Page 7 of Caught Up In You (The Monroes 2)

The place was coming along better than any of them had hoped, even with Zach’s sunshine attitude. Since Zach and Sophie had found Chelsea’s secret notes regarding this property, the Monroe boys along with Sophie and Brock had done some serious renovations to this house. Brock had been a runaway teen who was lucky to have landed where he did when Zach discovered him hiding in the unfinished resort. He was now just one of the family.

Chelsea would be so proud, so excited. Granted, nearly everything they’d done had been lined out in precise detail, logged in thick binders. She’d been meticulous with the color palettes, the landscaping, the layout of each guest room. She’d thought of every single thing.

Sophie added her own touches, knowing her late best friend would approve. Apparently, Sophie was a master at pencil sketches and she’d done some amazing pictures for each room. They’d themed the resort to stay in tune with Chelsea’s favorite place, Paris. There was classy elegance, café-style seating, and a charm that was both Southern allure and European flair. They’d had to be careful that the decor didn’t lean toward tacky, but all of that fell to Sophie, for obvious reasons.

Braxton settled behind the wheel of his car and let his mind drift to his late sister. He could still see her infectious smile, hear her laughter. He prayed those memories never faded. He needed to keep hold of them, needed to keep her alive if only in his mind. Braxton had lost those images of his mother. Her face, her smile, they would start to slide into his mind, but each time he tried to grasp the memory, they vanished. Too many years had passed, added to the fact he’d been young when she was killed. But that didn’t stop the ache he had that clawed at him to remember something about her, something he could hold on to.

But Chelsea’s death was still fairly recent, the hurt still fresh. She may have been a free-spirited drifter, but whenever he’d needed her, she’d always been right there. He needed her now. Hell, they all needed her.

More than once she and Braxton had broken up altercations between Liam and Zach. Braxton never liked angry fighting, and Chelsea only wanted her brothers to get along.

So many times she would sit on their back porch with him and they’d try to figure out what they could do to get Liam and Zach to actually be friendly toward each other. But the type A personalities with chips on their shoulders simply weren’t interested in family bonding moments when they’d been teens.

Fast-forward a few years when Zach, Liam, and Sophie had been in a serious car accident that left Sophie with a limp and Liam physically scarred and the two brothers only had a bigger wedge between them.

Since Chelsea’s death, they were coming around. They’d all pulled together, Liam reluctantly at first, to get the old Civil War–era mansion fixed up and ready to turn into Chelsea’s dream, her vision. Now they were all pitching in when they could. Braxton had taken the next semester off from teaching and Liam would come in on the weekends from Atlanta.

Bringing his engine to life, Braxton knew without a doubt that Cora and Chelsea would’ve already bonded. Chelsea wouldn’t care one bit about Cora’s inability to see and Braxton didn’t either. Once the initial shock had worn off, he’d been in awe and more than impressed with a woman who had so much drive, so much determination. Braxton admired her already for her streak of independence.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t keep his eye on her. She was new in town, she was vulnerable whether she would admit it or not, and Braxton had appointed himself her . . . what? Guard? Keeper? He was nothing but a potential boss. He needed to keep that in mind because no matter how amazing her hands felt on him, no matter how much of a stunner she was, and no matter how her breath had caught with arousal when he’d touched her, she was going to be working for him and his brothers, which meant hands off.

Besides, he had enough ladies to keep him busy as it was. Why add another? His date tomorrow with the very curvy, very outgoing Lola would get his head back on straig

ht. Braxton didn’t do relationships, didn’t do even second dates. He purposely found women who were after the same thing he was . . . no strings and a good time. His social life could be summed up as: dinner, yes—breakfast, hell no.

As he steered his SUV from the drive, Braxton cranked up the radio to his favorite heavy metal station. Why the hell was he even thinking of Cora and dating and relationships at all in the same sentence? Relationships were for fools. The only exception being his adoptive parents and Zach and Sophie. Out of all the people he knew, the percentage of those who actually found this so-called love was obviously low and there was no way in hell he would risk his heart again.

So, no. No more thinking of Cora and her magical hands on him because she wasn’t one of those women who was out looking for a good time.

Damn that massage that had his mind all twisted into a fantasy that could never be.

* * *

“Are you too cramped?” Cora asked as she felt for the latch to her seat belt.

Braxton brought the vehicle’s engine to life and laughed. “Not at all. We’re fine.”

Even though they had put Heidi in the backseat, the dog always liked her head between the passenger and the driver. Cora assumed her loyal pup was trying to stay close or she just really liked to watch the world go by.

“Are you sure?” Cora asked, worried she wasn’t making the best impression. Today was pivotal in her turning her life around and back in the direction she needed to go. “She will lie down back there if I tell her to. It’s just, she really likes to be near me and—”

A hand settled across her knee, radiating warmth throughout her entire body. “She’s fine, Cora.”

Okay. There went those sensations once again. Even when he removed his hand after reassuring her, she still felt him. She knew firsthand how powerful a simple touch could be, she made her living off of that promise. But she’d never experienced someone’s simple gesture the way she had Braxton’s. She’d never actually craved more.

“Tell me about your work,” Braxton stated as he turned the vehicle toward the right before picking up the speed. “That rock thing you did to me. Is that popular?”

Cora laughed at his description. “The hot lava rock massage is quite popular, but there are various types of massages. I chose that one for you in particular.”

“Really?”

Cora smiled wider because his tone indicated he was impressed. “Sophie had told me how hard you guys were working on fixing up the house. I figured you had some abused muscles and the heat is the perfect way to relax them.”

“My muscles weren’t abused,” he stated with that rough, sexy tone of his.

When Heidi’s hair tickled the side of Cora’s face, she reached up to rub her pup’s silky ear. “Ahhh, so you’re that type of man.”

“What type?”

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