Still holding his hands, Kit looked at him. “I’m sorry, Red. I didn’t mean to remind you of unhappy memories.”
“What was all that about?” Red demanded.
“I was jealous.”
Now Red was genuinely confused. “Of what?”
“Joseph and Davie.”
Red shook his head. “Why? One of them is in love with the scariest man I know, and believe me when I say, they are welcome to each other. And the other one dumped me for my best friend. It’s not like either of them are interested in me.”
“I know.” Kit stared down at their joined hands. “But I’m interested in you.”
Red let out a long breath at the whispered confession. It wasn’t like he didn’t know it. It wasn’t like Red didn’t feel the same way. He sighed. “I’ve got to keep you alive, kid.”
Kit looked up, his eyes narrowed. “What has that got to do with anything? All the other Daddies looked after their boys.”
“Your brother?—”
“Is fuck knows where. He’s not gonna know if you’re playing hunt the sausage with me, is he?”
“So eloquent,” Red teased, even as his mind played an X-rated reel of the two of them hunting the sausage. He wanted to groan just at the thought.
“You told him I’m not a virgin,” Kit pointed out. “My brother has no idea what I get up to because I live most of the time away from the clubhouse.”
His breath caught in his throat, undoubtedly thinking of the fact that the clubhouse no longer existed.
Red ran a soothing hand over Kit’s head. “He employed me because he knows I won’t do anything to compromise you.”
“Not. A. Virgin,” Kit enunciated. “Quit treating me like I’m some blushing Regency heroine.”
“A what?” Red was so lost.
Kit waved a dismissive hand. “Never mind. All I’m saying is you need to think of me as I really am, not as Tony’s little brother.”
“You’ll always be his brat of a brother,” Red pointed out. “I remember you as a teenager. All elbows and attitude.”
“Damn, I’d forgotten that.”
“I didn’t. And you have an entire club of men who would hunt down anyone who hurts you and bury them somewhere no one will ever find their bodies.”
“True,” Kit agreed. “I moved out because they were so over-protective.”
“I think that’s a lost cause.”
The club would move mountains for Kit. It had to be smothering. He looked up to see Kit gazing at him, his expression hopeful.
“But maybe I could be something else too?”
Red studied him for a long time. “Maybe,” he acknowledged.
“I remember Davie,” Kit said.
“You do?”
“He was a member of the club before you.”
Red nodded. It was Davie who’d introduced him to Tony.
