Edge of Desire

Chapter 4

Preston

The last time I’d been in Seattle was before Justin and Caroline had gotten hitched. They had still been neighbors, living next door to each other in that great apartment building. I’d helped her move in and furnish the place.Since then, they’d upgraded. I mean really upgraded. They lived in a grand home on the highly coveted West Highland Drive, a terribly exclusive area of Seattle. It was a short commute for Justin to the Seattle Medical College, where he was an attending orthopedic surgeon and an extremely talented one from what I understood. He would be teaching other orthopedists doing their fellowships in his specialty—reconstructing shattered bones. It was a good thing too, because he and my sister had been in a bad car crash and her leg had been all but demolished. I’d been told that if it weren’t for Justin, she wouldn’t have that leg today.

Justin had done his residency and fellowship out here and then went back to Charleston to practice medicine, but when Terri had died (or so everyone still thought) in the car bombing, he couldn’t fully engage in life again, so he returned here. The surgeons were ecstatic to have him because they considered him to have miracle hands. It worked out to be the greatest excuse for the two of them to be together and now here they were, living the dream.

Caroline gave me the grand tour and chuckled the whole time. In her previous life, she’d sold real estate with my dad in the family business. I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “So, sis, did you always get this giddy when you showed your clients a house?”

She just kept on chuckling and said, “No way. Then again, I never showed anything like this. Can you believe this place?”

I couldn’t and told her so. Then I picked her up and swung her around and around. That was exactly how Justin found us when he walked into the kitchen.

“Man, it’s a damn good thing you’re her brother.”

I clapped him on the shoulder. It had taken him some time to forgive me for taking her away from him. Caroline explained that I didn’t have a choice. It was life or death for them both. I didn’t want their deaths on my hands. My father’s had been brutal, and no way could I handle another.

Then we did that awkward man-hug thing.

“It’s really great to see you, Justin. I’ve never seen her so happy and it’s all because of you. Anything that can put a smile on her face like that makes me happy.” And that was the damn truth. I loved my sister. I’d lost her for too long and wanted her to know how much she meant to me.

“Aw, Preston.” She was in my arms hugging me.

“Well then, aren’t we a bunch of sappy-assed faces?” I asked.

“Yep,” she agreed.

I turned to Justin and said, “Man, this is some kind of crib you got here.”

He laughed. “You like it, huh?”

“How can I not? It’s incredible. But you still have that apartment, right?”

Caroline asked, “You mean in case of emergencies?”

“Yeah.” I never took their safety for granted. I made them keep an apartment as a safe house, just in case.

“Yeah, we do. I pop over there every so often to check on things.”

“Good. Make me a happy brother and keep doing that.”

They wanted to know how long I planned on staying and I honestly didn’t know. A couple of weeks sounded about right. That would be enough family time and then I’d head up to Montana. After going back and forth over what to do for dinner, we agreed on going out for seafood. There were a million and one places to eat, so we let Justin choose and off we went.

We returned home a couple of hours later, and Caroline put on a pot of coffee for us. Justin had to be at the hospital at seven a.m., so he wouldn’t be up much longer. I disappeared for a moment and came back down with the flash drive I’d uploaded the photos on. “Hey, can we pop this in one of your computers? There’s something I want to show you two.”

Caroline wore an odd expression, but she asked, “Can it wait till the coffee’s done?”

“Sure.”

As soon as she had our cups made, the three of us went into their office and she slipped the flash drive into the computer. I made the two of them sit next each other, and when the first couple of pictures popped up, they both turned around to look at me. Man, I wish I’d have had my phone’s camera pulled up, because it would’ve made a great shock shot. I just chuckled, plopped into a chair behind them, and watched the show.

The photos were perfect. Caroline’s expressions were exquisitely captured and the way the camera caught Justin’s eyes as they gazed at her made even my heart skip a beat. The love that radiated from them was a thing of beauty. The photographer was a genius. Even though I had seen these a dozen times, my cheeks were damp when the slideshow finished. It was nothing compared to the two of them.

“How?” they both asked, their brows raised.

I chuckled again and then cleared my throat. “You won’t like this, but I was there.” I looked at Caroline and said, “So was Pete.”

“At the wedding?” my sister asked.

“Who’s Pete?” Justin asked at about the same time.

“He’s a coworker and a friend,” I answered.

“How were you there? Why didn’t we see you?” Caroline asked.

“I had to be there. The Middletons aren’t exactly obscure. I knew when word got out you two got married, it would hit the web immediately. I couldn’t have you out there alone, without protection, just in case. So yeah, I was there. Anyway, when I saw the photographer, I freaked. I knew how she’d post her work online and I couldn’t blame her. The pics are amazing. But I couldn’t have them out there, making you two vulnerable.” I gave them a sheepish look. “So, I sort of bumped into her and stole her smart chip. I paid her, only it was sent anonymously. She probably went home and thought the chip fell out of her camera when I charged into her. I made it all look like an innocent accident. But I had every intention of getting this to you earlier, except my fucking job got in the way ... again. Anyhow, I hope you like your wedding album. Personally, I’ve never seen a more beautiful bride in my life. You probably could’ve done a little better on the groom, but it wasn’t my call.”

She was on top of me, hugging the breath out of me before I could say another word.

Justin still sat at the computer. There were several pictures taken of Caroline alone, looking out at the sea, laughing, the wind blowing her hair. And there was another where she had this unbelievably special smile on her face. I knew she’d been looking at him, because I remember thinking that maybe one day a woman might look at me like that. Justin simply stared at them, mesmerized. He didn’t have to speak. I knew exactly what he was thinking by the way his eyes went soft. My sister had herself a good man.