Page 22 of My Ex's Brothers

And with that, he leaves me standing against the open door, questioning much more than my music tastes.

The entire way to the zoo, I feel like I’m going to jump out of my skin.

“You okay?” Tripp asks as we pull up to a red light. I look at him, taking in the planes of his face. His bright eyes and his perfectly shaped mouth. In so many ways, his youth is apparent, but with the way he’s looking at me, he seems so much older too.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lie. I amnotfine. I just discovered my ex has a secret family, I had to move back home, I’m broke as all hell, and in the course of one very exhausting day, I’ve found myself lusting after all three of my ex’s brothers.

Well, two brothers and one stepbrother, technically.

And now I’m in the passenger seat of said stepbrother’s car with a racing heart, and my baby is in the back seat. Is this what a midlife crisis feels like?

Tripp smirks, and the sight is downright devilish. He glances at my hand in my lap, then to my gaze.

“The light is green,” I tell him, just as it turns. He says nothing, just turns and takes off.

And then I feel it.

His hand on my thigh. If he had moved to grab my hand, I could’ve discounted it as a friendly, familiar gesture. But there’s no denying the placement of his palm where it lies over my warm, exposed flesh.

“This okay?” he asks, not looking at me. “If it’s not I can?—”

“It’s okay,” I say, relaxing just the slightest.

Lyla giggles in the back seat and he squeezes my thigh. The touch lights me up like the Griswolds’ on Christmas.

He smooths his hand up and down my thigh, but not in a forward, creepy way. It reminds me of the way I run my hand up and down Lyla’s back when she’s fussy.

“We’re going to have a great time,” he says, glancing at me with a soft smile for a moment. “All of us.”

His reassurance shouldn’t soothe me the way it does. I know that.

But it does.

“I hope so,” I say as my stomach grumbles.

“Dinner,” he says with a nod. “Right. I hope you’re hungry.”

“Always,” I joke, but when his eyebrows furrow, I realize my error. Considering he just bought me a boatload of groceries because I’m broke…

“Oh, I mean, I just…I’m always up for a snack. We actually ate earlier, after I got home…”

Yeah, if by ate you mean I shoveled a granola bar and an iced coffee down while packing Lyla’s bag in between feeding her. Clearly, a granola bar wasn’t enough to quiet the food demons.

“Oh,” he says, looking a little dejected as he pulls into the parking lot of the zoo.

“Wow, I can’t believe there are so many people here this late,” I say.

He parks the car, not removing his hand from where it rests on my thigh. “Yeah, it’s the one night during the week they do the mermaid shows. At the aquarium.”

I raise my eyebrow. “Mermaid shows?”

He nods, unbuckling himself. “Yeah. The kids go crazy for it. I thought…”

My heart flutters again at his thoughtfulness. It strikes me deep in my core, spreading like warm sunshine.

Sweet lord, this boy…

He gets out of the driver’s side, and just as I unlatch my belt he opens the door. He offers me his hand with that sweet smirk. I take it, a blush warming my cheeks as I dip my head, trying to hide. But when I get out, standing up straight, he doesn’t let me move. Instead, he reaches out and pushes some hair behind my ear.

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