Page 65 of Her Greatest Adventure

“Okay, so why wouldn’t you just answer my question, then?” I frown at how hurt my words sound.

“Come here,” he murmurs, lifting his arm for me to tuck myself beneath it.

Fuck, I’m so weak.I wrap myself around him, tossing my legs over his lap and pressing my hand to the centre of his chest. He settles back against the couch and drapes one arm over my back while the opposite comes across his front, holding me beneath my thighs and pulling me up closer. A thumb stroking my bare skin makes my eyes flutter shut.

“If I tell you how I feel, then we become more than best friends. And something tells me that I’ll wind up too obsessed with you to let you go when we’re done.”

I bury my face in his chest, unable to fight off a smile. Something close to euphoria zips through me.

“I don’t think that would be a bad thing,” I whisper.

“It wouldn’t be. Not to me. But it isn’t just about the two of us.”

“If you’re worried about my family, they can be as pissed as they want, and it won’t change anything for me.”

That thumb keeps moving up and down my thigh in a soothing motion. His chest rises and falls softly beneath my cheek. Combined, the two things make one hell of a lullaby. Sleep turns my brain foggy.

“I know. You’re one of a kind, love. Now, sleep.”

I breathe in the smell of him and nod, fingers curling into his shirt. He feathers a kiss across my crown, exhaling heavily.

“Please stay,” I slur.

“There’s nowhere I would rather be.”

His words linger long after I’ve finally drifted off.

* * *

“Oh crap.Don’t let him in here, babe.”

“Mom, don’t make me move you.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

The cacophony of voices jolts me awake. I peel my eyes open and rub my hand across them as the couch shifts beneath my face. With furrowed brows, I push myself into a sitting position and stare at the lap I was apparently using as a pillow last night.

“What’s going on?” Cooper asks, voice growly with sleep.

I shrug and blink to clear my vision. “Is someone here?”

“Maddox Hutton! Get back here!” Mom shouts.

Suddenly, I’m on high alert. Fear has me scrambling off the couch and whipping my head around to find my brother rushing toward us, fury in his eyes.

“Take it down a notch, Dox,” I warn as he comes closer. He doesn’t listen to me.

“You and I will be talking about this later. Right now, I need to have a conversation with your husband.” He spits the wordhusbandas if it disgusts him. My stomach sinks.

I sense Cooper behind me before I feel his hand touch my arm. Gulping, I try to block him with my body, but he’s one step ahead of me, moving me aside a beat before Maddox reaches us.

It happens so quickly. One second, my brother has Cooper by the neck of his shirt, and then the next, he’s punching him in the face. Cooper doesn’t even attempt to protect himself. He just lets my brother hit him.

Anger boils my blood. As Cooper bends at the waist, cupping his bleeding nose, I shove my brother’s chest, drawing his attention again.

“You had no right to hit him!”

“No reason? He married you. He just had his hands all over you! That’s more than one good reason,” he sneers.

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