Obviously, she’d taken his interest in her to mean something. She’d been at the house every day since, which meant he’d spent all his days out on the ranch working, making sure to stay far away from her. He’d managed that successfully until tonight.
He wanted to be on his fucking own. He was in a dark mood. When he got like this, he said and did things he often regretted later. So when he felt the darkness encroaching, he’d take off. His brothers knew not to bother him.
“Yep,” he snarled. He needed to get rid of her. “I’m drinking. Not against the law as far as I know. A man can drink a beer on his own land.”
“But you’re driving.”
He sighed. He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with her. “Not planning on getting drunk.”
“Oh, right.”
His answer to that was just to take another sip of beer.
There was some movement from her, but he didn’t turn, instead he kept his gaze purposely away from her. “What are you doing here, girl?”
“I was just riding past and I saw your truck. I thought I’d check on you.”
“Just riding past, huh? Only this isn’t on the path between your place and mine, is it?”
“Oh, no, but—”
“So, that means you purposely searched me out, right? Did someone tell you I was out here, and you came looking for me? Is that what happened?”
There was silence from her, and he took it as a yes. “I’m here because I want to be alone. That means I don’t want to see any of my family. It especially means I don’t want to see you.” It was a jerk thing to say. Even for him. And he had to force himself not to look over at her. He didn’t want to see how he’d hurt her.
Obviously, nothing he’d done before had penetrated, since here she was searching him out again.
“Actually, no one told me you were here. They were wondering where you were at dinner.”
He’d figured she’d be at dinner, which is part of the reason he’d decided to pass. “I don’t need to check in with them. I’m a fucking grown man. Fucking family dinners around the table, never happened before Mia came along.”
He didn’t mean it. But he was in a bad place and just spouting shit.
“You’re mad at Mia because now you have family dinners?” She looked confused.
“Things were fine the way they were. Didn’t fucking need changing.”
“I don’t understand you sometimes. You protect Mia like she’s made of glass and now you’re bitching about her.”
“I’m not fucking bitching about her,” he growled. “Mia’s a Malone. I’d fucking die for her. Doesn’t mean I have to play happy family every night. Not who we are.”
“I’d give anything to have your family. To have people who watch your back. Most people would kill for that.”
He nearly flinched. He had killed. Not to protect his family, but in revenge.
“Is that why you’ve been following me around? Pretending to be all sweet and friendly in the hopes I’d take an interest in you? Because you want my family?”
She sucked in a sharp breath. Her face paled. It felt like a blow to the gut, but he had to keep going. He had to make this stick, so she’d never look at him again with goddamn hope shining in her eyes.
“What are you talking about?” she whispered.
He waved his hand at her. “Look at you and tell me you’re not trying to pretend you can spread sunshine and glitter wherever you go. All the smiling and positivity, it’s giving me a toothache, sweetheart. Damn, baby, you need to learn who to target.”
“T-target?”
“You picked the wrong brother. If you wanted to latch onto one of us in order to worm your way into our family, I’m the worst choice. Mind you, the others aren’t real interested in settling down either and they can smell bullshit from a mile off. Best find yourself some other family to latch onto.”
“You weren’t a target. And I’m not latching on to your family.” Her eyes were wide, her face pale.