Author: Bella Andre

His brother looked doubtful. Gabe was notorious for leaving the kitchen looking like a tornado had hit it. Fortunately, he shifted his seat back and started to get up, but before he did, he leaned over to say something in Nicola’s ear. She laughed and Marcus’s hands started to curl into fists.

Hell, he’d practically raised Gabe from a baby. He shouldn’t want to kill him now just because he’d made Nicola laugh, and looked at her a little too long, with a little too much interest.

Fortunately, before Marcus could leap across the yard to flatten his youngest brother, Chloe walked over to say hello with a hug. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

Chase was a step behind his fiancée. “We’re thinking about coming up to the winery for a visit sometime soon,” Chase told him, pulling Chloe close.

The two of them had fallen in love at his winery and Marcus had been amazed to watch his brother fall head over heels for a woman he’d just met. He hadn’t been able to understand how something so big could happen so fast.

But now he understood perfectly.

“Come anytime. The guest house is always yours. It’s been too long.”

He meant what he said, but he could hear how stilted his words were even to his own ears.

Zach was on his cell phone on the other side of the yard, Ryan was at the grill flipping burgers, and Sophie and Lori were on opposite sides of the table again. They’d been at odds with each other for months.

Marcus had always been the one to break up the twins’ fights, to force the two of them to sit down and actually talk to each other. If this were a normal Sunday brunch, he would have dragged them off by their ponytails and done just that.

But he couldn’t focus on anything but Nicola today, could barely remember how to put one foot in front of the other or speak without sounding like a complete fool. Now that he’d let himself look at her, he couldn’t pull his gaze away. She looked so beautiful, so right, sitting in the backyard he’d grown up in.

“Hi."

She blinked at him, clearly wary. “Hi, Marcus. It’s nice to see you again.”

God, he hated the way she sounded so distant. Just the way she had when she’d told him she was glad to have met him, then walked out of his life.

Not picking up on the strained atmosphere between them at all, Lori cheerfully explained, “Marcus came by to visit our rehearsal a couple of days ago.” She patted Gabe’s open seat. “Come sit down.”

Marcus didn’t know how he’d manage to sit that close to her without touching her, without pulling her onto his lap where she belonged. But he couldn’t just keep standing there with his entire family looking at him like he’d lost his mind.

He felt as if he were moving in slow motion as he came around the table. Nicola’s eyes widened as he approached and he couldn’t look away from her. He sat down and when his thigh brushed against her, she jumped out of her seat.

“I’m going to go see if your mother needs help with anything in the kitchen.”

Lori beamed after her as Nicola hurried off. “Isn’t she sweet? I think she and Gabe are really hitting it off.”

Smith shook his head. “I don’t think so, Lori."

Lori frowned. “What do you mean? They were totally flirting earlier and now she’s using Mom as an excuse to go spend more time with him in the kitchen.”

“Marcus, you got any theories on why she left in such a hurry?”

He took a long swig from his beer. It was either that or tackle Smith across the table. Or go inside and pound the hell out of Gabe for flirting with his woman.

Hell, he’d happily take on every last one of his brothers right now if it meant he could work through some of the frustration coursing through him at being this close to Nicola but not actually being in any position to tell her how he felt, how sorry he was for ruining everything.

Clearly, Smith had put two and two together. And it didn’t seem that he liked the idea of Marcus hooking up with Nicola much at all.

Smith could go screw himself.

Fortunately, Lori was still clueless. He didn’t think Chase and Chloe had linked him with Nicola yet, but they still looked worried about him.

Only Sophie was safe to talk to right now. “How’s the new project going at work, Nice?”

She made a face. “Don’t call me that in front of our guest. It’s embarrassing. I have a name, you know.”

“What’s that again?” Zach teased as he came and sat down, shoving his phone into his pocket. “I kind of remember it starts with a letter toward the end of the alphabet.”

She punched Zach in the arm before answering Marcus’s question about her latest research project at the San Francisco City Library.

“Remind me again why I thought it would be a good idea to get a grant to pull together a bibliography of the greatest love stories of all time.” She sighed. “I thought it was going to be so romantic.”

Clearly surprised, Chloe said, “How can love stories not be romantic?”

“Well, most of the famous love stories are completely tragic, for one.”

“Oh, you mean like Romeo and Juliet?”

Sophie nodded. “At this point, I’ve pretty much decided never to fall in love. Not if death and betrayal are what’s waiting at the end of the rainbow.”

Marcus was a week too late for Sophie’s epiphany. Especially because he had a bad feeling that every second that passed without being able to properly talk with Nicola pushed them one step closer to being another one of those love stories gone tragically wrong.

Just as he’d known she would, Lori argued with her twin more for the sake of arguing than because she wanted to be right about this particular issue.

“You’re the one who’s tragic,” Lori said, and then, “Trust you to ignore all the really great love stories, like Pride and Prejudice.”

