Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
R eagan stifled a yawn and adjusted her seat again. She supposed if she were to be stuck anywhere, on a tarmac in a private jet with a bedroom, bathroom, and plenty of food and champagne was a good choice. At least she’d had time to change from her heels and gown into jeans and a comfy shirt.
“I can’t believe our pilot isn’t here yet!” Jaylyn complained. She hadn’t bothered changing from her dressy attire—no surprise. “I could have stayed at the party and found out who won my ring.”
“I’m sure it sold for a mint. It’s a beautiful design.”
“Thanks.” Jaylyn brightened.
“And I’m also sure that our pilot didn’t choose to be stuck in traffic.”
“I know, I know.” Jaylyn picked up her phone and pecked into it again. She’d been texting for the last hour, her fingers flying over the digital keyboard.
They’d finished the sushi, which Reagan had devoured. She felt better, actually. Well, not better, but less…lost. So she’d gotten in over her head with Brody—in over her heart , to be precise. She would make it right. She would have a few days at home alone to reframe her relationship with Brody. To accept it for what it was: a casual, temporary fling with no strings attached. It was kismet, in a way, that the man who had bought her grandfather’s house didn’t want to live there forever. She had a lot to be grateful for—living there again at the top of her list.
She let out a gusty sigh. It was going to take some effort to convince her heart that everything had worked out for the best, but she was willing to try.
“Do you wish you’d stayed with Brody?” Jaylyn set her phone on her lap, her full attention on Reagan. “Instead of being stuck with me on a grounded jet?”
“I’ve enjoyed Chez Jet , and your company. I’m thinking of moving in.”
Jaylyn’s smile was patient while she waited for a genuine answer.
“It’s time Brody and I took a break from each other. I have family duties. He has family duties.”
“Duties.” Jaylyn snorted. “Sorry, whenever I hear that word, I turn into a twelve-year-old. Also, you are completely adorable when you’re full of crap.”
Reagan’s head jerked on her neck. “Excuse me?”
One eyebrow hitched high, Jaylyn said, “You guys are so in love with each other it’s disgusting. You’re sitting here with me, and he’s smoking a cigar with Dad and Dante instead of telling each other how you feel. He doesn’t even like cigars! Dante’s right. He’s an idiot.”
“He’s not an idiot. And why would I tell him I’m in love with him when I know he’s not in love with me?” Her voice cracked with emotion. That part sucked. “Maybe I’m the idiot.”
Jaylyn pecked something into her phone before returning her attention to Reagan. “You’re not an idiot.”
“It’s nothing I can’t undo.”
“What do you mean? What are you undoing ?” Jaylyn asked, stricken.
“Your brother likes to be in twelve places at once, Jaylyn. You know this. I happened to catch him at a time he was experimenting with staying in one place for a while. But that’s not the real him.”
“I was hoping it could be.”
So was I.
“I got caught up,” Jaylyn said, her shoulders sagging. “I wanted everyone to be together. I was hoping to start some new traditions as a family. I guess it’s not our way, you know?”
Reagan understood. For years she’d wanted to change her family dynamic. To fix her mother, to know her father, to be together on Christmas morning. In a way, she’d placed the same expectations on Brody—expecting a fantasy instead of accepting reality.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out.” Jaylyn’s phone buzzed. “Just a sec.” She hopped out of the seat and rushed to the bedroom at the back of the plane.
“I’m sorry too,” Reagan said to herself.
A man in a uniform opened a curtain and poked his head into the cabin. “Hello. I’m Jeff. Your pilot. Sorry for the delay. We’ll be out of here in fifteen minutes, tops.”
“Thank you.” Reagan was glad to finally have an ETD.
Jaylyn rushed back out, slightly out of breath. “You have to listen to this.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
Jaylyn grinned. “Nothing is wrong. Everything is right. Here let me—where’d it go? Crap. It was just here!”
“What are you talking about?”
“ Dante .” She fussed with her phone.
“The pilot said we’re leaving in fifteen minutes, by the way.”
“The hell we are.” She thrust her cell phone into Reagan’s hand. “I don’t know where the recording went but read that text thread. I’ll be right back.” She rushed from the cabin, this time in the pilot’s direction.
