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“Braydon.” She looked to her left and saw him. “Good morning, Colin.”
“Good morning, Samantha. Did you sleep well?”
Her cheeks flushed and she looked to the floor. “Yes.”
“My mom and the aunts are going antiquing,” Braydon cut in. “I wanted to see if you wanted to hang with them or come with me today.”
She looked up at him. “Where are you going?”
“I was gonna go pick up some bait for tomorrow and then get stuff ready at the lake for tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, it’s our annual bonfire at the lake.”
Colin watched as his brother gave Samantha a coy smile and fingered a strand of her damp hair.
“You and I snuggled up under a blanket by the fire…”
Colin fought the urge to smack his brother’s hand away from her. He should go, but he couldn’t stop watching her, nervous to see what she’d do.
“After everyone leaves we could sneak out to the dock and do some night swimming, just the two of us.”
Colin’s gaze tore from Samantha’s beautiful face as he stared at his idiot brother. Did he not realize that in the whole week she’d been here, not once had she gone near the water? It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she had some deep-seated fear of water.
He turned back to Sam and all remnants of her earlier blush washed away. Her cheeks looked bloodless and the narrow column of her throat worked as she repetitively swallowed.
Sam stepped out of Braydon’s reach and his brother’s fingers released her hair. “A fire sounds nice. Will everyone be there?”
“They should. You’re going, right, Colin?”
Colin remembered the last time he’d been at the lake with Samantha. He wondered if somehow her panic attack had to do with the fact that they were at the lake. Why had he not considered that? Although he planned on avoiding anything to do with Samantha, he worried that she may need him in case she had another episode. Lord knew Braydon wasn’t the best at detecting her discomfort.
“Yes, I’ll be there.”
She looked at him sharply, clearly not expecting his attendance.
“So you wanna go with me or the women today, babe?”
Colin gritted his teeth at his brother’s term of endearment. She’d obviously not spoken to him about their relationship yet. He was angry that in three days and nights she hadn’t taken an opportunity to clear the air with Braydon, but then again, her breaking up with his brother would change nothing about Colin’s situation.
“I’ll go with you. I just need to pull up my hair and grab my Chap Stick.”
Before she turned back into the room Colin caught a look at her mouth. Her lips were red as if she had been biting them. God he wanted to kiss and soothe those soft lips.
“I got to go,” he practically barked and turned toward the stairs.
“Hey, you all right, bro?”
“Fine,” he lied without looking back.
Colin arrivedat the lake shortly after suppertime. He dined at the rectory and spent most of the day painting the parish’s school hall. He figured he needed something to eat up his free time, so he volunteered for the project that morning and was elbow deep in eggshell paint by noon.
As he parked his Jeep he gripped the wheel and took a calming breath. He could do this. When he felt centered and in control he left the Jeep and headed toward the lake and into the limpid twilight. As he crested the bend of evergreens he could hear his family’s rowdy laughter. Just another bonfire like they had been having for the past twenty-nine years of his life. But his feeling of control was short lived.
Before his relatives even came into view he heard her. She was laughing at something with undisguised amusement. Her voice lilting from octave to octave like a bird song so pure it could be called a lullaby.
When he spotted her he regretted his presence immediately. This evening was guaranteed to torture him and test him in ways he’d never been tested.
