Page 87 of Broken Pieces

Chapter Thirty-Four

Raelynn

I stand in the kitchen of the house as I box up a few batches of cupcakes for the diner. Harper is supposed to be here soon, and I am running behind.

The last week with Brooks has made me feel hopeful. Like my past won’t control me any longer. That I can heal.

I never thought that feeling love from someone would do that.

I feared it.

I feared that love would destroy me.

But these days with Brooks, with his heart open to me, have been like therapy. We’ve stayed up late talking every night. He told me how he and his dad always had a strained relationship. Brett had been the star student and the reliable one when it came to work on his dad’s farm. Brooks told me he was always partying and being the delinquent youngest child. When he was put on probation, his dad threatened to send him to rehab. Brooks said he was a dick about the entire thing and that was when he moved in with Mac. He said he was fucked up for a month straight and Mac kicked him out. That’s when he realized he was fucking up. Brett stepped in and helped him get clean. He had always thought Brett hated him as much as his father did. But Brett just wanted a brother he could be friends with. Brooks focused his energy on working out when he felt the urge to use drugs or drink. Brett taught him responsibility and work ethic.

His relationship with his father slowly mended, although he told me he had to hide booze in his room. I laughed at that, thinking of a grown man stashing booze like a teenager. Of course, I told him how I did the same thing when I moved back to White Creek. About my sacred treehouse at Easton’s house and my secret hidey hole.

The more that Brooks opened up about his past, I found myself doing the same. We had more in common than we thought. Our broken pasts were stepping stones to where we were now. And with each day that passed, I felt my heart falling more for him than I ever thought it could.

I take a sheet of chocolate croissants out of the oven humming along to the music on the speaker and turn to place them on the counter to cool and nearly drop the whole cookie sheet on the ground.

Brooks is standing in the kitchen, shirtless of course, sweat dripping down his torso. His low-slung athletic shorts reveal the V leading to one of my favorite parts of him. I look back up his body and find him staring at me with hunger in his eyes.

“You scared the shit out of me!” I say as I set the tray down and place a hand on my chest. “You usually make some sort of noise when you come in here.”

He smirks at me. “Well I was gonna say something when I walked in, but then you were bent over, and those shorts are very short and I was enjoying watching your ass shake to the music.”

I look down at my outfit, I’m wearing very tiny cut-off shorts and a skimpy tank. But in all fairness, it’s August in Tennessee. It’s practically the sixth circle of hell outside and I am baking in a kitchen with ovens set at three hundred and fifty degrees. It’s fucking hot.

“Of course, you didn’t seem to mind this either,” he says as he gestures to his very hot, sweaty body.

I roll my eyes at him. “I was not shaking my ass.”

“Oh yes you were. Humming and shaking that ass to the music. What the hell is this anyway? One Direction?” he asks as he rounds the island.

“It’s Ed Sheeran. But that doesn’t matter. I was not shaking my ass.”

He stands in front of me, wrapping his arms around me. His hands cup my ass cheeks as he leans into my neck. “You were definitely shaking this ass.”

His lips start kissing my neck and slowly make their way up to my ear, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. I wrap my arms around his neck as his lips make their way to mine.

I grip his nape hard as I push my tongue into his mouth. He groans and presses himself into me. I can feel his erection and I casually rub myself against it.

He laughs into my mouth. “You are gonna get us into trouble, Blue. It’s daytime. Anyone could walk in.”

I could care less about that right now. I just want to keep feeling what I to do to him. I pull his mouth back to mine and let my fingers roam his body. He lifts me on to the counter so our mouths are level but when I think he is going to give me what I want he pulls away.

“You are a bad girl, Blue,” he says as he adjusts his shorts.

I grab his arms and pull him closer to me. “I just know what I want.”

“Is that right?” he grins.

I lean in and kiss him before he can pull away again.

He laughs into my mouth and pulls away, pulling out his phone.

“Is your phone really more important than me?” I ask.