Page 17 of My Ex's Brothers

He grins, and my insides twist with familiar warmth. “How about tonight?”

“Don’t you have practice with your friends?” I ask. “Besides, kind of hard to find a sitter on short notice.”

Tripp smirks. “I’m pretty sure I know two grandparents who would be tickled pink to spend some time with their granddaughter.”

He moves toward me, tall and looming, but it’s not ominous. It makes my heart beat faster, and the warmth emanating off him makes me feel…alive. I can’t remember the last time I felt like this…

The night I met Dane.

I shove that thought down deep into its crevice.

“And don’t worry about my friends. They can handle one practice without me.” His voice softens. “Whatta ya say, Mamma Mia?”

I flash him a knowing look.

“Or, you could bring the little cutie pie with you.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Really?”

He nods with a smile. “Hell yeah. We can all have fun together. Oh, I know!” He points at me with excitement. “We can go to the zoo!”

“But I need to make dinner, and?—”

“Dinner and the zoo sounds good,” he says, waving me off.

“Tripp…”

“That settles it then. I’ll come grab you guys at…seven thirty?”

I huff in annoyance, because he’s not going to take no for an answer. That’s clear. I open my driver door. “You don’t even know where I live!” I yell as he heads off toward the other side of the lot with my cart.

“No, but Dane does!” he yells, and I huff out an exasperated sigh.

Is nothing in this town a secret anymore?

6

TRIPP

The first thingI do when I get in my Mustang is adjust my fucking cock, thankful that I’m finally alone. I swear this thing has a mind of its own sometimes, but most of the time I can’t complain.

It’s rarely steered me in the wrong direction before.

Running into my asshole brother’s ex was not on my bingo card for the year, but then again, a family scandal wasn’t either.

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with Dex? Has he evenlookedat Amelia? She’s a fucking twenty on a scale of one to ten. Those big, bright blue eyes and long eyelashes, those pillowy lips…fuck.

And don’t even get me started on her curves. The first time I saw her, at the Rose family Memorial Day BBQ, in that tight little yellow sundress, I had no idea who she was.

Betsy’s Memorial Day BBQ is always huge and the entire block shows up, so I had no idea until Dex wrapped his arm around her tiny little waist that she had a boyfriend.

Or that she was six years older than me. All I knew was she was fucking gorgeous and I wanted her.

But then Dex slid on in like the snake he is and introduced me to her as his stepbrother.

I’ve met a couple of Dex’s…girlfriends. Though I had no idea, like anyone else, that he was married. He didn’t wear a ring, and he didn’tactlike a guy who was married.

Seriously, the guy was dripping in pussy half the time. Those girlfriends? Rarely stayed past a couple weeks.

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