Page 29 of This Broken Heart

This was a critical mistake.

Josh didn’t realize how ticklish I am.

An unladylike yowl comes out of my mouth, shocking the entire family into brief silence. And then Josh’s eyebrows lower wickedly. He prowls forward, clearly intent on getting another reaction out of me. My ankles hit the pillow pile and I can’t back up any farther.

Josh reaches towards me just as Trace wrenches his body to the side, colliding with Josh and throwing all three of us off balance.

We all go down in a tangle of limbs. Somehow, I’ve ended up in Josh’s arms. Trace leaps up, pummeling his dad with a pillow. But we’re both temporarily frozen.

I’ve got my hands planted on his chest and my entire body runs the length of his. And he feels so good. Hard muscle and warmth that radiates out through his shirt. Our gazes connect and find myself staring at those eyes, marveling at how thick his dark eyelashes are. Then my gaze slips down to his smooth lips. I’m really not sure what might have happened next if we weren’t interrupted. But Maven decides it's finally safe to join the fray by jumping directly onto her father’s head.

18.

Josh

Thank God Maven knocked some sense into me. I was two heartbeats away from kissing Erin.

I needed a good slap in the face, and Maven is delivering that with gusto.

Erin’s struggling to climb off of me, but she’s only making matters worse. Her soft body felt nice pressed up alongside mine, but this wiggling is taking matters to a stage that is far less family friendly.

I know she’s trying to extract herself, but she’s squirming along my hips and that isn’t helping anybody. I put a hand under her arm, trying to steady her, but then Trace comes barreling back in, knocking her flat against me with a mighty roar. “Avenge me!” He yells to no one in particular. Which is pretty damn funny, but also there’s a lot of touching going on between the grown-ups that is more than either of us is bargaining for.

And of course, that’s the moment when my mom decides to walk in.

I need to get a better lock.

Or an alarm system.

“What in the heck is going on here?” She asks.

All four of us freeze, caught in our chaotic tableau. Trace recovers first, hopping off us with a gleeful shout. “Grandma!”

She wraps her arms around him when he barrels into her.

Trace peers up at her. “We caught a bear.”

Mom looks at me. “I see that.”

Erin seems to snap out of it, suddenly struggling against my chest to get upright. I hook a hand around her upper arm, helping her to her feet, climbing up behind her.

She pats her hair, a look of horror crossing her features. “The grilled cheese!”

There is a hint of smoke in the air. I watch her go, reluctantly bringing my gaze back to my mom.

I don’t know why I’m embarrassed to look at her, other than I feel like I just got caught in some sin I can’t quite put my finger on.

My feelings are pretty tangled up. I can’t help but to feel a little guilty towards Ana, but that’s odd, because Erin and I weren’t doing anything romantic, we were just playing with the kids.

Right?

Judging by mom’s face, it might have at least looked like more was going on.

I finger comb my hair back into place while I try to concoct some sort of explanation.

Mom beats me to it. “I haven’t seen Monkey Josh since you were ten years old.”

Monkey Josh. I forgot about that one.