“I’m not trapped, Ink.”
“Just listen to me.”
“Are you saying you don’t want to be with me?” Panic filled her face.
“Jesus, baby, no.” He drew her close to his chest. “This is what I get for letting Duke in my head.”
“What do you mean?”
He sighed. “Duke pointed out how fucking vulnerable you are and how I have to be careful not to take advantage. Personally, I want to take you to my home, tie you to my bed and not let you leave until there’s a ring on your finger and no way that any other man could satisfy you. But apparently, that’s not acceptable behavior.”
He said the last part in a high voice.
“Are you trying to imitate Duke?”
“Sometimes having him as the voice of reason is fucking annoying.”
“What?”
“Duke isn’t just a friend, he’s also my brother. Not blood brothers. But after his family died in a car accident, he came to live with my family.”
“Oh no, poor Duke.”
“Yeah. He got dropped off to spend the night, said goodbye to them and then never saw them again.” He grabbed hold of her hand, tugging her over to the sofa and sitting her next to him. “He aged overnight. And he became a pain in my ass. Always on at me to do the right thing.”
“Ink!”
He grinned at her, to show her he didn’t really mean it. Sort of. “He needed a lot from my mom and dad. I was an only child, until Duke came along.”
“That must have been hard for you.”
“Harder for him.”
“Yes, but you went overnight from having both your parents’ attention to having to share.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve never been good at sharing. Could have handled it better. But I always felt like a fuck-up next to him. I was an all-around fuck-up to be honest.”
“I’m sure that wasn’t true.”
“Never had good grades. Got into lots of trouble. Most of it he pulled me out of. I had to get out of his shadow, so I joined the armed services as soon as I was out of school. What a stupid idea that was. I was never good with authority.”
She winced. “Yeah, they’re kind of big on people following orders.”
“Apparently. I was a bit of a fuck-up there too. So much so, that even when I had a bad feeling about something, no one listened to me.”
“That wasn’t your fault,” she whispered to him.
“I know that. Most of the time. Thing is, Duke’s likely right because the asshole always is. I can’t just decide to keep you. I have to let it be your decision. You have to be sure that it’s what you want. And not something I’m bulldozing you into.”
“Look at me.”
He met her gaze with his.
“I’m sure Duke is smart. And sensible. And a good brother. But he doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know how close we got over those weeks at the club. I know that you didn’t know who I was, but my feelings, my reactions, after that first night, they were real, Ink.”
He ran his finger down her cheek. “I’m glad, brown eyes. Because so are my feelings for you. But I think we should slow things down.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t want…I can’t…”