He just hadn’t been able to pinpoint it until now. Could Brooke distinguish the difference?
“Good. Very good, actually. It’s a journey forming a sister bond once we’re already grown-ups, but we’re definitely well on our way to the friends part.”
She kicked her way through the surf. “Cassie’s an amazing person.”
“All the Garrisons are definitely overachievers.” He leaned in to sniff her neck, catch a hint of her perfume.
“Is that a compliment?” She tipped her head toward him, then pulled back as if reminding herself she shouldn’t give in.
What might things be like between them once they got past all the stop-and-start negotiations of this marriage deal? A no-holds-barred Brooke was something he wanted to see.
“In my book it is.” Their child would probably be a supercharged handful, and yeah, he looked forward to the challenge.
“Do you ever take vacations? Just pick up and leave all the work behind?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“You’re here because you want to win me over. That’s different.”
She’d figured that out? He should have realized she would. Still, that didn’t make the effort wasted, especially if it worked. “I’m lucky my job takes me to amazing places. I tag on an extra day to sightsee when I can.”
“What about after the baby comes?”
Ah, now he saw where she was going with this, and he liked that her thoughts were finally on the future. “Obviously a child means we’ll both make changes in our lifestyles. I expect that. I look forward to it.”
Did she trust his answer? He couldn’t tell, and she’d stopped talking so he searched for something to fill the silence that would reassure her. “I did just pick up and leave once, six months after I graduated from college. Emilio and I backpacked across Europe.”
He hadn’t thought about that awesome month in…Hell, he couldn’t remember when he’d dredged up memories of that time.
She snuggled closer against his side as they strolled. “You’re really close to your brother.”
“We are. Always have been since we were kids. And now he’s the only family I have left.” Jordan paused. “Or rather, he was. Now I’ve got this baby—and you.”
“Sounds like the perfect sort of vacation.”
“It was great, until…” Crap. He’d meant to dig up pleasant words to soothe her.
“Until what?” She glanced up at him.
He settled for, “We went home.”
“Come on, Jordan .” She squeezed his side. “You’ve heard about me and my father and how painful the past months have been. This sharing thing needs to be a two-way street.”
The pain of that time kicked over him. The power, even after so many years, surprised him more than a rogue wave. “We came home early because our parents died.”
She stopped in her tracks, her hands falling to rest on his chest. “Oh, God, Jordan
, I’m sorry. I knew they were dead, but I didn’t realize you’d lost them both at the same time. That must have been so difficult for you. How did you lose them?”
“In a boating accident. Emilio and I came home from Europe and assumed control of the business in Dad’s place.”
“And you never took a vacation again.” Her eyes glinted with a sympathetic air that made him uncomfortable.
He wanted to win her over, but not this way. “Like I said, I’m seeing the world on my terms. When the baby comes, I get to make my own schedule because I’m the boss. I promise, the kid will get trips to Disney. Don’t worry.”
She stared into his eyes and he wondered if she would press him on the issue of his parents. He braced himself.
Finally, she looked away and started walking again. “So when this baby asks about how Mom and Dad met and decided to start a family, what do we say?”
Relieved to be off the hook from more emotional topics, he answered with the first thought that popped to mind. “We tell him or her the truth.”
“The truth?” She snorted on a giggle. “Isn’t that a bit much for a child?”
“Not the way I see it.” His emotions still too damn raw, he needed—welcomed—the distraction of splaying his hands over her shoulders, sliding them up into her hair. A whiff of her perfume caught on the breeze to tempt him again.
“How do you see it?” Her words hitched with a betraying breathiness.
He stepped closer, skimming against her, each brush a hot temptation. “I would say that I saw a one-of-a-kind woman who knocked me off my feet.”
Her chest swelled with a gasp, her fuller br**sts pressing against him as she leaned. “That’s nice.”
“Not nice so much as smart. I know special when I see it.” When he felt it. Like now. He soaked in the silkiness of her hair against his fingers.
Her lashes fluttered closed, then half-open again. “You’re using those stellar corporate boardroom skills on me.”
“Why is it so difficult for you to trust what I say?” He shoved aside a punch of guilt over the newspaper leak. He had been thinking of her peace of mind.
“It’s been a tough few months, learning about my father.” She waved a hand in the general direction of Cassie’s house. “Finding out about this other life of his. It can shake a person’s trust, especially when I already had doubts about the whole happily-ever-after gig in the first place.”
“I can understand that.” That wasn’t what he’d intended in bringing her here, damn it. He worked to steer the conversation back on path. “My parents had a great marriage. I’ve seen how it should work.”
“They loved each other?”
“Yes.” The loss squeezed his gut again.
She stared at him. Waiting. For?
Hell. She was talking about that L word, or the lack thereof between them.
He’d promised to be honest with her. He’d been able to go to the press to make things easier for her, but this would be different. He knew that.
He hooked his hands behind her waist, wishing this could be simpler, wishing they were free to take their time and let the simmering passions and feelings build.
Then again, would they have ever made time for that to happen if not for the pregnancy? The sand shifted under him as he thought of all he would have missed if he’d stayed away from Brooke Garrison. “Feelings grow over time. We have a lot to build on.”