Page 199 of Branded
I was looking forward to meeting her.
But…I needed to see Beth more.
Two days I’d spent not pushing. Two days I’d spent trying to calm the worry, to assure myself that she was okay. Two days I’d spent internalizing my shit, making sure my head was straight, that I’d taken what I’d learned about myself, what Hazel had told me to heart.
Two days when it had taken me two minutes.
I’d gotten my head out of my ass when Beth had passed out.
The events that followed had just served to reinforce I was on the right path.
But I’d wanted to be sure, and she deserved for me to be that way.
I was.
And I was done thinking about it.
Now had come the time for action.
The door swung open, and Beth stood there, surprise giving way to pleasure as her red lips parted in a wide smile. “Hey,” she said, leaning close and rising on tiptoe, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. Her mouth hit my cheek, mostly because the moment she’d started reaching for me, I’d bent and closed the distance between us, making the contact happen.
“Hey, sugarpie,” I murmured, her obvious happiness at seeing me settling deep inside my heart.
She dropped back onto her heels, smiling up at me. “What are you doing here?”
“Seeing you.”
“I thought we’d meet up after I was done with?—”
I reached forward, smoothed my thumb along her top lip. “You’ve got?—”
I held it up, showed her the black crumbs I’d just wiped off.
“Oh,” she whispered on a shaky breath. Then she shrugged and her mouth turned up. “Double-Stuffed Oreos are my weakness.”
I filed that knowledge away for future reference—along with mentally ordering several giant ass boxes of the cookie sandwiches—then slid my hand down her arm and laced our fingers together. “I didn’t want to wait to see you.” Her lips parted on an exhale and I pressed my lips to her forehead. “Your night was okay?”
“It was good. Really good. Mila is sweet, and Pru and Marcel are in love.”
“Good,” I murmured.
“Do you want to come in? Pru went up to say goodnight, but I’m sure she and Marcel will be down soon.”
My eyes went to the purse hanging from her shoulder. “You were leaving?”
A gentle smile. “It’s getting late, and I figured I’d have a sexy hockey player showing up at my place soon.” She patted her rounded belly. “Plus, I’m on an Oreo high, which pretty soon will be trailed by an Oreo crash, so I need to head home.”
“And you want to give Pru and Marcel space,” I presumed.
She froze and then her expression gentled. “Yeah,” she whispered. “Even though they didn’t know why I’d…” A shrug. “Well, they don’t have the full story, and even though I talked to both of them, I knew they were worried. Pru got home late last night, and I gave them the day with Mila, but they needed face time, so when they invited me for dinner, I came.”
I knew most of the timeline.
Had been there when Pru had called that morning, and Beth had told me during her text updates.
It was why I’d gotten Smitty to drop me here, even though we’d agreed to meet up later once she got home. I didn’t even care that I’d be hearing about it in the locker room.
“You’re a good friend,” I whispered.
