Romancing My Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens) Contemporary Romance (25 page)

EMILY AND REBECCA crossed the wide hardwood foyer into a large great room with thick throw rugs over more hardwood. There were bottles of champagne on the tables, finger foods, and napkins that read
Daisy and Luke
and today’s date. The house wasn’t overly decorated, and although it was large, it wasn’t ostentatiously furnished. Two oversized white sofas faced a stone fireplace that climbed the two-story wall to the cathedral ceiling. The mantel was littered with framed photographs of Pierce and his siblings at various ages. Rebecca lingered on them for a minute, instantly picking out Pierce from the others. His eyes were serious, and in most of the photos, he had an arm or a hand on a sibling.

“Mom,” Emily called into the kitchen, which was off to their left. “Come meet Rebecca, Pierce’s girlfriend.”

Catherine was a few inches taller than Rebecca and shared the same high cheekbones and wide smile as Pierce. She had almond-shaped eyes with thick lashes, and seeing her and Emily together, Rebecca realized that Emily had those traits, too. Catherine looked comfortable in jeans and a blue blouse, and when she opened her arms, Rebecca understood why Pierce and his siblings had such easy natures.

“Rebecca, it’s such a pleasure to meet you.” Catherine hugged her and kept her hands on her arms when she drew back. “Pierce has told me so much about you.”

“Uh-oh, should I worry?” She was only half teasing.

“Not unless it’s a crime to rave about a woman,” Catherine answered. “Did you meet Jake? He said he was going to greet you and Pierce.”

Rebecca relayed the story of Jake’s prank to Catherine and Emily.

“He really is a great guy,” Emily insisted. She moved in closer to Rebecca and said, “But his pranks can be a pain.”

Rebecca could see how much Emily loved him, and in the short amount of time she’d known her, she felt like they’d already become friends.

“I’m sorry, Rebecca. I can’t even make up an excuse for him.” Catherine smiled, and as with Emily, her love for Jake was evident.

“I see you met my mom,” Pierce said as he came through the front door and joined them.

Jake closed the door behind them. Catherine pressed her lips together and dropped her shoulders.

“Jake Braden, didn’t I tell you not to pull any pranks?” Catherine touched Rebecca’s hand. “I’m sorry if he frightened you. He’s forever pulling stunts around here.”

“Don’t worry,” Pierce said. “She gave him shit for it already.”

Catherine raised her brows toward Rebecca. “You did?”

Gulp
. Rebecca shrugged and smiled. “I kind of couldn’t help myself. I was really scared.”

“A woman after my own heart. You’ve got to give it right back to these boys.” Catherine reached for Jake’s hand. “They play hard, but they love hard, too.”

Jake stepped from his mother’s grasp and held up his hands. “I don’t want any part of this discussion. Just because my brothers bit the monogamous bullet doesn’t mean I’m going to.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “With my luck, even
you
will find love before me.”

“No way in hell,” Jake said.

“Hey, maybe you’ll find a guy in Tuscany,” a deep, masculine voice boomed from the stairwell. 

“I wondered where they were,” Pierce said.

A young bloodhound bounded up the stairs and into the room with her tail wagging, anxiously rubbing against everyone’s legs.

“Oh my gosh, she’s so cute.” Rebecca stooped to pet the dog, and the pup climbed up her legs and licked her face.

“Sweets!” The deep voice stilled the excited pup into sitting by Rebecca’s feet. Two more of Pierce’s handsome brothers entered the room, followed by two gorgeous women, whose eyes lit up when they saw Pierce and Rebecca.

“Sorry about that,” the petite brunette said. She smiled as she crouched to pet the dog. “Sweets gets a little excited. I’m Callie, by the way, and this is Wes.” She touched Wes’s leg, and he reached for her hand and drew her up beside him.

“Hi, Rebecca. Sweets is ours. She’s still learning her manners.” Wes opened his arms and hugged Rebecca. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

Callie leaned in for a hug next. “All good things,” she whispered in Rebecca’s ear.

Rebecca had to stifle the urge to say,
Really? Yay!

“And I’m Daisy, Luke’s fiancée.” Daisy had white-blond hair and vibrant blue eyes. Rebecca knew from Pierce that she was a doctor, and he’d shared with her the struggles that Daisy had encountered growing up model gorgeous. He’d said that she’d had a hard time being taken seriously, and she’d dyed her hair after she’d gone away to college in an effort to escape the stereotypical Barbie taunts. She’d eventually come back to Trusty and made amends with the people who used to harass her. He told her that she and Luke falling in love had helped them both to accept parts of themselves that they’d previously had trouble accepting.

