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His Secret Heart (Crown Creek)

Page 27

by Theresa Leigh


  "It's still only Christmas Eve," I observed.

  "So, we should wait till tomorrow or something?"

  “Fuck it. We're grown-ups now, right? We can open our presents whenever we damn well please."

  Derek chuckled. “Mom and Dad aren't even here to tell us otherwise," he said.

  I grinned at him, feeling that old, familiar bond. The two of us conspiring against my parents, the family order settling into its natural alignment. ”Let's do it."

  But Derek held out his hand. ”We should celebrate the moment,” he said, smiling wider than I’d seen him smile yet. “But I don't drink anymore so I don't have anything celebratory, except...” He reached over and rummaged in the fridge. “Orange juice?”

  I laughed as he poured two tumblers out like shots. "An orange juice toast to commemorate the season."

  We clinked our glasses together and knocked back the juice like fake frat boys. Then both set to work silently opening our presents.

  Derek pulled his watch from the gift-wrapped box. “Hey, thanks. My watch just broke, actually. Good timing." He put it on without taking note of the finely tuned Swiss mechanism, or the smooth, fluid sweep of the second hand. He slung it on like it was an old Timex, and for some reason that made me far happier than any reaction I had imagined.

  "Okay. My turn," I said.

  I tore open the package and blinked to see a pair of gloves.

  Derek craned his neck to look at them. ”I figured you’d forget yours. You’re always fucking forgetting to pack gloves. And then your mooching ass wants to borrow mine. So I thought I’d preempt that.”

  I blinked, struck by the thought he’d given his gift. He wasn’t trying to impress me. He just thought about what I might need. I didn’t know what to do, so I punched him in the arm. “You know I'm going to lose these immediately.”

  Derek nodded. “Oh I know, don't worry, they’re not that expensive, so I don’t give a fuck.”

  “You're right, you know. I totally did forget my gloves.”

  Derek raised his orange juice and silently toasted me.

  I cleared my throat. I hadn’t talked to my brother like this in months. Years, really. And I wasn’t ready to finish yet. The looming need to get to the bar, shake some hands, make my deal was still there in my head but it was surprisingly easy to shove to the side in favor of spending more time with him.

  Or maybe I could do both? "So, hey, uh, I thought I might head out to Autumn’s thing,” I said. “You want to come?”

  Derek’s mouth twisted oddly. “Bad idea for me to be at a bar. Especially around the holidays," he said.

  I winced. "Sorry man."

  He shook his head. "No need to be sorry, the holidays are hard. I think I’ll just have to sit this one out. I got my two-year chip last weekend.”

  "I know you did," I said softly

  “Yeah. So.”

  I fucking hated myself for asking, but... “Can you, uh, give me a ride then?"

  Derek rolled his eyes. ”What? Your fancy driver doesn’t want to be seen at a shitty dive bar in the sticks?”

  It was my turn to roll my eyes. "He's not on the clock right now."

  He started rifling through the junk drawer. ”Sure I'll drive you, whatever. If I let you borrow my car you'd probably wreck it anyway, forgetting how to drive in the snow and all that."

  "Well, you see, in the city, we have these things called snowplows."

  "Yeah, whatever, they'll get to it. What about when you come home? You want to call me or something?"

  A picture of Autumn flashed across my mind, just a fleeting impression of her lips, the memory of her kiss seared into my flesh as deep as any scar. I shook my head to clear it. "With any luck, I'll find my own way home."

  He raised an expertly skeptical eyebrow. ”Autumn?”

  There was no use lying. I was certain my hopes were written all over my face. ”Yeah."

  Derek cocked his head to the side. ”You know she hates your guts, right?”

  I looked sharply at my brother, but he was already gathering his keys, having stated that fact as baldly as he always did. Derek had no idea how to lie, or how to sugarcoat things, so if he said something, you knew it was the truth.

  I winced and looked down at my hands. She hadn’t seemed like she hated my guts. She’d invited me after all. But why would Derek lie when he knew how we left things, how broken I’d been when she left me? What if he was right? Why did I even think I had a chance again? Why was I even considering going after her tonight? We were done, over. If she wanted things to continue, she could've called me, come down to Philly, stayed in a dorm room.

  If she truly loved me, distance should not have mattered.

  And if I saw her tonight, I was going to say that to her face.

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  Books by Theresa Leigh

  The Crown Creek Series

  The Kings:

  Sweet Crazy Song

  Jonah and Ruby’s story

  READ IT FOR FREE!

  Cocky Jonah never wanted to come home to Crown Creek. But a chance meeting with kindergarten teacher Ruby has him wanting to stay forever.

  Lost Perfect Kiss

  Gabe and Everly’s story

  A risk taking bad boy. A girl-next-door nurse. And the kiss that never should have happened. Gabe has to convince Everly to take the biggest risk of her life. Him.

  Soft Wild Ache

  Beau and Rachel’s story

  Growing up in a repressive religious cult meant that Rachel always believed the outside world was evil. But when sensitive rocker Beau opens her eyes to life outside the compound walls, she learns that he’s the sweetest sin she’s ever seen.

  His Secret Heart

  Finn and Sky’s story

  Sky was certain she knew everything she needed to know about volatile, unpredictable bad boy Finn King. But when her world turns upside down, she realizes everything she thought she knew is wrong.

  Coming Soon:

  Claire’s story

  Crown Creek Standalone:

  Last Good Man

  Cooper and Willa’s story

  Willa hates Cooper. But when she wakes up in a hospital room, he’s the one who’s there waiting - rumpled, frantic… And swearing she’s his fiancee.

  Coming soon:

  Ryan and Naomi’s story

  Sadie’s story

  Visit theresaleighromance.com for more.

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  Theresa Leigh is a romance author whose love of reading is so intense, she sometimes injures herself by walking around with her nose in a book. She loves writing stories that have you feeling every emotion... sometimes all on the same page.

  Theresa lives and writes in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York State (not the city) (that distinction is important to her), where she lives with her husband, twin sons and twin orange cats, Pumpkin and Jackie O’Lantern. When she's not writing or reading, she enjoys eating too much Thai food, walking around barefoot, and cooing baby talk at her cats.

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  www.theresaleighromance.com

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