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Chapter33
Kellen
Ihad to pull around the side of the barn to park since too many cars had hogged the driveway.It waswellpast dinnertime—going on ten.I expected everyone to be in bed except for Mom, who had promised to wait up for me when I’d texted at six saying I was barely crawling in traffic trying to escape Boston.
But lights blazed from all of the downstairs windows.Warmth rushed through me regardless of the cold air making my exhales fog in front of my face as I hurried toward the house with the only bag I would need until the morning.Everyone—or at least the adults—had stayed awake to greet me.
Throat tight, I took the porch stairs in two hopping strides and pushed in the front door.
The heat and the scent of baking rushed over my face as I dropped my bag to the floor, and I grinned like a damned dork—until I realized my family jammed unmoving in the entryway rather than surging forward to hug me like usual.
JJ stood front and center, a soft smile on his face, but his eyes held uncertainty.
My breath left in a rush as usual at the sight of him, and I swallowed hard.He was supposed to be with Alex.“What the fu—”
“Language,” Mom murmured, cutting me off.
“Hey,” JJ greeted me quietly but stayed put.That magnetic current between us hadn’t faded one iota.Every cell in my body tensed to move all up in his space in the electric silence hovering in the atmosphere.
Suzi huffed and shoved JJ aside, breaking the dam that had held my family back.She hugged me tight.“Hear him out, or so help me God…” she whispered in my ear, and I shot my attention toward JJ.
He hadn’t moved, hands shoved in his pockets, the mere presence of him pulling my focus to him time and again off everyone who wrapped their arms around me.Why was he here?
“Give him a chance,” Jacob murmured before patting my shoulder.
“He’s the perfect book boyfriend!”Amy squeezed me with a little squeal, her words a lot louder than the others’.
JJ’s face flamed.
Everyone else kept quiet, Dad and Mom included, even though Mom gave me a watery smile and nod of encouragement after releasing her hold on me.
Somehow, someway, JJ had gotten my entire family’s approval.He’d been invited in and accepted regardless of my not being there for introductions or otherwise.
My loved ones slowly trickled away, calling goodnight and leaving me alone with the only non-relative in the house.
JJ still hadn’t moved, but neither had I, my feet rooted on the mat right inside the front door.
“I have some explaining to do,” he said, his voice quiet.
Knowing more than one person lingered at the top of the stairs trying to listen in, I picked up my bag and started toward the kitchen, a million questions in my mind.“Not here,” I murmured.
JJ stepped back to let me pass.
I breathed the arousing yet comforting sandalwood scent of him deep into my lungs while slipping around him.I wanted to stay strong, but him showing up at the farm when Alex doubtless needed him…
Fucking hope swelled up inside me, choking me.Making my eyes water.Heading down into the basement, I swallowed hard, trying to get ahold of myself.Mom had already made up the pullout for me, and a duffle I recognized sat beside the bed that had already been slept in.JJ had arrived yesterday, I realized.Spent the day with my family.But he hadn’t reached out to me.
I dropped my bag on the other side and inhaled until it hurt.
“Kellen.”
I finally turned, rubbing my palms down my jeans.
JJ allowed me a half-dozen feet of space, no more.He still had his hands deep in his pockets, but even nervous, he was fucking fine.Dark hair all mussed up like the younger kids had made him their horsey like they did with me whenever I visited.His T-shirt was stained and a bit rumpled as though he’d been carting around a toddler or two with sticky fingers.
But his jeans fit him just right, hugging his thick thighs and a bulge that made my mouth water.
Fuck.
