Page 122 of The Winslow Brothers

Including Sophie.

She claps and waves both hands in the air and yells, “Go, Lexi!”

It’s fucking adorable and makes me chuckle, but it also makes my heart feel like it forgets how to beat inside my chest, and I have to swallow hard to quell the odd sensation.

Sophie

I clap and cheer along with the rest of Jude’s family while his niece Lexi stands in the middle of the stage and waves toward us. With blond hair and big blue eyes, she is downright delightful.

And when I glance around the crowd that’s on their feet, I realize just how many people have come out to support this little lady. It’s heartwarming, to say the least. Part of my crazy “I do” dreams always involved having this kind of crowd at my back. A loud, boisterous, unencumbered family of wildly loving people—the kind of people who drop their other plans to come watch your kid in a math competition at school.

The woman standing at the podium smiles down at the large crowd that is here to cheer on Lexi, her eyes crinkling with amusement, and gestures for everyone to take their seats so she can announce the next student.

Both Jude and I sit back down, and he reaches out to wrap his arm around my shoulders, his fingers gently running along the bare skin of my arm.

Several people glance in our direction, his sister, a lady who I’m pretty sure is his mom, and three incredibly attractive men who share enough of the same traits as Jude to lead me to believe they’re his brothers—Ty, Flynn, and Remy.

Frankly, they appear just as curious, just as confused, about me showing up with Jude as I feel about Jude bringing me. I mean, he brought me to his niece’s school function knowing full well that all of his family would be here.

This isn’t Jude’s style. At all.

He’s Mr. Sexy Good Time. The man who sends me text messages with secret meetups that always lead to insanely hot sex. He’s the man who gets me to let loose and be spontaneous and not fixate on things like long-term commitment and marriage and having babies someday.

He’s not a meet-the-family kind of guy. Or at least, hewasn’tthat kind of guy.

Was Julie right? Are we starting to become something more than just wild hookups and hot sex?

A war of emotions spurs within me. One part of me is excited and hopeful. But another part of me feels panicky over having any kind of hope. The point of spending time with Jude Winslow wasn’t to catch feelings. It was to have fun without fixating on the future or where the future would take me.

And I can’t decide if it’s a good or bad thing that hopefulness is beginning to grow inside my heart.

“Just so you know, my niece is a fucking genius,” Jude whispers into my ear, and I blink out of my thoughts to meet his handsome face. “She’s going to crush every kid on that stage.”

I can’t not grin at his enthusiasm or his pride. And when I watch the way he looks up at the stage, his focus purely on Lexi, itdoes nothing to suppress the rose of hope that’s started to bloom inside me. If anything, it’s only making it flourish more.

A lot more.

Two servers from Marco’s steakhouse—the restaurant Jude’s mom was adamant about having Lexi’s after-competition celebration at—step up to our table and start handing everyone a dinner menu, along with their drink order.

Once they give us the spiel on the specials and leave the table to give us some time to decide, Jude stands up from his chair and lifts his fresh drink in the air. “I’d like to propose a toast to our little Lexi for kicking some serious as…buttat her Mathletes competition.”

A peal of giggles leaves Lexi’s lips as she grins up at her uncle. “You were going to say a bad word, weren’t you, Uncle Jude?”

“I was,” Jude answers and eyes her knowingly. “But how about we ignore that and focus on the fact that you’re awesome and we’re all so proud of you?”

“I second that!” Wendy, Jude’s mom, chimes in and lifts her glass in the air.

Everyone else at the table—all three of Jude’s brothers, his sister Winnie and her husband Wes, and a woman whose name I still don’t know who has jet-black hair and appears to be with Ty—along with me, join in on the toast, holding our glasses in the air and congratulating Lexi on winning her competition.

The girl did great; there’s no doubt about that. She squashed her competitors like a shoe smashing a couple of tiny ants on the sidewalk. Hell, ninety percent of the questions she answered, I didn’t even understand.

When Jude saidshe’s a fucking genius, he wasn’t wrong. His niece’s brain is an incredible thing. It’s almost scary that she’sthissmart and only in elementary school.Watch out, worldonce she’s a full-blown adult.

“So, Sophie, tell me a little about yourself,” Jude’s sister prompts and props her elbows on the table, fully invested in whatever I have to say. “With the way you were cheering for my daughter, I’m certain you’re a blast. Plus, you can somehow tolerate Jude, which is a miracle in and of itself.”

Jude chokes on a laugh beside me. “You say that like I’m some kind of lunatic, sis.”

“Because you are,” Winnie retorts with pursed lips. But then, her attention is back on my face, ready for me to spill the tea about myself.

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