Page 166 of On Merit Alone
Gentle, with my hand on her cheek to keep her focused on me. Quick, because this part of our relationship wasn’t really anyone else's business. But not too quickly because I didn’t want there to be a doubt in anyone’s mind, especially hers, that Merit Jones was my girl. That I was hers. I belonged to her. And I was damn proud of it.
Pulling away, I smiled like a cat that caught the canary. Merit mirrored it in a more bashful, more embarrassed sort of way as she turned her profile to the cameras and hid her face in my shoulder.
I simply raised my eyebrows toward the cameras. “Confirmation enough?”
“Hell yeah!” someone yelled, and everyone laughed.
I chuckled too as Merit promptly began dragging me away with a hand wrapped around my back collar. We slowed as we neared the front entrance of the train station, the large arching doors making everything look grander. And a windblown, scowling Ryan still waiting for us.
“Hello,” Ry said as we stopped before him, his eyes bouncing between us curiously. He looked as if he wanted to say somethingbut decided to hold back. Thinking better of it, he stood up straighter. “You two keep touching… a lot.”
Merit crossed her arms over her chest, spearing him with a sassy glare. “Congratulations, Ryan. Welcome to the party.”
He sliced her with another familiar look. “And this is why we needed to throw you a likability party, Jones.”
His words were harsh. Likereallyharsh, considering how sensitive Mer was about this sort of thing. But when I glanced at her to share a look of incredulity, she was hiding an amused smirk.
Okay, that’s it.Stepping forward, I faced Ry. “Is there something I need to know about here?”
Ryan just rolled his eyes.
“Cool it, King, I’ve known her since she was nineteen. She’s like a little sister to me. That’s it.” Those eyes moved over to Merit and lingered. “Which is why I’m quite surprised since I’ve asked her to tell me everything, and she still doesn’t.”
“That’s impractical, Ry.” She crossed her arms. “I bet your real sister doesn’t even tell you everything.”
“She does. I make her.”
“Well, I tell you the important things,” she said. “I just thought you already knew this one. Everyone else seems to.”
He just hummed, panning a look my way that I’d never gotten from him. I felt my eyebrows draw together. Ry had never looked at me like I was an adversary before. But now, I suddenly felt like an outsider to the two of them as his eyes speared down to where my hand met Merit’s back.
He looked at her again. “And this is important?”
She smiled, her teasing seeming to sober. “Yeah, Ry. I’ll tell you all about it over lunch soon.”
“Hold on, you two get lunch together—” I was cut off abruptly by an arm prying Merit and me apart. Ryan’s touch was that gentle fingertip thing I’d noticed before with Mer, but a sharp, jabbing elbow toward me.
He spoke only to Merit as he ushered her toward the door. “Go on ahead, headache. I need to speak with your little boyfriend for a brief moment.”
She looked at him wearily. “No weird protective stuff, Ryan. We’re at work, remember?”
He smiled down at her with a sneer. “Exactly what I’d like you to remember before you take shots before your shift. You smell like tequila. Go rinse your mouth with that sugar water you like so much. We’ll talk some other time.”
Like she had no choice, Mer cast a glance back at me and gave an apologetic shrug before heading inside. I immediately felt the loss of her presence, which had me turning to the man who’d sent my Merit away in annoyance.
“I no longer get involved because she’s an adult,” Ryan said as he turned to me with his hands in his pockets and a dark look on his face. “But she was nineteen when she first wandered into my office. She was confused and completely alone andsad. And she’s like family now. I care about her.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this.”
He narrowed his eyes right back. “Jealous?”
“Sort of.”
Surprisingly, he huffed a small laugh. “You left before I got my hands on that pencil-neck reporter who made her cry. Otherwise, you might have seen me a lot worse.”
For a moment I delighted in the thought of the havoc Ry might have wreaked that day. I remember the way he stormed in, but after that it had been all Merit. I wish I could have seen it.
I guess now I knew why she’d searched for his help that day. He was all she knew. I should be grateful for him, not jealous. Suddenly, I was.
