Page 73 of Little Sunshine

I scurried away. Well, as far away as he would let me get, which wasn’t far. But at the change in my body language, Ash’s gaze dropped from my forehead to my eyes. They darted toward his… whoever she was and then back.

“Oh. Don’t mind me.” She lifted her mug. “I’m just watching.”

If she wants to jump me for being close to her man, she’s hiding it well. Or waiting until I heal from my last beating.

For all I knew, they were into that kind of thing. I’d been around a lot of different people in my life. I read books.

Okay, fine. I thought about reading books but was too tired to. Either way, I was inexperienced but not naive.

I was also very not interested.

The woman talking distracted Ash enough that I was able to dodge to the side and put the needed distance between us. Without his behemoth body blocking the way, I also saw that it was not just the three of us in the kitchen.

There was a fourth attendee at our party. A very tiny fourth attendee.

My stomach churned with guilt. I’d made him sleep in bed with me. I’d taken comfort from his body next to mine. All the while, he had a woman and a baby.

It was totally not a girl’s girl move.

Not that I shouldered all the blame. It was also on him and made him an absolute douchebag because there was only so much that could be chalked up to his hospitable kindness, but still. Men were stupid. That didn’t mean I wanted to be.

Holy shit, I’m turning into Veronica.

The swirling vortex of shame grew into a chasm of it when Ash let me go in order to move toward the woman. With flawless ease born of clear practice, he swooped the tiny human bundle from her arms and rested it against his broad chest.

The same chest I’d slept on.

Fuck it. I don’t care if I get lost or end up pinned under a crashed four-wheeler somewhere. I’m so out of here.

I hooked a thumb over my shoulder and inched back. “Well, I’ll just get out of your?—”

“Not so fast,” Ash cut in. “Vi is here to check you over.”

That gave me pause. “What?”

The blonde lifted her hand in a little wave. “I’m Violet. An introduction this bonehead should’ve made the moment you walked in, but my brother has never been great with manners.”

Brother.

As she moved to take the spot her freaking brother had just moved from—without the intense body crowding and face touching, of course—I saw it. The same hazel eyes. The light hair. Even the dimples.

I would’ve felt more relief that I hadn’t slept in her man’s arms had it not been for Vera and Juliet and whoever else there was. Maybe I’d spent the night in one of their man’s arms.

This is a disaster.

Her lips turned down at the inspection of my face, drawing my focus out of Ash’s bed and into the present. I shied away from her keen gaze. “Uhhh…”

“Vi is a nurse,” Ash filled in.

My eyes went wide, and although the swelling hurt less, the fresh cut on my forehead stung. “I feel better. I’m good.”

Ash gave me that damn charming smile. “Never said you weren’t, sunshine. But you went through hell. I just want to be sure you’re healing okay.”

Vi’s lips tipped, her dimples coming out to match her brother’s. “What he said, sunshine.”

My hackles rose. Not because of her teasing use of the nickname Ash insisted on using—though they could both shove that where there was no sunshine. My defensiveness was because he must’ve told her what I’d been through.

Did he include that it was my own mother who set me up?

---