“Do you mind if I get out of this dress?”
“Do you plan on sitting out here naked?”
She chuckled. “No, I was going to put something warmer on. That drive home on the bike nearly froze my tits off.”
It was my turn to laugh. “I’ll change with you.”
Setting the wine and glasses down on the balcony table, I followed her back inside and to my bedroom. Bree kept a few outfits here, mostly sweatpants and oversized T-shirts, which I’d quickly discovered was her go-to comfy wear. She looked stunning in whatever she put on.
I slipped into a pair of sweats and a long-sleeve shirt while Bree put on yoga pants and a sweater. We spent the next hour or so on the balcony, lost in comfortable conversation. Talking to Bree was so easy. I never had to pretend with her, and she seemed to be able to read my mood like no other person ever had.
“How long can you stay in Boston this time?” she asked, finishing off the last of her wine. When I held up the bottle, she shook her head. “I’ve had enough, thanks.”
“For a while. I don’t have any reason to go back to LA right away.”
Her eyes lit up.
“I thought maybe we could head out to the beach,” I said. “My father has a house on the Northshore. Maybe stay a few days, unless you need to be here in Boston.”
She looked up in thought. “Believe it or not, I’m caught up on work and only have two clients right now.”
“No one wants to get divorced?” I asked with a wink.
“Oh, trust me, plenty of people want divorces. Most are cheating bastard men who don’t want a female divorce attorney.”
I raised a brow. “What about the wives of these cheating bastard men?”
She smiled. “They’re going for the more powerful, well-known attorneys.”
“Well, they don’t know what they’re missing by not having you on their side.”
Bree gave a one-shoulder shrug.
“How are your parents?” I asked. The fact that she hadn’t told anyone about me—not her family or any of her friends—was a bit worrisome, but I tried not to let it bother me too much.
She lifted her gaze and met mine. “They’re good. Busy with the bed and breakfast. I have a feeling Willa is pregnant, but she isn’t spilling the beans quite yet.”
I laughed.
“Luke…I know our relationship is wide open with your family, but I appreciate the fact that you haven’t pushed me to introduce you to my folks.”
“Or your friends,” I teased.
She smiled softly. “I want to tell them, and I’m not ashamed of dating you or anything. Boggy Creek may be a small town, but the moment my mother finds out I’ve been dating a man longer than three weeks, she’ll be contacting your mother and planning the wedding. I haven’t ever really been super open with my folks about my personal life. I was engaged once, and my parents never knew it.”
That had me sitting forward. I placed my glass on the table and frowned. “You were engaged? When?”
“Right out of college. It was stupid, I was young. I thought when he jokingly asked me to marry him that he was being serious. I ran out, bought a wedding dress…because let’s be honest, the wedding is all about the dress.”
I nodded and smiled. “Of course, it is.”
“Anyway, I loved the idea of it, and by ‘it’ I mean the wedding and marriage. But when it came down to it, he didn’t and he wasn’t faithful, so we broke up. It was a good thing, because Willa had a quick wedding and I happened to have that dress in my closet, ready for her to use.”
“Did Willa know why you had the dress?”
She shook her head. “I’m really good at deflecting questions. You should see me when I’m going head to head with opposing counsel.”
Laughing, I pulled her to me, and she straddled my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“I’m not upset or worried that you haven’t told your family and friends about me, Bree. Only Hank and Jack know about you.”
“And your folks and sister.”
I rolled my eyes. “They don’t count.”
It was her turn to laugh.
I drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Someday, I think we’ll look back on this and wish we had this privacy.”
Bree threaded her fingers through my hair. “I like having you all to myself. The whole cloak-and-dagger thing is kind of sexy for now.”
“Oh yeah?”
She nodded and ground down on me. “Didn’t you say something about making love to me?”
Bree giggled as I stood and marched straight to my bedroom, where I did, indeed, make love to her.
Brighton
I stood at the window in my office and looked down at all the people moving about downtown Boston. It was August and hot as hell. Luke had gotten a call from his agent a few months back, telling him about an opportunity to star in a movie that another A-list actor had pulled out of. He had jumped on it and warned me he’d be gone for weeks at a time while filming in Victoria, Canada. That meant he was darting back and forth from Canada to Boston whenever he had a few days off, which wasn’t often.