AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He might want her until the day he died, but he’d never, ever have her.
“Don’t you have a life to go home to?”
She jumped at the voice, so immersed in her work she didn’t even know anyone had come in.
“You scared the hell out of me.” Kaitlyn glared at her sister, Shannon. She’d have to start shutting the door to her office. Working at the Rising Storm with her sister, two brothers, a sister-in-law and soon-to-be brother-in-law wasn’t always a good thing. Being in the same office just gave them carte blanche to bust in on her whenever they felt like it.
“Not my fault you tune out the world when you’re working,” Shannon teased. She looked the epitome of springtime in her pale green suit tailored to fit her slender body and her shoulder-length blonde hair spilling loose over her shoulders. And of course the pink glow on her cheeks had been present ever since she set up housekeeping with Max Devlin last year.
“I don’t have a hot man to go home to like you do,” Kaitlyn replied with a smirk. “So I’ll just finish up some work instead.”
She meant it as a subtle suggestion for Shannon to leave. A suggestion her sister blatantly ignored as she slipped into a chair across from Kaitlyn’s desk.
“You’d have a hot man to go home to if you ever stopped working long enough. You’re the last one of us, sis.”
The last one. Shannon meant the last unattached Storm sibling. Her brother Aidan had married his coworker Lissa only a few months earlier. Shannon was well on her way to making plans for her wedding to Max, and her other brother, Logan, was house-hunting with Sophie.
Kaitlyn was the lone unmatched Storm now. The only one without someone to love. But there was a good reason for that.
“It’s not my time yet, Shan. When it is, I’ll let you know.” The one man she wanted had never wanted her. Instead, he gave her those looks that made her crazy, but always kept his distance. What she wouldn’t give for just one night of hot sex with Brett McGregor.
“You’re blushing!” Shannon said.
Kaitlyn’s eyes widened and she forced thoughts of tangling naked with Brett out of her mind. “It’s…hot in here.”
“I think ‘hot’ is in your mind, all right.” Shannon arched a brow. “Did you meet with Brett today?”
Damn her sister for being so intuitive. “As a matter of fact, I did. So what?”
Crossing her arms and offering a smug smile, Shannon said, “That’s why you’re blushing.”
“It is not! I told you. It’s hot in here.”
“Uh-huh. When are you going to see him again?”
“For dinner tonight. But only to go over the list for the fundraiser. I had to agree to have dinner with him just to grab a little of his time. He’s been avoiding me.”
“And I’m sure you find having dinner with him completely distasteful.”
“Let it rest, Shannon. There’s nothing between Brett and me.”
“But you wish there was.”
Damn her, was she a mind reader? Yes, she wished there was something between them, more than she’d ever wished for anything. But the last thing she’d do is give her sister ammunition to tease her with. “Not anymore. I’m not seventeen any longer. I got over my crush on Brett a long time ago.”
“You have not. I know you, Kait. I know how you feel about him. How you’ve always felt about him.”
“And you always accused me of playing matchmaker? You’re worse than I am. There’s nothing between us, so let it go.”
At her forceful glare, Shannon nodded. “If you insist. So how go the fundraising plans?”
“Pretty good. And with a little input from Brett we should have all the details tied up in a few days. Did you know he’s not painting any longer?”
She winced. Damn. She’d just gotten Shannon off the topic of Brett and what did she do? Jumped right back on it. When would she learn to keep her mouth shut? Her family knowing about her desires would only mean trouble.
Shannon frowned and nodded. “I know he quit painting after Amanda died, but I would have thought by now he’d have started up again.”
Well, she’d opened the can of worms. Might as well pour them out on the table. “I don’t think he’s done any work since she died. Six years, Shan! That’s too long to waste talent like his.”
“I agree. But since I don’t know anything about artistic inspiration, I can’t offer any opinion. I guess he’ll paint when he’s good and ready to.”
“I think he needs a woman in his life.” As soon as the words spilled from her mouth, she knew her sister would jump right back on topic.
“You think he needs you in his life.”
“No, it’s obvious he doesn’t want me. But I think it’s well past time he met someone and started living again.”
“Uh-oh. That means you’ve got matchmaking up your sleeve.”
“And that’s never a good thing, as we all know,” piped in a male voice. Mentally cringing at being caught discussing Brett, she smiled at their brother, Aidan.
Aidan leaned casually against the door frame, his suit coat slung over his shoulder, looking relaxed and happy despite the long day he put in. Kaitlyn surmised that marriage had mellowed him. He’d lost that driven look since he married Lissa. Now he radiated calm, his amber eyes filled with warmth and love for his new wife.
He walked in and settled his long, lean frame in the chair next to Shannon.
Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. She’d never get any work done now.
“Don’t you have a wife to go home to?” Shannon asked Aidan.
“Lissa had a client conference on the other side of town this afternoon, so we’re meeting here for dinner. Don’t you have a fiancé to go home to?” he shot back.
“It just so happens Max is meeting me here for dinner, too. And Kait is having dinner with Brett at Storm Rise.”
Aidan looked over at her. “Dinner meeting about the fundraiser?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe a little more than that,” Shannon added, a twinkle sparkling in her turquoise eyes.
Aidan kept his focus on Kaitlyn. “Something going on between you two?”
She wanted to drop her head into her hands and scream. “Nothing’s going on between us. Shannon’s just being annoying.”
“I am not. You’re the one who started talking about finding him a woman.”
Damn.
Aidan frowned. “Not a good idea, Kait. He’s not ready.”
“It’s been six years, Aidan,” she argued. “He needs to move on with his life. Do you know he doesn’t paint anymore?” God, she was all over the place, from finding him a woman to the fact he wasn’t painting. Why she tried to hide her feelings from her siblings was a mystery. They could always read her.
“Yeah, I know. Amanda’s death hit him pretty hard, especially since he was driving at the time. I really think his love for painting died with her.”
She wasn’t buying it. She knew the spark still lived within him, the passion to create magic. She’d seen it. She’d felt it. Her own magic was so in tune to everything about Brett that she could even discern his emotions, no matter how hard he tried to appear indifferent. “I’m aware of the circumstances. I just think a new woman in his life would breathe some freshness into his muse. Maybe he’d start painting again.”
“Butt out, Kaitlyn. Brett doesn’t need your interference.”
Aidan had always been protective of Brett. Almost as if Brett had some deep, dark secret that Aidan didn’t want anyone to know about. After Amanda died, Aidan had closed ranks around his best friend Brett, refusing to let anyone see him.
Not even Kaitlyn. And she’d desperately wanted to go to him, to spend time with him and comfort him after his tragic loss. But he’d gone into seclusion after Amanda’s funeral, leaving the gallery in the hands of the assistant manager for almost six months while he recovered from surgery and grief.
