Page 58 of The Puck Stops Here

‘I like to speak to as many sources as possible, especially if they’re mentioned.’

He raised a brow. ‘A reporter who likes to fact check…’

‘That’s a good thing, is it not?’

He nodded slowly. ‘I suppose.’

And speaking of people cropping up in the article…

‘Do you think your mother might talk to me?’

‘I don’t want her brought into this. She’s been through enough and I don’t want her having to revisit the past. She’s a different woman now.’

‘She’s the woman you glimpsed at your games as a kid…?’

His smile made a return. ‘She is.’

If only he’d had the same protective instinct over Sissi, the woman he’d promised to love and protect too…

‘Do you have any regrets about that time? About leaving Ashbury Falls?’

A cloud came over him, a flicker of something and then, ‘No.’

‘No?’

It hadn’t looked like a ‘no’. There was something he wasn’t saying. Something he didn’t want to tell her or something he didn’t want to admit… even to himself.

Which was it? And what was it?

Could it be…

‘What about friends? Maybe a childhood sweetheart you?—’

‘It was the right thing to do,’ he cut in, stone cold, the pulse in his jaw working overtime. ‘For Mom. For Blake.’

‘For you?’ she had to press, and he gave a delayed nod, his jaw tight.

She wasn’t convinced. Not the journalist in her, or the woman that knew of the supposed love he’d once shared with Sissi. The man she was getting to know – the loyal brother, loving son, conscientious team player – he wouldn’t lie about those feelings back then and he wouldn’t forget them now.

If he had no regrets, if he was over Sissi, he wouldn’t have shot her down at the mere suggestion of a childhood sweetheart. And that was worth exploring every chance she got.

‘Do you always do that?’

‘What?’

‘Put yourself last?’

He huffed. ‘I’m the eldest.’

‘You’re twins.’

He gave a one-sided grin, flashing that dimple…

‘I was born minutes before him and I don’t let him forget it.’

‘I bet you don’t.’

‘And one of us needed to become the man of the family,’ he said, seriously. ‘Take control of the situation and get us out of it.’

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