Every Kind of Heaven (9 page)

“The finish work starts Monday. We'll be done before you know it.”

She gulped, unable to speak. There was only the magnetic draw of his gaze. Of his dimpled grin. Of his presence that drew her like an unsuspecting galaxy toward a black hole. That couldn't be a good thing, could it?

“This must be your sister.” Brice broke his gaze, releasing her, to hold out his hand to her sister. “It's good to meet you.”

“Ava hasn't said a word about me, has she?” Aubrey's hand looked engulfed by Brice's larger one.

Oh, no. Ava held her breath, sensing what would come next. Knowing that, like it or not, Aubrey would
know.
It was that twin thing. Their brain cells
would fire and she would guess the horrible secret Ava was keeping from everyone, including herself.

Yep, there it was. In the change in Aubrey's jaw line, her stance, her voice. Aubrey withdrew her hand, but there was an “ah ha” glint in her eyes. “I know why she hasn't said anything about you. In fact, she's refused to do a whole lot of talking about this very important renovation.”

“It's all the stress,” Ava added. The stress of the construction, the financing, getting a new business started, of being afraid she was falling in deep like with a man who was entirely wrong for her.

“I understand completely.” The way Brice said it, it was like he had unauthorized access to that twin brain cell, and that was impossible. “Ava and I currently have a business-only policy.”

“Ah, so that explains it,” Aubrey said as she backed toward the door. “I'm probably just in the way here. Brice, you probably have a lot of construction things to go over with Ava.”

“As a matter of fact, I do have a few things to show her.”

“Oh,
sure
you do.” Ava couldn't believe it. That didn't sound very business-like. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why are you here, anyway?”

“I spent all day in the woodshop, and I wanted to stop by and see the progress for myself. Make sure nothing had been overlooked before the painters show up at seven Monday morning. I want this done right for you.”

When he smiled, she couldn't stop the rise of her spirit, the tug of longing in her heart. She'd come by because she'd wanted to see the progress of her dream, and Aubrey had wanted to see it, too. Now Aubrey was at the door, tugging it open. What kind of world was this when your twin abandoned you? Panic rattled through her. She'd feel better if Aubrey would stay—

“Aubrey, why don't you stay with us?” Brice asked. “Unless you two have other plans?”

“Not at all,” Aubrey said so fast. “None that can't be changed. We were just going to barbecue supper.”

“
What?
Wait one minute.” Ava had a bad feeling about this. It was four-thirty on a Saturday afternoon. Not exactly business hours. “Brice and I have a strict policy to adhere to.”

“True. But we agreed to excuse dating and romance from our business policy, right? That doesn't mean we can't be friends.”

“Friends.” Friendship did not begin to describe this swirl of confusing emotions she had for him. Emotions she did not want to analyze, thank you very much. What she wanted to do was to stay in denial about them. Denial was an excellent coping method.

“Sure, my business partner has been my best friend since kindergarten. Friendship and business don't have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, it can often be beneficial. If you two don't mind, come out to my place. I fix a mean steak. I was going to barbecue dinner tonight anyway, I'll just throw a few more steaks and shrimp on the barbie—”

“Shrimp?” Aubrey perked up.

Now there was no way to get out of this. Ava knew she
should
be sensible, like her sister Katherine. Stoic and self-disciplined like big brother Spence. Be calm and think things through like her twin. Her problems always came from leaping before she looked, and right now looking at his dark tousle of hair, the curve of his grin and the steady hope in his eyes made her want to leap into agreement.

“Lots of shrimp,” Brice promised. “I've got a shop behind my garage, so I work at home a lot when I'm doing custom stuff like this. Hey, while you two are there, I'll show you a few new ideas I have. Something for the display case.”

“Now I don't believe there's an allowance for even more custom stuff in the contract I signed.”

“True. This is just because. This is what I want to do for you as a friend. We start as friends. See where it goes from there.”

Didn't that sound harmless? It was like a test-drive of a new car. You got to see if you liked it first before you bought it. It was the same situation here. If she didn't like him for a friend, she wouldn't date him and marry him, right?

