On Dublin Street The Bonus Material - Samantha Young Page 0,9

strength of it took him aback.

As Adam led Ellie out of the bar, Braden watched Jocelyn smile goodbye. Her gaze lingered on his sister and friend for a moment, and then she visibly stiffened before her eyes met Braden’s. Something visceral sparked between. They really had to do something about that.

Taking a step toward the bar, Braden left nothing out of his expression hoping it would incur a reaction and force her to reveal how she felt about him. “Thanks for the rescue.”

“Not a problem. Jo’s a sweetheart, and she doesn’t mean any harm… but she’s a blatant gold digger.

He merely nodded, having surmised that for himself.

Silence fell between them as they stared at one another, the tension thickening in Braden’s blood as Jocelyn’s lips parted. It as though she felt a little breathless. Her mouth mesmerized him and he fought the sudden urge to drag her across the bar so he could taste her. When Braden eventually gained control over the impulse, he lifted his eyes to hers and found her expression had transformed.

She was angry.

Angry about their attraction? He had no idea. All he knew was that he somehow had the ability to make this woman squirm, and damn if that didn’t do his ego some good. Braden grinned and stepped away from the bar.

“What?” Jocelyn scowled at him. He wanted to press a kiss to her brow to smooth it clear.

But in that moment Jocelyn didn’t need sweet from him. Sweet would send a woman like her packing. What she needed was shoved off her high horse and into his arms, and the only way he could think to do that was to annoy the hell out of her. School playground tactics. It got a reaction at least. “I don’t know what I like better…” he stroked his chin in thought, “the naked you, or you in that tank top. D’s right?”

Braden waited, the laughter bubbling up inside of him as it took Jocelyn a moment to work out what he was referring to. He knew the moment she realized he meant her bra cup size because her lips pinched. Then she threw a dishrag at him.

Braden laughed, dodging it. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Still chuckling, he turned and left the bar before she could verbally respond.

He enjoyed having the last word. Mostly because he suspected that him having the last word would niggle at her for the rest of the night. And if Jocelyn Butler spent the rest of the night thinking about him, well… Braden was more than happy about that.

4

Braden’s POV – For Ellie & Jocelyn

ON DUBLIN STREET

It would be unbearable to lose either of them, Braden thought, standing in the doorway to his sister’s bedroom, and it didn’t seem possible he could lose them both.

His eyes swept over Ellie and Jocelyn as they laid sleeping together, heads tucked into each other, their hands held tight. Even now he could see the tear tracks on both their faces.

Braden’s chest burned with an ache so deep and dark it took all the strength within him to push back at the ache, to tell it to fuck off. He wasn’t ready to grieve.

Yesterday, he’d been delivered the worst news of his life when the doctor told his wee sister she had a tumor in her brain. That they wouldn’t know more for another twenty-four hours horrified him. When the possibility of losing someone you loved hung in the air, twenty-four hours might as well have been twenty-four years.

The whole time sitting in the cab with Ellie as he took her home, holding her small hand in his, he’d held it together for her. He held it together for her even after Jocelyn stormed out of the flat, leaving them to deal with the news alone. He’d held it together right up until Jocelyn had broken up with him hours later, so paralyzed by her own fucking issues and fear she’d selfishly trampled all over him to keep herself safe.

For a moment there he’d even believed her when she told him she didn’t love him.

Until he knocked on Elodie Nichols door and she led him inside. Ellie’s mum had always been a surrogate mother to him. She’d been there for him when his dad passed away leaving him angry and bitter that there hadn’t been enough time to rectify their relationship. She’d been there for him when Analise betrayed him with Gavin, making him feel like a fool for the first time in his life, not