Page 225 of Steamy Ever After

“It’s okay, Brodie. It feels…”

“Awkward. So anyway, what’s his name?”

“This guy? Syd.”

“He’s good.”

“The music fits, doesn’t it?”

“Yep. It’s perfect. When I get home, I’ll see if I can download some of his stuff.”

The beginning of the thirteen-mile drive was deceiving, with the thick canopy of oak trees lining the paved road scattered with apple orchards and vineyards. Five miles in, the trees opened up and the winding, paved road turned to dirt.

“I can’t believe how few people know about this drive,” Peyton commented when the only car they’d seen since they began the drive passed, going in the opposite direction.

“You’d think, by now, it would be on every map handed out to tourists.”

She rolled down her window and breathed in. “Can’t see it yet, but there’s no mistaking how close to the ocean we are.”

The road meandered through the rolling, golden hills of the coastal mountains, still miraculously untamed by developers. The blue sky was free of clouds, so the vistas from the summit extended from the miles and miles of unspoiled oceanfront to the west all the way beyond the hills of Paso Robles to the east. When they were at the very top of the narrow strip of road, Brodie pulled off.

“Everything okay?” Peyton asked.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Like before, her chest tightened. “Did you bring me all the way out here so I didn’t have a choice?”

“This drive was your idea, pretty lady.” He smiled.

“Right. It was. The words ‘something I have to talk to you about’ fill me with dread, though.” What would Brodie say? Whatever it was, she knew instinctively she didn’t want to hear.

“The box.”

“Right, the box.” The one she didn’t want, filled with things that would bring her pain she didn’t want to feel anymore. “Brodie, I?—”

“This is the last time I’m going to bring it up. If you don’t want it, I’ll take it home and stash it away. If there ever comes a time you change your mind, all you have to do is ask me for it.”

Rather than answer, Peyton opened the door and got out. She stood with her hands in her pockets, looking at the view of Morro Rock.

Kade would’ve done the same thing Brodie was doing. He’d always been so easy on her, but he’d known what he was doing. The easier he was on her, the more she wanted to prove she could handle whatever he was shielding her from.

Brodie got out of the car and stood next to her.

“You remind me so much of him.”

“Thank you. That’s high praise. Lots of guys want to be like their older brother, but for me, that means something.”

“I dream about him all the time, that it was a mistake. I dream I’m somewhere in town and I see him. That’s why I was so freaked out at Louie’s yesterday morning. I saw you walk in, and from the back, you look like him.”

“I’m sorry, Peyton.”

She didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t stop herself. “In a way, being with you is like being with him. But it’s different, too.” She returned to the car and opened the passenger door. “Do you mind if we keep going?”

“Of course not.” Brodie got in and started the engine. “I’m struggling, Peyton. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I find myself wishing you never knew my brother, that you’re a woman I met on my own, who I’m attracted to. I want to go to the farmers’ market with you and your boys, and take you to Mama’s Meatballs for dinner, and go see the guy whose music we’re listening to.”

Peyton rubbed her chest. He was honest with her. Could she show him the same courtesy?

BRODIE

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