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“Laney. She’s twenty now and finishing up her degree in Manhattan. She’s really into conservation. Environmental spaces and endangered species. That sort of thing.”
“Oh, that’s awesome. What about your brothers? What do they do?”
“Pierce does high profile legal stuff. Mostly representing celebrity clients. Damon is in real estate.”
“Quite the family,” I said. “Did your parents run some sort of boot camp for budding billionaires, or something?”
Dean smiled. “No, actually. Our mom got sick when we were young and passed when I was twelve. Our dad worked two jobs and could never seem to get ahead, so the three of us were all trying to chip in by the time we were in high school. Working hard was a necessity, so it was natural to keep doing it. I think we all wanted to make sure Laney didn’t have to grow up like we did, too. We wanted to make sure she had everything she’d need.”
I smirked. “I’d say you guys might have overachieved a little on that mark. But it’s sweet of you to care so much about her.”
“We all do,” he said. “She was just a kid when mom passed.”
“So were you,” I said softly.
His eyebrows twitched together and he seemed to shake off the truth of what I’d said. “I’m the oldest. Looking out for the rest of them helped distract me, I guess.”
I thought of how good he seemed to be at reading people–how much he tried to take care of them. It made a little more sense. He’d been doing it ever since he was young, after all. “But who looks out for you?”
He seemed to snap out of whatever emotion was starting to claw up from his insides. His easy smile was back, along with his carefree confidence. “I’ve done fine for myself. I can handle it. I always have.”
I smiled, but I felt something in my chest go out for him. Dean had spent his whole life worrying about other people. I wondered if his relationships all failed because he wasn’t willing to let anybody take care of him, but I didn’t feel like it was my place to ask about that–even if the wine was definitely getting to my head. But I definitely couldn’t stop from thinking that if he was ever mine, I’d want to give him a taste of what it felt like to be taken care of for a change. I would want to show him how he made other people feel.
“So, why do your brothers want to set you up so badly?” I asked after our food had been set down. Mine was just as Dean had described, and absolutely delicious. I’d saved a little bit of the bread to dip in my sauce, and I was glad I had. The combination was almost better than an orgasm.
“Because they don’t know how to mind their own business, I guess. What about you? Why are your parents so keen to see you hitched?”
I rolled my eyes at the thought of them. “Because they’re the picture-perfect couple. My mom was a dancer on a cruise ship and my dad was a cook. They met on a ship in the Florida Keys and had a storybook romance. They make each other complete, and I think they can’t imagine anybody existing alone. They think everybody has a story like that waiting for them, and they’re worried I’m not going to find mine. Something like that,” I said.
“Do you believe that?”
“I used to.”
The candlelight was reflecting in Dean’s eyes, and when he smiled, I felt like I was melting as easily as the wax between us. “I suppose the two of us need to convince everybody we believe it, don’t we?”
“You don’t?” I asked.
“The only thing I believe is that I don’t know shit about relationships. If reality wants to step in and show me I’ve been wrong, I’ll give it an ear.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. It felt like he was saying the conversation we’d had back at Pollard months ago wasn’t important to him anymore. Back then, I’d felt safe doing this because he sounded just as disillusioned with love and commitments as I was. Now he was basically telling me he wasn’t sure about all that.
Were his words an invitation? If they were, I thought they were like an invitation to a trap. The only thing I felt certain of was that Dean Slater was dangerous for me. He was dangerous because I was getting closer and closer to thinking it was worth giving the whole relationship thing one last shot. But what happened with Eric had nearly broken me. I didn’t think I could survive something like that again, and I wasn’t sure if I was really reckless enough to unlock my heart and release it from the box I’d stuffed it in.
