Page 53 of The Cowboy's Christmas
He did a quick calculation. “Six years.” Had it really been that long?
“Sounds like you’re close to them, what with babysitting and all.”
“I am, but it’s incidental.” He gave her a look. “I dare you to try not to get adopted by Anne Neary. Impossible.”
“Everyone needs a support system.”
“I’m my own support system. Life is a lot less complicated that way.”
“I can see where it would be, but isn’t it a touch lonely?”
“Everybody gets lonely.”
“Amen,” she said in a way that sent a stab through him. Savannah knew loneliness. “Your mom sounds very independent,” she continued, studying the amber liquid in her glass before looking up at him.
“She didn’t lean,” he acknowledged.
“But did she want to?” Savannah asked softly.
He didn’t know.
“I know you’re all into being the lone wolf, but sometimes a wolf is solo for reasons not of his own choosing. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to belong.” She laid a hand on his arm, her palm warm against his skin.
“Great,” he said, his hand closing over the top of hers. “Wolf logic.”
“I know you didn’t get kicked out of the pack. You moved so often that you didn’t get to join.”
“Maybe so.” He squeezed her fingers, then let go. “I think I’ve been this way too long to change.”
She didn’t answer, and the silence was more threatening to his argument than her giving an answer would have been.
It wasn’t like she had the power to make him change, so why did this conversation put him on edge? This was probably leading up to him forging a relationship with his brothers…but what if it wasn’t?
What if he were on the verge of hurting a woman he’d come to care about with his lone wolf ways?