“Daisy, congratulations on your engagement.” Rebecca hugged Daisy, realizing that she wasn’t carrying any more baggage than anyone else was. Rebecca’s baggage was just different. She looked over Daisy’s shoulder at Pierce, who had one arm over Luke’s shoulder. He glanced up, and their eyes connected and held just long enough for her pulse to quicken.

“Thanks,” Daisy said. “We’re excited. Of course, no one around Trusty can believe that one of the Braden boys is actually going to tie the knot. Luke, come say hello to Rebecca.” Daisy leaned in close to Rebecca and whispered, “When they fall in love, they fall hard. Luke had to convince
me
to get married.” She reached for Luke’s hand. “I can’t wait to get to know you better, Rebecca. We’ll catch up when the boys are busy talking. I swear when Luke gets together with his brothers, they could chat for hours.”

“A relative hen party—oops, cock party,” Emily said as she crouched to love up Sweets. The pup rolled onto her back, and Emily scratched her belly.

“Emily.” Catherine shook her head. “Daisy’s right, though. They’re worse than a pack of teenage girls.”

“My masculinity takes offense to that statement, Mom.” Luke was the youngest of Pierce’s siblings. Rebecca could imagine him as a badass troublemaker with at least three days’ scruff on his strong jaw and the barbed-wire tattoo on his biceps, but when he stole a kiss from Daisy before opening his arms to Rebecca, all that toughness rolled away.

Rebecca glanced around the room. To the right of the fireplace was a leather love seat with two colorful blankets draped over the back. A deep burgundy armchair and a leather recliner, separated by what had to be a hand-carved cherrywood table, were situated on the far side of the fireplace. Just beyond the living room was a large dining room with a wooden farmhouse-style table that was longer than any table Rebecca had ever seen. French doors led from the dining room to an enormous deck, with a spectacular view of Trusty and the mountains. The house felt warm and homey. It might have been the enormous men flopping on the couches, or Emily cozying up with her legs tucked beneath her in the leather chair, or it could have been Pierce’s arm around her shoulders. Catherine’s house overflowed with the feel of a big, close-knit family. Rebecca half expected to feel sad, as she had no family to speak of, but she had Pierce, and she could see herself embracing his family as if it were her own.

“I hear you have a hell of a punch,” Luke teased.

“Luke!” Daisy smacked his arm.

Luke’s comment brought Rebecca back to the conversation. She waited for her cheeks to flush and embarrassment to send her sprinting from the room, and when those things didn’t happen, it shocked her as much as she could tell it surprised Pierce, who was watching her from a few feet away.

“I guess Pierce told you how we met?” She eyed Pierce as he came to her side.

“Sorry, babe, but I was proud of you.” Pierce kissed her cheek.

His family was so openly affectionate that she couldn’t help but slip her arm around his waist and snuggle in close.

“It’s okay,” Rebecca said. “I’m kind of proud of it, too.”

“You go, girlfriend. I would never have the guts to do that,” Daisy said. “But I can’t even count the number of times that it would have been amazing to knock some jerk to the floor.”

“Well, I admire the hell out of you for it. I heard you also turned Pierce down the first time he asked you out.” Luke stared at Pierce, and a coy smile formed on his lips. “Daisy never turned me down.”

“You’re a liar.” Daisy poked him in the side. “Don’t mind him. I swear they’re so competitive it’s crazy.”

“The only girls who never turn you down are the ones in your pasture, and they only hang around you because you feed them,” Pierce said.

“Hey, don’t knock my girls.” Luke turned at the sound of the front door opening.

Pierce nuzzled against Rebecca’s neck. “His girls are his gypsy horses. I told you about them, right?”

“Yeah.” She hoped to see the beautiful horses one day.

“Those horses really do adore him. I’m just giving him hell,” Pierce said. “You should probably get used to it.”

“I love how you guys bait each other.”

Pierce touched his forehead to hers. “And I love that you’re here with me.” He lifted his head as Ross arrived and joined them in the living room.

Ross looked just like his pictures, with serious eyes and dark hair worn longer on top and cut close on the sides. She knew Ross was the Trusty town veterinarian, and he was the brother that was closest in age to Pierce, but while she’d seen a similarity to Luke in the pictures in Pierce’s house, in person, Ross and Luke looked even more alike.

