Page 90 of Sycamore Circle

“How old is she?”

“Sixteen.”

“Why does he want you to talk to her?”

“I’m not sure. Me and Eric don’t exactly get along well.”

“Why?”

“Ah, because he’s an executive in a Fortune 500 company and I’m his felon older brother. I haven’t given him a lot to be proud of.”

“Bo.” She looked horrified. “Don’t say things like that.”

“I can’t help it. No reason to not say it anyway. It’s true.”

“You’re a lot more than the worst part of your life.”

He liked the way she said that. “I hope so. It’s still hard, though. It’s like Eric can’t help but be sure he knows exactly who I am. No matter how hard I try to tell him differently, to show him that I’ve changed, he doesn’t want to accept that he could be wrong.”

“Everything you are saying is exactly how Tony seems to think about me.”

There was pain in her eyes. Pain and maybe regret too. Like whatever this Tony thought, it might be true. He hated that. Hated that some clown could make her feel like she was less than.

“What does Tony think?” It was hard to control his voice, so he didn’t sound all possessive and pissed off.

Her eyes flared. It was obvious that she was taken aback by his tone. “Only that he was the best I could ever hope to get.”

Something shifted inside of Bo. He fought off the smile that was hovering on his lips. He might not ever be Eric’s level of best, but he was far from the worst. Better than a guy who could walk away from a sweet wife like Joy and a little girl who needed him.

This was something he could work with. Leaning closer, he shook his head. “Sorry, but your ex-husband is an idiot. More importantly, he’s wrong.” He lowered his voice. “He’s so wrong. You can do a whole lot better than him.”

A tiny smile appeared on her lips. “You sound so certain.”

“That’s because I am.”

And then finally, at long last... after way too long to wait—he leaned closer, into her space, smelled the scented lotion on her skin. Unable to stop himself, he pressed his lips on the pulse in her neck.

Feeling the pulse point, imagining that it was speeding up because she was just as breathless as he was becoming, made him groan. He gently nipped.

“Oh!” She jerked back. Startled. Her eyes were wide.

Carefully, he ran his hand along the nape of her neck. Felt the silky strands of her hair brush against his knuckles. Met her eyes. Paused just long enough to let her know that she was in charge. She could pull away if that was what she wanted.

He really hoped that wasn’t what she wanted.

Instead of moving back, Joy leaned closer. He felt her tremble. Her eyes went to half-mast as her lips parted slightly.

That was all the invitation he needed. So he kissed her. He kept it soft, gentle. She tasted just as sweet as her skin. Sweeter than he’d imagined. Better than his dreams.

Joy gripped his shoulders.

Running a hand along her spine, he claimed her lips again, deepening the kiss. Tasting her. Wanting her. Letting her know, as well as he could, that he was never going to let her go.

CHAPTER 30

“I can’t believe I had to hear about this guy from Mom,” Alice complained. “Why didn’t you pick up the phone and call me too?”

Joy was having lunch with her younger sister who was also their family’s force of nature. Alice—also known as Alice-Sells-Real-Estate to pretty much everyone in Cincinnati who was either trying to buy or sell a house—was incredible. She was rich, successful, and had married a down-to-earth guy named Joel who’d been a happy house-husband for most of their married life. They had three kids, a Labrador named Cindy, and were both beautiful.

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