“Maddie.” His hands squeeze gently around mine. “Baby Doll, look at me.” Slowly, I bring my gaze up to meet his. His head gives the smallest shake, “Don’t you dare be sad over this.” One hand lets go of mine and I watch as he brings it up to my face. The pad of his thumb lightly rubbing against my lower lip. “Stop biting your lip like that. If you hurt yourself over this, I’ll have to go lay a world of hurt on Brian. And I don’t want to do that.” Doing as told, I release my bite, “You don’t?” “No.” “Why not?” I whisper the question. His thumb rubs once more over my now free lip, “Because Brian
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