Page 317 of Branded
“I’m fine,” I said. “Promise. And anyway,” I added, feeling oddly shy and nervous. “We should go get Ethan. I’m sure he’ll want to see the ice from down here.” That was the only stop we hadn’t made on the tour yet and Jules’s hockey crazed kiddo would love it. “I know it’s getting late, and you hardly slept last night and?—”
She leaned a little closer, cheeks flushing, eyes warming.
My heart squeezed.
Hard.
Those nerves flared.
“Cas,” she whispered. “Honey, you should?—”
A child’s shriek had us jumping apart.
Twenty-Four
Jules
I didn’t miss the wince cross Cas’s face as he jerked away from me, even as Ethan’s shriek of joy reminded me we had an audience of very nosy hockey players.
Who would gossip.
And pry.
And would want to know every detail—each of which would be shared with their equally nosy significant others.
I loved the guys—and their significant others—who came into CeCe’s.
I really did.
They’d always been fun and kind and had made me feel like I was part of something, even when I was more comfortable (and determined) remaining on the sidelines.
But I didn’t want to be in the glare of all that attention.
There was a reason I’d kept a fine line between myself and them.
I couldn’t risk letting them in, not deeper than superficially, anyway. I couldn’t risk getting hurt.
Couldn’t risk Ethan getting hurt.
All of which was well and good to say and think and believe. Except for the fact that people—cough Smitty and Beth and Cas—had decided that they were going to walk right over the line in the sand I’d drawn.
That they were going to wriggle in behind my defenses, bury themselves deeply into my heart.
So, despite my best intentions, I wasn’t on the sidelines.
And that meant when it all went wrong, it was going to hurt.
And Ethan would hurt.
My heart, that bruised, wounded organ, squeezed hard. My baby, my son. I should have protected him from this, should have?—
Laughter boomed behind me.
Jerking, I took another step back, turned away from the sexy man who was making himself at home in my heart, and saw that my getting close to Cas had definitely not been missed (this fact obvious because of the many pairs of interested eyes focused on me and Cas).
Right. Okay, then.
The gossip patrol for the Breakers had been activated. There was nothing to be done about that.
