Page 71 of Head Over Heels

Damn, how I wanted her to want it too.

It was an entirely new level of powerlessness that I’d never experienced. I’d always been able to do something when the people I cared for needed something. But I couldn’t do anything about this.

“Where are we going?” Greer asked.

“Upstairs,” I said with a tilt of my head. “Primary bathroom.”

Ivy paused at the bottom of the steps, staring up like she was about to face the executioner. I lifted my hand, hovering it just above the small of her back, and leaned closer.

“Nothing to be scared of, duchess.”

Her jaw clenched at the nickname, and her eyes flashed dangerously as she glanced over her shoulder.

“I’m not scared,” she said with a regal tilt of her chin.

I wanted to kiss her. My whole body fought the urge to sway forward and stamp my mouth over hers, but I kept every aching muscle in check while our eyes held.

Then she marched up the stairs in her four inch heels, the skirt of her dress floating around her knees.

I blew out a slow breath, glancing back at my sister, who’d just seen the entire fricken exchange.

Greer rolled her lips together, fighting against a burgeoning smile.

“I do not want to hear it,” I told her under my breath.

She mimed a zipping motion across her mouth, then threw away the imaginary key.

When we joined Ivy on the second floor, the sounds were coming from the bathroom again. With all the furniture emptied from the rooms, it echoed.

Mew.

At the pathetic little sound, Ivy stared into the bathroom wide-eyed, as Wade stood scratching the back of his neck, the cigarette hanging from his lips.

Greer stood next to me, her head tilted. “Why didn’t you guys pull it out already?” she asked.

Wade shrugged. “We can’t get our big hands in that little hole in the wall, and we didn’t want to risk scaring it further into the wall if we tried to cut it.” He looked down at Ivy’s hands. “That should do it though.”

Ivy made a tiny noise, not quite a whimper, not quite a cough.

Greer stepped forward. “I’ll do it,” she said. “You don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable.”

My gaze darted to Ivy because I wanted her to try. I kept my mouth shut, though, because if I tried to push, it would backfire.

But Ivy took a deep breath and shook her shoulders out. “I can do it.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “You sure?”

Her eyes narrowed in my direction. “Nothing to be scared of, right?”

“Nothing at all.” I slapped Wade on the shoulder as he moved out of the bathroom. “Right, Wade?”

“Hell if I know,” he muttered.

Ivy was not amused.

Greer covered her laugh with a cough.

Ivy walked slowly into the bathroom, crouching carefully in front of the wall just next to the bathtub. Her eyes were laser focused, and her chest rose and fell in shallow, short breaths. I watched her carefully and could see when she decided to stick her hand forward.

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