Trevor silently agreed with him. No matter how many showers he took, some of Jenna’s scent would still be on him, and that would be all the excuse Connor needed.
Trevor locked the door, then cleaned up the takeout food wrappers and cups before shutting off the lights. By the time he walked down the hallway, Jenna had already come out of her bedroom and was rattling around in the bathroom. A few seconds later, she came out carrying a bottle of peroxide and a box of cotton balls. Trevor couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had fussed over him.
“That’s not really necessary,” he said, even as Jenna nudged him into her bedroom and made him sit on the side of the bed. “It’s only a few scratches.”
The look Jenna gave him was skeptical. “It’s more than a few scratches. You’re bleeding.”
Placing her first aid supplies on the bed beside him, she reached for the bottom of his tee to pull it up over his head, then tossed it aside. Sitting there in nothing but his jeans while Jenna stood there in nothing but a pair of shorts and thin tank top was kind of tough, and it was difficult to resist the urge to pull her close and kiss her.
But the way she stared at the scratches on his chest, her eyes starting to film over with tears, wasenough to help him push those urges aside. Now wasn’t the time for that.
“My brother is a jerk.” She tipped the bottle of peroxide over, soaking a cotton ball, then gently pressed it to one of the scratches. “But at least these don’t look as bad as I thought. What the heck did he even cut you with, anyway?”
Trevor looked down. The scratches weren’t deep at all and weren’t even bleeding now. Not that Jenna seemed to notice as she continued to clean each one carefully. He was only glad the scratches didn’t reach his tattoo. He would have been pissed if Connor had messed up his ink. While his skin would heal from a wound, the tattoo probably wouldn’t fare so well.
“He must have caught me with his fingernails,” Trevor said casually. “He was trying to shove me, and his hand slipped.”
Jenna gave him a look as if to say,do you expect me to believe that?“His fingernails sliced your T-shirt open?”
He shrugged. “Yeah. I guess he needs to trim them a little.”
Jenna didn’t say anything, focusing her attention on what she was doing.
“Why is my brother such a jerk?” she asked softly, pulling out another cotton ball, then soaking it in disinfectant and cleaning the next scratch. It was totally unnecessary by now, but somethingtold him that Jenna continued to do it more for her benefit than his.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think Connor is only trying to protect you in his own dumb way,” Trevor said. “To him, you’re still his little sister, and he simply wants to protect you from all the bad things in the world. Which includes me, apparently.”
“My brother is a dumbass.” Finishing up, she placed her first aid kit on the bedside table. “It’s bad enough that he treats me like a child, but if he can’t see that you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, I feel sorry for him.”
Trevor started to smile at the sense of warmth bubbling up in his chest at her words but decided to play it cool. He didn’t want to read more into that statement than what Jenna might have intended. Instead, he moved enough so that he could pull the blankets and sheets down on the bed.
“Let’s forget about Connor for tonight,” he said. “We can worry about him in the morning. If he even comes back.”
Jenna sighed but climbed into bed, giving him a view of her butt that was something to behold. Trevor stifled a groan as he grabbed his T-shirt.
“I’m going to change,” he said.
He went over to his room long enough to change into a pair of shorts. He considered putting on another tee but figured Jenna had already seen him without it, so why bother now?
Jenna slid close to him the moment he slipped into bed with her and turned off the light on the nightstand. As she rested her head on his chest, Trevor wrapped his arm around her shoulders as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Like this was exactly where she should be all the time.
She placed a hand lightly on his stomach, her fingers almost absently tracing light patterns on his skin. He wondered if she even knew she was doing it. Not that he was planning to stop her. It felt good.
“I’m glad you didn’t let Connor chase you off,” Jenna said softly, her breathy words warm on his skin, damn near giving him goose bumps. “That would have been worse than anything my brother has ever done.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Trevor said firmly, squeezing her shoulders a bit tighter. “There’s nothing Connor can do that would get me away from you.”
He was so focused on thinking about what he’d just promised—and what it meant for his future with the Pack—that he wasn’t aware she pushed herself up off his chest until she bent her head and kissed him.
It was a tame kiss—at least compared to the one they’d shared that morning—but it was tantalizing all the same, and for a moment, Trevor wanted nothing more than to urge Jenna on top of him and kiss her until she fell apart in his arms.
But before things could go that far, Jenna pulled back, smiling down at him in the darkness. “Thanks,” she murmured, kissing him gently again. “I can’t put into words how much I needed to hear that. I also can’t put into words how much you’ve come to mean to me.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but Jenna didn’t give him a chance. Instead, she settled back down to his chest, snuggling against him, the hand that had been on his stomach wrapping around him, squeezing him tight. It seemed like it was only a few moments later that he picked up the sounds of her breathing, realizing she had dropped off to sleep.
Trevor lay there in the darkness, smiling up at the ceiling. He wasn’t too worried about what came next with him and the Pack, as long as he had this. And as long as he had Jenna in his arms.
CHAPTER 9
