Page 47 of One Reckless Moment

“This is so weird.” She let out a heavy breath and snuggled in closer.

“Tell me about it. I always wondered what it was like up here.”

I glanced around at Paige’s room. It wasn’t exactly what I’d imagined. I thought it was going to be filled with pink bows and accents. Instead, the walls were covered with framed photographs—I assumed ones she took—and the accents were neutral dark greens and burnt orange hues. Her dressers had framed Polaroids of her with her siblings and shots of Shadow. She had an entire wall of hats hung on hooks, and I was sure her closet was mostly filled with boots of various sizes and colors.

“You’ve never come up here before,” Paige said, pulling me from my thoughts.

“I never trusted myself to come up here.”

“Were you afraid you’d fall for me, Jesse Leonard?” Paige peered up at me with a smile.

Yes.

“I was afraid I’d have your dress off before we took a second to think about it.”

“I would have been okay with that.” She shrugged, causing me to roll my eyes. Her tone was more serious when she said, “You’re going to have to talk to Walker.”

I sighed, letting my eyes fall closed. “I know. I just don’t know what to say. He thinks I betrayed him—which I did—but not as much as he thinks I did.”

I avoided Paige for years because I was too afraid of losing Walker and the rest of the Brooks family. One drunken mistake and that was all in jeopardy. How did I explain that I didn’t truly betray him? How did I explain that the first time I fucked his sister was after we were already legally married?

That feels as respectful as I could get with that statement.

“He’ll get over it. Walker is possessive and protective, but so are you. How would you have reacted if I came home with some other guy I spontaneously married?”

“No one would have found his body,” I mumbled under my breath.

Paige snorted. “You’re so dramatic, but also, that’s exactly my point.”

My jaw dropped. “Says the girl who once didn’t eat for two days because she lost a bet that meant she could only eat vegetables for forty-eight hours.”

Paige popped up and looked down at me with an expression that can only be described as disgust. “Reid was going to make me eat only Brussel sprouts. Brussel sprouts.”

“You would have lived.” I pinched her side.

“No, I wouldn’t have. I starved in protest.” Paige pinched me back.

“Your dad was so mad that you refused to eat dinner.”

“Yeah, he wanted me to fold like a fucking narc. Absolutely not.” She started laughing.

“He was so mad he banned bets for a month,” I said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, but then we placed bets on how long until we got him in on another bet.”

“Four days. You all have a problem.”

Paige dropped down to lay on me again with a huff. “We keep life interesting.”

“That you do, Pip.”

I woke up with Paige wrapped around me like a koala. I held her tighter and watched her chest rise and fall as she stayed fast asleep. I never thought I’d wake up in this bedroom alive, but since everyone knew we were married, it would almost be weirder if I didn’t sleep here with her.

I wasn’t about to complain about the time we were now allowed to spend together.

My phone buzzed on my nightstand and I picked it up to read the text, trying not to wake Paige.

Walker