Page 90 of Break My Fall

“For weeks.” Mo glared at his sister.

“It’s not like I was on a hunger strike. Let it go. I have plenty of extra to lose. It didn’t hurt me.”

Again, Gray pressed her hand to his lips. “Meredith, please don’t ever let me hear you talk about yourself that way. Your body is perfection, and it houses your beautiful soul. You have to take care of it.”

“Okay.” Her response was breathy and a little bit of something that Gray didn’t like. Meredith Quinn was confident, gorgeous, and kind. But his instincts screamed at him that at some point in her past, someone had made her question all of that.

“Amen, brother.” Mo’s comment confirmed what Gray suspected.

She turned to Mo. “You butt out of this.”

“You can’t make me.”

“Wanna bet?”

And just like that, Gray could see the siblings they were. There was so little animosity between them under normal circumstances that he sometimes forgot that they must have squabbled as children.

Cal groaned. “If you two keep going, I’ll tell Aunt Jacque on you.”

Not Cal too!

The threat silenced them and had them turning identical glares in Cal’s direction. He threw up his hands. “She doesn’t like it when you fight. It upsets her. And none of us want that.”

“Traitor,” Mo muttered under his breath.

“Tattletale,” Meredith muttered under hers.

Cal gave them all a devilish grin. “Years of practice. Now, Gray, brother, we need to talk.”

Cal’s comment brought Mo’s attention fully onto Gray. But it also brought Meredith’s to him. “Callum Shaw, you have no business talking to Gray that way,” she said.

“Do so.”

Here we go again.

“You do not.” Meredith and Cal were both smiling now, and Gray realized they were teasing, not fighting.

“He’s my best friend.” Cal pointed to himself.

“Well, he’s my ... my...” Meredith looked at Gray, then back at Cal. “He’s mine.”

And Gray understood what it meant to melt for a woman. Because as long as Meredith Quinn claimed him that way, she could get him to do just about anything. And when she leaned over thearms of her chair and his to plant a soft kiss on his cheek, Gray didn’t even try to hide his triumphant smile.

“Ugh.” Mo groaned. “Great. Now I have to watch you both be all mushy and gushy.” He pointed a finger at Meredith. “I’m telling you the same thing I told Cal. No PDA. I don’t need to see you kissing and hugging and all that.” He waved a hand toward her and Gray.

Meredith leaned toward Mo and kissed his cheek. “Okay. I’ll be like Cal.”

Cal kissed Landry at any time and in any place. If Landry was near him, he was holding her hand, running his hand through her hair, tapping her foot with his, wrapping his arms around her.

Mo must have come to the same realization, because he pointed at Gray this time. “I have plenty of my own nightmares and I’ll thank you to avoid adding any more.”

Taking his cue from Meredith, Gray said, “I’ll do my best.” Which he could already tell wouldn’t be much at all.

Mo grumbled something unintelligible and took a long drink.

“Mo?” Meredith patted Mo’s arm.

“What?”

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