Page 66 of Made for You
After a beat, he broke our connection, focusing on the food, so I made myself do the same.
“It’s delicious. Thank you for making this for me.” The chicken was golden brown, with a buttery lemon caper sauce drizzled overtop. He’d made fresh french green beans and a salad on the side.
“I was never very good, but I had Adam give me some lessons before Kiley came to live with me. Just felt like I needed to be able to give her something other than grilled meat and takeout.”
And there it was again. One of the many reasons this man had me in his grip so tight and why I had no desire to get out of it. Yes, he was gorgeous and charming as all get out, but it was this part of him that’d learned to cook for his sister, who’d prioritized her over his own routines and comfort, that made me absolute mush.
“You know, you’re a very dangerous man,” I said, wondering how many times I’d thought it.
Those brown eyes hit me for the tenth time tonight and as usual, everything in me stood up and paid attention.
“Never to you, Nik.”
Oh. How desperately I wanted to believe him.
* * *
We finished dinner and kept talking, moving to the couch in the living room. As the minutes passed, we inched closer together. Since Kiley was due any minute, the evening hadn’t felt like a date in the way one might think, especially since the original plan had included her joining us for dinner. Instead, she dragged in through the door at just after nine o’clock looking exhausted and sad.
Bruce slipped his hand from where it’d rested on my thigh, warm and possessive and more than a little thrilling. He’d made no move in any direction other than just to touch me, to stay connected, his thumb occasionally arcing over the denim of my jeans and making me wish I’d worn a skirt just to feel his skin on mine even though it would’ve been chilly now that fall had officially rolled into Silverton.
“Hey, Ki, you hungry?” He stood and I followed not far behind, doing my best not to encroach.
She stopped, eyes finally flicking up to take in her brother, then me. Her face crumpled, then flattened out in an eerie way that hit me right in the gut.
“Sorry I missed dinner. Like I said, this calc is killing me, and Marcus was trying to help.”
A ragged edge to her voice sent up another warning flare in my mind.
Bruce moved to her then, not stopping until he held her shoulders in her hands. “Is he being good to you?”
She swallowed but nodded. “It’s not Marcus. He’s trying to help me. It’s just—” Her voice dropped out and her eyes flooded, but she gritted her teeth for a moment as she breathed, composing herself as though she’d decided she wouldn’t cry and therefore would doanythingnot to.
“Tell me, Ki. It’s okay. Whatever it is, it’s okay,” he said in a low, soothing voice.
I should go. I shouldn’t be here to interrupt this moment even though seeing Bruce like this, being the wonderful man he was and supporting his sister, only made me fall harder. Kiley’s eyes slid to me, and she blinked away the tears.
“I can go. I’m sorry for—”
“No, it’s fine. I just… my dad’s here.”
Her attention shifted back to Bruce, and the energy changed. Something inexplicably charged, not in the way I often felt when I was close to Bruce, but in a heady and combustible way.
“Where? When? Where is he now? What did he want?”
The businesslike tone took me off guard, the soft solicitousness evaporating in the face of what he clearly determined to be a threat.
“When we were walking to the coffee shop. He pulled up, and Marcus tried to tell him to leave, but he ended up getting out. He bought us coffees and it was fine.”
But everything about her said it wasn’t fine.
“What did he want?” Bruce asked again.
She sighed and let her bag drop from her shoulder andthunkto the ground. “He said a lot of stuff. How sorry he is. How much he regrets getting put in jail. How he thinks…” She dropped her chin and mumbled something.
Bruce exhaled and stepped back, the expression on his face thunderous as he turned away. But when he spoke, it was with that same calm tone he’d managed. “Why don’t you wash up? Let’s get you some food and then maybe Nik can help you with the homework.”
His gaze found mine, and I nodded because there was nothing else I could do, but I could help her with her math. Sign me up for a lifetime of that if it helped either one of them—this brain might as well be good for something.
