For His Brother's Wife

“It’s nice to see you’re excited about it.” His smile caused a tiny flutter in the pit of her stomach. “And I’m glad I’m able to help make it happen.”

Suddenly self-conscious, Paige laughed nervously as she sat back in the swing to stare down at her hands. “I’m sorry. You probably think it’s silly for a grown woman to be this enthusiastic about something as commonplace as redecorating a room.”

He placed one index finger under her chin to lift her head until her gaze met his. “Not at all. Why would you think that?”

“I suppose it’s because I’ve never done something like this before,” she admitted. “Craig liked the way the house was and discouraged me whenever I mentioned wanting to change anything about it.”

Cole’s only reaction was a slight narrowing of his dark green eyes. “It’s your house now, Paige. You can do whatever you want with it.” His touch and the gentle tone of his deep voice sent a shiver up her spine and made her more aware than ever that there was still a spark between them.

Before she realized what was happening, Cole leaned forward to brush her lips with his. When he lifted his head, he seemed to search her face for a moment before he set his coffee cup beside hers on the wicker table, then took her into his arms.

Unable to find her voice, she simply watched as he lowered his head again to fuse their mouths. The feel of his lips as he slowly, methodically acquainted himself with hers was as erotic as anything she had ever experienced. Of course, she had only kissed one other man in her entire life, and although her late husband’s kisses had been pleasant, they hadn’t been anything like Cole’s. Warm and pleasantly firm, Cole’s lips caressed hers in a way that made her feel as if he was worshipping her.

When he softly traced her mouth with his tongue, then coaxed her to open for him, Paige couldn’t have denied him access if her life depended on it. As she parted her lips, her heart beat double time and at his first gentle stroking of her inner recesses, she felt as if she would melt into a puddle. When his arms tightened around her, Paige automatically wrapped hers around him and held on as the feel of his strong body pressed to hers sent shivers of longing straight up her spine.

The unexpected sensation jolted her back to reality and quickly had her pulling away from him. Had she lost her mind? Cole was her late husband’s brother and the last man she should be shivering over.

Cole immediately released her and, muttering a curse, got up from the swing. Walking over to the porch rail, he kept his back to her and remained silent.

Unsure of what else to do, she rose to her feet and picked up their coffee cups from the wicker table. “I...um, I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll go ahead and turn in for the night.”

As she started to open the back door, he finally spoke. “I’m sorry, Paige. I was way out of line. It won’t happen again.”

“It...wasn’t entirely...your fault,” she said honestly as she continued into the house.

After placing their cups in the dishwasher, she went straight upstairs to her room. Why did she feel so confused about Cole kissing her?

She had known what he intended to do when he set his coffee cup down and took her into his arms. He’d given her ample time to resist, but she hadn’t made a single move to stop him. Why not?

Lowering herself to the side of the bed, she shook her head. She knew exactly why she hadn’t protested. The truth of the matter was, she had wanted him to kiss her. And a part of her wished that he hadn’t stopped.

Paige took a deep breath. Had she been so lonely that she fell into the arms of the first man who showed her the slightest bit of attention? Or was it the identity of the man that was responsible for her atypical behavior?

She suspected it might just be a combination of both.

Three

After spending a second sleepless night thinking about the woman across the hall, Cole was bone tired and more than a little irritable. Half of the crew was down with food poisoning from grabbing dinner out of a vending machine at a gas station the night before, everything on the build was taking twice as long because of their absence and the weather was threatening to end the workday early again. The only thing that seemed to have gone right the entire morning was his managing to get up and leave the house without running into Paige.

“Larry, watch what the hell you’re doing!” Cole shouted as the man barely missed hitting another one of the workers in the head with a board.