Whispering Rock (Virgin River #3)(45)

“We should at least stay for the sunset,” Mike suggested. “There’s nothing like a Pacific sunset. Would you like that?”

“I would. Do you think I should call Jack? Let him know?”

Mike shrugged. “I don’t know what kind of arrangement you two have. Would he be worried if you’re not home before dark?”

Remembering her brother’s dark mood in the morning, the way he’d tried to warn her off Mike, she almost said that Jack would be especially worried tonight. But instead she said, “As a courtesy, I’ll give him a call. I’m really having too much fun to go back yet.”

He touched her cheek with the back of a knuckle. “Are you, Brie?” he asked softly.

“You don’t have to ask.” She smiled.

“There’s a phone,” he said, pointing across the street. “Do you have plenty of change?”

“Lots.”

“I’ll get us some drinks. We can take them to the bluffs and watch from there.”

Jack came to the phone in the bar and Brie told him she was having a wonderful time and they planned to watch the sunset over the ocean before heading back. Although she tried to keep her voice passive and not defensive, she really expected some kind of argument. Instead, her brother said, “I’m sorry about this morning, Brie. I was out of line. That wasn’t my place—I want you to enjoy yourself. I mean that.”

“Gee, Jack,” she said, amused. “You sure came around quickly.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m a genius that way.”

“Mel must have really lit into you,” she said.

“That always increases my intelligence about tenfold.”

“I love you.” She laughed. “We’ll be home later.” She was still chuckling to herself when she crossed the street to meet Mike.

“What did he say?”

“Have fun,” she said, laughing again.

“What’s funny about that?”

“Well, as I was leaving this morning, he warned me about your irresponsible ways with women—but now he’s docile as a lamb, apologizing, telling me to have a good time.”

“He’s starting to get on my nerves when he does that thing about the women,” he said, taking her elbow and steering her toward the bluffs. “We’ve been all over that. He can give it a rest anytime. He had a million women before Mel. Two million.”

She laughed at him. “You never mentioned to him that we spent a lot of time together over the summer,” she said.

“I told you—it wasn’t because you’re Jack’s sister. I met you because of Jack—I care about you because of you.”

“Did you tell him you spent the nights he was away in his bed?”

Mike laughed. “Would I be walking around today if I had? You know that would put him in a black mood.”

“You could have explained—I asked you to come, to stay.”

“This would be Jack Sheridan’s little sister. He would’ve expected me to sit guard out on the porch.”

“You didn’t tell him I got scared?”

He slipped an arm loosely, cautiously, around her waist. “You would have told him if you had wanted him to know.”

“Which one of us are you protecting?” she asked with a laugh.

He was conscious that she didn’t pull away from him. “You and me, our privacy. What goes on with us just isn’t his business. If you want to know—he asked. I don’t know how he picked up the scent, since apparently no one clued him in. I must be losing my touch—I’ve become obvious. I used to be slicker than that. But he wanted to know if there was something going on between us.”

“And you said…?”

“I said that I would never do anything to hurt you and if he wanted to know anything, he should ask you. I suggested he be very careful about that because you consider yourself a grown-up.”

That made her laugh rather happily. “Oh, I bet you really pissed him off.”

“He’ll get over it. He pissed me off.”

They walked the headlands trail to the bluffs and found a place on the grassy knoll to sit. The sun was already making its downward path and Brie found herself hoping it wouldn’t go quickly. They were hardly alone there—lots of people strolled, children ran around, lovers paused to embrace, kiss.

Mike sat with his legs stretched out in front of him; Brie curled her legs under her and braced herself on an arm, close to him. “Here,” Mike said, gently pulling her back to recline against his chest. “Be comfortable.”

Leaning against his broad chest, she felt herself relax in a way she hadn’t in months. With this interlude coming at the end of day like this, she was as close to carefree as she’d been in too long. Feeling the strength of him behind her was like a foundation. It didn’t hurt that she’d slept beside him for two nights and he had been perfect. And she began to think, I was wrong about what I can feel. I can feel things. Closeness and trust, for one thing. Security. He made her feel safe, and not just safe from danger. She had absolutely no worry that trusting him was foolish.

The sun set very slowly, the number of people dwindled as it darkened and soon it was almost as if they were alone. They reclined on the bluffs in silence for a long time, until it was nearly dark. The dark no longer seemed to bother her, because she was with Mike.