Reagan scrolled through texts from Dante to Jaylyn.
The first one read: Is Reagan regretting leaving?
Followed by: Idk. Is Brody regretting letting her?
Then from Dante: He’s miserable. Misses her. You can smell it on him.
Idiot.
That’s what I said! :) Keaton’s here. She’s giving him hell.
Good.
Reagan was unsure what to make of the back and forth. Then she scrolled down, and her stomach dropped to her toes. A text from Jaylyn read: SHE LOVES HIM!!!
She scanned for evidence that Dante had told Brody. But the texts from Dante were ambiguous.
Jaylyn’s final text read: We don’t have a pilot. Still on the tarmac.
Reagan went to the curtain separating the cabin from the front of the plane. “Jaylyn?” She was still thumbing through the text conversation to see if she missed anything. “I read them. Please tell me Brody doesn’t know.”
The curtain twitched, but it wasn’t Jaylyn who emerged.
“Brody. Hi.” Reagan swallowed visibly and took a step away from him as he entered the cabin. She offered a shaky smile. “What are you doing here?”
“I came as soon as I heard you were grounded.” Until Dante shared that the flight had been delayed, Brody had assumed Jaylyn and Reagan were halfway home. Finding out otherwise had propelled him here on wings. Now that he was here, he had some explaining to do. “We have to talk.”
She took a step away from him. “Oh.”
“I won’t sell you the house. I can’t. I’m not giving it to you either. I’m keeping it.”
A worry line was carved into her brow.
“I need it. For when…I come to visit. Even if I’m not there full time, uh…” None of this was coming out right.
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I know. I’m not making any goddamn sense.” He pushed a hand through his hair in frustration. “Listen, you know I bought a house once before. I don’t count it because being there with Lindy made me feel like I was suffocating. So, I gave it to her and ran. I never looked back.”
Reagan’s face lost some of its color. “Which is what you were trying to do with me.”
“No! Not at all.”
“Brody!” Jaylyn materialized, her eyebrows a pair of angry slants. “You’re fucking everything up. Just tell her what you told Dante! And what Dante told me via voice memo before it was lost forever to the gods.”
“I apologize for my sister. She has a way of showing up at the most inopportune times.”
“And you have a way of shoving your head so far up your ass that you believe it’s nighttime.” Jaylyn glared at him before poking him in the arm. “I’ll give you one minute . Do better.”
Once she’d gone, he turned to Reagan. “Have you heard of the phrase self-defining moment ?”
“Yes.”
“Moving in with Lindy was one of them. I let that moment define my decisions for the future. No more settling down for me. Ever. And then I bought your house and moved you into it. A situation that should have scared me to death.”
Her gaze stayed on him.
“So, why didn’t it? Why do I look forward to you walking through the door? Why do I want your lips on mine before I fall asleep and first thing in the morning? Why isn’t a housewarming party or a charity ball complete without you?” He cleared his throat. “Why did I let you leave without telling you the truth?”
Reagan watched him cautiously, her expression giving nothing away.
Dante and Dad taking him to task had been one thing, but his mom had delivered the felling blow. If not for her, he might still be in denial.
“I have never seen you like you were with Reagan. She moved, you moved. You didn’t leave her side. You certainly didn’t have that with any other woman you dated. Reagan does it too. You turned, she turned with you. It was so clear you’d found a partner, I honestly had no idea whether to invite her for coffee or bridal gown shopping.
He’d waited for the panic attack to come, but it hadn’t. His mother had confirmed what he’d been afraid to admit. Everything felt different with Reagan because it was different. He’d built a life with her in Merriweather Springs without trying. They’d crafted a delicate dance, each stepping around the obvious. He and Reagan had shared far more than a physical relationship. He’d fallen in love with her—heart and soul.
It was past time he told her.
“I’m not selling you the house because I want to live there with you,” he blurted out. “I’ll live anywhere with you. Settling down isn’t a death sentence—you taught me that. You , Reagan Palmer, are the one who made that house a home. And it doesn’t even have to be that house. Wherever you are, that’s home. I didn’t plan on falling in love, but a certain tall, blond handywoman entered my life, and I fell like a ton of bricks. Which is alarming to a certain dedicated bachelor part of me, but there it is.”
