Her laughter warmed him, and it helped ease the tightness in her throat, he thought, as she carried on, “Grandmother knew what he’d planned, but I genuinely hadn’t.I thought he’d rattle some feathers, but that’s it.We all expected my father to get the majority share because my two uncles were freeloaders and not a part of the family corporations.When it didn’t go to him, but to me instead, the fall out was beyond anything I could imagine.”She pulled a face.“I sometimes think he did it so that I’d prove to myself how strong I was.Though Granddad had tied the money up in so many trusts I can’t even count them, and though there was no way my father could get his hands on anything Granddad didn’t want, he still tried.And tried.Battered me with arguments, trying to force me to help him.I could have done with Pops around to shore me up, but by the end, I could deal with them.They can’t hurt me now… well, unless they batter my self-esteem.I’m still a woman, and I’m well aware I don’t fit into any mold that pleases my parents.They use that against me.As well as the fact I’m single where my brothers, ever golden and glittering, are married with children.”
“You’re not single anymore,” he told her gruffly, watching her eyes sparkle at his words.
“No, you’re not wrong.I’m not, am I?In fact, I have more men than I know what to do with.”
He snorted at the indelicate statement.“Words to make a man’s heart weep, El.”
She grinned.“I didn’t realize you’d want me to handle you with kid gloves.”
“Funny you should say that… That’s what Trip said about you.”
Her chuckles warmed his soul.“I knew I liked him.But, well, I like all of you.”
“I’m relieved to hear it.I know I’m not as lighthearted as Trip or as gentle as Marc but I’m…”
Her hand snapped out to grab a hold of his knee.She stilled him with a pincer grip.“You don’t have to be them.You have to be you.I don’t want photocopied versions of them.If this is going to work, then we need to be true to ourselves.I’ve fought for that since I was sixteen, and I don’t intend to stop now.I certainly don’t intend to be with men who feel they can’t be themselves around me.”
“My life will change now you’re in it, El,” he told her, touched at her harsh defense of him.“Certain things will relax, others will strain.”
“It’s a learning curve.I see that.”She sat up straighter, stretched her arms into the air and wriggled in place.“I think I’m so accepting of all this craziness with the three of you because I… Well, I can feel it’s genuine.After so much fake bullshit, I know the real deal.But—” She bit her lip.“Please don’t let me down.”
He let out a shaky breath.“I can’t promise that, El.”When she stiffened, he grabbed the hand she’d left on his knee and kept her in place when she’d have pulled away.“I might be supernatural, but I’m still a man.I still make mistakes.There will be times when I let you down, when we all do, but I’ll never break your heart, and I’ll never make your soul hurt.”
Her eyes met his, and he was surprised to see they were drenched with tears.Softly, she whispered, “Thank you.”
“It’s on my honor, El.”
“I know.That’s why it means the world.”She shot him a soggy smile.“I think I’m ready to face the cops now.”
“Oh yeah?”he asked, amused.
She hesitated, but after a second’s pause, leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek.“I’m honored too.To be the woman that unites the three of you.I don’t know if I’ll ever really understand it, but I’ll do my best to be whatever you need.”
“Like you said, El, we just need you to be you.I just need you to be you.No one else will ever compare.That I can promise you.”
Chapter 8
For a woman who’d been let down more times than she could count, El surprised herself by hugging his promises to her.
She believed in them.Believed in him.
It was a heady feeling.More overwhelming than the notion she had three men who thought she belonged to them.More powerful than the idea that these men wanted her enough to hit her problems head on, embrace them as their own.
She’d been surrounded by family all her life.She knew that.Knew she had no reason to feel alone, and yet she did.Had always felt the ice cold chill of solitude simply because she was so different to the rest of her kin.
Acceptance tasted good, she realized, as back in the lodge she headed up the stairs that led to ‘her’ room.On the way there, she heard a noise from behind a closed door and recognizing it as Shawn’s signature grunt when he was working out, she paused.Frowned.
He was still here?
Marc had said as much, she remembered now, she just hadn’t realized he was across the hallway.
Warmth unfurled through her.
Knocking on the door, she waited for him to call out, “Yeah?”
“It’s me,” she replied softly.
“Come in.”
