Page 36 of Crazy Little Thing Called Love

“The point is, I was just being polite and doing my job. Besides, I sent them off after Gray and his crew. Did you not see that?”

“I might have,” Charlie said, having the decency to look slightly contrite.

“Then why are you in here trying to give me a concussion?”

Her eyes rolled toward the ceiling. “I didn’t mean for you to bash your head, although I can’t imagine it did any damage. Your skull is too thick.”

As good of an apology as he would ever get from Charlie.

“Love you too, sis.”

She glared at him, hands crossing over her chest in what he and his brothers called her “shut up and listen if you know what’s good for you” pose. Knowing from experience it’d be wise to do so, he shut up.

“I do love you and I love Cassie. That’s why I’m only going to say this once.” She pointed a finger in his face. “Don’t hurt her.”

Pissed at her assumption, his family’s lack of faith in him, and the odd feelings his fake fiancée stirred in him, he snapped.

“Oh, you mean like you did the other day when you yelled at her, stormed off in a snit, and refused to speak to her for days?”

Charlie’s face paled. Her hands dropped to her sides, shoulders slumping. “Was she really upset?”

Aw, dammit. He hadn’t meant to make his sister feel bad, but he did have a ruse to uphold, and what kind of fiancé doesn’t stand up for the woman he’s going to marry?

“What do you think, Charlie?” He shook his head. “What should have been a happy announcement got ruined by her best friend berating her and calling it a mistake.” She winced, but he didn’t stop. He could still see the tears in Cassie’s eyes in his mind. They haunted him. “I’m no expert, but don’t all women want their best friend to squeal and jump up and down demanding to see the ring and shit?”

“I’ve never squealed in my life and you know it.”

Yeah. His sister wasn’t one for girly displays. A hazard of growing up with three very macho brothers.

Charlie tapped one darkly polished fingernail against her thigh. “I didn’t mean to… I just… It was a surprising announcement is all.” Pale blue eyes, the eyes every Jackson had inherited from their father, stared up at him. “Is this real, Delta? Really real?”

The pleading catch in her voice made him feel like a first-class ass. He wished he could tell her the truth, but he couldn’t risk their secret getting out.

“It’s between me and Cassie. But you have to know, Charlie, I’d never do anything to hurt her. I care about her.”

“Me too.”

All the Jacksons cared about Cassandra Brown. Since Charlie first brought her over for dinner years ago, she’d been an extended part of the family. But something hit his gut as he realized he didn’t care for Cassie the same way his sister did. At some point over the years he’d stopped seeing her as his sister’s best friend and started seeing her as a woman. And now that they’d kissed, he discovered he could see her as his woman.

Hell!

He was pretty sure Cassie would lose her shit if he admitted to having feelings for her. Damn, he sounded like one of those sappy love movies Penny liked to make his brother watch. He had no idea why BJ suffered through those if he wasn’t getting any. No one thought men and women could be best friends and keep it purely platonic, but somehow those two had managed for years.

“I’ll call her tonight and patch things up,” Charlie said.

“I’d do more than call.”

His sister nodded. “You’re right. An apology like this calls for ice cream.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “She’s out of rocky road.”

Charlie eyed him. “How do you know? Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

He knew because Cassie texted him this morning when he asked what she ate for breakfast.

Ice cream, breakfast of champions, but sadly now it’s all gone.

The admission followed by a crying emoji face had him laughing as he made his own breakfast of cookies and milk.

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