Hayden laughs. “I’m interested, Brooke. The question is, are you?”

“I’m interested in not hurting anymore.” And there it goes. My stupid, runaway mouth. “Never mind,” I say, rubbing my arms. The cool night air is seeping back into me, chilling me again.

Hayden falls quiet for what feels like a week. “That’s a good interest,” he says. “The most important one.” A look of concern emerges on his face, and panic spears through me. I’ve exposed too much of myself, my pain.

“Would you stop looking at me like that?”

“Am I pouting again?”

“No. You’re looking at me like I’m weak.” The last thing I want is for Hayden or any of the Six to see me that way.

“You, weak?” He grins, shaking his head. “Never. Now come here before you freeze.” He lifts his arm, inviting me closer.

“Are you joking?”

The words are barely out of my mouth before he drops his arm around me and pulls me close. Then he stretches his legs out, and shifts his back a little, searching for a comfortable position. Everything between us has changed. He feels totally different than he felt five minutes ago. Brotherly.

“So,” he says conversationally, “I’m a good kisser. Was I better than Hyde?”

Maybe not brotherly, then.

“Oh, now that’s a surprise. You made it into a competition.” How did I not see that coming?

“You’re avoiding the question again.”

“You were different.”

“Which is a careful way of saying better.”

“Actually, different is a way of saying dissimilar. Unalike. There’s no value judgment. It’s a neutral word.”

“Was Hyde that bad, or is it just that I’m on a completely higher level?”

I jab my elbow into his ribs. He laughs and squeezes my shoulder. “I’m not going to forget what just happened, Brooke. Probably ever. When you’re ready, I’ll be here. And if you’re never ready, that’s fine too. I’ll just suffer in silence until I’m old and gray with age.”

There’s no downplaying the glimmer of desire in his eyes.

I don’t feel the urge to draw out his thoughts like I did with Hyde. What I feel is the pull to kiss him again.

So different, I think. One brother seduced me with poetry and gentleness. The other with heat and desire.

I settle in beside him. What did I see in Perry? I search my memories, trying to decide if he was more one way or the other. More alluring in mind, like Hyde, or in body, like Hayden. After a few moments I realize Perry was both. Gentle and thoughtful at times. Irresistibly sexy at others. But this realization doesn’t hurt like I expect. I don’t feel coals in my stomach, or the bruising in my heart.

And I don’t want to dwell on what Perry was to me, either.