Page 77 of Craving Sin

“Oh, great. The psycho is here,” he says, and I have to bite back a smile.

“Yes, and I get to be your babysitter,” Conan replies.

Abbott whips his attention toward me. “What’s he talking about, Rian? I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Fuck off, you asshole,” I tell Conan before taking Abbott’s hands, pulling him closer, and wrapping my arms around him.

“Oh,” he says, clearly surprised at my display of affection.

“Did you sleep well?” I rub my nose against his.

“Yes. Until I realized I was alone.”

I smile. “You smell like me,” I tell him.

“Good…but you’re not distracting me about this babysitting thing. I’m a thirty-eight-year-old. I don’t need to be watched.”

“I know, but I have something I need to do, and I don’t want to worry about you today.”

“So, you leave me with a man who’s threatened to kill me.”

“I won’t anymore…well, unless you hurt Rian. But if I kill you, he’ll try to kill me, and it’ll be a whole thing,” Conan says.

I turn to look at him. “Who are you and why are you acting like Rory right now? I would expect that from Finan but not you.”

Conan shrugs, then walks away.

“Who is going to look for me at your house?” Abbott asks, but if people were watching him, they might know who he left with. Maybe they know I snuck into his house the other night too. “And now that I’m thinking about this again, what if those guys were lying?”

“Indulge me,” I say, walking him backward until he’s stopped by the wall. “Stay here with Conan until I get back.” My eyes fall closed, forehead against his. “I can’t worry about you.”

Abbott sighs, moving his hands to my hips and holding on. “Jesus, Rian. Fine. Okay. I’ll stay with him. Is it always going to be like this?”

“Probably…it’s a lot…to be wanted by me.” The word loved is right there, but I can’t force it free yet.

“I like being wanted by you.” He kisses me. “But your friend is an asshole.”

“We’re all assholes.” I grin before sobering. “I need to see Cillian. It’s important that I’m the one who talks to him about you. I don’t want him to find out another way, and with you being here…I just need to do it now.”

His handsome features loosen, going from frustration about Conan to this softness that he sometimes looks at me with. The one that says he thinks I’m better than I am, that somehow, he thinks I deserve him, that he sees more than the terrible things we do.

“You’re going to tell him we’re…whatever we are?” Abbott asks.

“Yes.” It would be impossible for me to hide it, but the truth is, I don’t want to. I missed feeling, having someone who is mine, and now that I do, I don’t know how I ever went without it. I like being a part of a couple, having a person.

I want someone I can disappear with, a place where I’m more than Rian O’Shea, Sloan’s brother, or my father’s son. Where I’m not the boss, or my brother’s keeper. I’m just me. Rian. Father. Partner. Lover.

“Are you sure?”

I frown. “Unless you don’t want me to.”

“I do,” he rushes out. “I just needed to make sure it’s because you want to.”

I kiss him again. “I do. I’m going to claim you every chance I get. Now come on, let’s see if we can get another load on you before I go.”

“Race you upstairs,” he surprises me by saying, then takes off into a run.

Laughing, I chase after him, unable to remember the last time I felt so happy.