Romancing My Love(46)

“Relax, Bec. They’ll love you as much as I do.”

“I’m not nervous about that. I’m nervous about how much I love you.”

She stole a glance at Pierce, in his faded Levi’s and black polo shirt. He looked so damn hot that she had been looking at him all morning. Things in the keeping-her-attraction-to-him-to-herself department were easier before they came clean about everything—their feelings, their pasts, their secrets. Those things had given her something else to focus on, even if only subconsciously. With them pushed out of the way, when she looked at Pierce, emotions flooded every inch of her body, and she knew his family would see that.

“Don’t worry. I know people see it written all over my face when I’m around you, too. Kendra said that since we’ve been dating, I’m lighter on my toes, whatever the hell that means.”

“It means—”

Pierce slammed on the brakes, and they both flew forward as a body flipped across the front of the rental car.

“Oh my God.” Rebecca clutched her heart and bolted from the car. She raced around to the front of the car and crouched by the man lying facedown on the pavement, while Pierce moved like he was walking in slow motion with a pinched look on his face. She wanted to smack him. Didn’t he see the man lying on the ground?

Pierce stood with his hands on his hips and an angry look in his eyes.

“Call nine-one-one. Pierce! Oh my God.” She touched the man’s head with a shaky hand. “Are you okay?”

“Get up, you jackass.” Pierce kicked the man’s black leather boot. “This is such bullshit.”

“Pierce!” She couldn’t believe he would treat anyone like that. With her heart in her throat, she lowered her ear to the man’s mouth to see if he was breathing. She couldn’t see his face very clearly, as it was smushed against the pavement. She held her breath and listened for breathing sounds.

“Pretend I’m not breathing,” the man whispered.

Rebecca stumbled backward and fell on her ass. She shot a look at Pierce, realizing finally that she’d been had.

“Rebecca,” Pierce said flatly. “Meet my jackass stuntman brother, Jake.”

Brother? She didn’t understand. Her heart was racing from the shock of seeing him hit.

Jake jumped to his feet with a shit-ass grin on his face and a sparkle in his eyes. He opened his arms. “Rebecca, what a pleasure to meet you.”

She was still so shaken she was panting. She pushed to her feet. Her eyes darted between them, and in the space of a breath that fear turned to anger.

“Brother?” She smacked Jake’s rock-hard abs, then pushed Pierce’s chest. “How could you do that? I was scared shitless. That’s not funny. That’s…that’s…”

“Hey, it was him, not me.” Pierce reached for her and she pushed him away.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Jake laughed, and Pierce silenced him with a dark stare.

“You’re an ass, Jake. You really scared her.” He looked at Rebecca as she paced, trying to calm her racing heart; then he shot Jake another heated look. “Jackass.”

Rebecca wrapped her arms around herself, and after a few deep breaths, she realized she’d just hit Pierce’s brother. Shit. She hadn’t even met him yet. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Pierce placed his hands on her arms from behind. “I’m sorry, babe. I should have warned you that he does that stuff. I wasn’t thinking.”

She pulled from his arms and forced herself to turn and face Jake. Great, now she saw the family resemblance.

“I’m sorry I swatted you.” She hated that she couldn’t keep the annoyance from her voice, but damn it—she was annoyed, and still a little frightened.

“You know what? I’m not sorry. That sucked. Jesus, Jake. I’m sure you’re a great guy, but you nearly gave me a heart attack, and you had me thinking that Pierce had lost his flippin’ mind because he stood there calling a dying man a jackass.”

Jake’s brow furrowed, his smile faltered, and he dropped his eyes for a beat. “I really am sorry, Rebecca. Pierce, man, I didn’t mean to freak her out.”

“She should have leveled you.” Pierce draped an arm around Rebecca’s shoulder and kissed her temple.

“Yeah,” Jake admitted. “You’d have had every right to level me. I am sorry, Rebecca. I didn’t mean to frighten you. This is kind of what I do with my family, but I guess you wouldn’t know that.” He stepped forward, and he looked so apologetic that Rebecca’s anger faded as quickly as it had appeared. “Forgive a stupid man?”

“Of course. I probably overreacted.”

