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“Sit down.” He guided her to the seat of his truck and adjusted her so that her head was between her knees. It wasn’t a totally stable position, but it was the only one he’d found that helped her when she started to lose it. “Breath, honey. That’s right, just like we talked about, nice and slow.”
It took a few minutes, but she finally stopped shaking and raised her head. “I’m okay.”
“Good.” He glanced over her shoulder at Aubry but didn’t want to let Jenny start thinking too much again and send herself into a secondary panic attack. He kept his voice low and soothing. “Just remember that you’re marrying Brad, and that’s what you want. The rest is just fluff.”
Jenny shook her head. “It’s not fluff. It’s one of the biggest social events of the season.”
When she said shit like that, she sounded exactly like Mother. Not that he’d ever tell her, because it would crush her. He sighed. “What do you need from me?”
The question calmed the remaining turmoil in her blue eyes so similar to his own. “Check in. Get ready. Be fifteen minutes early.”
He didn’t particularly want to do any of that, but her request reminded him of the main reason he was here in the first place—to support his little sister. She might not think the rest of it was fluff, but he knew better. He’d just forgotten it for a little while. “Will do.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, good. Who’s your friend?”
He hadn’t planned to introduce her to any of his family off the cuff, but it might actually be a blessing in disguise that Jenny had shown up. His little sister dealt with surprises about as well as Aubry did. “This is my date, Aubry.” He stepped back, allowing Jenny the freedom to hop down and turn to face Aubry.
She must have taken her cue from him, because she offered her version of a bright smile and offered her hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Jenny took Aubry’s hand, doing her best not to ogle the redhead. “It’s nice to meet you. Quinn hasn’t told us a single thing about you.” She elbowed him. “You’ll have to correct that as soon as we get a few minutes.”
“Of course.”
Jenny bounced up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Fifteen minutes early. Don’t forget.”
“I won’t.”
“See you soon—see you both soon.” Then she was gone, probably rushing off to check something else off her to-do list.
He opened the door for Aubry. “She means well.”
“So I gathered. That’s why my claws weren’t out.” She flexed her fingers at him like a cat about to strike. “She’s kind of…intense.”
“She likes to make people happy.” He grabbed their suitcases out of the bed of the truck. “I think she’s just forgetting that this wedding is supposed to be about her happiness.”
Aubry shouldered her computer bag. “From what you’ve told me about your family, I don’t think that’s the case at all.”
She was right. He knew she was right. That didn’t mean it sat any better with him. There wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it, though, so he headed for the hotel, hoping like hell he wouldn’t see any more of his family before he had a chance to shower and get Aubry as prepped for it as she could be.
Liar. The only one who needs prepping is you.
That thought wasn’t comforting in the least.
Aubry hesitated. “That’s where you learned how to handle the anxiety attacks.”
“Jenny has had them on and off since high school. I wouldn’t have offered to take you to that convention if I didn’t have the knowledge to deal with it.”
She smiled. “I know that now, it was just a little weird to see it from the outside. Not bad weird, just weird weird.”
“Come on.” He led the way into the hotel and got them checked in as quickly as humanly possible. Their room was on the third floor in a corner, so there were tons of windows. The whole thing was decorated in tasteful wealth, something he knew from having grown up with it. There was no worse insult than “new money” for all that it’s exactly what the Baldwyns were. But since his mother liked to sneer delicately at blatantly extravagant expenses, it made sense that she’d picked this venue—because he had no doubt that it wasn’t Jenny’s choice. His little sister was big on comfort and good food, and this place met exactly one of those conditions, he’d bet.
“Nice.” Aubry set her stuff down on the desk and wandered around. “Definitely a step down from the convention hotel.”
“Hey now, I have a few ideas on how we can make the best of it.”
“I just bet you do.” She stretched her back, drawing his gaze to the way her breasts pressed against her shirt.
