Page 7 of A Touch of Heaven

I curl my feet underneath me and look out onto the ocean. I can hear the boys laughing in the house, making me smile. I always feel at home around these guys. None of them have ever tried to cross the line with me except Jax, who is just a hopelessly big flirt

I feel like he does it primarily to wind Chase up. He can be a little overprotective sometimes, and I swear it guts me every time. The whole protective big brother thing drives me crazy, and I’m ninety-nine percent sure he’s the reason why guys haven’t taken things further with me other than a chaste kiss.

Ass!

Truthfully, I’m not sure I want anything with anyone else, but still, it would be nice to decide on my own.

I think he still sees me as that little girl who met him as a child. I wish he would open his eyes and see the real me, the girl who’s been crazy about him since the moment I saw him before she even knew what love was. The girl who fell for the angry kid with the beautiful smile he only showed me.

Instead, I watch him with girl after girl, and it’s like a knife to my stomach every single time. None of them are good enough for him. They don’t see the real him, only his looks and money. Most of them leave as quickly as they arrive in his life. His love life is a revolving door of quick fucks. Usually a night or two only, sometimes a couple of weeks.

Only one stuck around for longer than that.

Chloe Slutface Price.

God, I hated her. She was with him for just under a year, and I swear she would purposely be all over him in front of me, always touching him or giggling. Well, if you could call that high-pitched shrill a giggle.

The most annoying thing was that she was typically gorgeous. Tall, slim, and beautiful. Long legs and big boobs, stunning platinum blonde hair, too.

Now, I’m not a jealous girl normally, but seeing her and him together, looking like they just stepped out of a movie premiere, killed me.

The number of times I wanted to smash her face into the nearest surface just for looking at him, but I never did. I didn’t have a right to, if I’m honest. He’s not mine and never will be, no matter how badly I want him to be, yet she always felt the need to remind me every time I saw her.

Even now. Violence isn’t my thing, but that girl would get everything she deserves if someone just happened to push her into the lake back home, and she drowned.

I sigh. My stomach is in knots.

What is wrong with me?

How can I feel that strongly about a guy I’m not even with?

I’m starting to regret coming here, suddenly realizing I’m going to see him hooking up with girls all summer. Since his bedroom is below mine, I might even hear it.

Maybe I should make an excuse and leave. I don’t think I can handle that, if I’m honest. I feel physically sick just thinking about it.

Why can’t it be like the books where everyone has a happily ever after?

And then, as if he hears my thoughts, he appears out the door. I take my headphones out and smile at him.

“Hey, you,” he says, grinning at me. Unlike Nate, he has one dimple, not two, which, if you ask me, is way sexier.

“Hey,” I say back, trying to sound enthusiastic and not like there’s doubt in my mind about being here.

He walks over to take a seat next to me. I hear the swing chair groan as it takes his weight…all of it pure muscle, and I laugh.

He kicks his leg up on the chair swing and pulls me toward him, and suddenly, I’m leaning against him, my back against his chest with his arms around me and my knees between his. My heart beats a little faster as we stare out into the darkness and at the stars; we love to watch together. A beat or two passes before he talks.

“Why are you out here, Brooke?” His voice is authoritative and gravelly, his thumb slowly caressing my bare stomach up and down, sending tingles through my spine.

I swallow hard. This isn’t unusual, sitting like this with him. I swear both Anderson brothers are very tactile, but something about his voice tonight puts me on edge.

“I’m surprised you noticed I had gone?” I feel his body tense, but his thumb carries on without pause. It’s just above the waistband of my shorts, and I can feel my breath getting heavier as he catches the waistband of the denim material. I clear my throat.

“I mean, you were busy with the guys, and I just wanted to take a minute to look at the view of an evening here. You know how I can’t resist the night sky. It just calls to me. I’ve missed you looking at the stars with me. It’s not as special without you.”

“Hm? If you ask me, the view is always stunning, no matter where we are. I have missed this, too.” I hear his voice catch.

He moves my hair to one side of my neck as his voice whispers in my ear, “And I always notice where you are, Brookie…always. Never doubt that. I can feel you when you’re near, and I miss you when you’re not.”

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