Page 17 of The Proposal
This will be one long weekend.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love Blakely’s affection. Coming from a large, tactile family, hugs and kisses are par for the course.Except with Gannon. Fuck Gannon. But outside the family? I don’t trust anyone’s touch … or agenda.
Usually. Blakely is an exception.
“Renn!” Brock shouts.
“Hold on, dammit,” I shout back, shaking my head.Give me a second so you don’t see me hard over your little sister, please and thank you very fucking much.
I descend the stairs and then head toward the kitchen. Brock is opening a bottle of water when I enter.
“I thought you forgot how to tell time.” I take a bottle too.Maybe this will help cool me off.
“Sorry. Ella wasreallymad.”
“Bet you hated that.” I take a long drink, my adrenaline beginning to ease. Ella bounces down the hallway. “Hey, El. What’s the plan tonight? Don’t the two of you have something you want to do?”
“Kinda.” She laughs. “But not anymore. I’ll talk to Blakely and see what she wants to do. She ruled out tattoos and piercings, so those are a no-go.”
Brock and I exchange a curious glance.
“Nice suite, Renn, by the way,” Ella says, poking her head through the doorway. “Where’s Blakely?”
“Upstairs.”
She pivots on her heel and heads that way.
“That girl is a ball of energy,” I say.
Brock chuckles. “You haveno idea. She just bit the fuck out of me.” He clasps a hand over his shoulder. “Not complaining butfucking hell. It hurt.”
I laugh.
“So about tonight …” He yawns. “I just want to make sure my sister has a good time and is safe. She’s been stressed over this birthday, and I want her to start it off on the right foot.”
“Stressed? About what?” I ask, taking another swallow of water.
He shrugs. “I tried to follow along. But all I got was wrinkles, calcium pills, and a sperm bank.”
I cough, water spewing across the kitchen. My words from earlier echo through my brain.“I have an idea … You can have a baby and tell my mom it’s mine.”
“Are you all right?” Brock asks, concerned yet curious.
“Yeah.” I suck in a breath before coughing again. My voice is raspy, my throat burning. “I’m fine.”
“Okay …”
I sputter until I can breathe easily again. Just as I recover, Ella comes bopping by again.
“We decided on dinner, and we’re leaving in an hour, boys,” Ella says, heading back to her room. “Brock, can you grab my luggage? I need to shower. And do one of you two think you can pull your magicI’m famouscard and get us a reservation?”
“I’ll do it,” Brock says. “I’ll grab your suitcase, and you can tell me where you want to go.”
“Thanks, babe.”
“See ya in an hour, I guess,” he says to me.
Judging how long “fifteen minutes” is in his book, will we even see them again tonight?
