Page 37 of Winning Brynn

My forehead creases in confusion. "My brother?"

"We both know Alex would have waltzed right in here and started raiding the fridge if it was him." She laughs. "Tall guy. Slight beard, dazzling dark eyes that I swear sparkle with all the filthy things he could do to a woman. Honestly, it was hard to turn him away earlier. But he hasn't had a background check, so you know how it goes."

My heart thunders—a boom, boom, boom of nervousness in my chest—because it sounds like she's describing Leo, and well...that can't be right. Why would he come here? How would he even know this is where he'd find me?

"You've caught yourself a looker there, Brynn. And that accent..." Miss Jessica carries on, her eyes dazed as she speaks, like just one look at Leo has mesmerized her. I get it. Leo is just that hot. "Go find your boyfriend. He's been waiting long enough."

Shooing me out the door, she peeks over my shoulder to try to catch another glimpse of the man who shouldn't be here but apparently is anyway. And then the door is closing, before I've even had a chance to correct her that Leo is certainlynotmy boyfriend, and Miss Jessica is gone, and I'm alone on the sidewalk with nothing but my profound confusion and a twisting of anxiety in my gut.

Because I can see him.

Sitting with his back to me on the grass bank across the street, his dark hair waving slightly in the winter wind and his corded arms stretched out behind him, there's no mistaking his identity.

Sucking in a breath, I cross the street and tentatively drop down onto my ass beside him.

"You're here."

"I'm here." He nods.

I pull my coat tighter around my shoulders, noting that he isn’t even wearing a sweater. The man must be fucking freezing. But he was a dick to me earlier, so why should I care?

He offers no further explanation, so I'm forced to ask, "Why?"

"Your brother told me where to find you."

Goddamnit, Alex.

Well, today is just full of surprises. And my shock must read on my face because he asks, "Are you mad at him? For telling me, I mean?"

I shake my head, looking straight ahead at the trees that line the entrance to Lincoln Park. "No, it's not that." Except it is, and Alex and I will be having some very stern words later. "I'm just surprised. We don't usually tell people about the time we spent here."

"The time you..." He trails off, and I turn to find a look of pure astonishment on his face. "Here? At the children's home?"

My heart sinks as I realize that Alex hadn't, in fact, disclosed the secret we've always worked hard to keep hidden. I have done that all on my own.

"He didn't tell you that part?"

Leo blinks at me—several times, actually. His eyelashes flutter up and down so fast I'm surprised he doesn't take flight. "No." He coughs. "No, he didn't."

"Oh."

"Oh," he repeats.

And thus ensues an incredibly awkward silence, whereby he continues his manic blinking in my direction, and I tear furiously at the blades of grass surrounding me like I have a personal vendetta against them.

"Guess there's a lot you don't know about me, huh?" I say finally, a grin on my face that isn't at all real but looks to be from the years I've spent perfecting the art of fake smiles.

"I'm beginning to realize that, yes."

More silence follows.

More crazy blinking.

More tearing at the grass.

God, this is uncomfortable.

"Look, Brynn," he says, shifting his body toward me so he can hypnotize me with his dark stare that Miss Jessica was so enamored by. Reluctantly, I do the same. "I'm sorry about being such a dick to you earlier, with the whole Adidas thing. I didn't know this is what you were doing. I thought you were shopping or some shit."

---