Page 37 of Unbroken

“Hi, baby.” Fiona laughed in my ear, hanging off my neck.

I turned around in surprise and plucked her arms off of me, stepping away, then glancing around to see if anyone was watching. I could still feel her weight and the heat of her body even after she’d let go.

“Uh, hi there. Could you tone it down a little?” I asked in a low voice, my eyes darting around.

She frowned. “Why? There’s no need to be formal, right? We’re a couple and I thought you’d agreed that everyone needs to know it.”

Fiona somehow managed to look both casualanddressed up for the event, with her hair ironed perfectly flat and her face looking more flawless than usual with the addition of bright red lipstick. I wondered if she’d gotten any on me. Then there was her outfit: cutoff jean shorts that showed way more leg than I’d ever seen on her and a bright red tank top. Some redheads wouldn’t have been able to pull it off, but everything looked amazing on her and I made a point of listing out breakfast cereals in my head to keep my dick from punching through the zipper on my jeans. Fiona Cafferty looked amazing … and attention-grabbing. Like she wanted every eye on her, which meant those same eyes would also be directed toward me.

“Yeah, I did agree, but can you watch the PDA? How about if we just hold hands? No need to crawl all over me.” Even if that was exactly what I wanted, just not here. It occurred to me that we’d spent most of our “official couple” time working on the ranch. We’d only been in town together for the wedding—and that had been a formal occasion. It seemed that Fiona in non-work, non-formal mode had very different ideas of what constituted normal couple behavior than I did.

Her expression darkened. “Okay, fine. I was just trying to help the cause.”

“Oh, that’s what I am? A ‘cause’?” Why was I getting upset with her?

“Stop, you know what I mean,” she scolded quietly and there was a brief flash of hurt on her face.

Fiona took my outstretched hand reluctantly, threading her fingers with mine, and we headed for the bounce house.

“Shit, there’s Amanda Knight,” I muttered when I spotted the petite blonde hovering near where the kids were waiting in line. “She’s basically gossip ground zero.”

“Oh, I remember her,” Fiona said, squeezing my hand. “Queen of the mean girls. Let me handle this.”

She broke out in a peal of laughter and slapped me lightly on the arm. “You aresonaughty! Stop it, Eli.”

I looked at her with a confused expression and Fiona tilted her head to where Amanda and a group of other young moms were gathered, watching us. I managed a chuckle even though I felt deeply uncomfortable about what was going down.

“Well, if it isn’t Fiona Cafferty,” Amanda said, oozing with fake excitement. “I heard that the old enemies had kissed and made up, but I swore I wouldn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes, and now, here you are! How quaint.”

The four other women moved closer, and I realized that we were facing down the former gossip coven of Poplar Springs High.

Fiona laughed and stood on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek. “Yup, enemies to lovers is the only way to go, if you ask me. All that pent-up anger makes thingswayhotter. Right, babe?”

She swatted my ass.

I felt my face go red, and I glanced over my shoulder to see who else might be listening to her. Thankfully, the kids waiting in line for the bounce house seemed oblivious to the adult conversation. I didn’tdare look past the immediate area although I was sure I felt my father’s eyes on us. I really hoped he wouldn’t make a scene and add to my growing discomfort.

“Is that a fact?” It was Kelly Peters, who’d had a very obvious crush on me all through high school. She was pregnant again with her third or fourth child and looked none too pleased to be standing in the hot sun. “Maybe you’ll be joining me before ong.” She rubbed her belly.

Fiona threw her head back and laughed so loud that I swore the entire place heard her.

“That’s not in the plan any time soon,” she said. “But let me tell you, we’re having agreattime practicing. Let’s just say my man knows a thing or two about keeping his woman happy. I’m very lucky. I only wish I’d known that sooner or I might not have stayed away so long.”

The group shot each other shocked looks, then laughed knowingly.

“Hey, uh, Patrick is bouncing right now, let’s go watch him,” I said, pulling Fiona away before she could do more damage.

“Bye, girls!” she trilled, waving at them.

We walked away in silence, with me gripping Fiona’s hand.

“What wasthat?” I growled at her once we were out of earshot. I let go of her hand and took a step away.

“We can’t even hold hands now? But I wasn’t hanging on you! I figured that was acceptable PDA.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. You shouldn’t say shit like that; it’ll only kick off a new branch of the gossip chain.”

“What? Why is it so bad for people to know that Fiona Cafferty likes fucking her boyfriend, and that he’s good at it? You should be thanking me not scowling like you drank the last of the milk before I could pour it on your cereal. Come on, Eli. If people are going to betalking about you, what would you rather have them say? That you’re the poor sad sack who got left by his wife, or that you’re in a happy relationship with lots of great sex?”

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