A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men #5)(134)

Caroline glanced at me, and I sent her a bolstering smile before taking her hand and squeezing.

“And Ten,” Gamble went on. Caroline squeezed my fingers next, as if she expected him to give me the same kind of speech. Hell, I think even I expected it.

But what he said was, “You’re a backstabbing motherf*cker. I’ll continue to work with you, because I have to, but other than that, just stay away from me. I don’t want to be your friend anymore. I don’t want anything to do with you. And I will laugh and celebrate the day she finally decides to dump your worthless ass.”

“Noel!” Caroline cried, appalled.

He glanced at her, his eyes hard. “I’m sorry, I know I can’t forbid you to see him, but I’m not going to pretend to like this. Are you coming home or not?”

Caroline wrapped her arms around my arm. “I am home,” she said simply.

The look Gamble shot me told me this had to be the worst betrayal yet, as if I’d just stolen his sister from him.

Then he nodded once, cleared his throat, and stood up. After he left without another word, I looked at a quiet, pale Caroline. I didn’t feel so steady myself. It wasn’t every day I lost my friend.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

She blurted out a short, shaky laugh. “Are you?”

I nodded. “I don’t regret a single thing. I have you, and that’s more than I deserve. It’s everything I want.” Taking her fingers, I kissed the knuckles. “Now what do you want to do about the rest of our life?”





Caroline and I started looking for a new place together. Blondie got a little morning sickness, but she hadn’t yet had one scare. I kept telling her all the doctors were just blowing smoke up her ass. She was going to have a perfectly normal pregnancy, but I was glad she and Ham continued to take every precaution, just to be sure.

In other news, I put Caroline on my health insurance—swearing Pick to secrecy so he wouldn’t go blabbing about our marriage just yet—and Caroline went to the Social Security and the DMV to legally become a Tenning.

Caroline Tenning.

The day her new driver’s license with her new name came in the mail, she was so f*cking excited. She jumped me on the couch and f*cked me right there. It was a good thing Zwinn was at a doctor’s appointment. We were pretty loud...and naked.

I loved living with her, I loved waking up to her each morning, falling asleep next to her every night, and even showering with her on occasion. There were adjustments—her clothes were always strung everywhere, longs strands of blonde hair tried to smother me in my sleep each night, and feminine products littered my dresser top—but we survived them and usually had fun in the process.

I continued to show up at the coffee shop every Saturday morning, but Gamble never did. Caroline learned about my Saturday routine and how I kept waiting for him to forgive me and just...show up one of these days, so she came one morning and sat with me instead.

I would never in a million years admit it to her, but I did miss the stubborn son of a bitch Gamble. He’d helped me get over my sister, he’d been with me when I’d started this phase of my life. Fuck, he’d been the one to dub me Ten. He was responsible for a lot of who I was, and I missed just hanging out with him and flipping shit back and forth.

But I wasn’t about to give up anything with Caroline to admit that.

When she got a call from him one Saturday evening, I tried not to act interested, but she turned to me after hanging up with him as if she knew I craved every detail.

“They’re all going to Rainly Park tomorrow,” she said. “They asked me to come.”

She looked sad about that, so I frowned. “Well, that’s cool. Why aren’t you smiling?”

With a sigh, she patted my arm and turned away. “Because I’m not going.”

When she tried to move away, I caught her around the waist and tugged her right back around. “What do you mean you’re not going? Go!”

She shook her head. “No. Not unless they invite you too.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Baby, you know that’s not going to happen. Just go and have fun. You haven’t seen those blackmailing little shit brothers of yours in too long. Don’t worry about me, just go.”

That stubborn Gamble blood of hers wouldn’t give in, though. It was going to bug her all weekend, and in turn, it’d bug me, so finally, on Sunday morning, I dragged her out of bed and into the shower, saying, “Let’s get ready. We’re both going.”

She brightened after that, and I knew I’d done something right. But the f*cking drama started as soon as we showed up.

Noel scowled at me, then his narrowed eyes moved to where I was holding Caroline’s hand as we strolled up the front walk to meet them in front of their house.

“This is a family outing,” he said, making it clear I wasn’t invited.

“And I’m family,” Caroline argued, lifting her chin.

He seared her with a scowl. “I didn’t say you couldn’t come.”

She glanced at me, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. She was considering whether or not to drop the “we’re married” bomb on him, see if he’d deny I was family then.

I shrugged, letting her decide if she wanted to reveal anything or not.

“What?” Noel demanded, noticing our byplay. “What the f*ck was that look about? Oh God. Please don’t tell me you’re pregnant.”