Page 68 of My Ex-Best Friends

Her lips twitched like she was fighting a smile. “Yeah. I fell asleep cuddling Lucy after having an interesting talk with Kelly. My entire right side is sunburned and feels like shit. And I’m momentarily homeless.”

My pulse kicked up. “Little bunny.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I wish the treehouse was still around. It’d be just like that first time. Do you remember?”

I let out a hoarse bark of laughter. “You were wearing a tiny white tank top, just like this one. You also had on those tiny jean shorts. Your ass cheeks peeked out when you leaned over. You were fighting with your mom and didn’t want to go home.”

“Logan, I’m not saying everything is fixed but I’m tired of being without y’all. Can I come home?”

I grabbed her hips and yanked her into my chest. Holding her too tight, I inhaled the sweet scent of her hair and groaned. “Fuck, Brooke. Make me fight a little. I don’t deserve you coming so easily.”

“Do you not want me to come home?” Her worry was clear.

I pulled back and gripped her face. “I never wanted you to leave. I want you in my house, in my bed, forever. I want to marry you and have a dozen kids. I want to go to sleep buried in your body and wake up fucking you every day for the rest of my life. I want everything. I’m just not sure I deserve it after the way I treated you. I love you, though, little bunny, and I’m going to be selfish. I was coming to bring you home, no matter what. I’d already prepared to end up in jail for kidnapping.”

She blinked and tears darkened her long lashes. “I was half sunburnt that first night. It just feels like a sign. I don’t want to be apart from you anymore.”

“I remember. Everything.” I took a deep breath. “Come with me. We have something to show you.”

She nodded. “Do you have room for Lucy? We’re a packaged deal now.”

I didn’t look away from her. “We want it all, little bunny. Lucy lives with us now. I’ll set up his own room if you want me to. Anything to get you home with us.”

“Let’s go then.”

I dipped my head and kissed her softly just as a roll of thunder filled the night air. “I’m starting to think your crazy aunt really is psychic.”

A look of concern passed over Brooke’s face. “If she is, we’re going to have more surprises to talk about later.”

I stopped. “What is it?”

She stretched up and kissed me. “Later. Right now, I want to pretend like we’re crawling into our treehouse again.”

The front door creaked open and a very naked Daisy leaned out. “Leave the damn dog. I need y’alls night to be perfect so I can get rid of my adult daughter.”

Brooke groaned. “Mom.”

Lucy huffed and barked but then he walked past Daisy. I stared after the dog and then down at Brooke. “Are you sure he’s a dog?”

She took my hand and pulled me away from her naked mom. “Not at all.”

55

***Colt***

The scents of flowers and cupcakes were thick in the treehouse. Noah had found a candle just like the one we’d lit all those years ago. The flickering light in the treehouse and the rolling thunder outside had my body reacting like it was back in time, hovering over Brooke. The treehouse was slightly larger than the original but it was still a tight space. I could hear Noah’s breathing hitch when headlights turned onto Logan’s street.

“You think she came with him?” Noah glanced at me and then cleared his throat. “Willingly?”

I held my breath as I watched the truck pull to a stop next to my jeep. When the passenger door opened, I sat back and let my head thump against the wall, relief almost enough to make me dizzy. “She’s here.”

Noah and I went silent as we strained to hear over the thunder. The rain started, though, and the tin roof we’d put on the treehouse amplified the sound of the rain. I looked over at him, my hands clammy. We’d put our all into showing Brooke wewere serious about her. Noah had a smashed thumb, Logan was probably doing his best to disguise a limp from falling out of the tree, and I had a black eye from a stray board carried by one of the kids who’d helped. If the treehouse didn’t show Brooke our love, I wasn’t sure where to go next.

Another tense minute passed and then her face came over the edge of the floor. Eyes wide, hair plastered to her head, she spotted us and scrambled up the last few steps to get inside. Logan was right behind her, his smile telling me everything I needed to know. He shut the flap that acted as a door and then we were all enclosed with the flowers and the candle and the sound of the storm.

Brooke’s eyes flicked over everything and then landed on my eye. “What happened?”

“Treehouse fought back.” I noticed a scratch on her forehead and frowned. “What happened to you?”

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