AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But Dusty was old enough now.
Old enough for anything a man wanted to do with her. To her.
She may havealreadydone some of those types of things before.
His heart about stopped even thinking about that.
It hit him, hard. Some guy sooner rather than later was going to swoop in and take Dusty away permanently, too. Just like Hunter had captured Ben’s precious baby sister Nikki.
Right there in the middle of the diner Dusty could meet some guy and then marry him and just change things forever. Some of the Mastersons, like that asshole Jack and his two brothers Gabe and Eli or their cousin Dane or Dan or whatever his name was, were always in the diner around lunchtime lately. Talking to the girls. Flirting with them. Trying to get them to go out on dates with those baboons even.
The Talley girls flirted back most times, too. Well, so did Junie and Em, but he wasn’t going to think aboutthat.It was just small talk, conversation. It happened there in the diner all the time.
He’d seen guys flirt with Dusty a million times before. It had never been anything serious. Everyone flirted with the waitresses in the diner. Ben did, every time he was in there.
But they were getting old enough to want more than just flirting, right? All of them. Even Meyra and Daisy had to be twenty-three or -four now, he thought. Old enough. They were all old enough.
To have husbands, families, of their own. It would happen someday soon.
Why hadn’t he noticed this before? Ben had been a bit out of touch lately, apparently.
He felt so old. Almost left behind, even. He was thirty-three now. Not like he was ancient or anything.
Maybe one of those Masterson boys was looking atDustynow. Doctors, lawyers, accountants—men who could take care of her and settle down with her and give her two or three really cute babies and things.
Maybe evenfourcute little Dusty babies.
Drive her to church on Sunday and hold her hand on walks around the neighborhood. Buy her a puppy and a beautiful house and a wedding ring and hold her really close each night. That kind of thing.
The perfect, wholesome kind of life he’d always wanted for his sister. And her friends. The way lifewasin Masterson. The kind of life he’d missed when he’d been out there in base housing, being just one of a faceless number.
Ben had spent a good deal of his life—at least when he had been back in Masterson on leave from the army anyway—looking out for Dusty. He liked it that way, too. He hoped that didn’t change when she did find someone someday.
It probably would.
What if the guy was jealous or something? Didn’t want her hanging around with Ben or his younger brother Fletcher after they were together? Fletcher and Ben—and their older brother Gil—had spent years looking out for Dusty. He didn’t want that to change when some other guy took her away.
It was possible the guy would feel like that.
Those Masterson brothers weren’t exactly toofriendlywith Ben and some of his cousins. He couldn’t see one of them wanting Ben all up in Dusty’s life. There was no way in hell Ben would want to share a woman like Dusty’s time and attention with a random man she wasn’t related to. No. That would be one thing he wouldn’t like.
Dusty’s future husband would be the possessive type, Ben suspected.
Especially with a phenomenal woman like Destiny Marie.
If Ben had Dusty for his own, he’d pull her into his arms, roll up the sidewalks, batten down the hatches, and carry her off to his bed every opportunity he could. Keep her there as long as he could, too.
Ben stared into those green eyes of hers as he imagined doing just that.
Having her naked and in his bed for as long as he wanted her. Even if it was forever. Like Gil now had the seriously hot and sexy Sage inhisbed forever.
Ben, for just the shortest moment, imagining having that very type of life withDusty.
Dusty. Naked. In hisarms. His bed. Forever. Beinghiseverything.
His body tightened so swiftly, so strongly, with nearly instant hunger, he almost let out anoomph. His chest tightened, too. That…was insane.
Hell, he’d almost lost the ability to breathe, just standing there staring atDusty.Imagining taking off that redEat at Flo’s Masterson DinerT-shirt and tossing it against the blue wall of his bedroom. Of luring her into the bed and doing all sorts of wicked things to that soft, pale, silky skin. Of pressing his lips to hers. To tasting that soft-looking bottom lip. Over and over.
