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He was surprised the others hadn’t jumped in. He was even more surprised when Natches’s expression lost its fury. His hands came up, not to hit, but to jerk Alex’s hands back.
“Christ!” Natches dug his fingers into his neck, shook his head. “Hell, Alex. I didn’t mean that, man. ”
Alex stepped back, fury and guilt, more guilt than fury, pumping through his veins as he retreated.
“You’re right. ” Natches ran his hand over his face and shook his head again. “You’re right. You’ve been in this all along, watching out for her. More than I was. ” Torment creased Natches’s face. “You did what I couldn’t. ”
And Alex had lusted. Every year it had grown, surged inside him until now. But Janey wasn’t a baby. She was a grown woman. An innocent, seductive young woman. And he was old enough to know better.
“Fuck it. ” Alex moved back to his truck. “I’ll be here after dark. Hell!” He got into his truck and waited.
He let Natches pull out first, then, as Dawg moved to the window, he hit the control and lowered the glass.
Dawg leaned against the door, watched Natches leave, then turned back to Alex.
“I know what he doesn’t. ” Dawg nodded after Natches.
“And that is?”
“You want her too fucking bad to walk away. ” Dawg turned back to Alex, his gaze steely. “And that’s okay. She’s a damned pretty woman . ” His voice hardened. “And a damned vulnerable one. Break her heart, Alex, and brother-in-law or not, we’ll take you apart. ”
Alex stared back as Dawg nodded, then moved away. Hell, Mackays were a pain in the ass.
He looked up at the apartment, and, standing there in the chill morning air, that cat cradled in her arms, was Janey. How much had she seen? Heard? From the look on her face, probably all of it. He knew the look of a pissed-off Mackay, and she definitely had that look. The only difference was, on her, it looked damn fine.
He lifted his fingers in a lingering salute and shot her a mocking smile before backing out of the parking space and heading down the street.
His things were already packed at home. He was prepared. He’d return in a few hours. And then what?
He frowned at that question.
What? Seduce her? Show her how nasty he could get, then walk out on her later?
Hell. What was in his mind? What made him think Janey was anything like the other women who understood that when morning came, he would be gone?
So why wasn’t his dick listening? Hell, why wasn’t his head listening? He couldn’t stop thinking about her, remembering that kiss. The innocence was killing him, and God only knew, he thought innocence was a damned fine thing in a woman. So why did he want to destroy Janey’s?
Because it was his. He wasn’t even going to let himself think she was his, just her innocence. He wasn’t going there, he promised himself. He had never let himself get mired in the quicksand of false love, and he wasn’t going to let it happen now.
Janey was more grounded than her brothers or her cousins thought she was. More mature than any of them believed. He had seen that in her, felt it in her. Or he was just fooling himself and creating an excuse to allow himself into her bed.
For a second, just a second, he prayed she was strong enough to keep him out of it. Otherwise, he had a feeling he would end up destroying both of them.
Janey was waiting when Alex arrived that evening. She’d called Rogue and rescheduled their girls’ night out. She hadn’t given the other woman an explanation and Rogue hadn’t asked for one. Janey had been torn, though. She wanted that night out. She’d never been dancing. She had never gotten tipsy in her life.
She wanted to do both.
She wanted to sway to the music, laugh and have fun. She wanted to be female. Feminine. She wanted to wear makeup and that new skirt Rogue had talked her into buying.
This evening, she wore a pair of cotton running pants and a T-shirt. She hadn’t straightened her hair, so the loose curls feathered around her face, almost to her shoulders.
She’d had it cut immediately after coming out of the hospital months before. The long strands had hung nearly to her waist, and every time she felt the weight of it she’d been reminded of how often Dayle and Nadine had used her hair to drag her around.
Now it was shorter, easier to keep up with, and Janey actually liked the way it framed the almost narrow lines of her face.
She was twirling one of those curls around her finger as she sat on the couch going through bills for the restaurant and waiting on Alex. Yet when his firm knock sounded on the door, she jumped, startled.
She excused the reaction. In the two months she had lived there, she had rarely had anyone knock on her apartment door.
