Bennett (On the Line 2)

“Suckling on my boob? Yes, he is, and it’s perfectly natural, so get in here and stop looking at me like that.”

“I just feel kinda creepy being here while that’s going on.”

“My child eating?”

“Eww.” He looked away. “Don’t put it that way.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “I forgot that to you I don’t have boobs or a vagina.”

“Stop,” he said, giving me a dirty look.

“Do you want a drink?” I closed the door as he stepped in.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“So how’s life? Come in and sit down.”

He sat down on the other end of the couch from me. “Did Mom tell you she’s leaving Michael?”

“Hmm. I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Yeah, me too,” he said.

He glanced around the room, looking at everything but me, and I sensed it wasn’t just because I was breastfeeding.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, just . . . thinking.” He sighed deeply. “I’m an imperfect person, you know?”

“Nonsense. You are flawless.” I smiled and he followed.

“I lost my shit over you and Bennett, and I think a lot of it was just feeling left out. You guys are two out of my three top people in life. Well, I guess there’s four now, with Charlie.”

“You guys are at least talking again,” I said. “That’s progress.”

“Yeah, but I was a dick to him. And then he understood, which made it even worse.”

I peeked down my shirt to check on Charlie, who was still nursing.

“If you want to apologize, maybe you should talk to Bennett,” I said to Liam.

He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah . . . I’m kind of here to offer an unconventional apology.”

“How so?”

“I overheard a conversation between him and Orion earlier. I eavesdropped because I thought he was coming to quit the team, and I planned to talk him out of it if he did.”

“He didn’t quit, did he? I hope he didn’t.”

“I think he did, but he also did something worse.”

I arched my brows expectantly. “What?”

“Orion told him Chicago wants him next season, and he turned it down.”

I just stared at my brother for a couple seconds. “He turned down . . . the NHL? Are you sure?”

“Positive. He said you won’t marry him, you won’t move there with him, and he’s not leaving you and Charlie behind.”