“Yeah. I got that. 007 doesn’t know how to approach a virgin, I get it.”
“I never said that she was.”
His brother-in-law sighed. “Okay, so maybe she just doesn’t have that much experience. Just, take it slowly. She’s out of her element and probably exhausted from the injury and running for over two years. Be nice.”
“Be nice? That’s your advice?” He couldn’t hide his sarcasm.
“Well, I do know what I’m doing.”
“Oh, you do?”
“Yeah. I’m married to the woman of my dreams and she’s having our baby.”
Well, damn, he was right.
The door opened. Lila stood there, her hair slicked back from her face, and dammit, she was stunning. Was she pale? Did she look like she had been through hell? Yes, on both counts. But he wanted her.
“I gotta go, Seth.”
“Gotcha. Talk to you later.”
Then he hung up. The fact that his sister often did the same thing shouldn’t surprise him. Autumn was definitely rubbing off on her husband.
He heard a murmur of voices and knew that El and Jenner had arrived. “Come on. If we don’t get out there now, those two will steal all of Dad’s pancakes.”
“Who were you talking to?”
“My sister and then my brother-in-law.”
“About me?”
“About the situation, but it’s because they’re family.” He definitely didn’t want to tell her that he had been calling them to ask about their discussion. “And Autumn got sick halfway through the call.”
She nodded but said nothing else as she watched him with wary eyes. Those eyes…they would always get to him. They were unique, just like the woman.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Just thinking I like your eyes.”
“Well, that’s something. Some jerk in school called them devil eyes.”
“Tell me his name and I’ll hurt him.”
There was a beat of silence. “I took care of him. I broke his nose and then I got detention.”
Before he could respond to that, his father poked his head back into the room. “Come on. I told El and Jenner they couldn’t have any until you had yours first. Need to put some weight on you.”
Her face flushed, but she nodded and hurried out of the room. He went to follow her, but his father settled a hand on his chest to stop him.
“You need to watch yourself.”
He blinked. His own damned father was telling him what to do? Okay, most fathers would feel the need to tell their sons what to do, but this was different. He was warning Ian away from Lila and that ticked him off.
“Just what do you mean?”
He knew exactly what his father meant. Ian was still trying to deal with the revelation that Lila just might be a virgin, or at the very least, not very experienced. He was trying his best to get his head screwed on straight, and it just didn’t seem to be working.
“I don’t want you…just, she’s not like other people. She’s fragile.”
