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She narrowed her eyes at me, but words must have escaped her because she only stood there in silence.
“So, Jason Momoa, huh?” I asked before I could keep the words in. “He’s your type?”
Aria sucked in a breath and took a step back. I wasn’t sure what she’d seen in my gaze but judging by the steely expression on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest, I had a feeling it was something I hadn’t wanted her to.
“What?” I asked, forcing out a laugh that would hopefully remind her I was the guy who liked to give her crap, and she didn’t need to take me too seriously.
“Will Paxton, this is the second time in as many days you’ve asked me about another guy.”
I swallowed. “So?”
“So, I know you and Paul have always had your noses in my business, but now that we’re all adults, he’s let up on it quite a bit. But you definitely haven’t.”
Looking up at the starless sky, I silently berated myself for going down this road. Mistake. Mistake. Abort mission.
When I didn’t say anything, she took a step closer. “It makes me think mybrotherhas realized I’m a grown woman and he doesn’t need to be quite so protective of me. Have you not realized that?”
“Realized what?”
“That I’m a grown woman,” she said, pausing long enough for me to chuckle darkly at that, “and that you don’t need to be quite so protective of me.”
Unwilling to touch the first part with a ten-foot pole, I settled on responding to the second. “I’ll always be protective of you. I can’t help it.”
She studied me with way too much intensity for my liking. “And that’s all it is? You’re protective of me? You’re not… jealous?”
The green monster poked his head up and waved at me, reminding me that he did, in fact, exist. But I shook my head and stuffed my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “Not jealous. Just protective.”
“And what… even though you don’t want me, you don’t want anyone else to have me, either?”
The rumbling in my chest prevented me from breathing. The suggestion that I didn’t want her was completely laughable. I wanted her with every fiber of my being. I just didn’twantto want her. But the idea that I didn’t want anyone else to have her was true. She had me there. It killed me every time she’d had a boyfriend in high school and every time I heard about her dates since. But I couldn’t tellherthat.
“That’s not it,” I managed through clenched teeth.
She didn’t look convinced when she blew out a breath. “Well, relax. I can take care of myself. I don’t need my brother, or the guy who tells himself he’s my brother, nosing around my love life. If I want to date a guy who reminds me of Jason Momoa, I will.”
Rage that I had no right to feel threatened to show itself, but I made myself keep it light and smile instead. “Of course you can take care of yourself. And of course you can date this Jason Momoa wannabe if you want to. The only thing I care about—er, the only thing Paul and I care about—is that you’re with someone who deserves you.”
“That’s so annoying,” she exclaimed, shaking her fists at me.
“What?”
“It’s like you have me perched up so high on a pedestal that you can’t even see me from down there. Do you evenseeme, Will? You’ve known me my whole life. Do you see me?”
“I’m looking right at you,” I said through my teeth.
“You may be looking, but you’re notseeing. I’m not perfect, Will. I’m not ever going to find a guy who deserves me the way you think about it. Life isn’t like that, and people aren’t like that. I have flaws just like you. Just like everyone.”
If she didn’t look so freaking cute when she got fired up like this, my mind would have wandered down a dark path about my own potential flaws. Instead, I gave her a wicked grin and crossed my arms over my chest. “Name one flaw.”
“Excuse me?”
“Name one flaw about yourself. I’ll wait.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, but I could still see the corners of her mouth twitching like she wanted to smile. “I’m an overthinker. I obsess over tiny details to the point where it’s annoying for everyone.”
“Not true. You like things done right, and you don’t stop until it’s perfect. Likeyou.”
She blew out a breath through her nostrils. “I take too long to get ready.”
