Free Creation of Desire by Leah Brooke Page A

any suitcases. When that one’s empty, call us. One of us will put another one on the bed for you.”
    With the promise that she would, they left her alone to finish. Rachel took her time, loving the feel of the thick taupe carpet beneath her bare feet as she moved around the room. She could hear the men’s voices in the other room and the sounds of them moving around in the kitchen. Used to being alone, somehow hearing the sounds of someone else nearby comforted her.
    When she’d finished with the first suitcase, they still hadn’t finished eating. Not wanting to interrupt them, she pushed another one onto its side. It made a heavy thud and she wondered how Chase had carried it in so easily. She probably wouldn’t have been able to lift it. She unzipped it and heard loud footsteps tearing down the hall.   She looked up in surprise.
    “ Rachel !” She heard Chase’s shout as both men ran into the room, almost tripping on the suitcases.
    “What’s wrong?” She got to her feet. “What happened?”
    “Are you okay?” Boone demanded, pulling her into his arms.
    She frowned. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “She pushed the suitcase over,” Chase muttered, gesturing to the one she’d just unzipped.
    “I didn’t lift it. I’m not stupid and I’m certainly not taking any chances of hurting the baby.”
    “We heard it fall and thought, oh hell.” Boone scrubbed a hand over his face. “I told you to call us when you were finished.” He went to the bed and removed the empty suitcase as Chase hauled the one she’d just unzipped onto the bed.
      “You hadn’t finished your dinner. I thought I’d just unpack it there on the floor.”
    “Next time call us,” Chase growled.
    “Why are you so nice to all the women in town and flirt with them all the time, but yell and growl at me?” Rachel demanded, hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes when he scowled at her.
    “Because they don’t make me crazy,” he snapped. “You do.”
    As Rachel watched him storm from the room, her brows rose in surprise at his outburst. Looking over to where Boone silently watched her, she nervously rubbed her arms. “I’ve never seen Chase act like that,” she murmured softly.
    “Neither have I.” Boone regarded her steadily. “But then, neither one of us has ever been in love before.” He shrugged and started to walk out of the room, tossing over his shoulder. “I’m sure we’re all going to be in for some surprises, baby.”
    Rachel stared at his back, not sure what he’d meant by that. They’d acted differently since finding out about the baby. Then again, she thought, placing a hand protectively over where their baby grew, this had changed all their lives. She sat on the bed, looking around again at what had become, at least for now, her bedroom.
    She knew that Boone and Chase had built this house themselves. She’d known it before, had heard people rave about it. She would have had to have been blind not to have seen the pride reflected in their eyes as they showed her around. But why would they build a house like this for themselves, have a huge master bedroom and bath, with two enormous walk-in closets, but not use it? It didn’t make sense.
    Somewhere along the way they must have realized that they would be sharing this house with a woman. Why had they been so quick to rule out a commitment with her, damn it, if they’d already built a house to share with someone? Everything pointed to the fact that they didn’t really love her. The only reason they wanted her here had to be because of the baby growing inside her. Depressed, with tears stinging her eyes, damned hormones, she started when her cell phone rang. Rummaging through her purse, she finally found it and blinking away tears, answered.
    “Hello?”
    “Rach, how do you feel about selling me half the lingerie shop?”
    Rachel couldn’t prevent a smile. Her sister, Erin, never had much use for pleasantries.
    “Hello, Erin. How are you?” she