“Like hell,” Pierce said.

Jake opened his arms, and Rebecca smiled up at him and mumbled, Jackass, as she met his embrace with her own.

Jake turned to Pierce with open arms. “Bro?”

Pierce faked a punch to his gut, and the two of them feigned punches and laughed. Rebecca couldn’t help but laugh with them. She’d never seen this side of Pierce, and she loved the way their playful taunts enlivened him. A car pulling down the driveway parked behind their rental car. Both men turned as a gorgeous pixie of a woman with long brown hair and dark, unmistakably Braden eyes, dressed in jeans and a glittery gold tank top climbed from the car in black heeled boots and sprinted to them as if she were wearing sneakers. She launched herself into Pierce’s arms, sending him stumbling backward with a laugh.

“I missed you, too, Emily.”

His sister wore a wide smile as she hung on to Pierce for all she was worth.

“You’re here!” She dropped to the ground and fell into Jake’s arms. “I missed you, too, you big lug.” Emily flashed her smile toward Rebecca. “Rebecca?”

“Hi.” Rebecca had the urge to get in on the family fun and hug her. It had been so long since she’d had a family of her own, and Emily’s energy was contagious.

“I love your dress.” Emily embraced her.

“Thank you. I love your top.” Rebecca relished how comfortable she felt with Emily already, and how easy the three of them were with one another. She’d always wondered what it might be like to have siblings. It didn’t take more than a minute for her to see how much they enriched one another’s lives, even with Jake’s prank. The love they had for one another was evident.

Emily looped her arm in Rebecca’s. “Come on. We’ll talk on the way to the house and leave the boys to play in the dirt.” She tossed her keys to Jake.

“Sounds good to me.” She glanced at Pierce. “Do you mind?”

“Yes, but I know better than to argue with Emily. Go. Have fun. I’ll be in in a sec.”





PIERCE WATCHED REBECCA walk away. He was sure that by the time they reached the house, she and Emily would be as close as sisters, and it brought him comfort. Emily would probably share embarrassing stories about Pierce, and he imagined Rebecca would think they were cute. When she was safely out of earshot, he pushed those warm, loving feelings aside and turned on Jake.

“You’re an idiot.” He closed the gap between them so they were eye to eye. “Her mother died two months ago.”

“I’m sorry, man.” Jake held his hands up.

Pierce wanted to grab him by his goddamn collar and knock some sense into him, but Jake hadn’t known about Rebecca’s mother, and Jake was just being Jake. He clenched his jaw and fisted his hands, squeezing the fury out of his muscles.

“Grow up, Jake. Christ Almighty.” He spun around and stepped away to walk off the lingering anger. “I love ya, man, but you’ve got to climb out of your own head and grow up.”

“Tsk. Hey, whatever.” Jake waved a hand in the air. “I apologized, and I am sorry, but let it go already.” He arched a brow.

Pierce turned on him again. Even though he knew Jake had been kidding around, he couldn’t help it. When it came to Rebecca, his claws came out. “Let it go? I love her, Jake. Did you see how scared she was? If you weren’t my brother, I’d have kicked your ass and left your ragged body on the side of the road.”

“Damn, Pierce. It was a joke.” His voice softened.

“Yeah, I get it, okay? But when it hurts Rebecca, it goes from joke to serious pretty damn quick. You hurt her, I hurt you. Got it?” Pierce sucked in a breath to calm his anger.

“Yeah. Got it.” Jake shook his head. “Man, I really had no idea.”

“No shit, you had no idea. You’ve been clueless ever since Fiona fucked you over in high school. Get over it already. Grow up and think of someone else for once.” Jake and Fiona had dated for more than two years in high school, and though they’d planned on going to the same college, after their high school graduation, Fiona had dumped Jake out of the blue. He’d never let anyone get close to him since.

“Shit. My life has nothing to do with her.”

The anger in his eyes told Pierce otherwise. Jake would never get over Fiona, and now that Pierce had Rebecca in his life and understood what it was like to love someone so completely, he felt bad for Jake. Pierce shook his head and exhaled loudly before slinging an arm over Jake’s shoulder and muscling his forearm against his neck.