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Chapter Eight
“It’s easier,” he said, moving away. He lifted up a box marked ‘gym stuff’ and moved it like it weighed nothing. “The twins don’t remember her, even though they know their mommy is an angel. I moved us here for a fresh start, and for now, keeping it all together, out of the way, is part of that.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. So, I said nothing.
He turned, half-smiling. “You look like you pity me.”
“I don’t know that pity is the right word,” I said quietly, straightening the picture frame box up. “I feel bad for you. And the twins, obviously.”
“I’ve accepted it. Honestly, the hardest part of everything was the adjustment after she’d died. She did most of the parenting while I worked, and all of a sudden, I had these two people who now needed me to do stuff I’d never done before. I had help, but…” He sighed and shrugged a shoulder. “Every time my family or friends looked at me, it was with pity. I’d proposed to her before she got pregnant, then when they were eight months old, we found out about her cancer.”
“I’m sorry.” I let my fingers fall from the box.
“I was ready for it. It was hard, but now I finally feel like we’ve settled.” He shifted another box. “When they’re ready to know about her, I’ll tell them. Until then, it’s easier to start fresh.”
“It kinda sounds like you’re keeping her locked away for yourself.”
“I am.” He turned and met my eyes. “Like I said—easier. I’ll never move on if I’m surrounded by her.”
“Did you ever get married?”
“No. Honestly, we’d never even planned it, past getting engaged. Weird, right?”
“Not really. My best friend got engaged when she was nineteen and straight up said she never saw them getting married.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Then why did she say yes?”
“She likes shiny things. Oh, and she was really shallow.”
Brantley laughed, the genuine sound wiping any trace of sadness from his face. “Fair enough. Is she still shallow?”
I pinched my finger and thumb together, leaving a small gap. “Little bit. And she still likes shiny things, although she tends to collect them herself now. Bit like a blackbird.”
“Isn’t it crows that like shiny things?” He tilted his head to the side. “Along with small children, of course.”
“Crows like small children?”
“What?”
“You asked if crows like shiny things along with small children.”
He stared at me, confusion clouding his eyes. “No, I meant that small children like shiny things as well.”
I blew out a breath. “Oh, thank god. I was about to have nightmares over crows eating small kids.”
“You’re not the sharpest tool in the box this morning, are you?”
“Hey. I—” I pointed my finger at him, mouth open, and stopped.
I had no response to that.
Actually, I did.
I skirted the boxes and jabbed my fingertip in his arm. Damn it, that bicep is made of rock. “Move your own boxes.”
He burst out laughing and reached for me when I tried to move away. “Kali—”
“I’m going to check on the superhero wedding party.” I stepped back, waving my arm out of his reach.
And tripped.
A squeal left my mouth as I tripped over a box. Still laughing, Brantley darted forward and grabbed me before I could hit the ground. His hands were hot on my waist, and my heart thundered against my ribs—from the near-fall or his hands, I didn’t know.
He pulled me up to standing straight, and the only thing stopping our bodies from touching was the way I held my arms to my chest. My fingers grazed my neck and the skin beneath my chin, and I swallowed hard when I looked up and met his eyes.
Inches.
That was how much distance there was between our mouths. Between my glossy, red lips and his soft, pink ones. So close that his breath tickled across my cheek warmly.
So close that I could see the hint of darker blue flecks in the turquoise of his irises. So close that I could see the shadow his eyelashes cast over his skin whenever he blinked.
That I could see the dimple, half-hidden by the scruff on his jaw, as his lips pulled to one side.
“Sadly,” he said quietly, still smiling, “You have to be a superhero to join the wedding party, and you just proved you aren’t.”
“Rainbow Dash doesn’t sound like a superhero. Unless it’s a superhero on a sugar high.”
“But she can fly.” His eyes danced with laughter. “You were not even close to that a second ago.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but stopped short as the words caught in my throat.
He was teasing me again.
Except this time, he was touching me while he did it, and my heart was going crazy. Boom, boom, boom. It beat faster and faster until my pulse thundered in my ears, and I drew in a sharp breath. All it did was dry out my mouth, and my lips followed.
