all of that, but still, he believed that when two people were committed to each other, there weren’t supposed to be any secrets between them. So in his mind she had made a choice between her job and him. That, in a nutshell, was what grated him the most. Yet at some point he had to let go and move on or the bitterness would do him in. He couldn’t continue to make her feel like a “bad” guy, especially when he of all people knew how much becoming an agent had meant to her. Twice her application had been turned down when background checks had revealed her family history—namely her father and brothers. It had taken Dare, who’d still maintained close contacts within the Bureau, to write a sterling letter of recommendation to get her in.
Ian pulled in a deep breath. It was time for him and Brooke to finally make peace. He knew that because of all that had happened between them, the love they once shared could never be recovered, but it was time he put his animosity to rest and make an attempt at being friends.
Brooke angrily stripped out of her dress. Ian Westmoreland was as stubborn as any mule could get. He refused to consider that she had been doing her job four years ago and if she had told him anything about the case, her own life could have been in jeopardy. No, all he thought about was what had happened to a man who’d been living a lie to his family, friends and business associates.
Fine, if that was the position Ian wanted to take, even after four years, let him. She refused to allow him to get on her nerves, and somehow and in some way she would wipe away the memories she found almost impossible to part with. More than anything she had to somehow eradicate him from her heart. But in the meantime she planned to enjoy herself for the next two weeks and wouldn’t let him stand in the way of her doing just that.
She slipped into the two-piece bathing suit, thinking a late-night swim might make her feel better. Swimming had always relaxed her, and she was seriously considering adding a pool to her home in D.C. The question was whether or not she would have the time to enjoy it. In a few months she would have made her five-year mark with the Bureau and it was time to decide if she wanted to remain out in the field or start performing administrative duties. Her good friend and mentor, Dare Westmoreland, had cautioned her regarding Bureau burnout, which was what had happened to him after seven years as an agent.
Brooke had just grabbed her wrap when she heard the knock at her door. Evidently room service had made a mistake and was at the wrong villa. Making her way across the room, she leaned against the door and glanced through the peephole, and suddenly felt a sensation deep in the pit of her stomach. Her late-night caller was Ian.
She tensed and shook her head. If he thought he would get in the last word he had another thought coming. After removing the security lock she angrily snatched open the door. “Look, Ian, I—”
Before she could finish, he placed a single white rose in her hand. “I come in peace, Brooke. And you’re right. It’s time to put the past behind us and move on.”
Ian’s heart slammed against his chest. He had been prepared for a lot of things, but he hadn’t been prepared for Brooke to open the door in a two-piece bathing suit with a crocheted shawl wrapped around her waist that didn’t hide much of anything.
There were her full, firm breasts that almost poured out of her bikini top and a tiny waist that flared to shapely hips attached to the most gorgeous pair of legs any woman could possess. And her feet—how could he possibly forget her sexy feet? They were bare, with brightly painted toenails, encased in a pair of cute flat leather sandals.
Her unique scent was feminine and provocative and the same one he had followed out of the lounge. It was the same scent that was filling her doorway, saturating the air surrounding him, getting into his skin. She was and had always been a woman of whom fantasies were made. And seeing her standing there was overwhelming his sense of self-control.
He sighed deeply, inwardly wishing he could focus on something other than her body and her scent. He wanted to concentrate on something like the rose he had given her, but instead his gaze lowered to her navel, which used to be one of his favorite spots on her body. He could recall all the attention he used to give it before moving lower to…
“Ian?”
He snatched his attention back to her face and cleared his throat. Damn, he had come to make peace, not make love. They would never share that type of relationship again. “Yes?”
“Thanks for the rose, and I’m glad we can move forward in our lives, and I hope that one day we can be friends again,” she said.
Brooke was watching his eyes, probably noting the caution within their dark depths when he said, “I hope so, too.”
She nodded. “Good.”
He leaned in the doorway. “You’re going out?”
“Yes, I thought I’d go for a swim at one of the pools. The one with the huge waterfall looks inviting.”
Ian nodded. It was. He had passed the area on his way here, and another thing he noted was that it was crowded with more men than women. He then remembered that the Rolling Cascade was hosting a convention of the International Association of Electricians. There were over eight hundred attendees, eighty percent of them men who probably thought they were capable of finding a woman’s hot spot and wiring her up in a minute flat. He drew his dark brows together sharply. Not with this woman.
“That pool is nice, but I know of one that’s a hundred times better,” he said, when an idea suddenly popped into his head.
“Really, where?”
“My penthouse.”
She met his eyes then, and he could imagine what thoughts were going through her mind. Hell, he was wondering about it himself. He had no right to feel possessive, as if she was still his. But just because she wasn’t didn’t mean he shouldn’t have a protective instinct where she was concerned, did it?
Feeling better about the reason he was inviting her to his suite, he reached out and took her hand in his. “Look, it was just an invitation for you to use my private pool. Besides, I’d like to catch up on how things have been going for you. But if you prefer we don’t go any further than the rose, that’s fine.”
Brooke took a second to absorb Ian’s words. He wanted them to become friends again and nothing more. He had given her a peace offering and now he wanted them to catch up on what had been going on in their lives. She doubted that he knew she asked about him often, whenever she and Dare spoke on the phone. She knew Ian was back at the top of his game, had reinstated his role of the Perfect End and now claimed he would never, ever settle down and marry. With his cousin Storm happily married, Ian much preferred being the remaining lone wolf of the Westmoreland clan.
“I’d love to go swimming in your private pool and visit,” she said, and hoped and prayed she could get through an evening alone with him in his private quarters.
The smile that touched his lips sent heat spreading through her. “Good. Are you ready to leave now?”
“Yes. I just need to grab a towel.”
“Don’t bother. I have plenty.”
“Okay, let me get my door key.”
Moments later she stepped out and closed the door behind her. As they walked together, side by side, toward a bank of elevators, she was fully aware that Ian was looking at her, but she refused to look back. If for one instant she saw heated desire in his eyes, she would probably do something
