He held her possessively, kissed her with so much hunger…she just knew what she had with him was richer, deeper, than anything she’d ever have again. What they had was rare, special, and she needed to hold onto him, to make it work no matter what.

His hands slid down to her ass, and he squeezed, hauling her up against him. God, she wanted to strip off his clothes, climb him—

Applause shattered their intimacy, forcing them to pull apart. The spectators clapped and pumped their fists. “Go, Fin,” someone called.

They watched as Fin twisted and turned at odd angles, came down and bounced even higher. After landing on a pad, he did a barrel roll backflip and landed on his feet.

“That was insane,” Rosalina said.

Not even out of breath, Fin waved his oldest brother over. “I’m not into awards, and technical precision bores me, but this guy…” Will joined him on the trampoline. “He’s a nine-time world champion. Of course, he crapped out before the Olympics, but if you’d met Delilah you’d understand why.”

A mix of boos and laughter came from the rowdy crowd.

“Okay, so Will’s going to show you how someone with a stick up his ass does it.”

“And by ‘stick up the ass,’ my baby brother means discipline.” Will shot off the mat, bouncing so high and landing so hard, Fin nearly lost his footing. Instead of falling though, he leapt with surprising control onto a blue pad.

The oldest brother jumped in place a few times. He had this casual air about him, like he was just hanging out. She started to wonder if he’d been away from training too long—she’d heard he’d retired about nine months ago. But then, out of nowhere, he flipped. Not once. Not twice. But three times.

And, then, it was on. He executed the most perfect acrobatic moves she’d ever seen. The bystanders were shouting and clapping in awe.

When he came to a stop, he hadn’t even broken a sweat. Rosalina joined in the enthusiastic applause. “Your brothers are amazing.”

Brodie watched her for a moment. “Hold my beer.” Striding past her, he toed off his running shoes and jumped onto a trampoline.

“And this one’s Brodie,” Fin said. “Even though he retired ten years ago, he’s still got more trophies and medals than all of us combined.”

“But he doesn’t have the one that counts,” someone called from the crowd.

“Oh, low blow, man,” someone else shouted.

Over the smell of sweat and rubber came a strong blast of perfume. Rosalina picked up bergamot and vanilla, with soft undertones of citrus. The scent she’d come to associate with Vanessa.

She turned to see the woman standing next to her, staring at Brodie with a look of regret…and hunger.

“Oh, hey, Vanessa,” Rosalina said. “I can’t believe they’re so mean to him.”