Page 65 of Fragile Heart

“You’re going to mess up my hair!” she says ruefully. She runs a hand over the end of her braid like she’s making sure it’s still there.

Logan hugs her as she sighs into his side. “Momma will fix it if she needs to.”

Rose pouts but nods. A second later, Camden surfaces from his jump. His eyes find me as soon as he pushes his hair out of his eyes, ignoring both of his fathers.

“Bri! Did you see?” he asks. “It was so big!”

“That’s what he said,” Melissa murmurs.

Caleb’s laugh is rich in my ears. I can’t help but grin as I nod and lean back on my hand, my arm brushing Caleb’s leg.

“It was! That one was even bigger than the last one.” I point to the splash marks on the rock, highlighting the newest set that’s about three inches higher than the previous grouping.

He grins and then turns around.

“Aunt Emily, can I be on your board, too, now?” he calls out.

Emily looks over her shoulder, her paddle still in the water. She smiles and then slowly turns the paddleboard around, easing it closer to Camden without managing to accidentally beach it. He flops along the front of the board, forcing Emily to one knee to keep from falling into the lake.

Melissa laughs where she sits beside me, her knee brushing mine.

Iris jumps up from Jude’s lap once Emily and Camden have started moving deeper into the lake.

“My turn!” she says. “Watch how high mine are!” She runs along the shore and climbs the rocks to get to the same spot Camden jumped. It’s become the unofficial launching point for the kids, their new favorite way of getting into the lake.

Rose whines. “‘Ris! My hair!”

“I won’t splash you! Promise!” she says.

Carter’s eyes are watchful as he focuses on her, his arm propped behind Faedra where she sits on the other side of Olivia. Her gaze is on Ethan where he stands leaning against another larger rock about twenty feet away, a soda held carelessly in one hand as he chats with Beau and Hudson. He cocks an eyebrow as Beau tosses his head back and laughs.

He hasn’t said a word to me since lifting me onto the table yesterday and kissing me until I was ready to strip out of every single piece of clothing touching my body and take his knot until I could practically feel it in my own damn throat. It’s like it didn’t even happen for him.

Well, aside from one loaded as hell look across the circle we’d formed last night while the kids watched the stars and compared them to a book Jude provided them that talked of constellations and the stories associated with them. A loaded as hell look Caleb had noticed. A look that had caused him to pull me into his lap rather than just letting his arm continue to drape over my shoulders. A look that had butterflies bubbling in my stomach for him for the first time in a long damn time.

My stomach clenches, but I ignore it.

Iris looks over her shoulder. “You watching, Daddy?” she asks.

Carter’s smile is evident in his voice. “Always, sweetie.”

She grins, plugs her nose, and leaps off the rock. Rose shuffles another foot or so down the edge of the outcropping, yelling as water splashes against her legs.

Caleb hums behind me before kissing the top of my head. His arm wraps around my waist as he readjusts us both, moving me with an ease that has my blood heating.

Thank God for Faedra bringing the newest scent blockers on the market with her. Mine don’t work with swimsuits. Now, not a speck of my scent betrays just how easily my body melts for Caleb.

As everyone claps for Iris as she surfaces from her jump, Olivia traces the small tattoo behind my ear. A shiver runs down my spine, and goosebumps spread out along my skin.

“This is really pretty,” she says.

My throat dries out. Caleb tightens his arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him, and kisses my hair again.

“Thanks,” I say automatically. And then, because it’s just my friends here, I admit, “I hate them.”

Melissa bumps my knee in quiet support. Olivia frowns and lets her hand drop.

“Oh, I didn’t realize it was from him,” she says.

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