The Way You Look Tonight (The Sullivans #9)(26)

He couldn’t believe how optimistic she was, so much so that she actually thought there were different kinds of love...and that if you hit on just the right one, you’d have won the forever lottery.

"Plenty of ways, Brooke. So many that I could spend the next twenty-three hours listing them all for you."

"I’d much rather you told me your definition of true love."

Of all the things he thought they’d talk about tonight, true love would have never made the list in a million years. "I’m a guy," he reminded her. With his thumb, he gestured out the front window at his Ducati. "I ride a motorcycle. I’ve never tried to define that, apart from knowing it only happens once in a blue moon."

"I wonder which I can get you to say first," she mused. "Kinky or true love."

She surprised another laugh out of him.

"Actually, I’d much rather hear you laugh like that again." And then she caught him off guard one more time by asking, "Try now. Just for fun. Pretend true love is real and out there for any of us to find."

For a moment he was so lost in her big green eyes that he couldn’t remember what she wanted him to try.

Oh, right. Define true love.

His brain went blank until he thought about his parents. "Holding hands." She was silent as he thought more about it. "Laughing together." What else? "Being a unified front, especially when times get tough." The more he thought about the ways his parents had weathered their storms together, the easier it became to add to the list. "And celebrating together when things get better."

"Are you sure you’ve never thought about true love before?" she asked in a soft voice.

He shrugged. "I’ve never had anyone ask me to try before." And if they had, he would have laughed in their face. He was the one who asked the difficult questions, never the one who answered them. But when he’d tried to make a joke about it with Brooke, she hadn’t let it go. Despite how sweet she looked, she would make one hell of an investigator. "Your turn now, since I’m guessing you’ve given it quite a bit of thought over the years."

"What girl doesn’t think about it?" she asked, clearly teasing him about the fact that he still hadn’t said the two words aloud, referring to true love as that and it instead. She toyed with the stem of her wine glass for a few moments. "True love would be passion that burned so hot you were almost afraid of the power the other person had over you, the way they could turn you inside out with a look, a touch, a kiss. It would be wanting to fall asleep every night and wake up every morning for the rest of your life in that one person’s arms. Just like you said, it would be holding hands and laughing and building a family together. And, most of all, it would mean being able to talk to each other about absolutely anything, knowing that no matter how hard it was to say the difficult things, you’d both still love each other...and that you’d find a way to work it out together. No matter what."

Mrs. Lombardi’s granddaughter removed their plates and replaced them with a huge piece of tiramisu, and Rafe was glad for the distraction. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anything more beautiful in his life than Brooke talking about what true love meant to her. Which was crazy, considering he couldn’t imagine having this conversation with anyone else—especially any of the women he’d been out with over the years. Not when he was certain none of them had believed in the steadfast nature of love any more than he did.

"I’ve just realized true love is about one more thing," Brooke told him.

"What’s that?"

She slid her fork into the tiramisu and grinned at him. "This cake."

He didn’t know a damn thing about love, but the sinfully pleasured look on her face as she took a bite of the decadent cake had his mouth watering.

Not for dessert. For Brooke.

A few minutes later they were leaving a huge cash tip on the table and sneaking out before Mrs. Lombardi could make them take it back. Before Brooke put on her helmet, she pointed up at the sky.

"Look."

There was wonder in her voice, and it was pure instinct to slide his hand into hers as he looked up.

"In just a few days, it will be a blue moon."

They both looked at each other then, and in her eyes he saw a sudden, unexpected flash of what forever might look like.

Looking as stunned as he felt, she took a step back as her helmet fell from her fingers to the ground. Forcing himself to drag his gaze from hers, he picked it up, and when he slid that lock of hair back behind her ear before slipping on the helmet, she trembled.

This time she got on behind him like a pro, and even though it would have been a hell of a lot wiser to take her straight home and say good night, after the way she’d reacted to their short ride to the restaurant, he decided to give her a treat by going the long way home.

The sun had set, and the windows of the stores along the tiny Main Street were lit up, as were the cottages all along the water and in the woods. It would have been a great ride alone, but it was a thousand times better sharing it with Brooke.

Riding his motorcycle had always been a rush. A thrill. A release. Not foreplay. And definitely not romantic.

But it was all those things tonight.

When they finally pulled in behind Brooke’s cottage and she took off her helmet, she was vibrating with energy. "I thought I was ready this time for how awesome that ride would be. If that gets better and better every time, I may explode from the sheer thrill of it soon. Thank you." She threw her arms around him, just as she had the night before when they’d been so surprised to see each other again. "Riding on your motorcycle, dinner, and the company were all spectacular."