Ava felt her heart fall even more. There it was, that terrible urge to leap. To just tell him yes. Friends first, and then let's see where this goes. What could go wrong with that?

“D
id you know he lived up here?” Aubrey asked from behind the wheel as she negotiated the curving road that led into the foothills where the posh people lived.

“Nope. I had no clue.”

Ava couldn't seem
not
to look at Brice. There he was right in front of them in his snazzy red sports car.

Aubrey followed Brice into an exclusive gated community. “If you're falling for this guy, you have to stop this destructive thing you do.”

“I tried my best at all my other relationships. It's my fault-blindness. Maybe it's a good thing you're here. I need your help. You can watch for his faults that I can't see.”

“You
definitely
need help.” Aubrey rolled her eyes and turned her full attention back to the road.
“Look at this place. This is really wow. How rich is this guy?”

“He's a Donovan. How rich are they?”

“Well, his grandfather knew Grandpop. They played golf together.”

Grandpop had been pretty rich. “It still hurts to think about him, doesn't it?”

“Yeah.” Aubrey paused a moment, the sadness settling between them. He'd been gone two years now and it was a terrible hole in the family. It was why Gran had moved permanently to their winter home in Scottsdale. She'd found it so painful to be alone in the house he built for her when they were a young married couple, that she simply stayed down south where there were fewer memories to haunt her.

The quiet stayed between them as they followed Brice through a gate and along a grand driveway to a private house tucked into the hill, surrounded by lush trees and lawn. Views of the Bridger Mountains backed up behind him, and views of the Rockies rimmed the entire western exposure.

Brice parked in the third bay of a three-car garage, and Ava was too busy looking around to realize Aubrey had parked the SUV and was already climbing out of the vehicle. Okay, pay attention. She joined her sister outside the wood and stone house that looked like something out of a magazine.

“That's nicer than Gran's house,” Aubrey said.

True. Which only pointed out the plain truth.
Brice was so wrong for her. He was going to look for the wife to fit into this house. Face it. It was such a good thing they had this friends-only policy.

He closed the car door and pocketed his keys. “C'mon in this way. I never use the front door.”

“Not even when you entertain?” Aubrey asked.

“I never entertain. Having my folks over is about as elaborate as I get.” There was that grin again, the inviting warmth, the good-guy charm that was so totally arresting.

He held open the door for them at the back of the garage. Ava saw a wide but short hallway with a laundry room to her right elbow and what had to be a huge pantry to her left. Ahead of her was an enormous kitchen with a family room off to the side, not that she noticed that. She was too busy salivating over the kitchen.

Gleaming, light maple cabinets and a gray granite countertop stretched for miles. She spotted a gas range, Sub-Zero refrigerator and a double oven. There were plenty of windows, a bay in a huge eating nook and then a row of them looking out to the green backyard. “This is better than Katherine's kitchen.”

Brice went straight to the fridge. “Is that where you've been doing your baking?”

“Yeah. It's working out okay, but sometimes I know I'm in her way.” Ava ran her hand over the expensive granite. “This is a nice work space you've got here.”

“It's wasted on me. I don't cook much. What do you want to drink? I've got soda, iced tea and lemonade. Oh, and milk.” He opened the door wide so she could see what was on the shelves.

Something pink caught her eye. “Wait one minute. You have strawberry milk?”

“Chocolate, too.”

“I never would have pegged you for a guy who would drink pink milk.”

“Hey, I like strawberries. Nothing wrong with that.”

“No, it's just—” Did she tell him it was one of her very favorite things? “I'll take a glass of pink milk. Aubrey will, too.”

“Do you always speak for her?”

“I'm just trying to be efficient. Where are your glasses?”

“Sit down. Both of you. You're guests, let me do the fetching.” His words were deceptively light but when his gaze raked over her, tenderness charged the air between them.

Hmm. That didn't feel like friendship. It felt like “more than friendship” in the nicest way she'd ever experienced. She took a shaky breath. Whatever she did, she had to remember not to start reading things into his actions.
Friends only,
he'd said. But she knew he wanted more.

