Wanting by Calle J. Brookes

was
beautiful, even though she was only dressed in ripped jeans and a
jersey.
    Sebastian looked young and
relaxed and happy to be with the woman.
    Carrie looked closer; the
couple wore matching wedding rings. So most likely a brother.
Sebastian didn’t even have a tan line where a ring had
been.
     
     

Chapter 25
    *****
     
    He was dressed in jeans and
a black shirt when she—and Linux, who walked at her heels—joined
him. His hair was dark and wet from his shower; he looked nothing
like the dangerous and confidant special agent she was familiar
with.
    He was stirring a pot on
the stove, the sight so not what Carrie was used to seeing. He
smiled directly at her, making the green of his eyes seem more
prominent. His expression was welcoming and interested, and Carrie
felt the power of that expression clear down to her toes. “It’s
about ready; have a seat.”
    “ Thank you. You don’t have
to do this, you know.”
    “ Carrie—I want to. Besides,
this is the fastest way for us to find Ashleigh. And did you really
want to stay at your place the way it was?”
    Her apartment, her space,
destroyed. Tears threatened again, but Carrie pushed them back. It
wasn’t the first time her space had been violated, although it was
the first at this particular address. She’d get through it, and
would survive. What she wouldn’t do was break down. Not until she
was completely alone, anyway. “No, I don’t. Let’s talk about
something else. I didn’t know you had brothers.”
    “ Saw the
pictures?”
    Carrie nodded. Why deny it?
She had snooped. Anyone would. “Yes.”
    “ I have two brothers and a
sister. Seth, Sinclair, and Sarah. Sarah’s four years younger.
She’s a, uh, social worker in Indiana.”
    “ What do your brothers do?
And your brother’s wife?” It was the blue-eyed woman who had
captured Carrie’s attention. Sebastian and his siblings were a
family, that was evident. But what had made his brother choose that
woman? Attraction had always fascinated Carrie. The bits and pieces
of what drew people together. It fascinated her because she so
rarely understood it.
    “ My brother’s...oh.” He sat
the spoon down. “She wasn’t my brother’s wife. She was mine. I was
married for five years.”
    “ Why?” Wow. He hadn’t
seemed like the type to have been married. Carrie suddenly felt
wrong for having been attracted to him. “I’m sorry. That was
intrusive, wasn’t it? Sometimes I don’t think before I say
something.”
    “ Neither do I. It’s fine.
Cody and I were friends for years. Her dad and mine were close
friends. When mine died, Chet, Cody’s father, sort of stepped in
for us. His own wife died of cancer when Cody was seventeen. Chet
made a mistake, and remarried too quickly. His new wife wasn’t very
tolerant of a grieving teenage girl. Chet died a few years later,
unexpectedly. His wife left Cody out of everything, virtually in
the cold. Even cut off her financial aid for college. We married so
that she could continue with her education. It was only supposed to
be for a few years, but we stayed together nearly six.”
    “ Then you
divorced?”
    “ Yes. She decided it wasn’t
fair to me to be with her. That I should be free to find the person
I was—in her words—supposed to be with. We were too good of
friends, apparently, to be lovers.”
    Carrie didn’t understand it
at all. “Were you?”
    “ In hindsight, yes. For
both of us. And between you and me—I strongly suspect she may have
been a better fit for one of my brothers.”
    “ You think she was with
your brother?”
    “ No. She wouldn’t do that.
I think she would have been better off being with someone like
Seth.”
    “ So why didn’t she marry
him in the first place?”
    “ Because I won the coin
toss. Sit down, this is ready.” He pulled the pan from the stove
and motioned toward the table.
    Carrie sat. “You flipped a
coin for your wife? That’s weird.”
    “ Well, I was only
twenty-five at the time, just