Rushing In (Bailey Brothers #4) - Claire Kingsley Page 0,83

you left your TFD jacket there.” I was lying my ass off—I hadn’t been to her house and I’d never seen a TFD jacket there—but if he was going to pick at me about Skylar, I was going to kick him in the nuts right back.

He glared at me. “Fuck off.”

“Oh, it wasn’t yours?” I asked. “Maybe it was Levi’s.”

“Don’t bring me into this,” Levi said.

I took a casual sip of my beer while Logan kept glaring at me. “I guess it could have been someone else’s. I don’t know who Cara’s fucking these days.”

“You didn’t see a TFD jacket at Cara’s house,” Logan said.

“Yeah I did.”

“Bullshit.”

“If it wasn’t yours, why do you care?”

“I don’t.”

I grinned at him. “Sure you don’t.”

Asher threw a pillow at me and I blocked it with my elbow.

“Be careful with her,” Asher said, shooting me a look with all his oldest brother power behind it.

I picked up the pillow and tossed it back at him. Be careful with her? As if I didn’t already know that. I liked Skylar—a lot. She wasn’t some toy I was going to toss aside when I got bored. I cared about her. In fact, I felt…

Leaning back against the couch, I took another drink, stopping that train of thought. Because the truth was, I felt a lot of things for her, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do about that.

27

Skylar

Hunkering down in my coat, I held my coffee cup, feeling the warmth seep into my hands. The early morning air had a bite to it, and as I looked at the knot of middle-aged men congregating near the river’s edge, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were all a little crazy.

They were dressed in bathrobes tied around their ample waists. A few wore boots or hats against the cold. Despite the way they rubbed their arms or blew into their hands, they all seemed to be in good spirits. Joking and laughing, their breath misting out in clouds around them.

Ginny stood next to me, her eyes wide with curiosity. She clutched her coffee close, but her attention was entirely on the growing crowd of Tilikum townspeople. Quirky small-town traditions were Ginny’s catnip.

We were down here at the crack of dawn for the annual Tilikum Pumpkin Plunge, and all those bathrobe clad men were going to jump into the freezing, glacial fed river.

“I love this take on the polar bear plunge,” Ginny said.

“I can’t believe they’re getting in that water,” I said. “I can see jumping in when it’s hot out, but it’s freezing.”

“Obviously that’s the point. Did you know it’s competitive? The guy who stays in the longest wins.”

Involuntarily, I shivered. “They’re crazy.”

“I know, that’s what I love about it. Risking hypothermia for bragging rights. It’s adorable.”

“You’re a little bit strange, you know that?”

“It’s part of the fabric of their community. I find it fascinating.” She pulled out her phone and took a few pictures.

The crowd continued to grow. Grace and Asher picked their way down the trail. He had an arm around her and her cheeks were flushed from the cold air. Both were bundled up, as were Evan and Fiona, who came down the trail just behind them.

“You’re not jumping in?” Ginny asked.

Asher laughed. “Hell no. Those guys are nuts.”

“This is so exciting,” Fiona said. “I’ve never been to something like this before.”

Evan’s eyes swept the river and the group of bathrobe-clad men. “It’s just a bunch of old farts making their balls shrink.”

Fiona wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him. “I think it’s adorable.”

“You’re adorable,” Evan said.

“Hey cheesebrogers.” Logan approached, dressed in a TFD sweatshirt and jeans. Levi was with him, and neither of them looked like they had any plans of jumping into the river.

“I’m disappointed,” Ginny said, looking Logan up and down. “I thought for sure you’d do it.”

Logan flashed her a grin. “I don’t need to jump in a freezing river to prove my manhood.”

“No?”

Cara appeared behind the twins. “He wouldn’t want to engage in that kind of test of manhood in front of an audience. He’d start yelling about shrinkage.”

Logan flinched away, like she’d startled him. “What the fuck. Where did she come from?”

Cara cast him a sidelong glance and went to stand in between Grace and Fiona. “I don’t know why you’re always surprised to see me. It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

“A guy can dream.”

Cara rolled her eyes.

Gavin came down the trail wearing nothing but sandals and what looked like underwear. He carried a