For His Brother's Wife

“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.