Secret (Betrothed 9)

“All because of the words I said to the big man upstairs?”

He nodded.

Unsure what to say to that, I just stared, stared at this beautiful man. I’d thought about my time in his cage many times, wondered why this man released me when my odds of survival seemed too slim. That felt like a different time now, even though it was just a few months ago. And this man felt like a whole different person.

“Do you have to work tomorrow?”

His question brought me back to the conversation. “No.”

“You want to have dinner with me?”

“I always have dinner with you.” We were together almost every single night, sleeping over at each other’s places in an unpredictable pattern. We usually cooked something at home and watched TV on the couch. Our nighttime routine was to go to bed, have sex, and then fall asleep.

“I mean go out to dinner with me.”

“Oh…sure.” I didn’t mind going out to a restaurant with him, but to be honest, I preferred eating at home. When we were out, I couldn’t touch him the way I wanted, couldn’t say whatever popped into my mind because it was too inappropriate for a public place.

“Balto and his wife will be joining us too.” He smiled slightly, as if he anticipated my tantrum before it even happened.

“Wow…back up.”

He chuckled.

“What do you mean, they’ll be joining us?”

“As in, they’ll be sitting at the same table as us, sharing an appetizer with us.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s rude not to share.”

I slapped his arm because now wasn’t the time to be a smartass.

He chuckled at my venom. “It was their idea.”

“Because Cassini wants to fight me?”

Now, he laughed. “No. And if she did, you would kick her ass, baby.”

I was still mortified by that night. I wouldn’t be able to look them in the eye ever again.

“Come on, it’s not a big deal.”

“Uh, you weren’t there. I slugged your brother like I was a bully on the playground.”

“And I wish I had been there. Would love to see my woman kick my brother’s ass.”

I glared at him. “This isn’t funny.”

“I don’t know…”

I smacked his arm again.

“Baby, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. They don’t dislike you.”

I covered my face with my hands. “Ugh…”

He grabbed both of my wrists and pulled them from my face. “I thought my baby wasn’t afraid of anything?”

“I’m not…except humiliation.”

He brought my wrists to his lips and kissed each one. “Come on.”

“Why do we have to have dinner at all?”

He shrugged. “My brother wants to meet you—properly. He’s my closest friend, so it makes sense that he wants to spend time with the woman I’m seeing.”

This was supposed to be a fling, not a relationship where we met each other’s family.

He seemed to read my thoughts. “I’ve met your friends.”

“But you haven’t slapped any of them…”

“On the ass, maybe.”

My eyes turned to fire.

He smiled, telling me it was a joke. “You and Cassini will get along well.”

“Uh, I really doubt it.” I remembered the way she threatened me when I struck her husband.

His arm wrapped around my waist, and he pulled me close. “I know you’re embarrassed, but I think it’s a lot more embarrassing not to show up. Then they’ll think you’re weak, that you don’t have the spine to look them in the eye, have the balls to keep your confidence, have the poise to laugh it off like the funny story it is.”

Damn, he got me. “Alright…”

He parked his truck at the curb and turned off the engine.

I looked through the windows at the tables inside the restaurant. It was a busy night, the tables full of couples and families. I could feel his stare against the side of my face. “This is gonna be weird.”

“Only weird if you make it weird.”

I turned back to him, seeing the outline of his pecs in his shirt. He was so muscular and firm that the clothes he wore couldn’t hide how fit and sexy he was. It left little to the imagination, but when he was naked, it was so sexy. “I meant because you’re twins. There will be two of you…”

“My brother and I are nothing alike.”

“Really? Because he grabs his wife’s ass exactly the way you grab mine.”

He grinned. “Baby, that’s just a man thing.” He opened the door and got out.

I joined him on the sidewalk, and we entered the restaurant. Heath wrapped his arm around my waist and guided me to the table, seeming to know exactly where his brother was sitting.

We approached the table, seeing Balto with his arm around his wife’s shoulders, looking at her like he didn’t hear a word she spoke, just watched her lips move because he was utterly infatuated with her.

I got that same look from Heath all the time, and now that I saw it from an objective view, I realized just how potent it was, how lucky I was that I had a man who looked at me like that. I was jealous of their affection even though I already had that chemistry with someone.