All I Ever Need Is You (The Sullivans #14)(50)

“Bodyguards?” It suddenly hit her. “Oh, no. I didn’t even think of hiring bodyguards for Rafe and Brooke’s wedding! How could I have overlooked that?”

He put his hand on hers. “You don’t need them. Not for a lake wedding.”

But she was still panicking. “Aren’t some of your cousins famous, too? In addition to Ryan?”

“Doesn’t matter how famous any of them are. No one is going to bother us at the lake. It’s the perfect private spot for our whole family to get together. You have to trust me on this, Kerry. No bodyguards.”

She made herself take a few deep breaths, but it was looking into his eyes that finally convinced her to stop panicking. “I do trust you.” She let another big breath go before saying, “And what I meant to say before I started freaking out about bodyguards, was how great it is that you guys are all so close. It seems like you spend a lot of time together.”

“We always have. They’re a great group to hang out with. Do you have any cousins?”

“My mother was an only child, and my father’s family didn’t stick around any longer than he did.”

“Regardless of whatever went wrong between your father and your mom, he never should have left his children.” Adam looked disgusted. “Something similar happened with my cousins in New York. Their mom walked out one day on the four of them and my uncle.”

“Oh, that’s horrible.” And she should know. “But you just have to move on and try not to let it affect you.”

As she lifted her arm to swat away a fly, she caught a flash of her watch face and realized with no small amount of disappointment that it was later than she’d thought. “I wish I didn’t have to leave for my meeting.” She helped him put away the food and then brushed crumbs off her lap as she stood.

“I’m just glad you were able to squeeze me in,” he said as he also stood. “We’ll celebrate more tomorrow night, okay?” He lowered his voice and said, “Naked celebrating. And this time I’ll be sure to have champagne to drink off your skin.”

Tingles ran through her at both the good-bye kiss he gave her and the delicious thought of celebrating in bed with him. “I can’t wait.”

And she truly couldn’t.

* * *

After Kerry left, Adam spent some time walking around the house and property and taking notes. All the while, he thought about the way Kerry had said she’d done her best to move on from her father’s desertion without letting it affect her. But even though he knew how strong, how resilient, she was, he also knew from experience that all the things you tried not to let affect you, still usually did.

Take him, for instance. When he’d been a teenager and his father had lost his job, they’d nearly lost everything. Home—and doing whatever he could to help save it—had never been more important to Adam. To all of them. Adam had been too young back then to actually support the family financially, the way his oldest brother, Ian, had, but he’d still gone out of his way to mow as many lawns as he could. He’d hauled and stacked wood and cleaned swimming pools—anything someone in the neighborhood would hire him for. And going into all those people’s houses had shown him, even more, just how important homes were for families.

Based on what had happened to his family, Adam knew it was no accident that he was fascinated with architecture, specifically reviving old buildings. Second chances were hugely important to him, too, which was why he very rarely built new.

And if he looked at what had happened to Kerry’s family, it was no accident that she was in love with happy-ever-afters and was willing to do whatever she could to help people have the best possible start to their perfect forever.

Adam was so lost in his thoughts that he nearly tripped over a spindle from the railing lying in the middle of the porch. Bending down, he picked it up and was surprised once again by the level of craftsmanship that the original owners had put into this house. They hadn’t cut any corners, not in the design or in the crafting of the house. The only reason it was on the verge of falling down was because of the neglect of some distant grand-nieces and -nephews. Thank God someone like Kerry, someone who loved the house so much, had taken it over.

And, he thought with a grin that he knew bordered on egotistical, thank God she had him on her team. The two of them were damned effective solo—together they were going to be unstoppable.

As he took the spindle with him to his car, along with the picnic basket and blanket, he knew Kerry was right about the pull this place had. Something slightly magical. It wasn’t hard for him to imagine living in this house, on this street, in this neighborhood. Not hard at all, actually, especially if Kerry was there with him.

And as he reluctantly started his car’s engine to head back to work, his father’s words from the day they’d looked over the property suddenly came to him: “It’s always hard to walk away from something beautiful, isn’t it? Especially when you can sense that giving her your full attention will make both of you happy.”

And it was true that, since the moment he’d met Kerry, she’d completely stolen his attention. There had rarely been a day, rarely been an hour, that he wasn’t thinking of her. That he wasn’t wishing he could see her. Or that he wasn’t longing to hold her in his arms.

And yet, he’d still tried to hold back. Still tried to stick to their arrangement. Still tried to keep from crossing over into what had always been a relationship no-fly zone, thinking that was the only way to be happy. Still believed he couldn’t ever let one little four-letter word catch him in its grip without regretting it.