Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
I gigglesnorted, but that just hurt.
I was cold too, so I grabbed one of the blankets and fanned it out across my lap.
“I think you should ask him out,” Chloe said firmly.
“Who, JC?” I teased.
“I swear! You can be a right menace, Nat.”
I was sure that was true. I bet Ethan thought so too, given the mental gymnastics I must’ve put him through lately. My God, I’d been so awkward around him. But it was his damn fault! He’d made me care. He was going through something too, and I wanted to ask him every single day. Hell, I’d started stalking his Instagram for updates. He dressed differently, he was more laid-back, I hadn’t seen his abs in weeks, but I sure caught him scratching his chest frequently.
More than that, he was just…fucking wonderful. I heard through the family grapevine how helpful he was. How generous he was with his time and energy. I’d sort of befriended his sister Elise, the one who ran Treats a few blocks away, a store filled with chocolate truffles and pastries…
I sighed.
I’d genuinely reached out to her for professional reasons. I wanted a tray of chocolates for customers in my shop in the future, and she’d been more than happy to go so far as to design one just for me. With my logo on it. But a couple of meetings had led to us becoming personal, since we’d first met at Jayden’s party and we had family in common.
Elise had a lot to say about Ethan.
“It’s easy to get stuck on that dumb, cocky exterior he’s put up, but I remember growing up with him. We lost Jake in Afghanistan, and Ryan and Darius were military too—you know? So, they were often gone. But Ethan stuck around to bridge gaps and help out. When Mom got upset and worried about Ryan and Darius, Ethan calmed her down. And when those two rotated home from deployments and assignments, Ethan was there once again to give them a heads-up about potential damage control they needed to do to get back in Mom’s good graces. And I don’t think Ethan’s gotten enough credit for that.”
At one point, Ethan had also wanted to join the military, I’d learned. But their dad had asked him not to. He’d said three of his boys risking their lives had already been three too many, and he couldn’t bear a fourth doing it.
Easy to love.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, doll,” Chloe murmured.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. Why was it so cold in here?
“I think I’m in love with him,” I confessed.
She let out a breath. “Well. My baby sister’s always been honest. I think you owe it to yourself to talk to him.”
Oh, but I didn’t want to! Honesty was easy when my heart wasn’t on the line. Honesty was easy when Ethan and I were bantering or talking about health and lifestyle changes. This, however, could wreck everything. It wasn’t as if I could avoid him when he shot me down. We were going to see each other for birthday parties and holidays.
“Is there a way to break up Gray and Darius?” I joked. “I feel like our families merging isn’t really working for me anymore.”
Chloe laughed. “That’d be something! Darling nephew, please end things with the love of your life so that I don’t have to see your brother-in-law at family dinners.”
I grinned tiredly and fell back in the chair, ready to shut out the world and nurse whatever the hell I’d contracted. So far, it was mostly the sense of something’s off. I was tired and felt all…out of sorts and heavy and blah. The headache could fuck off as well.
“Perfectly reasonable,” I chuckled. “Kidding aside, I should invite Gray out for coffee so he can give me the ins and outs of what it’s like to be too hooked on a Quinn.”
“Mmhmm, or…we go with my suggestion—you actually talk to Ethan.”
Urgh.
“Your suggestion sucks,” I mumbled. “I think it’s best I just hide my feelings.”
“Bless your heart, what a genius idea.”
I rolled my eyes and yawned.
“I have to go, honey,” she said next. “Talk to Ethan. I’m gonna set the table. Our lasagna is almost done.”
Great, now I was jealous. I wanted lasagna too. Mine, though. Not hers. Despite being raised on Southern cooking, her lasagna was all zucchini and other vegetables. Which was fine on any other day, but not when I was getting sick.
“All right. Talk soon, love you.”
“Love you too, doll!” She ended the call.
I let out a long sigh and rubbed at my eyes.
Why had I come here tonight? I’d known from the first ten minutes of shopping with Isla today that something was up. I’d slept poorly, I’d been tired most of the day, I hadn’t been able to concentrate through work calls, and I’d craved comfort food from Panera.