Page 52 of Provoke You

“It was actually my social worker’s idea. She knew Lilly from some fundraiser they did together in New Orleans.”

“Lilly?”

“Lilly Cole is my foster mom. The move to Atlanta was supposed to be temporary. But I ended up staying.”

“I like her already.”

He ran his fingers up my shoulder. “You and her would get along for sure. Both of you are very nosy. Anyway, my social worker asked her to take me in for a few months since she had four other boys around my age. They both thought it would help.”

“Obviously, it did.”

“The connection was instant. With therapy and a kind family, I was able to move on. Tyler is only a few weeks older than me. I’m closest to him.”

“I remember Tyler. Very cute.”

He chuckled and squeezed my waist. “You really do enjoy pushing my buttons.”

“You can’t seriously be jealous.”

“Not that. We’re very competitive with each other. I would’ve hated to see you with him.”

How about that? A chink in the marine’s armor.“What about your other brothers?”

He blew out air, running a hand through his hair. “I’ve never talked about myself this much. Derek is the oldest.”

“Oh, the one that made you all that fuck-you money.”

“That’s the one. He’s also getting married in a few months.” He cleared his throat. The awkward silence said he had no idea if he’d be with me then. Did I want him to stay longer than needed to solve my Baroness problem? Yeah, I did.

“And then there’s the twins. They’re the youngest.”

“Twins? What are they like? I bet they’re trouble.”

“One of them is. The other one is also a marine. Also honorably discharged.”

“Why did you leave?” I’d been dying to ask since he blatantly avoided the question when we met. His body temperature went up under my touch. I’d hit a nerve again. “What happened?”

“We were both honorably discharged.”

“Fooor?”

“We decided to stay until the mission was really over.”

“Really? What happened there?”

“That’s classified. Sorry.”

“You’re not sorry.” I slapped his chest, mostly because I was itching to touch it again.

“No, I’m not.” He flashed me one of his smiles.

They seemed rare before, but I knew better now. Why was this beautiful, broken man wasting his time with me? I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. “What time do you think it is?”

He checked his watch. “It’s four in the morning.”

“No wonder I’m sleepy. We should go to sleep. Tomorrow we have to figure out Ben’s note, get him to get my hotel back, and contact vendors so they can start work on my kitchen.”

“That’s quite a busy schedule, Ms. LeBlanc.”

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