He reached for the magazine, and she pressed it to her chest.
“May I keep it?”
He felt the air around them shift, and he didn’t like the way it blew her a little farther away than she’d been a moment before.
“Sure.” He opened the car door and closed it after she was settled in the luxurious seat. “It’s after two. Why don’t we go by my place so you can pick out—pick up—a car. I’ll follow you back to your place, so you’re not arriving home alone this late, and then, when your car is done tomorrow, I’ll bring it to you and we’ll swap cars.”
“I can’t take one of your cars,” she said. “By the looks of it, your cars are worth more than my mother’s house.”
Hugh reached across the seat and took her hand in his. “You’re borrowing a car. I promised you’d have what you needed, and I always follow through with my promises.”
She shook her head. “Hugh, I wouldn’t feel comfortable in an expensive car. You saw what I drive. It’s a nine-year-old Honda Civic. Not exactly a luxury car. And it barely runs. That’s more my style.”
He leaned across the seat, and he knew he was pushing his luck, but he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her closer, then pressed another soft kiss to her lips. “I respect whatever decisions you make, but you’re a working mom, and you don’t have your daughter with you tonight at least partially because you need to work tomorrow. Take my car; fulfill your obligation; then you can forget you ever drove it.” He started the car and drove toward home.
By the time he pulled into the garage, Brianna had been asleep for ten minutes. Hugh had a lot of experience with women. He could handle drunk women, horny women, tired and cranky women, but he had absolutely zero experience with beautiful women he actually wanted to get to know in more than a carnal way falling asleep in his car. Should I wake her up? Carry her inside? Drive her to wherever she lives and carry her inside there? Her face tilted toward the window and her hands were folded in her lap. She could have been just closing her eyes for a moment, save for the even, peaceful breathing that came only when all the cares of life were set aside—and he doubted that Brianna set aside her cares easily. She was definitely sleeping. She’d worked a long shift at Old Town Tavern, and she had said she’d had an appointment before that, which he now assumed, given her financial situation, was a second job of some sort. She had to be exhausted. He thought about his oldest brother, Treat, and wondered what he would do in the same situation. Treat was the epitome of a gentleman, and Hugh looked up to him for that and for many other reasons. He nodded in the silent car and made his decision.
Brianna snuggled against him as he carried her down the hall to the first-floor master bedroom, where he laid her on the king-sized bed, removed her boots, and covered her with a blanket. She rolled onto her stomach, and her dark hair fanned out from her head. Hugh had seen many women in his bed, but never had he stood above the bed and looked down upon any of them without a sexual thought in his head, as he was now. He felt a type of respect for Brianna that he had never realized was missing with other women he’d dated.
He switched on the fireplace in the corner of the bedroom, kicked off his shoes, and settled into the recliner by the window. When he took in her beautiful face against his pillow and thought of how fiercely she protected her daughter, he wondered who was protecting her. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be that person.
Chapter Ten
BRIANNA AWOKE TO her cell phone ringing. She rolled over and blinked away the fog of sleep. Something smelled delicious. She reached her arm straight up and tilted her head. Why does the ceiling look so far away? She wondered why her pillow felt insanely soft and why the room wasn’t cold, as it usually was in the mornings. She shifted her eyes to the right, taking in a wall of windows. Holy shit. She bolted upright in the strange bed and then looked under the sheets. Thank God. She scrambled from the bed fully dressed, found her boots, and quickly put them on as the prior evening came back piece by piece and assembled into the lovely evening that she’d had with Hugh—the evening that never ended. Crap.
She saw her purse on a cherry nightstand, and beyond that, a large dresser with a family photo, Hugh’s cologne, and a stack of books. She picked up the photo and scanned the incredibly gorgeous faces of the people who could only be his brothers, sister, and father. The likeness was profound. All tall and dark—except for the girl, who had auburn hair and lighter eyes than the men—and stunningly handsome. They weren’t looking at the camera. They were looking at each other, laughing, as if the picture had been candid, not posed, and she wondered when people had time for such frivolity. A pang of jealousy speared her. Oh, how she longed for a little time to laugh like that. She’d had such a good time the evening before that she felt as if she’d had a taste of what it must be like to go out and enjoy an evening without real life pressing in on her. Brianna set the frame down. Time for real life.
