I’m no match for my brother, and if he is strung out? He’ll have a wiry strength I can’t handle. I know that firsthand, memories of my hands trying to pull his wrists off my neck very clear in my mind.
“Okay, fine. I appreciate you making sure I get home safely.” I’d be a fool to fight Jason’s protective nature.
“You still don’t get it. But you will.” He shakes his head, amusement warring with a more serious expression. “You’re coming home with me, sweetness. I’m not leaving you here or in that shitty walk-up with a crappy lock your brother could break with one good kick.”
“Hey! That’s my apartment you’re insulting!” And all I can afford.
“It’s only an insult if I’m wrong.” He studies me, as if daring me to argue.
“I can’t just move in with you!”
He sighs. “Fine. You need someone to vouch for me? We can call my partners. Or my sister. Or… Hey, Sam! Am I trustworthy?” Jason yells out to the man who is just climbing down a ladder, my clean window staring back at me.
Sam strides up to us and looks from Jason to me and back again. “Best man I know. Take a look at this.” Reaching into his pocket, Sam pulls out his phone, then begins scrolling through his pictures.
“This is my girl.” He turns the phone so I can see a picture of a grinning little pixie with a bright smile and a pom-pom hat on her bald head, no hair hanging down beneath the folded brim.
“She’s beautiful,” I say, sliding my finger over her face.
“And if it wasn’t for this guy introducing us to his sister, I don’t think my wife and I would have made it through theroughest parts of her illness.” He shoves his phone back into his pocket.
Looking up at Jason from beneath my lashes, I catch a flush on his cheeks.
“It just so happens I could help you, man. But I’m glad Sienna could do her part. She loves fundraising and doing anything she can for kids who’ve been through what she has.”
I would like to help her one day, when there’s no danger following me around, I think sadly. For now, though, I have to fight through my own problems and not bring them into other people’s lives.
“Thanks, Sam.” Jason all but dismisses his friend, who waves and walks back to the other guy helping him.
“So? Still think I’m a serial killer?” Jason asks me.
“I never said—”
“Oh, by the way, my cousin ate one of your marshmallow pops and went crazy for them. She’d like you to contact her about doing the party favors for her son’s birthday party. So now I’m hooking you up with business. I really think you can trust me to keep you safe.” He grins at his smug proclamation.
I want to smack him… and kiss him at the same time. He has my head spinning, and I know that’s his intention. To keep me off-balance and win me over at the same time. So I am too overwhelmed to say no to his proposition about me moving in with him.
But I have to be smart about things. “I’m not questioning your ability to keep me safe, I’m wondering why you’re taking me on as your responsibility?” My tone along with my emotions sober.
He grasps my hand and pulls me into the back kitchen area, where we can be alone. Backing me against the prep counter, his big body hovers over mine.
“From the second we met, there was a connection between us. I felt it and so did you. Then I ignored your tire and my gut screaming it was more than vandalism, and this happened. Now I know I should have paid attention.” He draws a deep breath.
So do I, and his delicious cologne sweeps over me. I steel myself against his appeal because what we are discussing now is deadly serious.
“There’s a lot about me I don’t talk about,” he goes on. “I’m not saying never, I’m just saying for now. All you need to understand is that I’ve been in this situation before, being able to possibly prevent something bad from happening and ignoring my gut. I won’t do that again. So when I say you’re coming home with me? I mean it.”
This is the second time he’s mentioned the connection between us, and despite my wariness, I agree that there is one. But if I go to his home, it has to be about necessity, not desire.
“Thank you.” I appreciate his honesty and feel he deserves mine in return. “I’ll come with you, but connection or not, we’re not sleeping together.”
An amused smirk pulls at that sexy mouth. “I was planning on giving you your own room.”
“Oh.” Now I feel stupid, and my cheeks burn with embarrassment.
He brushes his hand down my cheek and my body trembles with awareness. “But if you get scared in the middle of the night, feel free to come sleep with me.”
***
