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“Not all of them. And even my family is prone to teasing.”
His fingers pause their stroking at my shoulder blades. It’s just a moment’s hesitation, but I feel it. Dammit, I shouldn’t have said that.
“Who?” he asks. His voice is a little harder now.
“Who what?” Honestly, he needs to move his hands again.
“Who teases you? And what the hell could they possibly tease you about?” His fingers start stroking through my hair again.
That’s probably why I actually answer. God, that feels good. “Oh, just my cousins. Zeke and Owen and those guys.”
I hear what sounds like a low rumble that seems to come from his chest. But it’s definitely not an amused sound.
“What do they tease you about?”
The backs of his hands coast down my neck and upper shoulders and I just keep talking. It’s like I can’t help it. “It was worse when I was a kid. Just about being too smart for the rest of them. How I always wanted to be inside. How I didn’t want to hang out with them because I had to dumb down everything I said for them.”
“Is that true?”
I feel him wrap the hair tie around the end of the braid. His hands feel huge against my head and neck and it’s really hard to keep my train of thought moving forward.
“Of course not. But…” I only debate for a second about saying the rest. “Okay, sometimes maybe.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to spend time reading and in the garden instead of swimming and boating with them.”
“Did you sometimes use big words or talk about things that would bore them so they would leave you alone?”
I pause. How the hell did he know that?
“Abigail?” he asks when I don’t answer.
His voice is low, almost husky, and one of his hands settles on the back of my neck.
Holy crap, his hand is hot. And big. That feels so good.
I nod, then remember he’s holding onto my hair. That little tug on my braid sends a shiver of heat through me.
I clear my throat. “Um…okay, maybe. Just once in awhile.”
He makes a noise that sounds amused and I-thought-so.
“But that wasn’t the only reason they got annoyed with me. When I played hide and seek with them…”
He’s stopped playing with my hair and I suddenly hear what I’m saying.
Torin’s hands both settle on my shoulders, and he turns me to face him. “What happened when you played hide and seek with them?”
I swallow. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Tell me.”
See? He doesn’t make requests.
I sigh. “They got in trouble a lot because they’d lose me.”
His eyebrows rise. I see every tiny motion in his face because we are standing really close now.
