Our Love Unhinged (Reluctant Hearts Book 4) by Brighton Walsh Read Free Book Online Page B

bachelorette parties, and Cade and I are watching Haley for a bit while the rest of the group gets things set up—what things , I’m not sure, but neither of us mind watching Haley before her babysitter comes to stay the night.
    It’s nearing a hundred degrees today, which is going to be super fun for the guys and their evening of camping. Haley’s in the new pool Jason just installed this year. It’s way too fucking big for their yard, but what Haley wants, Haley gets. At least where he’s concerned.
    Even though I try to avoid it at all costs, I can’t help but compare Haley and the little girl I used to be. She’s not much younger than I was when my mom left me in that grocery store. It’s surreal and bittersweet to see what a six-year-old’s life should be like, instead of the living nightmare that was my childhood. While Tessa worries Jase spoils Haley, I’m just happy she has someone willing to give her everything she wants—a childhood she can remember with fondness rather than disdain.
    “You want another beer, baby?” Cade tips his head in the direction of my nearly finished bottle.
    “No, I’m okay. The girls will kill me if I get too much of a head start.”
    “Have they told you yet where you’re going?”
    I shake my head. “All I know is I’m supposed to wear whatever Paige left for me. I’m honestly scared to look.”
    “You should be,” he says with a smirk as his eyes rake over me. Nearly a hundred degrees, and my nipples still perk up from his perusal like we’re in sub-zero temps.
    Before I can ask him what he means by that, Haley pops her head over the side of the aboveground pool. “Hey, guess what?” she yells, like we’re not three feet away from her.
    “What?” Cade and I ask at the same time. He reaches over and rests his hand on the arm of my chair, running his pinky along the sensitive skin at my wrist. Perked up nipples and goosebumps, all from a look and a pinky. He’s good.
    “We brought my flower girl dress home yesterday! It’s hangin’ up in my closet. Mama said I couldn’t wear it or try it on or even touch it, case I had dirty hands. She made me pinky promise.”
    I smile at her excitement, which hasn’t waned at all since the day Tessa, Paige, and I took her to find her dress. Her eyes got so wide when we walked into the store to see aisle after aisle of dresses on display, like a kid in a candy store. I had absolutely no preference about what she wore, so when she said she wanted to look just like a ballerina, that’s what she got. I think the skirt of her dress is four times as wide as she is and weighs more than she does.
    “I bet you’re going to look very pretty,” Cade says. “Just like a princess.”
    “Like a ballerina , Uncle Cade.” The duh is implied by her tone. She turns her attention to me. “I might even be as pretty as you , Aunt Winter!” The smile she shoots me is as bright as the sun beating down on us. Then she pushes away from the side, going underwater as Cade reminds her to be careful. Haley splashes and Cade says something to me, but all the blood is rushing to my ears, my heart beating too fast, my mouth as dry as the Sahara while my world comes to a grinding, screeching halt.
    Aunt Winter .
    Without blinking an eye or realizing how much it could affect me, Haley made me part of her family with a single word. Part of a family I’ve been searching my whole life to find.
    Whether or not I admitted it to myself, that’s exactly what I spent my early years doing. I had the hard exterior to protect myself, but deep down, I wanted to belong. I would’ve given anything to be taken in. To be wanted . But then I decided I didn’t need any of it and blocked myself off from everything, building a wall of protection around my heart. A wall Cade managed to knock down with his bare hands.
    Since the beginning, he’s been trying to show me that his family is my family, but I still feel this divide. Everyone in Cade’s life has been