For His Brother's Wife
When she raised her gaze, he hated the embarrassment he detected in her dark gray eyes. “What happened last night was not your fault,” he assured her. “I take full responsibility for it. I was the one who took advantage of the situation.”
She surprised him when she shook her head. “I can’t let you do that, Cole. I was just as guilty as you were.”
“How do you figure that?” he demanded, frowning.
“Would you have stopped if I’d asked you to or given you the slightest indication that I was uneasy about it?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. “I’ve never forced my attention on any woman and never will.”
“Exactly my point,” she said, nodding. “Don’t you get it, Cole? I might have been a bit surprised at first, but I wanted you to kiss me. The only reason I put a halt to things was because I was frightened by that realization.” She took a deep breath. “I’m still not sure that I’m comfortable with that little bit of self-discovery, but it’s the truth.”
He had known they were attracted to each other, but hearing her tell him that she had wanted his kiss sent a wave of heat through him at the speed of light. Cole felt his body begin to tighten and barely managed to keep himself from groaning aloud.
“I don’t think my staying here is a good idea,” he said, releasing her hands to take a step back.
She stared at him a moment before she shook her head. “That’s nonsense. All the hotels and inns in Royal are still full of workers here to rebuild the town. It would be next to impossible to find a place to stay. Besides, we’re adults. There might be a lingering attraction between us from when we were younger, but surely we have enough control to be objective about it.”
As he stared at her, he had to agree that what she said made sense. They weren’t and never had been hormone-crazed teenagers who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Hell, last night was the first time he had even kissed her.
“You’re right,” he finally said, nodding. “We can handle this.”
And maybe if he repeated it to himself enough, he might even start to believe it.
* * *
After lunch, Cole checked to see what kind of bracing would be needed in order for his men to turn the south side of the room into a wall of windows for Paige’s studio while she continued packing boxes. When he came back downstairs, he carried them into the den for her, and in no time they had Craig’s desk and file cabinets completely emptied.
As they worked together to clear the room, Paige began to relax. They both seemed to have put last night behind them and were moving toward building a companionable friendship.
“The only things left to move to the den are a few boxes in the storage closet,” Paige finally said, unlocking the door to gaze inside.
“Besides my sports trophies, what else is in there?” Cole asked, looking over her shoulder.
He wasn’t touching her. He didn’t have to. Just sensing his nearness sent a shiver of excitement sliding up her spine and caused a hitch in her breathing.
Paige gave herself a mental shake. The chemistry between them was nothing more than the remnants of a high school crush. All she had to do was keep that in mind and everything should be fine.
Besides, she wasn’t interested in becoming involved with any man right now, let alone her late husband’s twin brother. Since Craig’s death, she had discovered a strength and independence that she hadn’t realized she possessed. She wasn’t willing to give that up, even for the man she’d had a crush on since she was sixteen years old.
“Other than your sports memorabilia and some of your father’s personal effects, I have no idea what’s in here,” she answered, doing her best to focus on what Cole had asked her instead of the man himself. “Craig wasn’t sentimental and never kept anything that he didn’t think he could use or that served a purpose.”
“If you don’t mind, I would be willing to go through Dad’s stuff for you,” Cole said. “I don’t have anything that belonged to him and, unlike my twin, there are a few things that I’d like to have that belonged to Dad.”
“Of course. You can have all of your father’s belongings,” she said, her heart going out to him. Apparently, whatever had happened all those years ago to cause the two brothers’ estrangement had prevented Cole from speaking to Craig about anything he wanted of their father’s that hadn’t been spelled out in Mr. Richardson’s will. “I have several things that belonged to my parents and each time I look at them I’m reminded of a fond memory.”