A Stone in the Sea(112)

My chest tightened more, because it made me happy to see her this way. Happy she got to have this. Not many of us did. Love like that didn’t come around often and she’d snatched it up when she saw it, even when it’d seemed dangerous and impossible. But she knew it was worth it.

I’d been the fool who’d let that kind of crazy love go. Didn’t matter that I’d been just a stupid punk kid, barely sixteen, or that we were nothing alike and the entire world was against us.

None of it mattered. Not at fucking all. The only thing that mattered was it’d been real.

Cringing, I put a cap on those thoughts, because I wasn’t about to go there. Stupid shit that I couldn’t deal with. Nor did I want to. All it did was leave me feeling pissy and sorry for myself, scorned by a girl I’d always thought would be mine.

Leaving Aly and Jared all wrapped up in each other, I headed for Ella who was lying on her back on the cushioned play area Aly had set up for her in the family room between their huge ass overstuffed couch and the fireplace.

“There’s my girl,” I sang as I wound around the couch and knelt down in front of her. Her blue eyes were all bugged-out as she watched the lights flashing on the infant play gym set up over her. Five brightly colored stuffed animals hung down from it, teasing her. She didn’t come close to being able to touch them. Yet she had her tiny hands all balled up in fists, her arms flailing and her legs kicking as she stared, fixated, making it clear how badly she wanted to reach out and touch one.

A tiny sound escaped her pursed lips and my heart throbbed a wayward beat.

Yep, man card at the door.

This little girl owned me.

“Don’t worry, angel…give it a few weeks, and that monkey is yours,” I promised as I bent down and maneuvered her from under the play gym and into my arms. “Come give Uncle kisses before your daddy drags me off to a grueling day of work.”

“Grueling my ass,” Jared shot from the other side of the room. “You’re in the air conditioned office while me and the guys are out doing the grunt work. I’d say you have it pretty easy there, my friend.”

Laughing it off because what he said was nothing but true, I brought Ella’s face close to mine. She offered me one of those little grins that I felt right in the center of my chest. She reached out, her nails digging into my bottom lip as she grabbed for me. I kissed them. “You take care of your mommy while we’re gone.”

“She always does,” Aly said, watching us with a soft smile on her face. Something shifted in her expression, and she bit at her lip and quickly turned her face to the floor.

I felt the frown crease my forehead. I knew my sister pretty damned well, and that meant I was pretty damned sure she was holding something back. “What?” I asked, my eyes narrowing as I pinned her with a stare.

She lifted her head, blinked, looked away. “Nothing.”

At the same second, Jared tensed up a little, like he knew exactly what was running through Aly’s mind.

Nothing my ass.

My frown deepened. “Nothing?” I challenged, my brow rising.

Aly shook her head and looked almost repentant. Unease slowly snaked its way through my senses. My gaze darted between the two of them. Something was up. Something they didn’t want me to know. A silent tension filled the room.

“Nothing,” she reaffirmed in what I knew was a lie. “I just…” She shrugged. “Seeing you with Ella like that makes me happy.”

“Come on, man, we need to get a move on,” Jared cut in, obviously putting an end to my questioning. He walked to the kitchen island and grabbed the small cooler he kept stocked with food, water, and sodas. “It’s going to be a busy day and an even busier week. You may just find yourself on the job. Then I’ll let you complain about work being grueling.” He tossed me a mocking wink, then sauntered up behind Aly, hugging her as he whispered something in her ear.

Below her breath, she laughed and nodded her head.

Three months ago, my brother-in-law aka best friend who bagged my little sister, had somehow managed to persuade me into starting a new venture with him. I went straight from a lazy college student, one who gave little thought to what he was going to do with his life after he graduated—because the truth was, he really didn’t give a shit—to business owner in the matter of weeks.

I mean, fuck, me being part-owner in the remodeling business with Jared and our other partner, Kenny? All signs pointed at a no-go. I wasn’t exactly what most would consider the ambitious type. But somehow Jared convinced me to team up with him, said he didn’t want to do it without me. Jared and Kenny had fronted the money, and now I was doing my all to live up to it. Turned out I was pretty damned good at, too, basically running all the business shit that didn’t deal with the hard labor, all of the accounting and paperwork that needed to be dealt with in the office, although the company was growing so fast there’d been a couple of times Jared had hauled me out on a job when he was short-handed. It was crazy going from scrimping every month to having more money in my bank account than I knew what to do with. I wasn’t loaded by any means, but it sure felt nice not to have to check my bank balance any time I wanted to buy something.