“I can’t even imagine. Even before we moved to this city, it was always close houses. Nosy neighbors.”
“That’s exactly the shit I don’t like,” he said. “Plus, the noise. Doesn’t matter what time of day or night it is, this city’s always so damn loud. Back in Montana, you can actually hear yourself think. You can step outside when the moon is high and hear the crickets, the owls. You can actually see the stars.”
I leaned my head back on the cushion and stared at the ceiling. The first floor had higher ceilings than the rest of the house. “It must be nice.”
“It is.”
“I wonder if I’d like it. For so long I thought a city like this was the place to be, but now…” I trailed off. “Now I don’t know. I don’t know if I want to stay here when the smoke clears. This city will always remind me of my dad.”
Jason scooted a bit closer to me, bringing one of his hands to mine, giving me a gentle comforting squeeze. “It’s not a bad thing to be reminded of who you lost every now and then. It’ll hurt, it’ll hurt for a long time, maybe even forever, but that’s the thing about life. It keeps going. There’s nothing wrong with remembering those you’ve lost.”
Slowly, I lifted my head off the cushion and met his stare. “I know. I just… I don’t know if I want to be here anymore. Everything with my old life is gone. It might be nice to start newsomewhere. Fang and Mike, though, they were born here. They grew up here. They’ve never known anywhere else.”
“You’re worried they wouldn’t go with you if you decided to leave?” The man was way too perceptive.
“I’m worried I’d be too afraid to ask them.”
His thumb ran over my knuckles. His hand was rough, but it wasn’t the worst hand to have holding mine. No, in fact, it was the opposite. It was nice, way nicer than it should’ve been. “I don’t think you have to be afraid of that. I don’t know either of them that well personally, but I don’t think they’d turn you down. They care about you, and when you care about someone that much, you do whatever you can to make them happy. If that means leaving this city, then that’s what it means.”
Even though I didn’t really feel like smiling, a soft smile still tugged at my lips. “You’re good at this.”
“At what?”
“At making people feel better.”
“I guess I have loads of practice. Not sure what that says about me.”
“It’s a good thing,” I told him. “It’s—”
“If you say something about daddy energy one more time…” There was a new edge to his voice, and those words were practically growled out in a warning. A playful warning, but a warning nonetheless.
I actually chuckled. “What could you possibly have against it? It’s not a bad thing. It’s good. It makes me feel like… you could take care of me.” Once those words were out of my mouth, I had to quickly say, “Not that I need someone to take care of me. It’s just a nice feeling, especially now.”
“You have three men who’d take care of you already.”
“Yeah, but you’re… different. It’s just different with you. They don’t have that daddy energy.” I had to smile when I said thosewords, now that I knew how much it annoyed him. “It’s sexy daddy energy, if it makes a difference.”
He ground his jaw as he stared at me. I wasn’t sure if he was throwing daggers with those eyes or if he was throwing something else. “You know what I think?” He didn’t give me a chance to respond; he leaned closer to me, closing what was left of the distance between us as he let go of the hand on my lap. That arm lifted, curling around my shoulders. All very deliberate, measured movements, and I was frozen in place, waiting to hear exactly what the man thought.
“I think,” he whispered, his face less than three inches away from mine, “you like getting on my nerves. I think you enjoy it a little too much.”
Who was I to try to argue with this man? He was right. He was one hundred percent, totally correct and there was no point in trying to deny it. He was sexy when he was a little riled up, especially when his voice dropped low and he got all growly.
“Maybe I do,” I admitted with an innocent shrug. “Is that so wrong?”
“No,” Jason whispered, “I guess not.”
“You know what I think?”
A sound escaped him that was like a growl, and it sent a shiver down my spine. “What?”
“I think you like it when I get on your nerves, when I poke the inner daddy bear.” As I said that last part, I poked him right in his chest—and it was just as hard beneath my finger as I thought it was. The man had overpowered me like nothing when he’d kidnapped me, so it shouldn’t surprise me to know he was built beneath those clothes.
The man might’ve been up there in age, but he took care of himself. There was nothing sexier than a man who treated his body right, not to mention all those tattoos… God, those tattoos by themselves were enough to drive me insane.
Jason set his other hand on my outer leg, running that hand up my leg until it reached my waist, where he then grabbed me and scooted me even closer to him—and since we were already close, he pretty much pulled me onto his lap, draping my legs over his.
“Maybe I do,” he mimicked me. “Is that so wrong?”
