“What did you think about me?”
“I thought you were an aloof, quiet guy. Clumsy. Shy. Not great with women, and really super smart.”
“That’s all mostly right.”
“I know, but I was missing some things.”
“Like?”
“I think I had you built up into a bit of a perfect guy. So when you said that crap at the hospital, it hit way harder than it normally would have.” He winces. “But you’re not perfect. You’re bossy. You’re protective. And you’re funny. I didn’t know you were funny.”
“Colt’s funnier. He uses humor to disarm people. All my brothers are really fucking quick, so I had to learn to keep up. You know what they say about those who laugh last?” I nod, and he continues. “I laughed last, but not because I was slow. It’s just my brothers were really fucking dirty, and I was way behind the curve when it came to women.”
“You were innocent,” I say.
“The way you say it, it doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”
“I don’t think it is a bad thing. Being a kid as long as you can is where it’s at.”
“I grew up too fast in a lot of other ways. But not…that way.”
“I get it. I wasn’t stealing cars when I was a teenager, so you’re way ahead of me there.”
His lips quirk. “Maybe. It did give me some street cred.”
“It would. Your brothers, they didn’t tease you about your lack of experience, did they?”
“Not once. We picked at each other constantly, but never about things that might hurt. For each of us, that was a little different.”
“What do you mean?”
He spins his glass on the table. “Like Micah. We never teased him about his speech. Not once. We all have something like that.”
“Or like Kade’s woman troubles?”
“Right. We’ll rib someone forever when it’s small. Like this Horsey thing with Colt, but never the big things. Aren’t you and Bree like that?”
“Not really.”
“Is that a girl thing?”
“No. I mean, women can be vicious with each other, but the dynamic between Bree and I is different.”
“How so?”
“She was only sixteen when our parents died. I was already at school. So when they passed, everything changed for her. I left the dorms, and I got our place in the city.”
“That must have been hard, going to school and supporting both of you?”
“I didn’t finish school then. I dropped out and started working full-time as a bartender. I couldn’t afford the apartment and everything else otherwise.”
His eyes soften. “Shit Cara. What were you at school for?”
“I was two years into a business degree.”
“Did you ever get to go back?”
“After Bree finished high school, I started back. It took me a couple of years, but I got my degree.” Exhausting, grueling years.
