Page 41 of Make Her Mine

“I know.”

“They could get hurt.”

He nods. “Like Mia did when she left your family to go back with her parents.”

I press my lips together and nod. He doesn’t need a psych degree. This is all very obvious.

“You have a lot of love to give. A lot of passion. But…” He stops and studies me, clearly trying to decide if he should go on.

I lift my chin. “But?”

“That can be overwhelming for people who aren’t able to give it back to you in equal measure. They feel like they don’t deserve it. Or they feel like they’ll never truly love you enough.”

“I don’t need that,” I argue. “I’m not expecting anything in return.”

He nods. “But you should. You need to be loved and supported and safe too. I think that maybe there’s a space inside that you need to fill up. You keep trying to put more people into it. People who need you. But maybe, what’s missing is the love and security that you need. Maybe you need to be held tightly sometimes instead of always doing the holding.”

Now my heart is pounding so hard. I’m having a hard time taking a deep breath. “You don’t think that Mia and Graham love me back?”

“They both definitely do. But it is really hard to love as hard as you do. Not many people do. It’s just so much.”

Well great. So I am kind of unlovable because I love too much.

This man makes me nuts.

I think he brought me in here, just so he could say things like that, twist my mind and heart up, just to torture me.

“Jefferson Riley,” I bite out. “There is no way I am going to be able to fake liking you for another six days.”

Then I march past him, shove him out of the way, yank open his front door, and stomp down the stairs.

“Do you want a ride?” he calls after me.

Jefferson does live a little further away from downtown, but I have enough pent-up emotion coursing through me right now that a walk will probably do me good.

I simply raise my hand and flip him off over my shoulder.

CHAPTER 10

JEFFERSON

I’m relieved when I show up at Harlow’s door at six-thirty to find that not only does she open it for me, but she is ready to go to dinner.

After that morning in my living room, I wasn’t so sure she’d still go with me tonight.

I’m glad we cleared the air. She is under some very specific misunderstandings about my goals and motivations, but at least we’ve started the conversation. And it’s not over.

But we’re going out tonight and she’s not just ready to go, she looks absolutely fucking amazing.

She clearly got my text that the Spencers and my parents decided to move the dinner to the Blue Stone Grill, the steakhouse out on the highway.

The Blue Stone has only been open for about five years but gives us a little bit more upscale dining experience than Dottie’s.

Dottie was thrilled with the idea of a place more geared toward a dinner crowd. She pulled back to offering breakfast and lunch only, opening at six a.m. and closing at four p.m. every day. The Blue Stone opens at four-thirty six days a week and offers a fantastic prime rib and salad bar. It’s the perfect location for dates and fancier family dinners celebrating things like upcoming weddings.

“Wow, you look beautiful,” I say. I’m not buttering her up, it’s true.

Her dark hair is curled and falling loosely past her shoulder blades. She’s wearing a silky blue sundress that brings out the color of her eyes. It’s a sheath that fits against her petite frame and curves perfectly. She’s wearing heels that lift her about two inches off the ground, still putting her well below my chin, but making her legs look amazing.

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