Page 77 of Brenna, Brat

“Well, I was scared,” I said, and I was admitting that to myself, too.

“Of me?” He pulled me into his arms, like when we were sleeping in somebody else’s bed. It was even better when both of us were fully awake, though. “Was it because you thought I was a hockey enforcer?”

“I heard that you yelled at your teammates during softball games and fought with people in the stands.”

“Funny that you believed we had spectators.” He took my chin, tilted it, and kissed me. “I don’t think I’m going to bring you down, not anymore.”

“You can bring me anywhere. We’re going to be fine,” I said.

Campbell kissed me again. I closed my eyes but I wasn’t pretending. This was all real.

“We should practice,” he mentioned. He reached down and took my hand.

“You mean more skating?”

“No, I signed us up for ballroom lessons. We can get our dancing in that way since there won’t be any weddings soon.”

I thought about Dion and Carrington, and decided I would keep that information for later.

“But in the future, if these skills are needed for a reception…” He looked down at my left hand, clasped in his. “Your sister Juliet said that you have ring requirements, and that I should check in with her.”

“She didn’t say that!”

“She did,” he confirmed. “Several of your sisters have been texting me since we got back from up north. All of your sisters and your brother, too,” he amended, “and Dion started this afternoon. He said that he forgives me and he also said that he’s in love with Carrington.”

“When you know, you know,” I quoted my adoptive brother.

“I knew after the fire. I kept thinking about those flames, and what would have happened if you hadn’t pulled us out. I kept thinking of you getting hurt and I dreamed about it, about trying to get to you. When we were up north, I was also asleep when I was touching you and—”

“We don’t need to talk about that.”

“I was dreaming about you then, too.” He rested my hand on his chest and pulled me against him, humming under his breath. He really had a terrible singing voice, but I loved it. I also loved when his other hand slipped lower, off my back and onto mybutt. He started to return it to its proper place, but I reached around and made it stay put.

He laughed. “We’re going to cause a scene at our ballroom lessons if we dance like this.”

“I don’t care. I want to be close to you,” I told him, and I felt him draw in a breath.

“Brenna?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“I love you,” Campbell told me. “I love you.”

“You do?”

“I didn’t want to drag you down, but I can’t imagine going along without you. It’s just like Beckett said, that this is a gift. Everything that happened this year is ok with me, if I end up with you.”

“You can be with me. I love you, too,” I answered, and he kissed me again. We stopped dancing and got increasingly involved in that.

“Are you sewn into this dress?”

“There’s a zipper,” I answered breathlessly. “On the side.”

“Those are hard to set in this kind of fabric.”

“I basted it first. Oh…” He had unzipped and slid his hand inside. Nicola had told me to take off my bra, that she didn’t like seeing the straps. It had been good advice.

“I kept looking at you in your bikini, thinking about touching you here,” he said. My head had fallen back, so he bent and kissed my neck, and bit me gently, too.

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