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To her shock, she let out a giggle.
“What? The teacher was hot.”
“You aren’t supposed to notice if your teacher is hot.”
“You’re not? It’s the only good thing about school, in my opinion.”
“Raid,” she groaned.
“Relax, baby. I’m fine. It’s my body. I can deal with a hard-on. Been getting them for a long time. It’s not something for you to worry about. Okay?”
She wasn’t so sure, but she nodded.
“Time to eat. Then a nap.”
She sighed. “So very bossy.”
12
Hannah sat back with her hand over her stomach.
“More?”
“God, no.”
Raid stared down at her bowl of dessert. “You only ate a third of it.”
“You gave me enough to feed three people!”
“I did not. I gave you a Malone serving.”
“A Malone serving?”
“Yeah. See, us Malone men, well, we’re worth two of any other man. So we have to eat twice as much.” He grinned at her.
She just shook her head. Lord, he was too much.
“Sure you can’t eat anymore?” he asked.
“Nope. I’m done.”
He grabbed the bowl, and to her shock, considering he’d already eaten a huge bowl on top of a large serving of lasagna, he ate the rest of hers too.
“You’re like a bottomless pit,” she said in awe.
“You should have seen the amount of money Alec spent on groceries when we all lived at home.”
“Enough to run a small country, I’m guessing.”
He grinned. “You’d be right, darlin’.”
She tried not to show any reaction when he called her that. But despite his doesn’t-have-a-care-in-the-world persona, Raid was smart. Intuitive.
“You didn’t like when I called Jenna darlin’, did you?”
“It’s nothing to do with me,” she told him stiffly.
“Hannah, look at me.” His tone was firm.
She was screwed. Even though she tried to resist, it was futile.
She stared up at him.
“Hannah, in this town, the only people I truly care about, whose opinion and feelings I would take into consideration, are my brothers, their women, and you.”
She blinked.
“You don’t want me calling anyone but you, darlin’, then you say the word and it’s done.”
“That simple?” she asked
“That simple, darlin’.”
She sucked in a deep breath. He didn’t really mean it. He wasn’t going to change that habit just because she wanted to be his one and only darlin’. And didn’t want anyone else to be. Because she was acting kind of jealous.
But his face was sincere.
That simple.
He leaned into her. “Hannah, breathe.”
The air went out of her lungs.
“You with me, darlin’?”
“I . . . I think I’m about twenty steps behind you. And quite possibly heading in the wrong direction.”
He just grinned. “You’re with me. And trust me, you head off in the wrong direction, I’ll turn you around.”
She just bet he would. “Pretty sure you’re already making my head spin. I don’t know which direction is up or down.”
“Just trust that I’ll catch you if you ever stumble and fall. All right?”
Shit. Fuck.
“I’ll try.”
“Good g–that’s good,” he added quickly.
She closed her eyes tight. She hated being messed up like this. Raid couldn’t even call her by the two words like he wanted to.
Good girl.
“Hannah.”
Opening her eyes, she looked over at the TV, which had a basketball game playing.
“You don’t have to stay with me, you know. Jenna said I’m fine. You probably have other things you need to do.”
“Hannah, Jenna didn’t say you were fine. She said you need to take it easy. And if I had other things to do that were more important than taking care of you, then I’d go do them. But since nothing is more important than looking after you, I don’t need to leave to do them.”
“Raid . . .” Lord, that was so unexpectedly sweet that she wasn’t even sure what to say.
“I know you feel you have to keep trying to push me away to see if I’ll give up and leave. You do what you need to do, darlin’. Test me. Push me. You’ll see. I’m here to stay. I’m going to go get you some more water. You stay there.”
As he got up, he grabbed the dirty plates and took them to the kitchen.
A man who cleaned up after himself.
Who put her needs first.
Who stuck around even when she was doing her best to convince him to leave.
A man who knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to say or show it.
A man who was loyal and kind and protective.
That was the sort of man she’d always wanted.
He returned with a glass of water. “Drink that down, darlin’.”
She slowly sipped the water, wondering how she was going to survive when he left. Glancing over, she watched him watch the game.
Shoot. She was being a terrible hostess.
“You need chips,” she said suddenly. “And beer. It’s a crime to watch a game without chips and beer.”
“A crime, huh?”
“Yes. I think so.”
He nodded with a sigh. “Pretty sure you’re right. But there’s no one around to arrest us, so we’ll just have to go on committing a crime since you haven’t got any. I checked.”
