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“Six months is a long time when all you’ve got is time. So I promised myself, then and there, that I would be the best brother I could possibly be to Tristan. I took away his happiness because he could have been happy and lived a normal life. But I took it all away because I was jealous.”
“Quinn, uprooting a teenager and taking him away from his brother and his friends probably wouldn’t have made him happy,” I say, hoping I don’t anger him.
But Quinn shakes his head, his jaw clenched tight. “But I took that choice away from him. He was thirteen; he would have made new friends and forgotten all about me.
“I have lived with my decision every day since. My selfishness caused my grandparents unnecessary pain because they never understood why their only daughter took off without a trace. I hurt my dad even though he doesn’t deserve any sympathy. I hurt my mom. But most of all, I hurt the only person who never looked at me like I was a loser. Never questioned me because I was his older brother, and I fucking betrayed him in the worst way possible.
“So whatever Tristan wanted, he got. I would never again deny him a moment of happiness. My grandparents split when I was eighteen, leaving me in charge of the diner and making me the rightful owner. I didn’t want it, but Tristan did. So I gave it to him.”
So technically, Quinn is Tristan’s boss.
Holy shit, him scoffing when I called him the boss now makes perfect sense.
“But there was one thing I couldn’t give Tristan.” Quinn’s eyes sadly search mine. “And that was a girl. All the girls I messed around with weren’t good enough for my brother. They would forget his name the minute they got what they wanted, and Tristan deserved better than that.”
“But you deserved that?” I unhappily question, hating he thinks so poorly of himself.
“I deserved worse,” he replies, taking a deep breath.
“Quinn—”
But he shakes his head, cutting me off.
“I knew Tristan wanted a girlfriend. My brother is a hopeless romantic, but I love that about him. I love he sees the world through his rose-tinted glasses because I don’t.
“The single girls in our town, well, excluding Tabitha, they’re all the same. But then…then you arrived. The moment he saw you, I knew that he liked you.”
Thinking back to when I first met the Berkeley brothers, I can’t help but smile. I never would have predicted that precise moment would alter my life in a way I never thought possible.
“I tried so damn hard to stay away from you and to honor my promise to make Tristan happy. But the more I pushed you away, the harder you fought, and the more I fucking wanted you. You don’t understand how many times I had to stop myself from—” He pauses, chewing on his lip ring as he gazes down at my body.
“Why me?”
“You don’t realize how special you are,” he replies, slowly moving toward me. “What’s in here”—he presses his hand to my heart—“I want to possess. I want to own, but I don’t deserve you. I never have.”
His words bring tears to my eyes, and there is only one thing I can do to show him he’s more than worthy of my love.
Pulling out of his touch, I slowly reach for the hem of my sweater and pull it over my head.
Quinn follows the movement but makes no attempt to move.
Next, I slip off my tank, and his eyes continue to watch me as they smolder with desire.
“I’m just like him,” he whispers, his eyes filling with tears. “I’m stealing my brother’s girl. I’m turning into the man I’ve grown to hate.”
Everything suddenly comes crashing down, and Quinn’s reasoning for staying away from me becomes crystal clear.
Quinn doesn’t want to be like his uncle, taking me away from Tristan.
But the thing is, I was never Tristan’s girl—I’ve always been Quinn’s.
And I always will be.
I don’t allow his words to discourage me as I lie back down and carefully unzip my jeans. As I wriggle out of them, raising my hips to slide them off, Quinn stops me by placing a hand on my hip.
“You still want me?” he asks, astounded. “After everything I just told you? This doesn’t change your mind?”
Sitting up, I slowly reach around and unhook my bra, allowing the straps to glide off my shoulders, and we both watch as the lacy material lands in my lap.