“Wow,” Aubrey said somewhere behind her, and Ava turned.

“Look at that pool. It's bigger than Gran's.”

Ava went weak in the knees. “There's my favorite guy.”

Rex was lounging in the cooling spray of the pool fountain. He looked up with a start, gave a goofy grin and heaved himself up on all fours. Dripping wet he took off for a run and disappeared from sight around a huge sixteen-foot awning that shaded a patio set, chaise lounges and a built-in brick grill.

“Rex!” Brice called out a second before a big golden streak charged into the kitchen.

The sound of heavy dog breathing drew Ava's attention to the archway where the retriever streaked toward her. She caught a faint glimpse of a sleek dining room and a comfortable living room in the background before the oaf lunged toward her, both front feet wrapping around her shoulders. His tongue roughened her face and she started to laugh. The dripping heap of retriever stopped licking to give her a goofy grin and then started over again.

“Stop! Stop!” Ava was laughing, but it was kind of hard not to like such a good-hearted dog.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Brice round the long span of counter, coming to her rescue, but it was too late. Rex dropped to the floor in front of her and gave a huge shake. Water droplets rained everywhere.

If she wasn't soaked enough down the front from his hug, she was now. The retriever dropped to his haunches looking from Brice's disapproving face to
hers. Rex's eyebrows shot up, the goofy grin dropped from his cute face and the happiness faded from his chocolate-sweet eyes. His whine said, “Oh, no. I messed up again.”

Ava's heart fell and she followed him to the floor where she wrapped her arms around Rex's wet neck. “I don't mind,” she told him. “I know you didn't
mean
for disaster to happen.”

“Speak for yourself,” Aubrey commented on a laugh. “I was standing downwind and now I'm wet, too.”

“But he was just excited.” Ava kept one arm around the canine's neck. “I'm in love with this guy.”

Rex gave a whine low in his throat and dropped his huge head on her shoulder.

“The feeling appears to be mutual.” Brice. There he was, all six feet of solid male kneeling down, meeting her gaze with his. “Rex knows better than this. He just can't help himself sometimes.”

“I think he's perfect.”

“Another mutual sentiment.”

Perfect,
Brice thought, that's what Ava was. Dripping wet, her honey gold bangs tousled from wet dog kisses, sprayed with droplets, she'd never been more beautiful.

“I've always wanted a dog just like this, but Dad's allergic to dogs.” She glowed with happiness as she hugged Rex, who looked like he was in heaven. “And then we've been in apartments and too busy for a pet. But one day, I want a handsome guy just like you.”

Rex's eyes melted with adoration and gave Ava another swipe across the face.

“You are the best dog.” She laughed, all spirit, all brightness and big loving heart.

Brice was enchanted. Tenderness blazed so strongly, it transformed him completely. His heart fell—a measureless, infinite tumble from which there was no return.

 

They were beneath the shady awning, seated at the poolside table with an impressive view of the sparkling azure water. Ava looked around, ignoring the full plate of food in front of her. The forest-like backyard and the rise of the Bridger Mountains spearing up to the sky were spectacular. She had to give Brice's home full marks.

But his cooking, wow. That deserved full marks plus. The juicy, flavorful steak was grilled to perfection. Talk about a total shocker. Who would have guessed that when Brice said he cooked a mean steak, he meant it?

He sat across the snazzy teak table, the breezes lazily ruffling his dark hair. He cut a strip off the fourth steak he'd barbecued—for Rex—and tossed it to him. Rex caught it neatly, gulped, swallowed and sat back down on his haunches.

The gentle waterfall of the fountain and the leaves rustling through the trees only added to the pleasantness of the evening.

Earlier, after readying the steaks in their
marinade, Brice had brought their glasses of strawberry milk to the poolside and relaxed in the shade. Since their clothes were wet anyway, she and Aubrey did cannonballs into the pool, trying to see who could leave the biggest splash marks. Ava had won, but it had been an intensely close—and fun—competition.

