Unraveled (Holding On Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

wasn’t really definable.
    Jesse gave Luke a nod and turned to Quinn. “And how are you, Momma?”
    She smiled at him. “I’m great.” Then her eyes slowly swung to Carly.
    “Hey, Jesse,” Carly said. For some reason, she thought it would be best to be proactive in the conversation.
    “Carly,” Jesse tossed back at her in greeting. He held up the basket. “My sister helped me put this together. Well, I guess she actually put it together for me. Since I don’t know a thing about babies.”
    “That was so sweet of you,” Quinn said.
    “Well, I’ll just set it over there.” He lifted the basket a bit and motioned to the window ledge. He bypassed Carly to get there and her stomach did an annoying little flip as he walked by. Her gaze followed him as he placed his gift with the others.
    In her e xcitement to see the babies, she hadn’t realized that the window ledge looked like a gift shop. She briefly chided herself for not having thought to stop and buy a baby gift, too. But she knew Quinn would understand. She’d been in a hurry to get here. Stopping had been the last thing on her mind.
    “Thanks, Jesse ,” Luke said. “You didn’t have to do that.”
    He ignored Luke because his attention was focused on the babies as his eyes drifted from one to the other. “They’re beautiful.”
    So is he , Carly thought with a sigh. She immediately cringed to herself. It didn’t matter how good he looked in his well-worn jeans and gray pull-over. It didn’t matter how hot he looked with windblown hair. It didn’t matter how his piercing blue eyes cut straight to her heart. Or, at least, it shouldn’t have mattered. So she tried to tell herself that it didn’t. She’d been down that road—with all of its hills, twists, detours and potholes—before. It was a path she really shouldn’t even fantasize about traveling again.
    Not that she was doing that.
    His gaze floated to Carly again. With a start, she realized she’d been staring at him. She snapped her eyes away, placing them on Adela instead.
    “Do you want to hold one?” Luke asked Jesse who was eyeing the bundle in his friend’s arms. Carly glanced up.
    She thought she knew Jesse well but his expression was indecipherable. It could have been curiosity or it could have been trepidation.
    A small frown appeared on his face. He hesitated, as if conflicted. Finally he decided, “No, uh, I think I’ll pass. Maybe when they’re not so small.”
    An awkward silence followed. Carly thought it felt endless, though it was probably only mere seconds long.
    She was trying to pull together something to say—and silently willing either Quinn or Luke to say something—when Jemma and Lily appeared in the doorway. She blew out an audible sigh of relief, causing Jesse to look her way yet again. She felt a blush spreading across her cheeks so she hung her head, letting her hair cover her face.
    Jemma’s eyes darted around the room. “What’s this? Looks like you are all havin’ a party without us.”
    Lily tiptoed closer to Luke and Carly. Her own baby-bump was just starting to show. “I need to see those babies, right now!”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    4
    “Drink,” Jemma slid the shot glass across the table.
    Carly eyed it warily. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. At least, not tonight.”
    Jesse hadn’t stayed at the hospital long. The entire time he was in the room, Carly could’ve sworn the air felt different. Charged, somehow. She knew it had to be her imagination, yet she felt it all the same.
    She’d been grateful for little Adela in her arms. Her new niece had given her the best reason imaginable to keep her eyes averted. The few times she’d looked up, she was sure she’d caught Jesse looking away quickly.
    Fortunately, those odd moments hadn’t