Page 43 of The Live-In Temptation (Steele Brothers of Starlight Cove #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

XANDER

Weekly cousin dates were something my mom had suggested when Emma and I had first arrived in Starlight Cove, and it had stuck.

Emma and Laurel did something different each week—sometimes it was a movie or shopping or a dance party in the kitchen.

And sometimes it was crafts that included—what else? —glitter.

I was just glad this week’s glitterfest was happening at Atlas and Sutton’s place because god knew I had enough sparkly shit in my home to last a lifetime.

Or at least I would for the next five days.

I sat at the kitchen island while my mom and Sutton chatted about something I wasn’t paying attention to, Atlas’s deep voice cutting in every so often.

Sutton knocked on the island in front of me until I met her raised brow. “What’s with the face?”

“What face?”

She circled her finger in the general direction of my head. “ That face. You good?”

“Fine.”

“You sure?” Mom asked. “Because you don’t seem fine.”

“Well, I am,” I snapped, harsher than necessary.

“Watch it,” Atlas barked right back.

“Sorry.” I blew out a heavy sigh and scrubbed a hand down my face. “It’s just childcare logistics. I need you to watch Emma next week, Mom.”

She raised a brow and brought her tea to her lips like I wasn’t having a full-blown meltdown in front of her. “We’ve been over this. I’m full time at the library again. That’s why you hired Chloe, remember?”

Yeah, I fucking remembered. And it was both the worst mistake and the best decision of my life. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be stuck in this clusterfuck of emotions, not knowing up from down and left from right.

But if I hadn’t, I would’ve never experienced the force of nature that was Chloe Bradshaw.

“Chloe’s leaving,” I said without preamble. Best to rip off the bandage. “She’s heading to Sedona in a few days. Some yearly thing she does.”

Silence fell in the kitchen until only the sounds of Laurel and Emma talking and giggling filled the space.

Then, quietly, Mom asked, “Is she coming back?”

I glanced at my daughter, knowing how badly this was going to hurt her. Knowing because I was living it too.

“I don’t know.” Because I didn’t ask. I was a coward who was afraid of the answer, so I just…didn’t ask.

“Do you think maybe you should find out?” Sutton asked, though the correct answer was obvious from the you fucking idiot in her tone.

Before I could answer, Emma flew past us toward the bathroom in a rush of tulle and glitter, muttering something about a poop parade that was about to start.

Laurel abandoned the glitter and strolled over, teenage petulance pouring off her in waves, and shook her head. “What is it with you Steele boys and your deep-seated need for a dramatic come-to-Jesus moment before you pull your heads out of your asses?”

I blinked at her. “Excuse me?”

“She’s talking about me.” Atlas shrugged. “I had a little…issue.”

Laurel snorted. “Your head was so far up your ass.”

“It usually is with him,” I said. “But I still don’t know what this has to do with me.”

Mom reached over and patted my arm. “Laurel’s referring to the time I had to talk some sense into your brother when he and Sutton were having some issues.”

“And thank God for that because he would’ve lost the best things that ever happened to him otherwise.” Sutton raised a brow at Atlas. “Isn’t that right, big guy?”

“Right, trouble.” My brother hooked an arm around her waist and tugged her into his side, bending low to press a kiss to her temple. “And all it took was a custom-built library filled with all her favorite books.”

“Oh. Is that all?” I deadpanned. “Let me just go grab my pro-footballer money and get right on that.”

Sutton swatted Atlas’s chest and rolled her eyes. “I already told him, and I’m going to tell you—I didn’t need the library. I needed the words.”

“She’s right, honey,” Mom said. “Chloe doesn’t need a library.”

“Then what the hell does she need? Because I don’t know.”

“That girl has wanderlust in her soul. What she needs is an adventure.”

“Well, I guess I’m fucked because I can’t exactly give her an adventure in Starlight Cove.”

“Can’t you?” Sutton asked, her head tipped to the side. “Because I was a runner too, but I found a reason to stay. Found all the adventure I needed right here.”

“I mean, seriously,” Laurel cut in. “Have you heard about the time Mabel chased a goat through the town meeting, trying to grab a buzzing vibrator from its mouth? Doesn’t get much more adventurous than that.”

“Somehow, I think Chloe needs something a bit more than that,” I said, shaking my head.

“To help with that ‘something a bit more,’ let me just add that Chloe wouldn’t say no to some glitter.

And maybe a party? Did you know the reason she heads to Sedona is to celebrate her birthday?

Alone.” Sutton leveled me with a look that I felt all the way to my gut.

“Because I’m pretty sure no one’s ever made it a priority to remember her special day.

So she figures it’s safer to disappear.”

Sutton’s words hit me like a sucker punch, nearly knocking the wind out of me.

Not only did I not know it was Chloe’s birthday next week, but I had no idea she disappeared for it every year, and the thought made my stomach churn.

The image of her, all alone in a rented cabin or a hotel room, pretending she didn’t care that no one showed up and no one remembered, because that meant it would hurt less.

And all this time—all this fucking time—I’d been letting her think this thing between us was temporary. Letting our ending hang over us like a guillotine all because I was too chickenshit to admit how fucking wrecked I’d be when she left.

Every night, I pulled her into my bed and took her apart piece by piece with my mouth and my hands and my cock, reminding her exactly who she was in the way that was safe for me.

And every night after I’d made her come and wrung every ounce of pleasure from her body, she settled against me like I was the only home she’d ever need.

The only one she’d ever known.

Mom hummed into her mug of tea. “Wonder what that amazing girl would do if someone built a life custom made for her right here and asked her to stay?”

I had no fucking idea. And as much as that terrified me, it didn’t scare me nearly as much as watching her walk away would. So I had to figure this out. Had to figure out how to make her want to stay. Not just for me or for Emma or for the rest of this town. But for her.

Because if anyone deserved to call someplace home, it was the girl with sunshine in her soul.