Page 73 of The Break Down

“Not even a little,” she quips, batting her rust-colored lashes at me playfully.

This woman is too damn perfect.

She is my everything.

“Too late to keep it a secret, Red.”

I lean over and kiss her quick.

“Wait for me.”

Then, I open the door and step out, slamming it shut just in time for Tank to appear from behind the nearest cabin, holding a protein shake and looking like he’s been waiting his whole life for this moment.

“Ohhhh shit,” he crows, pointing at the SUV. “He did it! He freaking kidnapped her!”

“Shut up, Tank,” I mumble as I walk around the SUV and open the passenger door for Finley.

“Nope. Not today. Not when you roll in like some slow-mo rom-com hero with her still wearing your shirt and that walk-of-shame glow.”

“Tank!” I growl, and Finley squeaks and ducks down in her seat.

I glare at him. “It’s not a walk of shame.”

Tank sips his shake dramatically. “Nope. Not if you’re proud of it.”

“Is he always like this?” Red asks and I give her neck a squeeze and drop a kiss on her head.

“Unfortunately. But I think it’s cause Mum dropped him on his fat head.”

“Oh! That’s why he looks like that.”

“Hey! My head is not fat. I’m telling Mum,” he grumbles.

But my girl is grinning up at me, and I have my arm around her, and really I don’t give a shit about my idiot brother. Or his threats to tattle to Mum.

Okay, I might be a little afraid of our mother.A lot afraid.

But that’s just because she’s a total badass my Mum. She and Da have this incredible marriage that’s lasted almost forty years so far and they’re still every bit as in love as they were when they first met.

They’ve set a pretty high standard, and it might be why I’ve shied away from anything serious with a romantic partner. Until now.

Because now, with Finley?

I want what they have. I want it all.

“What’s that face for?” she whispers.

“Nothing. Thinking about Mum. I should call her before he does,” I murmur.

Her eyebrows go sky high.

“Wow. It’s nice to see a grown ass man afraid of his mother,” she says and damn it, I kiss her.

I can’t help myself. It’s that mouth of hers.

Saucy, sexy, perfect.

Next, Carolina appears, jogging over from the admin cabin in leggings and a Rovers t-shirt, her expression half-relieved, half-terrified.

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