Page 93 of Suddenly Entwined

“Apparently. My mom could barely pay him to babysit me,” I laugh, remembering my brother as a skinny teenage boy who had zero patience for an annoying little sister.

“Let’s get a drink,” I suggest, showing Anna the way.

When we’re sipping on a couple of La Croix’s, Anna nudges my shoulder.

“I saw his arm wrapped around you.”

I bite my lip, looking at her like a deer in headlights.

“Oh, well, I was pretty upset about my cake soo…” I trail off at the end of my lame excuse.

“Your brother didn’t.”

I swallow hard. Thank. God.

“You think he’d care? Your expression makes me think you think he’d care.”

My cheeks turn beet red.

“Oh, my god. Has this been going on for a while?”

“Yeah…there’s been this chemistry ever since we met. We tried to…not.” I shake my head. “That was basically useless. But this was his first time doing something sort of public like that.”

“Chris is a big boy. He can handle his little sister being in love.”

My mouth pops open in surprise. I didn’t say anything about love.

My words come out all jumbled. “How did you…I didn’t even say that…”

Anna’s eyes widen. “He’s coming,” she hisses out of the corner of her mouth.

I have to laugh because right now it feels like we’re the students at this dance. Sure enough, Berg taps me on the shoulder and I turn, taking my time to enjoy how that damn dress shirt stretches across his chest. Berg and I stare at each other like lovesick pre-teens.

“I wouldn’t be much of a date if I didn’t ask you to dance. So, will you dance with me, Caro?”

“We’re gonna find the girls and say goodbye!” says Anna, making a beeline for my brother.

I’m acutely aware of the fact that very few of the other adults in attendance are dancing. Most are simply sitting at the folding tables or milling about in the corners of the room. But when Berg takes my hand and starts walking to centre stage, I forget about all that. He clears his throat before placing his hands around my waist and I rest mine upon his shoulders, because looping them around his neck is too much of a stretch.

“Come here,” he says, pulling me closer so that I’m resting my cheek on his warm chest.

“People are looking,” I say, when I see a mom and dad glance in our direction.

“Let them,” he rumbles, only tightening his hold on me. “They’re probably only looking at my ass in these suit pants, remember?”

I love how he’s able to diffuse tricky situations with humour. I squeeze his arm.

“Thank you. But they’re actually just wondering what lipstick I’m wearing. It’s courtesy of a seven-year-old who cornered me and told me I needed to wear it to look pretty for her Daddy.”

My heart melts a little at the memory. Lou’s tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth in concentration as she applied it for me.

“Think I already kissed it off you, actually.”

“Damn it.”

“But if you want to reapply when we get back, we could always see how it looks around my–”

I slap his chest, shushing him, and he throws his head back in a deep laugh.

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