“All right. My father was…pretty domineering. Very loving as well, don’t get me wrong. He was a good father. He taught us all from a young age about ranching, about responsibility.”
“But he taught you more about responsibility than the others.”
I nodded. “I was the oldest. Of course I was expected to be the most responsible.”
“And your father? Was he the oldest of his siblings?”
“He only had one brother, but yes, he was the older.”
“That makes a lot of sense.”
“How so?”
“He was most likely taught to be responsible as the older child, and because you were his oldest, he passed that on to you.”
Did he ever. “Yes, he did.”
“Did you ever resent being given such a large amount of responsibility at such a young age?”
“Maybe a little. But in a way I liked it as well. I was the oldest brother. I like being the oldest. I got to learn how to ride a horse first. I got to learn how to ride a bicycle first. I got to learn how to drive a tractor, a car. I got my own room, when Talon and Ryan shared one.”
“Didn’t you grow up in a large ranch house?”
“Yeah, but the two of them liked sharing a room. At least until after…” I cleared my throat. “Talon wanted his own room after that. But me, I always wanted my own. I like alone time.”
“Alone time. Why do you think that is? Why do you like being alone so much?”
“I don’t know. I always have.”
“Do you think it was because it let you escape the responsibility of being the oldest brother sometimes?”
My palms began to itch. Damn, this woman was getting inside my head, and all my defenses were yelling at me to make it stop. I clenched the arms of the recliner, getting ready to stand.
“Going somewhere?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re bracing to leave. Your body language is speaking volumes right now, Jonah.”
She was in my head all right. Well, that was what I was paying for. How was I supposed to let her into my psyche when all I could think about was getting her into my bed?
I forced myself to relax. “You must have misread me. I’m not planning to go anywhere.”
She smiled. “All right.”
She was pacifying me. I could tell. She didn’t believe for a minute that she had misread me.
And of course she was right.
“So let’s get back to you and your alone time. Do you still like your alone time now?”
I nodded.
“What you do during your alone time?”
“Sometimes nothing. Sometimes I swim. I have a lap pool at my house. I’ve always loved the water.”
“I see. What is it that you love about the water?”