Free Blindsided by Kyra Lennon Page B

them in.
    “Legos were fine,” Hunter said. “But I draw the line at soft toys.”
    “It’s not for me, you idiot,” I laughed. “Kayla would love one of these.”
    She would too. As cool as she pretended to be, my sister still loved anything fluffy and girly. What caught my attention about these bears was that every time the staff member added stuffing to the bear, she had the customer choose a silky material heart to put inside it. It probably would have meant more to Kayla if she could pick her own heart, but since she couldn’t, I’d step up and do it for her.
    “Hmm, now you mention it,” Hunter said, “I have a five-year-old cousin back home who might like one too.”
    “Let’s get in line!”
    Any sense of manliness left both of us as we spent forever choosing the right bear colour, heart colour and clothes for our purchases. I settled on a dark brown bear, with a pale pink heart (which you couldn’t see when the bear had been stuffed, but it still seemed important), and a pink tutu. Kayla had been doing ballet since she was six, so I knew it was a good choice.
    With our shopping done, I looked at my watch and said, “Holy crap. We’ve been in here for four hours!”
    “It felt like thirty minutes,” Hunter laughed. “Can we come here every day?”
    “I think we’d be broke pretty quick if we did. We should think about getting back. It’s almost dinner time.”
    Plus, I was dying to see Isabelle.
    Hunter nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”
     
    On the way home, we made a plan to bolt to our rooms and hide our shopping before anyone could see. Unfortunately, the plan failed when we walked through the door just as Isabelle was heading out of the living room. Catching sight of the bears peeking over the tops of our bags, she burst out laughing.
    “Good day?” she asked.
    Under normal circumstances, I’d have been embarrassed, but the sound of her laugh distracted me from humiliation. Her smile was beautiful, and I was tempted to take out the bear I’d just bought and give it to her, like I was hypnotised into showering her with gifts.
    Man the hell up!
    She was making me uncool.
    “Oh, come on,” Hunter said, “Is there anything sexier than guys who are in touch with their feminine side?”
    “Being in touch with your feminine side is fine, but teddies? I think you might be taking it too far.”
    When she smiled again, her eyes resting on me, Hunter took the hint and went upstairs, leaving us alone in the hallway.
    “It’s for my sister,” I said, nodding towards the ballet bear.
    “No need to explain,” Isabelle giggled, and I put the bag down at the bottom of the stairs. We stood awkwardly for a moment, neither of us sure whether it was okay to kiss in her home. After a minute of unbearable tension, I smiled and took her hand.
    “How was your day?” I asked.
    “Not as much fun as yours by the looks of it,” she said, “Just got a new ‘fun’ photography assignment to take shots of seasonal things so we can make Christmas cards. Oh, no,” she corrected. “ Holiday cards. Christmas is a bad word because of all the politically correct nonsense. I don’t know why we can’t just say ‘Christmas,’ that’s what it is and everyone knows it.”
    Her rant amused me. Her words became more clipped and British sounding. It was sexy as hell.
    “What are you grinning at?” she asked.
    “Nothing,” I said. “I was just wondering if you wanted me to dress up as an elf so you can take a picture for your card.”
    “Ha, that would be brilliant until all of your football friends found out about it. Unless you don’t mind public humiliation?”
    “I spend most of my life trying to avoid that,” I told her, drawing her into me.
    Isabelle put her hands on my waist, and looked up at me uncertainly. The sensible side of me wanted to hug her to me and protect her. The other side wanted to kiss her until her innocence was replaced with experience.
    May as well start now.
    I lowered my head,