She grabbed her phone from her purse and went into the enormous master bathroom, locking the door behind her. She stared at herself in the mirror. What am I doing? She washed her face, used some of Hugh’s toothpaste on her finger, and brushed her teeth as best she could, then leaned against the counter, arms crossed, heart racing. Who goes from not dating to sleeping at a guy’s house? She cringed at the thought. She didn’t remember pulling up to the house. She had no idea where they even were. The last thing she remembered after the most intense, earth-shattering, knee-quaking kiss she’d ever experienced—a kiss so exquisite she couldn’t imagine ever kissing anyone else. As quickly as she allowed herself that one taste of sensuous joy, it had been stolen away. She could never be close to a man whose life revolved around heavy travel and a job that could take his life in an instant. She could never do that to Layla. And, Brianna realized, she could never put herself in a position to compete with the plethora of female groupies that came with such a job. Hugh had been a fantasy. She supposed she should consider herself lucky. How many women get to have a romantic evening with a gorgeous man, completely out of the blue like she did?
She silenced her ringer and texted Kat. You up?
Yes. How was your date?
She texted as quickly as she could. I fell asleep. I’m at his house! Awkward!
Her phone vibrated again, and she read Kat’s response. Fell asleep after sex? That’s okay.
Brianna shook her head. No! Fully clothed. Alone. My car broke down, and I fell asleep on the way to his house.
The phone vibrated again, this time with a call from Kat. She pushed the green button and held it up to her ear.
“Oh my God. Tell me,” Kat said.
Brianna whispered. “We had coffee; then my car wouldn’t start. He was going to lend me a car. Oh my God, Kat. Who has extra cars just lying around? Anyway, on the way here, I fell asleep. He must have carried me inside. I woke up in his bed. Alone and fully dressed. He lives in this amazing house, and it smells like he cooked a gourmet breakfast.” She took a deep breath, trying to keep from hyperventilating.
“Slow down. First things first. How was the date?”
“Kat! Did you hear me? I feel like a fool. The date was great. Better than great. But now I’ve got to take the walk of shame and I didn’t even do anything.” She looked in the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair. “Oh my God. I look awful, too, and you saw him. He’s gorgeous. And sweet. And so…so…Ugh! What am I doing?”
“Bree, breathe, honey. Just breathe. You’re not taking the walk of shame. You’re not in college anymore. This is real life. Adult life. People have sex.”
Hugh’s voice came back to her. Bree, sweetie, take a deep breath. Brianna stopped pacing and said, “I didn’t have sex.”
“Okay. I know. People fall asleep. So what? If he’s as nice as you say, then he won’t care. Besides, if he did care, he would have woken you up and taken you home, right?” Kat spoke confidently and in a soothing tone.
Brianna took a deep breath. “What should I do? I can’t hang out in the bathroom all day.”
Kat laughed. “Bree, you’re a twenty-eight-year-old mother. You’ve handled worse situations than this. Enjoy the morning. Act like yourself. Pretend you’re in a hotel and you’re going out to the lobby. Natural, easy.”
Natural. Easy. Brianna rolled her eyes. “I’m fucked. I shouldn’t have gone out with him. The more time we spent together, the more I liked him.”
“That’s a good thing. Your mom always tells you that you need a life. Hell, I tell you that. You’re getting no sympathy from me, honey.”
“Thanks, Kat. That really helps, you brat.” She sighed and flattened the wrinkles from her sweater. “Okay. I can do this.” She sat on the edge of the Jacuzzi bathtub, contemplating telling Kat exactly who Hugh really was, but she worried that it would lead to one of two things—a lengthy discussion, which she definitely didn’t have time for, or possibly, Kat might see him differently, as he’d thought Brianna would. She tucked away the thought until she could tell her in person and weigh her response. “Tell me I can do this.”