I snap out of the daze his touch put me in. “Most men wouldn’t know how to do that.”
Pain flickers in his eyes for a fleeting second. “Abby and I had to fend for ourselves for a long time as kids. I used to help her with her hair.” He shrugs but the movement looks stiff. He pauses for a second before adding, “I had a long-term girlfriend in high school, and she loved me messing with her hair.”
Girl, I’m with you. I could die happy as long as his fingers are combing through my hair.
Hang on. Wait a sec.
A light bulb goes off in my head.
“Was she a blonde?”
He averts his eyes, and after a few tense beats, it’s clear he’s not going to answer. But he doesn’t need to. His silence speaks volumes and tells me all I need to know. Whoever this girl is, she’s important, and what happened with her has had a lasting impact on Drew. I’m even more intrigued than ever.
Who is she? And more importantly,whereis she? Could all this be somehow connected to his childhood love?
My mind churns ideas as awkward tension lingers in the air. Drew has been locked in his thoughts since he mentioned her. I can almost see the wheels turning in his head. “How come there is nothing about her online?” I ask, trying to get him to open up more. “There isn’t a single photo, not even from prom.”
His head whips up, his eyes narrowing to slits.
Oh, that got a reaction out of him all right. “Don’t pull that bullshit.” I send him a daggered glare as I wave my finger in his face. “I know you ran background checks on me too. You’re far from innocent.”
He stares at me for a few beats before saying, “I didn’t go to prom, and there are no photos of Jane and me because I wiped everything online to protect her.”
I open my mouth to ask the obvious question, but he cuts across me, making it clear the subject is closed.
For now.
“I have some pain pills out in the cabin.” He stands and offers me his hand.
“If you distrust me, why are you being so nice to me now? Why do you care?”
“Besides it being the right thing to do, the human thing to do, and it’s what my sister would want, I honestly don’t know.” His brow puckers. “I just know I hate seeing you hurt, and there is some innate need within me to take care of you. Don’t ask me to explain it because I can’t.”
As declarations go, it’s hardly up there with the best, but I think I get what he’s saying. I’m feeling those things too and I wonder if he’s as scared of them as I am?
I place my hand in his and he pulls me to my feet. There is barely any space between us, and the air is crackling with electricity and so many unspoken words. As I stare at this confusing man, I know I am in serious, serious trouble because I feel deep intense things for him.
I don’t fully understand how I got to this point.
Or how to get myself out of it.
ChapterThirty
Drew
“The pilot says we’ll be landing in twenty minutes,” Hunt says, returning from the bathroom. “You should wake Athena.”
“Let her sleep,” I say, fighting a yawn. When Athena fell asleep shortly after eating and taking her pain pills, I carried her into the bedroom and tucked her in under the covers, staring at her sleeping form for way longer than I should have.
Something has altered between us again. I feel like I’m on a runaway train and there’s no way to get off even if I wanted to.
“She’s been sleeping for hours.” Kai rubs his hands down his face. None of us have managed to snatch more than a couple hours of sleep even with blankets and comfortable recliner seats.
“She’s injured, and I think the pills knocked her out.”
“How do you want to play this when we land?” Charlie asks, jerking his head at the sullen teenage boy staring out the window.
“We’ll take him to the hotel, and Ezra can watch him while we get word to his father,” I say in a low voice.
