Page 328 of Branded
God, he was such a good kid.
Jules glanced at me and then at Ethan, and then her face got soft. “Love you, honey,” she whispered, and then her eyes came to mine.
“See you later,” she whispered.
“Yeah, you will.”
And then Ethan tugged on my hand and we walked out of CeCe’s.
And then we went home and crushed that homework.
Both Ethan’s and mine.
Twenty-Eight
Jules
Cas’s car was parked at the curb in front of my apartment.
My heart was in my throat.
I was nervous.
It was after two and I’d texted Cas thirty minutes before, telling him I was heading home. I’d half expected that he would be asleep, that he wouldn’t text back.
But…he was Cas.
So, of course, he’d texted me back.
See you soon, gorgeous.
Gorgeous.
That still sent a flutter through my belly each and every time I heard it—or saw it in a text, I supposed.
But now I had pulled into my parking spot and was sitting in my car, and I was trying to work up the courage to get my shit together and walk inside.
Except…Cas was in there.
And I’d made some decisions in the last twenty-four hours.
Had decided to take a tentative step—or maybe ten tentative steps forward—and now those decisions had led to this.
To Cas in my house and me being awake and no drama surrounding us.
Just me and him and?—
My car door opened.
I stifled a shriek. Because it was Cas. Of course it was.
“Come inside, sweetheart,” he whispered.
“I’m not used to this,” I whispered back instead of moving, instead of getting up, instead of launching myself into his arms like I really, really wanted to.
“Used to what?” he asked, fingers drifting down my throat. “Someone having your back?” A beat. “Or someone being nice to you?”
Either.