Sweets scampered across the hardwood and pawed at Ross’s legs. Ross crouched beside her, scratching her head behind her floppy ears.

“How’s the best girl in town?” Ross kissed Sweets’s snout.

“Hey!” Emily snapped. “I currently hold that title, thank you very much.” Then, more softly, she added, “Only no one knows it yet.”

Catherine sat beside Emily on the couch and draped her arm over her shoulder. “Oh, honey, your time will come. You can’t force love. It comes when it’s damn good and ready.”

“Sis, you know any man you think you love will have to pass our judgment first,” Pierce said with a serious tone. He and Ross exchanged a nod full of brotherly goading.

“Oh, please.” Emily rolled her eyes.

“Speaking of judgment.” Ross arched a brow. “You must be Rebecca. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ross.” He leaned in for a hug. It wasn’t a hug full of brawn and bravado like Wes and Luke had given her. It was a warm embrace, as if he’d known her forever.

Pierce pulled her out of his arms. “He’s a smooth one, Bec. You’ve got to watch him.”

Ross shook his head. He was more reserved than Pierce’s other brothers, as if he were taking in his surroundings rather than taking them over.

“Yeah, I’m the one to watch, all right. Me and all my women.” Ross crossed the floor and kissed his mom on the cheek, then sank into the couch on Emily’s other side and draped an arm around her shoulders. Sweets curled up at his feet. “Were you complaining about meeting a man when I came in?”

“Maybe.” She flashed a cheesy grin.

“You’re leaving for Italy soon. Romance capital of the world.” Ross’s eyes widened. “I’m sure you can hook up with someone there.”

Jake was sitting on the other couch. He kicked his boots onto the coffee table and crossed his arms. “Hey, don’t encourage Emily to
hook up
.”

“Says the man who bed
Ready, Willing
, and
Able
the other night.” Pierce shifted his eyes to Jake, who shrugged.

“I don’t want to know this about you.” Emily covered her ears.

Jake grinned at Pierce. “Hey, jealousy will get you nowhere.”

Pierce didn’t have any visible reaction to what Jake said. Rebecca didn’t worry if he missed his bachelor lifestyle. It was apparent in every glance, every touch, every kiss, every word he spoke and the look in his eyes that he adored her—but she did wonder if he’d even respond to Jake. He was casually filling the champagne glasses; then he handed them out, slowing by Jake and holding the glass just out of his brother’s reach.

After a minute of an alpha stare down, he handed the glass to Jake and sat down beside Rebecca on the couch.

“Jealous?” Pierce settled his hand on Rebecca’s thigh and spoke in a smooth, even tone.  “I’ve got news for you, Jake. There’s nothing and nobody in the world who would be worth missing a single night with Rebecca.”

As Pierce rose to his feet with a champagne glass in one hand and her hand in the other, she knew that she didn’t have to worry about his family seeing how in love with Pierce she was. She had a feeling that in this family, it would be more of a problem if her love wasn’t evident.

“Okay, now that we’ve all had our fun, I’d like to make a toast to Daisy and Luke. This is their engagement party, after all.” Pierce lifted his glass. “Daisy, I still have no idea how you tamed my baby brother.”

“
Pfft
.”  Luke shook his head and looked away.

Pierce lowered his chin and stared at Luke until Luke met his gaze. “But I’m damn happy you did, because I’ve never seen Luke so centered or so happy. I never realized that he was missing something in his life.”

He looked across the room at Callie and Wes, snuggled so close they could have climbed under each other’s skin, and then his eyes shifted to Rebecca. Her pulse quickened with the look of love in his eyes that blazed a path straight through her.

“I never knew I was missing something—or someone—either.” He held Rebecca’s stare for a beat, then shifted his attention back to Luke and Daisy. “Daisy, Luke, you opened my eyes just enough for me to slow down and take notice when Rebecca came into my life. So while I’m toasting the two of you with great hopes that your life together will always be more than you could ever hope for, I’m also saying thank you. Because now my life is just that.” He leaned down and hugged Daisy, then kissed her on the cheek and whispered, “You’re the best thing that ever happened to him.”

Daisy’s eyes dampened.

Pierce pulled Luke up to his feet and wrapped his arms around him. They patted each other’s backs, and Rebecca couldn’t hear what Pierce said to Luke, but whatever it was, Luke’s hand stilled on Pierce’s back, then pressed harder, pulling him closer.