Read Online Bidding on Brooks: The Winslow Brothers #1 by Katy Regnery - Free Book Online

answered softly.
    “I get the feeling he wants more than a few pictures.”
    She shrugged. “I don’t have anything to hide.”
    Brooks cut his eyes to her, looking up sharply. He did. His family would be mortified to learn that he used an escort service, and suddenly—looking into Skye’s wide, innocent eyes, he felt an unexpected bolt of shame, which made him scowl. He made a quick decision and mental note not to enjoy any more dates from Elite until long after the article was published in Celeb! . In fact, he thought, it was probably best to go ahead and close his account as soon as possible.
    “Sorry,” he said. “I’m accustomed to my photo being taken, but I’m sorry you’ll have to deal with that sort of thing over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully he’ll respect the agreement and just show up at the appointed stops. If you see him sniffing around the marina this week, call me.”
    “Will do,” she said lightly.
    He watched as she crossed her arms over her chest and walked around the patio. Finally stopping to smell a bright yellow rose, her eyes closed and a small smile tilted up her lips. Brooks recognized something strong and new in his gut and it felt warm and good, but it also felt tinged with a low-grade panic. How the hell had he missed this? How had he missed that Skye Sorenson was one of the sexiest, loveliest women he’d ever seen? And now that he knew it, how the hell was he going to keep his hands off of her while they shared a small boat for a week? Pat or no Pat, petite blondes with lush breasts were his weakness. Damn it, the whole reason he’d asked Skye to join him in the first place, was to avoid any chance of a romantic entanglement. And now, every time he looked at her in those stupid overalls, he’d know what was underneath. It made him nervous. It made him second-guess the entire plan.
    “Skye,” he said softly, hoping she didn’t hear the note of self-preservation in his voice. “After meeting Guy…if you wanted to back out, I wouldn’t hold it against you.”
    She turned to him, resting her palms on the brick wall behind her, her face luminous in the moonlight, her breasts heaving softly from her breathing. “No way. I wouldn’t do that to you. I made a promise. Plus…the Cutter.”
    “The Cutter,” he said, taking a few steps toward her and grinning. “Was there ever a girl who loved sailboats as much as you?”
    “Nope.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Some people would call me obsessed.”
    Brooks shrugged dismissively. “Then they don’t understand. They don’t love sailing like we do.”
    “Sometimes I feel like the wind and the water are in my blood.” Her eyes sparkled at him in the moonlight as her glossy lips turned up wistfully. “The thrill when the prow cuts through the waves, the way a sudden gust fills the sails and you hike over the side with a line in your fist and the spray in your face. That’s when I feel the most alive, the most complete.”
    “Yes,” he said, hypnotized by the beauty of her face and the poetry of her words. “Me too.”
    “I know. We have that in common,” she said. A gentle smile reached out and squeezed his heart as he gazed at her. “When I was ten, your parents gave you the Primrose.”
    “I remember. I’m surprised you do.”
    “She was the prettiest boat I’d ever seen. Before you came to claim her, I’d sit on the dock and stare at her. Just stare.” She laughed self-deprecatingly. “I got very possessive of her, I guess.”
    “You must have hated it when I finally took her out.”
    “I was worried,” she confessed. “If you’d been reckless or foolish with that boat…” She waggled her finger censoriously, then paused, grinning at him. “That first day? Your birthday? I watched you walk down to the dock and board her. The way you checked her lines and cleats, and you were ginger with the rudder. I watched you cast off, luffing the sails until she was free of the larger boats, and then I