Kissing Under the Mistletoe

But now? He’d be a liar if he didn’t admit that the love he felt for her was a whole hell of a lot bigger. Stronger. And completely different from the love he had for his family or his other friends.

His cell phone rang, and though he wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone with his head and gut this twisted up, when he saw that it was Ben, he picked up. "You’ve found something?"

"Still putting things together," Ben said. "I’ve got a question for you."

Though Rafe wanted to push him, he knew Ben was adamant about triple-verifying everything before he would make an accusation. It was one of the reasons Rafe had been able to trust his colleague to keep the business running while he was here at the lake.

"Shoot."

"One name keeps coming up in association with Delacorte in the past six months. I wanted to check in with you about it, though, before I go any further. Do you know a Brooke Jansen?"

"She’s my g—"

Damn it, she wasn’t actually his girlfriend, was she? That wasn’t in their summer-fling agreement.

Reminding himself that all Ben needed to do his job were the facts, Rafe told him, "We’re next-door neighbors at the lake. I’ve been close to her since we were kids."

"Right," Ben said, clearly already knowing all of that. "That’s why I wanted to call before I went any further. Normally, since she’s Delacorte’s business partner, I’d do some digging into her details as well."

Rafe had been so wrapped up in Brooke—and his concern about the possibility that she had partnered with someone who couldn’t be trusted—that he hadn’t thought things all the way through. Of course she would come up in the course of the investigation. If Rafe hadn’t had a personal relationship with her, Ben would have simply done his job without asking questions. Instead, Rafe now had to make a judgment call about how to proceed.

At his prolonged silence, Ben finally asked, "Do you want me to investigate her, too?"

The word no was on the tip of Rafe’s tongue. Brooke was an open book who looked at the rest of the world with trust shining from her pretty eyes. People with skeletons in their closets didn’t smell like sunshine or laugh so often and so easily.

But how many times before had he been proved wrong? Especially during those early years of doing investigations when he didn’t want to face up to what the real world actually looked like, what it was really made of.

He had to ask himself if the real reason he was reluctant to have Ben look more closely into Brooke’s history and the details of her life was because he was afraid of what his employee would find. Because if Rafe really believed Brooke would come out of the investigation clean and pure and honest, then why would he stop Ben from completing the full investigation into her business partner, one that would have involved her in any case?

And, if he really was thinking along the lines of a deeper, stronger love for her—something that sounded a hell of a lot like forever—shouldn’t he be completely sure about everything she’d done between the ages of eight and twenty-six?

"Go ahead."

"With everything?" Ben asked, double-checking even this.

Rafe ignored the tightening in his gut as he confirmed, "Yes, everything," before they disconnected.

Having Ben do this background check on Brooke was the only way to be one hundred percent sure.

And Rafe had never needed to be this sure about anyone before.

* * *

Brooke was knuckle deep in chocolate ganache when her phone rang. She’d been waiting all afternoon for Cord to let her know how many boxes of truffles he needed for the press. Assuming it was him, she hit the speaker button on her phone with her cleanest finger and said hello.

"Hello, honey," her mother said in her crisp lawyer’s voice. "Your father and I were hoping this would be a good time to finally discuss your new business venture."

Truffles in all stages were strewn across her kitchen counter. Brooke would likely have to work most of the night to pull off her deliveries for the week. But she wouldn’t have given up the time she’d spent with Rafe for anything. A few missed hours of sleep were more than worth the incredible pleasure of being with him.

The sun burned hotter, the sky shone brighter, even the chocolate melting on her fingertips tasted richer now that Rafe had opened her eyes to the sensuality in everything around her.

Knowing that if she had time for Rafe, she should also have time for her parents, she said, "Absolutely. How are you both?" as she continued hand-rolling truffles.

As always, she was amazed by the details of the groundbreaking legal case her mother had won and her father’s game-changing research on the economic effects of cell phones on developing countries. "Both of you are amazing," she told them, meaning every word. She was incredibly proud of her parents and their achievements.

"After your mother told me about your new partnership with my old colleague," her father said, "I gave Cord a call a short while ago."

She barely stifled her groan. She could only imagine the conversation the two of them had had, her father acting like she was still six years old and couldn’t be trusted to cross the street by herself. "I hope the two of you had a nice conversation."

Thankfully, her father confirmed, "Indeed we did. He assured me that he has his eye closely on the ball and will make sure your new store in Seattle is a success."

While it had been exactly the right thing to tell her father, Brooke couldn’t deny it grated that he was so quick to give Cord both the credit and the responsibility for the success of her business expansion. They still acted as if she’d been playing at her business these past years, rather than slowly growing her happy customer base month by month.