Page 78 of Twins for Three Bad Boys

But I don’t.

I can’t.

Because Rex is looking at me like a person, not a problem to solve. He wants me.

And it hits me, sharp and sudden, that I want him too. Recklessly. In a way that makes my stomach flip and my skin buzz and my whole brain go pleasantly empty.

Rex takes one step closer. My heart stutters. My hands curl into my sleeves because I need to hold onto something.

Heat crawls up my neck.

“June…”

My name in his mouth feels different than it did in Wayne’s.

Wayne’s was restraint. A warning. A line he didn’t want to cross again.

Rex’s is… an invitation.

I tilt my chin up without thinking.

His eyes darken.

I swear he’s about to kiss me. And for one insane, breathless second, I let myself want it. I let myself forget everything else.

Then…

Bolt chooses violence.

He barrels between us like a furry wrecking ball, tail wagging, tongue lolling, and bumps his nose directly into my thigh, checking for snacks.

I yelp and jump back a step.

Rex jerks away too, blinking like he just woke up.

Bolt sneezes loudly.

Then, because he apparently isn’t done humiliating me, he flops at my feet with a dramatic sigh because he saved the day and deserves payment.

Evan shouts from across the shore, scandalized. “Bolt, I need you!”

I freeze so hard I stop breathing.

Rex makes a strangled sound that might be laughter or might be him choking on his own soul.

I try to laugh too, but all I can really think is: what the hell am I playing at?

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Wayne

The garage is quieter at the end of the day.

Not silent. It’s never silent. There’s always the ticking of cooling engines, the faint rattle of spanners on metal or a wrench turning a bolt, the hiss of air filling tires. But the madness fades. The urgency settles into a kind of peace.

Broken things don’t wait.

That’s what I tell everyone.