezed Brooke’s hand, and after a moment of silence in which they all remembered Mr. and Mrs. Jansen, Rafe badly wanted to pull Brooke onto his lap and hold her until her grief was completely gone.
"Rafe told me all about how brilliantly both of you are doing," Brooke said to his siblings. "Monopoly always was your favorite game, wasn’t it, Mia?"
Yet again, Rafe was amazed by everything Brooke had noticed when they were kids. Clearly, Mia was, too.
"Yes, it was." Mia grinned at Brooke. "And making chocolates with your grandmother was yours."
"Remember when Dylan convinced me to make a batch out of mud and you ate one on a dare?"
Mia put her hand over her stomach. "Don’t remind me."
"You never could resist a dare," Adam said with a grin of his own.
Just as she always had, Brooke fit perfectly into his family. She was fun to be with. The sex was clearly going to be mind-blowing...that is, if his siblings ever left and let them get on with it. She was practically already a Sullivan. Lord knew his parents would be beside themselves with glee if he decided to have more than a summer fling and brought her home as his girlfriend.
It was perfect. So perfect that he knew better than to let himself trust it.
Not when he’d seen "perfect" blown to smithereens at least a thousand times.
And yet, even knowing that—and with Mia’s voice in his head telling him how summer flings never worked out—Rafe still couldn’t find the self-control to give Brooke up.
Brooke turned her focus to Adam next. "Do you work on specific kinds of houses?"
"Any house that catches my eye. The era or architect is less important to me than the feel of the place. Take your grandparents’ house, for instance. It doesn’t adhere to any one particular sensibility, but your grandfather not only had a great eye, he knew what he liked and didn’t give a damn if it wasn’t strictly Craftsman."
Though Brooke’s expression softened, Rafe still thought she seemed a little on edge. "I always loved this house. No matter where else I was living, it was my true home. I’ve kept up with it as best I could over the past three years, but I’m sure I’m forgetting lots of things my grandfather always did."
"Tomorrow morning, how about I take a look to see how things are holding up? Your grandfather was always so good about letting me tag along and help him when he could have done the job twice as fast without me there. It’s the least I can do."
"Wow, that’d be great, Adam. Thank you."
It was irrational to be irritated with his brother for offering to help out with Brooke’s place. Hell, Rafe should already have offered that himself. But he was a hell of a long way from rational tonight.
"Honestly," Mia said, "I still can’t believe you make truffles for a living!"
Rafe let her know, "You’ll be even more impressed once you taste one."
"How about I bring out a few to go with the s’mores?" Brooke offered, already standing up.
"Yes, please," Mia said with a wide grin as Adam nodded his approval of that idea as well.
Mia was about to get up to join her friend inside, when Brooke waved her back down onto the sand. "You’ve only got one night here. You should spend as much of it outside by the lake as you can. I’ll make sure the bedrooms and bathroom have everything ready for you while I’m in there, so don’t worry if I’m a few minutes."