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“Yeah.” He hadn’t quite caught his breath. Hadn’t caught ahold of his thoughts either. They were swirling around his brain, not quite making sense. And yet one thing made perfect sense – her laying beneath him, her muscles still holding him in. Brooke and Aiden, and nothing else. “It was a long time coming.” Ten years. Jesus.
“Not for me. I think you’ll find I came quickly. Twice.” She grinned. There she was again, the Brooke he remembered so well. Funny, mischievous, never afraid to tell him what she thought. “Still, we’ve got a lot of time to make up for.”
It was his turn to smile. “Give me five minutes and I’ll take you up on that.”
22
“Well you look like a woman who’s freshly…” Ember trailed off as Nick appeared next to her in the doorway, his face splitting into a smile as he spotted Brooke standing on the front step. “Fresh. I mean you look fresh.”
Brooke bit down a laugh. “Hey, Ember.” She crouched and mussed her son’s hair with her palm. “Hey bud, did you have a good time?”
“Yep. We made pizza and watched a movie. Lucas let me play on his Xbox. It was cool.”
“I made sure it was ‘R’ rated.” Ember winked, and lowered her voice. “Unlike your night.”
“Did you play Xbox, too?” Nick asked. “With Uncle Aiden?”
Brooke shook her head, sending Ember a dirty look. “No, honey. Aiden doesn’t have an Xbox, remember?”
“He likes playing though, right?” Ember was still grinning.
“Aaaand, that’s my cue to leave. Have you got your stuff ready?”
“Hey, not so fast. We made you breakfast, didn’t we, Nick? Plus Lucas needs Nick’s help in the backyard.” She winked at him.
“They’ve got table tennis out there.” Nick’s eyes were wide. “It’s so cool.”
“Toys for boys.” Ember rolled her eyes. “He’s out there waiting for you.”
As soon as Nick ran up the hallway, she turned back to look at Brooke. “Well?”
“Well what?” Why did she feel like she was walking into an ambush.
“How was your night? I noticed you only messaged me once to check on Nick, about two thousand less times than you normally do. Which makes me think you were busy. Very busy.” The two of them were walking up the hallway, toward Ember’s kitchen. “How many times were you busy?”
“Can you pour me a cup of coffee before we get into specifics?” Brooke asked her. “I seriously need a caffeine fix.”
“Yeah, you do look tired. Glowing, though. Like a woman who spent the night doing anything but sleeping.” Ember grabbed a mug from the cupboard, pouring in the dark coffee from the pot. “Seriously, you look happy. That makes me happy, too.”
“We had a nice evening.” Brooke smiled, remembering the rest of their night. Lots of cuddling and talking, not to mention great loving. She couldn’t have asked for more than that.
“So are you seeing him again?”
“Every other Saturday, when he picks up Nick.”
Ember sighed. “I mean are you seeing him again. As in a date?”
“I think so.” Brooke leaned on the countertop, her hands cupped around her coffee mug. “He got a business call first thing, and then had to rush off to work after that. He said he’d call me.”
“Oh.” Ember grimaced. “That’s, um…”
“Don’t worry. I don’t think he meant it like that.” And if he did? She was a big girl, wasn’t she? She’d coped with worse and survived.
“Come on, I need more details. How does he feel about you? How do you feel? Should we be preparing Nick to become a big brother some time soon?”
“Ember!” Brooke shook her head. “I’d expect these questions from Ally but not from you.”
Biting down a grin, Ember pulled her phone from her pocket and unlocked it with her thumb. Slowly she turned the screen around to show a message from their friend.
