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Self-deprecation all but oozed from his tone and I scooted closer, taking his hand and squeezing. “There was no way you two could have known that would happen…” Wait a minute.
“How did you guys even know something was wrong?” I asked, vaguely remembering them barreling into the apartment.
He grimaced, tapping his phone that sat on the nightstand. “Your brother has a security app, and you didn’t turn it off when you got home. It went off at the creep’s movement in the house and we raced over.”
That look hadn’t left his eyes and I scowled, shifting up into his lap until we were eye to eye. He froze, throat bobbing on a swallow as he went absolutely still.
I didn’t let that distract me, instead I glared down at him and argued. “Don’t blame yourself for this. It isn’t your or Devin’s fault, and I refuse to let you think it is. Put the blame on the rightful owner, the one who did this to me.”
He didn’t say anything, his eyes resolutely locked at a point over my shoulder as he took deep breaths. He was stiff too, not a single muscle relaxed, and I frowned.
“Are you alright? You’re acting weird. Usually you’d argue with me.” I said, eyes narrowed with suspicion. He laughed, the noise loud and sharp, before leveling me with an intense look I didn’t have a name for.
“Woman, you scared several years off my life when I saw you curled on the floor. I only just finished realizing how much you mean to me, and then there was the very real possibility you were going to be gone.”
He shook his head, then smiled ruefully. “Now you’re sitting on my lap, in my bed, and the absolute last thing on my mind is the prick that is now in police custody.”
His hand settled on my waist and I slowly looked down, realizing what position I’d put us into in my haste to reassure him that he wasn’t at fault. It was…suggestive, at best. My legs were on either side of his thighs, and even without all my weight pressing down I could feel something long and hard pressing against my thigh.
It was my turn to swallow, arousal hitting like a truck as I carefully eased back until I was sitting on his legs instead of his length.
He relaxed a hair and I met his eyes, noting the lust rolling behind the orbs as well as the kaleidoscope of other emotions. His hands came up, cradling my jaw and I couldn’t help it, I leaned in.
I’d dreamed of something like this dozens of times before, but I couldn’t let myself completely sink into it yet. I needed answers.
So despite the urge to melt into him, I cleared my throat and asked. “Did you make up your mind on what you want?”
The words came out rougher than I meant them to, hope burning under the surface as he nodded, his eyes not once moving away from mine.
“Yeah, I did. Devin was a big help, and I hope you don’t mind that I told him about all of this. I…needed someone to help me figure it out, and he’s the only one I could go to.”
I raised a brow. “You do have Alice, you know?”
He snorted, giving me an amused look. “Yes, and I love that brat, but she’s more likely to geld me for touching you than your brother is.”
Fair enough.
Squirming in place, I asked when he didn’t go on after a minute. “And?”
He smiled, the stretch of his lips different than any I’d seen before. It wasn’t his flirtatious one that he used to charm the women he took to bed, and it wasn’t the amused one I saw so often when Devin said something funny.
This one was warm and when he dipped closer, our mouths hovering centimeters apart, he hummed.
“I want you, and not just for one night. For more.”
Hope bloomed into joy and I beamed, the smile almost hurting from how wide it pulled my lips. I hadn’t thought he’d actually agree, but I wouldn’t complain.
Though I did have questions…
“What changed your mind? You’ve always been adamantly against things like this.” I said and he grimaced, shifting us both to lie on our sides, his forehead pressed to mine.
“Your brother was a big help in untangling my mess. I’ll have to thank him for it later. Since the day at the housewarming party something different has been wedged into my chest when it comes to you.”
He shrugged, slowly picking his words as he explained. “I’ve always been protective of you, but when I saw you in that dress, all but glowing under the lights, I changed just a bit. I’m still ready to beat the blood out of anyone who hurts you, but now it’s more. When that punk from the ranch started eyeing you I was furious, more so than I’ve ever been over someone just looking at you.”
He snorted. “It shocked the hell out of me to the point I couldn’t figure out how to beat it back. So I tried to get him away from you until I had time to puzzle over it.”
I smiled, inching up to rest on his outstretched arm. I’d been curious what had caused the shift in him that day, but hearing it from his perspective was something else.
