Wrapped Up in You - Jill Shalvis Page 0,60
excuse to not have a relationship with his family.
Ivy was watching him in the ambient lighting of the truck. “We all have our family ghosts,” she said quietly. “Your mom’s husband, is he a good guy?”
“Henry seems okay,” he said, though in truth he didn’t know much about him.
“But she’s happy?”
He didn’t know that either, and he didn’t feel good about that.
“It seems like she is,” Ivy said gently.
Kel closed his eyes. “You know who I’d rather talk about?”
“My stupid brother?”
“No. You.” He opened his eyes. “Something’s bothering me. You’ve got friends who care about you. Caleb, Sadie, and the others. Why make up stories about Brandon?”
She tossed up her hands. “I’ve always lied about Brandon. Call it . . . I don’t know, wishful thinking.”
“But why lie? Why just not talk about him at all?”
She looked away, out the passenger side window into the dark, wet night. “Did you know that until I landed here in Cow Hollow last year, I didn’t really do the whole friendship thing?”
She looked like she felt alone, very alone, and his chest ached for her. “That’s changed.”
She shook her head. “I can’t tell them now. It’s too late.”
He cupped her face. “They’d understand.”
“I’m going to ask you for one thing, Kel,” she said in soft steel. “That you don’t tell them.”
He’d have said that he’d never hold a lie for anyone, not ever again. He’d have sworn it. And yet here he was, looking into her big blue eyes filled with a vulnerability he knew she hated, and he nodded. “But no more lies, Ivy. Not between us. Promise me.”
Staring at him, she hesitated and then slowly nodded.
He let out a breath and kissed her. She kissed him back, but when it got heated, she pulled free. “Go home,” she whispered. “It’s late and you have work tomorrow. It’ll be okay. I’ve got this. Like I said, he’s an idiot, but he’s my idiot.”
Feeling reluctant to do that, he hesitated. But she had that look on her face, the one that was in the dictionary under stubborn. “You’ve got to promise you’ll call me if things go sideways,” he said. “Or if things even look like they’re going sideways. Or even the slightest chance of things going side—”
“I hear you.”
“Is that a promise too? If you need me, you’ll call?”
“Yes,” she said. “But they won’t. He’s leaving in the morning. Nothing’s going sideways.”
“Okay.” He still didn’t let go of her. Couldn’t. “You busy tomorrow night?”
She let out a small smile. “We already had a date, cowboy.”
“I want another.”
She cocked her head and studied him, and he did his best to look like the only thing she needed in her life. He must have succeeded because she smiled. “Is this because you’re trying to avoid going to your sister’s surprise baby shower?”
“No, that’s the next night. Which reminds me, how do you feel about three dates in a row?”
She snorted. “You sure you want company to the shower? Filled with family? I mean, that makes me a witness.”
He laughed. “There’ll be no bloodshed.” Probably. “And yeah, I want your company.”
“Because you want to use me to deflect the attention off you,” she said.
No, because he actually wanted to spend time with her, but that was more info than she needed right now. “Is that a problem?”
“Not even a little,” she said, and he resisted pulling her onto his lap and showing her some gratitude of the naked variety, but only because they were in public.
Taking in his expression, she laughed softly. “You can thank me after.”
Sounded promising.
Ivy woke up the next morning and looked over at the loveseat where Brandon had slept.
It was empty.
It took two seconds to look around. Brandon’s backpack was gone. The mugs they’d had hot chocolate in late last night after she’d come back upstairs from talking to Kel were no longer in the sink, but washed and put away.
Brandon had cleaned up.
And then bounced.
He’d promised he’d stay only one night and he’d kept that promise. And at the thought, she felt both relieved and inexplicably sad.
Chapter 19
Just one more. Okay, two more. Three.
Ivy dragged herself to kickboxing class, where, not surprisingly, she got her ass handed to her by Tina.
“Your head’s not in the game,” Tina yelled.
True story.
Class had started with a warm-up and would end with a cooldown, but in between were several rounds of high intensity intervals. That’s where they were at the moment, with Haley on one side and Sadie on the other, the three of