Page 82 of Finding Hope

Kissing his fingers, Jack shoots them into the air. “Thanks, Dad. I love you.”

“Not Steph?”

Laughing shakily, he lowers his hand. “Definitely not Steph. She’d be mad at me for this shit. She’d make me pay for it.”

“She sounds like exactly the kind of girl you needed.”

He nods. “She really was. She kept me grounded during some really huge years. I was a punk twenty-year-old with agiantego and millions of dollars. I could’ve really torn this town up.”

I laugh at his shy grin.

21

JACK

I SEE YOU

“You wanna get out of here?”

Standing between my legs, so fucking close, so warm and fragrant, I fight the urge to lean forward and kiss her.

I don’t really know why I fight it; she’s single, I’m single. We’re two consenting adults.

I guess my hesitance is simply because I don’t want her to ever think that when I kiss her, it has anything to do with Steph.

Bambie isn’t Stephanie, I know that.

I’m not trying to meld the two.

They couldn’t be any more different if they tried. But either way, us standing close in my office, talking about Steph, surrounded by photos of Steph, is not the right time to kiss her.

“Out of here?” Her big blue eyes hold mine.

Nodding, I smile at her missing nose ring. She’s in school teacher mode. Still in her suit skirt and silky top. “Yeah, we could go for a drive. Or go back up to the lookout.”

Our lookout.

Our spot.

“I can’t.”

Frowning, disappointment crushes me. “Why not?”

“I have to go home. It’s my brother’s birthday today.”

Well, that’s not so bad. I smile at the thought of those assholes; at thebeating they’ll want to deliver when they find out I’m crushing on their baby sister. “Alex or Scotch?”

“Scotch.”

“What’s his real name?”

She smiles playfully. “If he hasn’t told you yet, then it’s not my secret to tell.”

“You know though, right?”

“Of course I know!” She laughs. “He’s my brother.”

“So why’s it a secret?”

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