Sophie scowled at her sister. “As far as I can tell, the way things ended in that story was nothing but blind luck.” She turned her scowl into a smile for Chase and Chloe. “Like the two of you. I still can’t believe you met on the side of the road in Napa and now you’re getting married. It’s so beautiful.”

“Hear that?” Chase said to his fiancée, clearly bemused. “Our relationship is nothing but blind luck.”

“If the worst day of my life turning into my best is blind luck, I’ll take it,” Chloe said softly.

They all knew about her previous marriage, how bad it had been, that her ex had hit her and she’d had to run. Marcus knew that, by comparison, he had nothing to complain about.

Still, he’d clearly been messed up enough about what had happened with Jill to completely blow a great thing with Nicola.

Sophie sighed wistfully as Chase kissed his fiancée. “What about you, Marcus? Do you have anything new going on lately?”

* * *

Nicola walked out into the backyard with a large tray of cut vegetables and dip just as Sophie asked Marcus what was new in his life. Thank God she was wearing flats, otherwise she surely would have tripped over her heels and the food would have scattered all over the neatly mowed lawn. She somehow managed to keep moving toward the table.

“I’ve been spending time in the city the past few days.”

“Really? Why didn’t you come by the library, then?”

Right then, Marcus turned his gaze from Sophie to her and what Nicola read in them had panic bubbling up even higher inside her. Oh God, he wasn’t going to say anything, was he?

She shook her head at him, as a silent signal that she prayed he’d understand.

We’re done, remember? Done!

He hadn’t wanted to tell anyone about her while they were together, had been just as on board with hiding their temporary relationship from everyone this week as she was. There was no reason to blow everything up now, just because it was uncomfortable having to be in the same place for a few hours after their no-strings fling had ended badly.

Finally, he said, “I had some unexpected things to take care of in San Francisco.”

“I’ll bet you did,” Smith muttered, shooting a look at Nicola.

Smith had been perfectly nice—had actually been flirting outrageously with her—until Marcus had arrived. Since then, every time she looked up he was frowning at her.

Oh no. He couldn’t have figured out that she was the woman Marcus had brought to his house that night, could he?

Up until now, she’d thought the only one who knew about the two of them was their mother. Nicola had been stupendously nervous when she’d finally met Mary. Fortunately, his mother was as fantastic in person as she had been on the phone. And, amazingly, she didn’t allude to Marcus or their obvious affair in any way. Instead, she simply said, “It’s lovely to finally meet you, Nicola,” then welcomed her into the house as if she were part of the family.

But now, as Nicola chewed on the fact that Smith might have figured it out, she could feel her face flaming as she put down the platter. “There’s more to bring out from the kitchen,” she said, wanting nothing more than to escape again.

Unfortunately, Lori said, “No way. You’re our guest. You need to come sit down. I’ll help Mom.”

Nicola’s heartbeat was wild—borderline frantic—as she eyed her empty seat beside Marcus, knowing it would be super weird if she took a different chair. The problem was, she was so afraid she’d give herself away by accident, so worried she’d lose control and touch him…or, worse yet, give in to the desperate urge to kiss him in front of his entire family.

They were all being so nice to her right now, but if they knew that she’d had a fling with the brother they all loved and respected so much, the oldest brother who had done everything for them, they’d never forgive her for tramping her way into his life.

And they’d never forgive her for hurting him.

“Scoot, gorgeous,” Ryan said to her as he brought over a steaming platter of burgers and hotdogs.

Before she could go take her seat, Marcus growled, “Watch it, Ryan.”

His brother frowned at him, clearly without the first clue what the problem was. But Nicola instantly realized Marcus didn’t like his pro baseball player brother flirting with her or calling her gorgeous.

She would have had a harder time wrapping her head around all of these good-looking men in one family if she’d been able to focus on anything but Marcus. Technically, her brain told her that Zach was the best-looking of them all, with Smith not far behind, while the rest of them were still jaw-dropping. But to her, it didn’t matter how perfect their features were.

Marcus outshone them all and she could hardly tear her eyes away from him, even though she knew it was a dead giveaway to her feelings.

Thankfully, their mother appeared just then, along with Lori and Gabe. The three of them put the rest of the food on the table and for a few moments, everyone was focused on filling their plates.

Everyone except Marcus...and her.

“What can I get for you?”

It was the first thing he’d said to her today apart from the quick “Hi” right when he’d walked in. And even though he was only asking her if she preferred hamburgers or hot dogs, her body—and heart—reacted as if he’d just said the most sensual, intimate words in the world.

How she was going to miss the warmth of his low, slightly rough voice, as he held her, as he stroked her hair.

As he made love to her.

Her skin felt hot, her insides turning to goo beside him. “A hot dog. Thank you.”

But he didn’t reach for the food. Instead he caught her hand beneath the tablecloth.

For a long moment—way too long if she wanted to keep their relationship a secret for much longer—she was lost in his eyes, in the sweet caress of his thumb across her palm.

It took every ounce of the strength she had left after her sleepless night alone for her to mouth, “No.” Marcus deserved a great life, damn it, not the circus he’d get from being with her.