“Never again,” Gage had grunted. “We’ll pay you anything you ask; just name the price. Anything to keep you from taking another day off.”
“I don’t think that’s legal,” Lark had intervened on my behalf.
“Don’t care.” He pointed his long index finger at me. “If you ever take a vacation, I’ll quit. Hand to God.” Then he’d spun around and stomped down the hall to his office and slammed the door.
I’d spent the rest of the day putting out fires. I’d appeased clients’ concerns and smoothed all that over, then I’d spent the rest of the time cleaning up the filing that three grown men—who were all computer savvy, I might add—had managed to royally screw up.
By the time my day ended, I was exhausted and just wanted to go home and crash. I swung by and picked up some Chinese takeout for dinner on my way home, knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d have it in me to cook.
I was still driving Stone’s truck around, but despite the fact I wasn’t as angry as I’d been about it the week before, I had yet decided how I felt about the whole situation. But that was okay. After my talk with Lark and Aurora this past Saturday, I felt a lot better giving myself time to decide how I felt.
I turned the truck into my driveway and slammed on the brakes at the sight of the familiar motorcycle parked next to my closed garage door. My eyes swung to the front porch, and I saw Stone sitting on the top step, his gaze pointed at me, and even from this distance, I could feel those whiskey-browns burning into my skin.
Pulling the rest of the way up, I threw the truck in park and killed the engine while I breathed deep, trying to keep calm as I grabbed the bag of food and climbed out.
He stood to his full, imposing height as I came up the walkway and stopped at the foot of the porch steps. “Hey,” he grunted in greeting.
“What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk.”
I really didn’t have the energy to do this. As it was, just standing there I could feel myself starting to sag.
“Stone, I really don’t want to fight with you tonight, okay? It’s been a long day, and I’m tired.”
He took a step down, surprising me by reaching out and brushing a lock of my hair behind my ear. “I’m not here to fight, mouse, I promise. There are some things I want to tell you.” His eyes practically pleaded with me to hear him out. “But if now’s not a good time, I’ll wait. You can name the time and place. Just promise you’ll hear me out.”
I let out a slow, steady breath. He’d just given me an out if I wanted it—sort of—but seeing him standing there, smelling that manly scent of his, I felt a pang deep within my chest.
You’ve missed him, dummy, my brain screamed at me. Stop being an idiot and let him inside.
I shifted in place for a second before meeting his intense gaze. “Are you hungry?” I asked, lifting the heavy bag in my hand. “I got Chinese and they always give me too much to finish by myself.”
He hit me with a smile that made my core pulse. “That sounds great. Thanks.”
He took the bag from my hand, holding it for me as I got my keys out and unlocked the door.
My house felt so much smaller with him standing inside of it. I tried not to let my nerves get to me as we silently plated our food and started eating, but I knew I was blushing furiously, because every time I looked down at his hands or watched his tongue peek out to swipe across his lips as we ate, I was hit with a fresh wave of arousal, knowing exactly how skilled that tongue and those fingers were.
I was halfway done with my meal and his plate was clean when I managed to summon up the courage to ask, “So what did you want to tell me?”
He cleared his throat, wiping his mouth with a paper towel before shifting in his seat to face me full-on.
“I’m not sure how much you’ve heard about me from when I lived here when I was younger, but my mom took off on Shane and me when I was nineteen.”
I vaguely remember hearing something about that, but I’d only been around ten years old when that happened, and our families didn’t really run in the same circles, so I didn’t know much.
“I’m really sorry,” I told him.
“It’s okay. To be honest, her bailing on us was a blessing. Shane was only six at the time, but even when Mom was around, I was still the one taking care of her. Carley didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. The only reason she had either of us was to trap our fathers into staying.” He let out a bitter chuckle and shook his head. “Needless to say, that didn’t work out too well for her, and just like when she left, Shane and I were better off without those assholes in our lives.”
My heart splintered in my chest. “I didn’t know.”
“When we lived with her, she had a revolving door of men. And let me tell you, she could fucking pick them. Losers, every one of them. I grew up in a household where screaming and yelling and throwing things at peoples’ heads was just a typical Tuesday night. Not only did I have to take care of Shane, but she was so worthless that I had to take care of my mom too. I got a job before it was legal for me to be working just so I could pay to keep the lights on and make sure Shane got fed, or to make sure I had bail money when Carley would do something to get her ass thrown in jail.”
“Oh God,” I breathed, the threat of tears for a young Stone burning behind my eyes.
He looked down at the table, his tattooed fingers idly tracing the patterns of the woodgrain. “Like I said, best thing to ever happen to Shane and me was when that bitch left. But by then, she’d already managed to fuck me up. I looked at all those men she had parading in and out of her life, and I told myself, that was never gonna be me. If that was what relationships were about, I didn’t want a goddamn thing to do with them.”
As hard as it was, I made sure not to let the pain of the blow he’d just landed show on my face.
“I’d spent my entire childhood and into my adult years taking care of people. Shane and I talked about it yesterday, and she described what happened to me in the best way. She said that Carley used me up. By the time I was grown, I’d been living my whole life for someone else, and I didn’t think I had anything left to give. I was done. I didn’t want the burden of taking care of another person. I just wanted to live my life.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked on a croak, a whirlwind of emotions making my throat uncomfortably tight.
He met my eyes just then, and what I saw in them stole my breath. “Because what I said to you in the parking lot of Bad Alibi was all bullshit, mouse.”
My eyebrows dipped in and my head canted to the side. “I don’t understand.”
He shifted his chair toward mine, leaning in so close he was all I could see. “I was lying to you to push you away because what I felt for you scared the shit out of me. Since I bailed on this place at twenty-one, I’ve been telling myself I wasn’t a relationship guy, because being with a woman meant you had to live for her. You had to protect her, be the guy she depended on. And I couldn’t do that. When I met you—the first time I saw you—every protective instinct inside me came roaring to life, so I told myself that nothing could ever happen between us.”