Page 160 of Twins for Three Bad Boys

His expression shifts from amused to alert in half a second.

“Hey,” he says. “What happened?”

CHAPTER THIRTY

Rex

June looks up at me as if I’m the last solid thing in the room.

That’ll undo a man faster than you think.

Bolt feels it too. He presses his big dumb head against her knee and huffs low, offended on her behalf.

I slide into the booth beside her without asking. She folds into me immediately.

Alright then.

“He textin’ again?” I murmur into her hair. “You want me to drive him somewhere remote and practice my shovel skills?”

She makes a broken little sound that might’ve been a laugh in another universe.

“No,” she whispers.

Worse, then.

“Talk to me, darlin’.”

She pulls back just enough to look at me. Her eyes are glassy. Shocked. She’s still standing in whatever room the bomb went off in.

“I don’t think I want to talk about it in here.”

I catch Millie’s eye, and she nods.

Okay, so this is some serious shit.

“Then let’s take Bolt for a walk.”

The river path’s quiet this time of morning. Fog still clinging low over the water, reluctant to burn off.

Bolt charges ahead, sniffs every third blade of grass deeply, then circles back when he realizes we’ve stopped moving.

June hasn’t said a word since we left the café, her arms folded tight across her middle.

That’s new.

I don’t rush her.

I just stand close enough so she can lean on me if she wants to.

“You’re scarin’ me a little,” I say gently. “And that’s impressive. I once drove through a tornado warning for fun.”

She swallows. “I don’t know how to say it.”

“Alright,” I murmur. “Then don’t say it yet.”

She looks at me, confused.

“We can start smaller,” I continue. “Is it about the ex?”