Page 61 of Power Play

My gaze snapped back to him.

He shook his head, the frustration aimed entirely at himself. “That’s not what happened.”

“I know that now.”

“No. I need you to actually hear me.”

His hand moved from my knee to my waist, slower this time.

“I stopped because if I keep going with you, I’m not treating it like some random hookup.”

My heart stumbled.

Ryan looked almost irritated by the admission, but beneath it was the same emotion I had caught before. Whatever he felt for me had moved past the point where he could dismiss it, and trusting that seemed to frighten him as much as losing our friendship frightened me.

“You’re my friend,” he said. “Our people are my family. You matter to me before we ever get naked, which means I don’t get to act like none of this matters afterward.”

I swallowed. “So what are we doing?”

His thumb moved once against my side. “I don’t know yet.”

The honesty scared me more than a polished answer would have.

He noticed.

“I know what I want when I’m standing this close to you,” he continued. “That part is easy.”

My cheeks heated.

“The rest isn’t.”

“Because of my parents?”

Ryan’s expression changed barely enough for me to catch it.

“You hate my father.”

“I barely know your father.”

“That wasn’t a denial.”

“I don’t give a fuck what your father thinks about me.”

The answer came fast. Then his voice softened.

“I care what it does to you if he hates me.”

My stomach tightened. “He doesn’t know you.”

“He knows enough.”

“What does that mean?”

Ryan looked toward the living room for a second before returning to me.

“It means men like your father usually know exactly what they think about men like me before introductions are over.”

The words landed differently than I expected.