Page 38 of Kiss Me Forever

“Don’t speed.” My lips wanted to crawl into a smile, and yet I couldn’t.

“It scares me how close I live to you sometimes.”

And at that cryptic statement, she hung up, and I slid my phone back into my pocket. I didn’t want to crowd Bella, so I stood behind her and watched my daughter, unable to do anything. I’d never felt this helpless in my life, not even when I had nearly died in that fire. The floor had given out but I had somehow survived.

It had changed my career, the trajectory of my life, and yet it had nothing on this.

Nearly ten minutes on the dot later, the doorbell rang, and Bella looked up at me, her eyes rimmed red.

“Want me to let her in?”

“Okay,”

She was no longer crying, and I was grateful I had given her a glass of water. But it felt like there was nothing else I could do.

I opened the door and Brooklyn stood there, a covered plate in hand, and a worried look on her face.

“I was in the middle of making a pavlova, so we get pavlova now.”

I blinked as I took the plate from her in one hand.

“Isn’t that a meringue thing?”

“It is. I was bored and needed to do something and somehow that ended up with a pavlova.”

Without thinking, I pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear and ran my thumb over her cheekbone.

Her mouth parted, her eyes widening.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“I’m always here, Reece. You know that.”

And with that, she moved past me. Bella stood up, blanket wrapped around her, and then Brooklyn was there, arms wide.

“Hey there, girly. What do you say to a movie night?”

Bella smiled, and it was like a kick in the gut. Because my little girl nodded, and let Brooklyn hold her, and it was like the two of them against the world.

And I stood there in an open doorway, a fancy-ass dessert in my hand, feeling lost.

Because it felt as if I couldn’t do this parenting thing without Brooklyn, and that was a fucking problem.

Because I had wanted Brooklyn Montgomery for years. Only I told myself she was off limits.

And now there was one more reason that I needed to let her go, and one more reason that I knew I couldn’t.

Chapter 9

BROOKLYN

“I’m sorry, Brooklyn. I have to head out of town to go meet with that supplier. They thought they were going to be able to come here, but it turns out they can’t. I’m sorry for letting you down.”

I wanted to raise my fist to the sky, annoyed with myself for even being stressed out about this, but it wasn’t Dash’s fault.

“It’s okay. I’ll figure out something. I can go to this foundation thing on my own.”

My cousin merely raised a brow, and I didn’t like the look of it.