His worry is clear when he meets my gaze.
“You don’t have to take care of me,” I say.
“I want to,” he says. “If murder was even a little bit legal, Dalton Worthington would be dead. I want to take care of you and protect you and never let anything bad touch you again. So if it’s in my power to stop bad things from happening, that’s whatI’m going to do. Always. Even if I’m not on this island anymore. Even if it’s not my place to do that anymore.” His voice cracks.
I draw my foot out of his hand, and the water around me sloshes as I make my way to him. I rise onto my knees, and I loop my soapy arms around his neck.
“No one has ever loved me like you love me,” I whisper before I kiss him. “I love the way you love me.”
He wraps his arms around me, drawing me tight against him, and he doesn’t seem to care that I’m getting him soaked.
The doorbell rings, and Logan pulls away. “That’ll be your brother.” He searches my face for a beat and then gives me another kiss. “I’ll be back tomorrow night.”
“I’ll be okay,” I say.
His brows are pinched, and I don’t think he quite believes me. “I love you.” He kisses my forehead before he stands up and leaves the bathroom, closing the door tight behind him.
I knew he was leaving, but there’s still an ache of disappointment when I come down the stairs to find my older brother stretched out on my couch, making it look almost too short like Logan does. Logan is nowhere to be found.
“He’s gone?” I ask, even though the house feels the way it always does when he’s not in it.
“Had a plane to catch. Said he told you?”
“He did.” I collapse into the couch across from my brother and release a deep sigh. Like all of my siblings, Nathaniel has dark-brown hair, and blueish eyes. But his eyes are a bluey-green that seem to change in the light or with his moods.
Exhaustion coats me like a blanket. Funny how emotional turmoil is almost worse than physical exertion.
“You should have told one of us,” Nathaniel says, lips pursed. “Any of us. But especially me.”
“Part of me couldn’t even believe it had happened.”
“He never crossed the line before that?” He sits up to face me.
“Pushed boundaries, ran over lines—but he always had an explanation that felt… If not reasonable, at least logical. Painted me as the emotional one. Or my reaction as out of proportion with whatever he’d done. I forgot, for a little while, what it was like to know my own mind.” I rub my face. “Logan told you I’m pressing charges?”
“Yeah.” Nathaniel grimaces. “I would have helped you.”
“I just wanted to forget it happened.”
We sit in silence for a moment, and I want to ask about Hollyn or Hollyn’s sister, Kinsley, who they’re raising together, but I just don’t have the energy.
“Logan had his chef prepare your favorite pad Thai dish. His driver picked up and dropped it off while you were still in the bath. Enough for two in the fridge.”
For some reason, that makes my eyes well up with tears. Becauseof coursehe did.
“I like him,” Nathaniel says. “Logan.” As though I wouldn’t know. “So earnest about wanting what’s best for you. Shame he’s likely going to Oregon.”
“You heard that too?” I ask, sniffing away my tears. “We’re… We’re not like… We’re breaking up when he leaves.”
“Long-distance is hard, but he talks about you the way I’ve always felt about Hollyn. It’s rare to find that—take it from a guy who spent years looking for it again.”
“He really loves me,” I agree, my voice thick with tears.
“And you?” Nathaniel asks, trying to catch my gaze.
“We want different things. His career is his priority. He doesn’t see marriage and kids happening for years, and I”—I take a deep breath—“want those things sooner. If he gets traded,he’ll be off the island, and I have so many people who depend on me here.”
“You can do good anywhere,” Nathaniel says.
