“Somebody successful,” he answered quickly.
“Riggs owns his own business.”
Marshall’s jaw ticked. “Somebody cautious.”
I thought about the way Riggs traced his fingers and his mouth over all the places his leather cuffs had kissed my skin. “He is.”
“Somebody who puts you first.”
I remembered humping Riggs’s leg to come, remembered his hand around my throat in the bathroom at Rapture the firstnight we met. Remembered him on his knees in the shower, soapy hands working their way up the inside of my thighs.
“He does,” I answered, voice a little raspier than I would have hoped considering the words were directed at my brother.
“I want to meet him,” Marshall said, all business. “If it’s serious.”
My heart slammed violently against my sternum, and I regretted finishing my wine because I could have used a good drink of it in that moment. I loved my brothers and I was grateful for them and for their support, but there needed to be some kind of separation between my life and theirs. With Marhsall and Hunter both in relationships now, boundaries had to be expected, and I was allowed to set my own.
I was allowed to have something only for me.
“It is serious,” I said, “but you’ll meet him when I want you to meet him.”
Across the table, Finn and Hunter banged their elbows into each other, mouths stretched into barely restrained smiles. Marshall’s nostrils flared, but he very clearly didn’t know what to say to that. I sucked in a breath and from the corner of my eye saw Finn giving me a thumbs up, almost below the table.
“Right.” Marshall cleared his throat and nodded, smiling at me in a way that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Of course, Smith. Whatever you want.”
CHAPTER 30
RIGGS
Smith showed up at the shop after dinner looking like someone had kicked every puppy on the planet. I unlocked the door, and he walked right into my arms and buried his face against my chest.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, kissing his hair and pushing the door closed behind him. He latched on to me like a barnacle, so I turned us both as one until I could reach the lock to get my keys. It took a lot of work to get us upstairs considering he showed no signs of letting go of me, but I finally fought our way to the apartment and closed that door tight at his back.
“Stood up to my brother tonight,” he muttered. “I think I’m having an adrenaline crash.”
Well. That was good news, at least I was worried something bad had happened. This, to me, sounded like the opposite of bad.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
I sank down to my knees and unlaced Smith’s shoes, pulled his feet out one by one, then walked him into the bedroom. I sat him down on the edge of the bed, glancing up at the way the twinkle lights reflected off his almost glassy eyes. Next, I unrolled the sleeves of his shirt, set to work on the buttons,and stripped him down until he wore nothing except a pair of indecently tight black boxer briefs.
“It wasn’t even…he said he wanted to meet you, but he said it like I couldn’t be with you until he approved and I didn’t like that.”
I smoothed my hands up Smith’s thighs. “I don’t like that either.”
“I told him he could meet you when I wanted him to meet you.” Smith huffed out a surprised breath. “I think Finn and Hunter were proud.”
That was something, considering the third-degree Finn had given me when we’d met on accident before.
“Of course they were,” I agreed. “I know you love your brothers a lot and you think very highly of Marshall especially.”
Smith stared down at the tattoo on his forearm, and I brushed my thumb over one of the lines up near his elbow. He hummed and shivered, giving me a small smile.
“I’m allowed to have things for myself,” he said, even though I got the impression he wasn’t necessarily speaking to me. “I can make my own choices.”
“Of course you can.”
His jaw clicked and he searched my face for something, but what, I wasn’t sure. His tongue made a noise inside his mouth, like he was moving it around and trying to get it to form words that weren’t comfortable for him to actually say out loud.
