Page 46 of Jesse and the Ice Princess
"Of a sort, yeah. But, Charlie, she doesn't talk to anyone. Other than the family or her therapist, she won't speak. Not even to Roman, and he used to be her best friend."
"But she talked to me."
"I know." He scrubbed a hand over his face. She'd never noticed how much worry and responsibility sat on his shoulders. No wonder he'd been so determined to help Cassie when she'd called.
Without thinking about it, Charlotte put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad I could help a bit." He covered her hand with his own.
The beep of the oven made them both jump apart. Jesse slid the bacon in and went back to whisking the French toast mix. "Will you cut up the fruit in the fridge? I want to make sure my brothers eat more than bread and bacon for dinner."
Making sure kids eat right was supposed to be a parent's job. She couldn't help but wonder why it fell to Jesse and not his dad.
Cassie reappeared to get plates before walking away again.
"I remember your sister." Charlotte took a knife out of the knife block and began slicing strawberries. "When I yelled at you at the rink, she was there."
He looked sideways with a grin. "You enjoy yelling at me."
She ignored that. "I thought she was your girlfriend."
He snorted out a laugh. "Sometimes I can get her to come to the rink with me if I promise no one else will be there. You sort of ruined that."
"Sorry."
"Don't be. I enjoy you yelling at me just as much as you enjoy doing it."
She was so busy watching him, she wasn't paying attention to her own knife. A sharp pain radiated from her fingertip where she'd just sliced off a bit of skin.
A string of curses flew from her mouth. Jesse dropped his whisk and grabbed her hand, moving it over the sink before turning on the cold water. She cursed again as the icy blast struck her.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice low.
She turned her head to look up at him, realizing just how close he now stood. Their breath mingled as they continued to stare.
"Yeah." She breathed out the word.
"Miss ice princess has quite the potty mouth."
"I'm not an ice princess."
"Yeah." His lips quirked up. "I'm starting to see that." He closed the distance between them, crushing his mouth to hers.
She'd never wanted to pull someone closer and push them away at the same time. His kiss vibrated through her, sending a shock all the way down to her toes.
True to the girl she was, her mind wouldn't quiet, wouldn't let her enjoy the moment. Each answer his lips gave her opened up a thousand new questions.
The biggest one of all—why was Jesse Carrigan kissing her?
And why didn't she want him to stop?
A buzz from her pocket jerked her back to reality. She lurched away, widening the distance as her chest heaved. "Why..." She touched her lips.
Jesse looked just as bewildered as she felt.
Her pocket buzzed again, and she pulled her phone free, thankful for the distraction until she saw who it was. "It's my dad."
Jesse took a step back, widening the physical distance as well as the metaphorical space between them. The kiss shouldn't have happened, and they both knew it.
She pressed the phone to her ear. "Hey, Dad."