Now, drying in the hundred-degree shade, she was just still damp enough from the pool to be comfortable temperature wise. But emotionally? Not so much. Brice dominated her field of vision. He was impossible to ignore.

“I read in the paper a while back that you were engaged,” Aubrey said abruptly as she poked the tines of her fork into a cube of red herbed potatoes heaped on her plate. “Didn't the wedding get cancelled?”

What?
Ava could not believe her ears. The fork tumbled out of her hand and fell into the three-bean salad. Hello? Aubrey did
not
just say that, did she? How could she stick her nose where it didn't belong?

Brice winced as if he'd taken a painful blow. “That's true. I was engaged to Whitney Phelps.”

“Of the Butte Phelps,” Aubrey nodded, as if coaxing Brice along.

Ava sank into the comfy cushions of her chair and felt as if a hundred-pound weight had settled onto her chest. Sympathy filled her.

Brice put down his steak knife and took a long pull of strawberry milk. “It was one of those things.
I'd just turned twenty-five. I had this plan. I had my business started and it was going well, and I was ready to get married. I figured we'd date for two years, get engaged for a year, be married for a couple more and then have kids.”

“It sounds like a good plan to me,” Aubrey said in the gentle quiet way of hers that made anybody want to tell her anything. “What happened?”

Ava knew. She could see it play across his face. Feel the resonance of it in his heart. He'd really loved this woman. The right way—heart deep and honestly. She wasn't surprised when he spoke.

“The moment I saw Whitney, I thought she was classy. Poised. Polished. Just what I was looking for.” His tone wasn't bitter. There was no anger in his words. Nor was there any pining. Just the pain of regret. “I must have been what she was looking for, too.”

“I imagine so,” Aubrey answered.

Poor Whitney, Ava thought. She must have felt something like this. Overwhelmed by his million-dollar grin and honesty. Helplessly sucked in by the pull of those deep dark eyes. Enamored by his decency and strength and manliness. Lost in too many wishes to find her way out.

Brice stared down at his plate for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. A muscle tightened in his square granite jaw. “We came from the same backgrounds. We seemed compatible. I cared for her, and she fit into my plan. Or, maybe I made her. I
prayed for our relationship to work out. For it to progress. Sometimes I wonder if I imposed way too much too early when we were dating, instead of just trusting God to work things out for the best.”

Oh, I so know what you mean. Ava felt the heavy pain radiate out from the center of her chest, into her throat, into her voice. “You have to be very careful what you pray for.”

“Exactly.” His gaze met hers, and she felt the connection, an emotional zing that opened her heart right up.

“I prayed,” he said, “and while my prayers were answered in a way, I'll never know how much I messed up God's plan for me. Maybe He had someone better for me, a better match, and a better chance for happiness for both me and Whitney separately. I don't know.”

I understand completely, Ava thought.

“I only know He answered my prayers, but I asked in the wrong way. Whitney and I would never have made each other happy in the end. It was hard, admitting that, because I cared for her deeply. I was a disappointment to her. She slowly became disappointed in me. These days when I pray, I ask for the Lord to show me the way He wants me to go.”

You're not falling in total serious like with him, she commanded herself. She knew better than that. So, he was perfect in many ways. She could feel the weight of his pain and the honesty of his experience. Her heart tumbled a little more.

“It was a mess.” He shrugged one big shoulder, looking vulnerable even for such a big, brawny guy. “My mom hasn't forgiven me completely for calling off the wedding. She was very attached to Whitney.”

“Your mom still hasn't forgiven you?”

Brice studied Ava's dismay. “She'd come to love Whitney like a daughter and it was a severe loss for her. She loves me, but I'm different from my parents in a lot of ways. They just don't get me.”

“You're talking about your construction company?”

“Yep. Like the dog. He's not a purebred.” He cut another piece of steak for Rex. “Not that it's good or bad, I just was looking for a best buddy, and went to the pound looking for a puppy. Rex and me, we connected.”

When his gaze met hers, Brice couldn't tell if she knew that's how he felt about her. There'd been something special about her right from the beginning, something unique and amazing and rare that made him look and keep looking.