“Brody—”
“Almost done.” He had to get this out before he heard her response. Which could very well be that he was crazy and she didn’t want anything to do with him after he’d let her walk away. “I want to give you everything. And not because I want to dress you up like a doll and parade you around. I want to give you everything because you deserve to be treated like gold. You deserve to have the fairy tale—everything you’ve ever wanted. I will fill that jewelry box with real diamond rings. Or hunt down every plastic one in the world. Whatever you want.”
A smile tickled the edges of her full pink mouth. He wanted to kiss her so badly, his teeth ached. As he peered into the depths of her green eyes, he felt both lost and found. Himself but someone different.
“For the first time in my life, waking up alone sounds awful,” he said. “Whenever I wake up without you I wonder where you are. And then you slept next to me last night, and I didn’t have to wonder. I opened my eyes and there you were. I have been lying to myself, Reagan. I convinced myself that I didn’t need anyone. Turns out I need you.”
She took a deep breath but kept quiet.
“Say something,” he said.
“I want to believe you,” she whispered. “So bad.”
“I found it!” Jaylyn scrambled into the cabin once again, her cell phone aloft.
“J, I swear to God…”
“She needs proof, dumbass,” she said between her teeth. Then she tapped her phone’s screen and played a voice memo that Dante had, apparently, secretly recorded. Brody’s voice was muffled, but there was no denying it was him.
How the fuck am I supposed to know if I’m in love?
You tell us, his mother said.
I mean, yeah, she’s beautiful. Her green eyes make my heart skip a beat, and her smile breaks it in half. She understands me and never asks me to be something I’m not. Recorded Brody continued, his voice losing its gruffness. I let her walk away. She always puts others first. And I let her convince me that she wanted to go home. I let her leave. That realization had made him damn miserable. Why did I let her leave? Being away from her makes me feel so…empty, he finished quietly .
You love her, dumbass. That was Dante.
Jaylyn smiled smugly up at him.
I do love her. It doesn’t feel like I thought it would—it’s not soul-sucking. I don’t feel weak. I feel strong.
It’s supposed to feel that way, darling. His mother had winked at him before sending a sideways glance at Octavius. Or so I hear.
Jaylyn ended the playback. “He means it.” She squeezed Reagan’s shoulder before narrowing her eyes at Brody “I’m going!” This time she exited the plane with the assistance of the pilot.
Reagan was watching Brody, her eyes shining. There wasn’t much to add, was there? He’d laid himself bare, then and now. Opened his chest cavity and handed over his still-beating heart. But that couldn’t be right, because his heart was hammering his ribcage while he waited for her to speak.
“How can I trust you won’t run off when your next adventure calls?” she asked.
“Because you’re the best adventure I’ve had. Everywhere else tames in comparison. The pyramids, Stonehenge, Great Barrier Reef? Yawn.”
Her lips pulled into a smile. A good sign.
“You don’t have to compromise, Reagan. You want to live in that house for the rest of your life, I’ll be there. Maybe a vacation on occasion if it’s not too much trouble. You’re my home now.” He swallowed heavily. “If you’ll have me.”
She threw her arms around his neck. He caught her against him, relief flooding every cell in his body. He was no stranger to going all in, but he’d never gone all in with love. What a fucking rush .
She kissed his mouth, spearing her hands into his hair the way he loved. He held her to him, her breasts flattening onto his chest. This was what life was about. Not success or money or traveling alone. Sharing it with someone gave life to otherwise lifeless things. Loving Reagan had given him life—in more ways than one.
Oh, that was good.
He pulled his lips from hers, his brain whirring, his heart overflowing. “This might sound awful, but I have to write something down before I forget.”
“No deal,” she said against his lips. “Tell me and I’ll help you remember.”
“I was thinking about how you’ve given me life—in more ways than one.”
She pulled back to focus on his face. “Oh, that’s good.”
“Right? I know.”
He reached for his phone, but she snatched it from his hand. “I’ll remind you again.” She gave him two quick kisses. “And again and again.”
He grunted as he bumped his hips with hers. “There’s a bedroom on this plane.”
“I know,” she said, one eyebrow winging upward.
“You’re my favorite muse.”
“I know.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the back of the plane.
Hell, who was he kidding? He went willingly.