Twisted (Steel Brothers Saga 8)

He sighed. “I might. I love my brothers and my sister, but they lied to me.” He cleared his throat. “You lied to me too.”

I had known that would come up eventually. “I didn’t lie, Ryan.”

“Fine. Semantics. You omitted. Then you gave my hair to my sister for a DNA test.”

“We’ve been through that.”

He sighed again. “I know. The least you could have done is fought me on it. But no. You did the cop thing. You admitted your wr

ongdoing and stepped up to take the consequences.”

I braced myself. “So what are the consequences?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.” He looked me straight in the eyes. “I don’t know if I can trust you.”

I gulped, my heart pounding. “You can trust me, Ryan. I swear it.”

“I’d like to be able to.”

“Then do. I won’t let you down.” I put the container of food on a nearby table and went to him, cupping his cheeks, staring into his sad but beautiful brown eyes.

“I want to. I want…a lot of things from you.”

I had no idea what he was getting at. I loved him with all my heart, but I wasn’t sure someone as amazing as Ryan Steel could ever love me.

“Anything. What do you need?”

He smiled. “First, you can tell your psycho father that the Steels aren’t going anywhere.”

Good sign. I hadn’t bought it when he said he might back off. He still considered himself a Steel. Of course he was one. He had the same father as the others. “He hung up before I could say anything, but my father isn’t stupid. He knows I won’t call you off, even if I could.”

“Good.” He winked. “I’ve got one hell of a boner right now, so next, you can climb on top of me.”

I chilled. We were in the hospital where anyone could walk in. “Ryan, that’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“You’re recovering from a concussion, for one. And we’re in a public place.”

“No more public than when we were on a nude beach.”

“Oh my God…”

“And this is a private room. I’ll bet there’s a lock on the door.”

I looked toward the door. There was a lock. Still…this wasn’t happening.

Was it?

I was turned on already, just thinking about having Ryan again. “Why would you want to fuck someone you’re not sure you trust?”

“Christ, Ruby. I can’t help what you do to me. I can’t help what I feel.”

What do you feel? The question was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t bring forth the words. In all likelihood, he only meant that he was feeling something physical.

In truth, so was I.

I couldn’t tell Ryan I loved him—I was too insecure, too frightened, to do that—but maybe I could show him. Besides, I had to make some use of the pink string flossing my butt. What had I been thinking, trying to wear a thong? It was so not me.