Page 91 of Fragile Heart

Chapter Forty

BRIELLE

“Bri!” Camden rushes down the porch and slams into my leg, his arms wrapping around my waist. The impact jostles the small package balanced atop my phone that I’m trying very desperately to not smash or drop.

I mutter a curse as it starts to tip over.

A strong set of hands grabs it before it manages to fall to the ground.

“Bud, you need to be just a bit more careful. If this was something hot, you both could have been hurt.” Caleb’s warm voice is gentle with his reprimand. Camden still blushes.

“Oops, sorry, Bri,” he says. “Are you here for brunch?”

He mangles the r, so it comes out as “bunch”. I smile and wrap my arm around his shoulders.

“I am. Do you think my outfit is okay?” I ask him.

He pulls away just far enough to look up at me. His brows furrow as his lips bunch into a pout.

“You wear green a lot,” he says. “But purple is your favorite color. Do you like green, too?”

I smile. “I do. I feel like green looks better with my hair. Do you like it?”

Camden taps his fingers against my hip.

Caleb murmurs “Love it, sweetheart,” before Camden can respond.

My cheeks and chest flush, and a wave of need surges through me. It’s been a full week since I’ve touched him, kissed him,smelledhim. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. He’s been gone on and off all summer. But this week has felt especially long. A hint of lavender surrounds us, nearly undetectable.

Calebpurrsas he breathes in my scent. He palms my waist and kisses my temple, ignoring his son giggling.

Damn Ethan for ripping the only foolproof set of scent blockers I have right now. The last thing I need is to be filling up Lynn and Scott’s house with my scent. They might not realize what it means, but Emily will. And so will most of the people who might swing by during this brunch or later on this afternoon.

“Let me take those,” Ethan says, a half-step behind Caleb. He holds out a hand for the small package attached to the bouquet of flowers.

His eyes are as stormy as they were last Friday night when he knotted me until I was damn near boneless. The bruises still haven’t faded where he left me marked on my thighs. It’s the only sign—aside from the shirt I wore out of his house that’s now stashed in my closet—that something even happened between us. We haven’t talked about it the entire week since. Nerves weigh on me, but they’re drowned out by the barely constrained desire in his gaze right now. God, I need his beard to scratch me up again.

The lavender grows stronger.

So does my blush.

“Cam,” Caleb says, his voice raspier, “why don’t you take these flowers inside to Nana?”

He eases the bouquet off its precarious perch and hands it to his son. Camden focuses on them, letting his arms drop away from my waist.

“Oh! Nana loves roses!” He takes them as he says it, clutching them in a white-knuckled grip. He turns without so much as a word and rushes back up the porch.

“Nana!” he calls as he opens the screen door. “Nana! Bri got you roses!”

Caleb has his other hand buried in my hair and his mouth against mine before the door has closed behind his son. The small package is crushed between us as he backs me against the SUV’s door. My scent breaks through my scent-blocking lotion and surrounds us. He only kisses me harder.

A car pulls up behind mine, and I pull away from Caleb. My heart races. My breathing is unsteady. Holy crap, I need Caleb to knot me. And then I need Ethan, too. Or maybe both at the same time.

Just the idea has me blushing like a damn virgin.

Caleb chuckles even as he eases away from me. His voice is breathless when he says, “I want to know exactly what thought made you flush like that.”

No way am I about to admit to fantasizing about a threesome while Emily is closing her door and combing her fingers through her hair. I push off the SUV and start toward the house, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear to keep from messing with the bow I put on the unwrapped package. Ethan doesn’t touch me as I approach him. He doesn’t kiss me or hold my hand. But his body is a wall of heat and promise just behind me.

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