Page 181 of Come Break My Heart Again

“I was watching you with Knox last night. You’re a natural.”

“Well, I sure didn’t learn it.” I continue playing with her hair. “I wouldn’t hate that part of it either.”

“What part?”

“Getting to be the dad I wish I had.”

Elle’s silent for a moment. “Have you talked to him lately?”

“He’s called a couple of times. I answered once.”

“Sorry.”

“S’okay.”

And it is. I have my mom and Cormac. Tucker. Reese. And Elle. They’re all the family I need. The people who have been there for me.

Her hand slides down my chest, tracing the ridges of my abdomen and then moving lower.

I groan, all the blood in my body following the path of her hand.

“Guess I didn’t kill the mood, talking about babies and your dad?” Elle’s voice is light, on the cusp of laughter.

I sit up, forcing her hand to fall away. “Nope. But you’re getting another birthday gift first.”

She gasps. “Keys to go with my keychain?”

The keychain in question is set carefully on the bedside table, closer to Elle’s side, out of harm’s way.

I smirk as I grip her knees, pulling them apart until her legs are flat on the bed and her pussy is fully exposed. “You’re about to feel really bad about mocking my gifts,” I tell her.

Then lower my head.

37

“We’re eating in Fernwood?” Elle’s voice is all surprise as she glances over at me.

“Is that okay?”

“Of course. I just … didn’t think you’d want to.”

People will stare, she means. The whole town will talk. Gossip about me. About us.

And … I don’t care.

The important people in our lives—our family and friends—all know about and accept our relationship.Acceptmight be a stretch in the case of Elle’s parents. She told me they’re happy for her, forus, but I wouldn’t put it past her to be lying to protect my feelings. I’ve still never met her mom, and my one meeting with her dad didn’t go great. Me getting arrested for drug possession the next day probably didn’t improve his opinion of me.

“I’ve never eaten at The Franklin,” I tell her. “I wanted to try it.”

“You know if you hate the food, you have to pretend to like it, right?” Elle tells me.

“Why would I hate it?” I ask.

“It’s … fancy. Caviar and oysters and truffles.”

“Lobster?”

I tried lobster for the first time at the clam shack Tuck took me to. It was good, a lot better than I had expected. The clam fritters were decent, too, but it doesn’t sound like this place serves much fried food.

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