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“I just… You can’t… Damn you,” I muttered, scowling. It wasn’t right how he’d so easily flipped this around on me. Flustered and tongue-tied, I glared at him a moment before very slowly and succinctly saying, “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to tell certain people about our arrangement.”
“Certain people,” he repeated slowly. “Yeah, like my brother, because he’d give us both fucking grief about it. You think your roommate Sasha would give us grief? She seemed pretty cool about it to me.”
“No, I don’t think she’d…” Still too agitated to talk right, I took a moment to draw in a deep breath, then I more calmly explained, “It’s not her exactly that I’m worried about. I just…dammit, I don’t want my dad finding out, okay? And she might accidentally slip and let the cat out the bag if he called, or something.”
Colton blinked, stunned silent. Then he shook his head. “Your dad?”
With a nod, I sighed and scrubbed my face.
“Why don’t you think your dad would like me? Everyone loves me.” He looked genuinely confused.
I dropped my hands and stared at him a moment, feeling defeated before finally admitting, “He’s an investigator for this equal rights group where he works. All he sees day in and day out are his people getting treated unfairly, and it’s given him a certain perspective on life.”
“Okay,” Colton answered slowly, still not catching on. I frowned at him a moment, wondering if he was being purposely obtuse or if he really just didn’t get it.
Grinding my teeth, I shook my head and whispered, “I’ve never dated a white guy before. I’m not exactly sure how he’d handle it.”
“Oh.” This time it sank in clear as day. He glanced down at his forearm, the light skin peppered with some freckles and short, dark hairs, and he frowned. “Yeah, that’s not something I can change.”
I felt suddenly shitty as if I’d just told him he wasn’t good enough or something. Unable to help myself, I stepped forward and cupped his face in my hands. He finally moved his gaze from his skin to my face. Worry laced his stare. “You’re, like, not going to get in trouble or anything for being with me, are you?”
He seemed so concerned about my safety, I shook my head even as I gulped unsteadily. The truth was I had no idea how my dad would react. I mean, he’d never hurt me. But disown me… I wasn’t sure.
What I said, however, was, “Of course not. I’m just a daddy’s girl. Determined to seek his approval, no matter what. I just don’t want to unnecessarily disappoint him, especially since there’s nothing here…” I motioned between the two of us, “for him to even worry about because we’re not attempting anything serious or anything like that. We’re just…”
When words failed me, he said, “Fucking.”
I swallowed hard. “Right,” I agreed in a small voice, even though it felt all kinds of wrong to call it that.
Colton nodded as if understanding. Then he threw me for a loop when he asked, “What about Brandt?”
I blinked, not expecting that name to come up at all since we had just agreed it never would. “What about him?”
“You wanted something with him, and he’s white.”
Not sure what point he was trying to make, I shook my head. “What?”
“Didn’t you worry about what your dad would think about him?”
“No,” I answered before I could even censor myself. “I mean…” Huh, I really hadn’t worried about that with Brandt. Strange. I wondered why that was even as I tried to explain why to Colton. “Brandt and I didn’t even make it through a single date. Why the hell would I start worrying about my father’s opinion unless I actually thought something might come from—why the hell are you grinning like that?”
It felt as if I was slamming him and his entire race, and this goofy grin just kept spreading across his face as if he’d won the lottery. It kind of freaked me out.
“You’re worried about your dad’s opinion of me, yet you’d never even considered what he’d think of Brandt. That means I’m already further along than he got. Boo-yah!”
“Oh my God, really?” Of course he’d gotten further than Brandt. The moment my lips had touched his at the wedding reception, he’d been further along than Brandt had ever gotten. Setting my hands on my hips, I glared. “This is not a fucking competition between brothers.”
“Oh, I know,” he said seriously enough, right before he broke out in another grin and winked. “It’s still nice to know I’m in the lead, though.”
“Oh my God, you are so annoying.”
“And you’re an anal, perfectionist control freak,” he countered, still grinning right before he charged me and picked me up off my feet, making me yelp in surprise before he dropped me on my bed. I bounced twice on my back before catching myself, and he laughed as he climbed on top of me. “But you’re sexy as hell when you’re exasperated. And that gets me hard, so I’m okay with it.”
I sniffed and tried to buck him off me when he bracketed his knees around my thighs, pinning me to the bed and hovering over me with his vexingly cocky grin. “Don’t you dare try to sex talk me and think it’s going to get me to forgive you, buddy,” I demanded, scowling because his sex talk was actually working. My lady parts were getting frisky.
He only laughed and captured my hands, holding them over my head against the mattress. “And what exactly am I trying to get forgiveness for? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Did so,” I muttered, then blinked because I had no idea what I really thought he should be begging forgiveness for. But the fact that he may be right only infuriated me more. Glaring, I bucked up against him. “You irritated the piss out of me.”
