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"Eryeah, I think so" Instead of looking offended, he looked vastly a a stick up h Mosttheir woht be true if the sa with him Isn’t that all brick houses and stones?"

Declan looked puzzled for a lass houses and stones I’ll ad I can say with absolute certainty If Brant’s with you, then he isn’t with her I’ that because he’s my brother either He just isn’t built that way After Alexia took off, he stayed closed off for a long tiuy Asprobleardless of how she screwed hiely enough, I do trust him I even love him most days, stick up his ass and all"

Declan chuckled "Well, there you go If you can love so them at his best is a breeze"

Emma turned her head and without any of the jealousy she had felt earlier, she said, "Ella is a very lucky woman to have you"

Brant stalked around his hotel roo did it take for Eet home from his brother’s house? In the back of hisunreasonable Declan was crazy about Ella, and so there was no one that Emma was safer with than his besotted brother It still rankled hih, that Declan ith her while he was ht to be pissed Hadn’t he just gotten off the phone with Alexia? She had pretty ether The one thing she hadn’t touched on was how horribly things had ended between theetting so to feel ed in his past Emma was his future And damn it, he needed to hear her voice

He looked down at his watch only to see that she had had h time to make it ho numerous times before an obviously sleepy Emma murmured, "Hot ho yawn, she said, "Yep All safe and sound"

He sighed in exasperation "I orried about you"

Her voice still sleepy, she cooed, "Ah, that’s so sweet I miss you I wish you were here"

Brant dropped back on his bed, feeling the stress of the evening drain away "I miss you, too, baby Trust me, I’d iggled "You guys aren’t spooning, are you?"

"God, no" Brant shuddered "He’s up in the penthouse suite probably doing unspeakable things to some woman he picked up in the bar while I’m down here where the poor people stay"

"So how’s Boston?" E to stay awake He’d love to be there curled around her while she slept "I’ht When are you co to et some sleep and I’ll call you tomorrow?"

"Mmm, ’kay I love you" The breath hitched in his chest as she ended the call He wondered for a s that weren’t there No, he knehat she had said Surprisingly, he found hi that she meant the words and that it wasn’t just the result of tooto be a part of his life but there was only one from whom he wanted to hear words of love--the woman who had just spoken them to him

Chapter Twenty-one

Euely re hoht Shit, she was pretty sure she had started it Right in the middle of her chest was a crooked heart with the word "Bran" in the middle of it Oh my God, she’d even left the T off the end Great, everyone knows you only eat bran when you have digestive issues

Even after a scrubbing so hard she had taken off a few layers of skin, the Sharpie still prevailed She picked a shirt that covered up most of her drunken body art and left for work She went straight to Ella and Beth’s floor to see their tattoos Beth had to pull her into the office to show hers since it was on her breast "Nick loved it He said he would be turned on all day knowing it was there"

Ella pulled her shirt down, showing another crooked heart with "Declan" written in the center "All right," Emma huffed, "why am I the only one with a uilty before raising her hand "I think I did Don’t judgeto Ella, she said, "You weren’t drunk, why didn’t you stop us? Or at least encourage us to use so her head, Ella replied, "Hey, I tried to talk you out of it, but you were both bound and deterh with it, even when I pointed out that the ood friend would do, I joined you"

Eo back over ht I’one in a few daysor weeks"

Suddenly, the mood sobered as Ella asked, "Have you heard fro better but would like for everyone to wait to visit I wanted to go by there during lunch, but he told me she’s not really ready for visitors yet," Beth finished, looking o anyway, but I kno h and I feel that, regardless of ive her space"

E of understanding "I would love to see her, too, but I think Gray knohat she needs now better than we do, so even though it’s tough, let’s do this for her" Before she could coet it Emma walked out with Ella and they promised to have lunch the next week She took the elevator to her floor and felt a pang of disappoint as he usually was