Page 42 of Another Damned Pirate

“Sit, please,” he practically growled. I sank down onto the mattress, and the moment I was down, he reminded me of the reason we’d come into the relative privacy of my room. “Now, would you be so kind as to tell me why you felt the need to hurl the pendant at me?” He paused, drawing in a heavy breath. “Please.”

I almost choked when he ground out the last word because there was nothing about it that suggested it was a request. My humor, however, evaporated when I thought of my answer. I owed him the truth, no matter how badly I wanted snark and smart ass my way out of it.

“It was the last straw,” I admitted, shaking my head. “You’ve got to understand, I’ve managed to fuck up so many things recently. Chief among them being letting that bitch’s shadow take over my little brother’s body. I absolutely cannot be responsible for anything else. And certainly not an actual piece of the man I...” I caught myself before I said the word burning the tip of my tongue.

Did I love him? Did I even really know what that meant?

I mean, yeah, I knew what it meant to love my brother. Even Lily, though things there were different now. Romantic love though? What we had was entirely too new for all the strings attached to those four letters.

I could admit that I felt something. Okay, a lot. More than any reasonable person would after a few days with a guy and a few weeks apart.

Did that make it real?

Did it make it any less real?

As I was working through my conflicting thoughts, Hook watched, stoic, giving nothing away. It left me uneasy, and when my hand went to my chest out of habit, reaching for the very thing I’d throw back in his face, I didn’t know what the hell to think.

It wasn’t like he missed the movement. His amber eyes traced the path of my fingers, narrowing slightly before I realized what I was doing and tried to play off the slip like I was just reaching up to scratch my neck.

He knew.

His chin lifted a touch. “Despite your current lack of confidence in yourself—a trait that does not suit you, by the way—I would feel better if you kept it.”

“And what happens when I lose it? Or if the shadow gets its grubby little hands on it? How will you feel about entrusting me with it then?”

“You won’t let that happen,” he said flatly, as though there was no point in arguing.

But I wanted to argue. No, I needed to argue. “What would happen if the shadow snatched it away? Worst-case scenario.”

Hook moved in front of me, dropping to one knee before he reached up and cupped my cheek in one of his big hands. He pulled me into a kiss that pressed pause on the rest of the world. For a few blissful moments, all I knew was his unique mix of energy, like I was caught in a storm that only existed in my room.

He pulled back just far enough to look me in the eye. “You won’t let that happen,” he repeated quietly, with a confidence that almost had me believing him. Right up until I felt the weight of the pendant resting against my chest once again.

I stared down, not fully understanding how he’d managed to slip the chain around my neck and fasten it without me noticing. “You’re crazy. You know that, right?”

“You wouldn’t be the first to accuse me of such, love.”

My heart twisted painfully before it swelled at the sound of that ridiculous four-letter pet name. A vision of the Grinch slipped into my mind, the page in the story when his heart grows three sizes.

I wonder if this is how he felt.

The thought brought a bittersweet smile to lips because the cartoon movie version of the story, the one from the sixties, was a tradition in my house. Matty and I would load up on hot chocolate and eggnog and all our favorite cavity-inducing goodies and curl up on the couch to watch that every Christmas eve.

I met Hook’s steady gaze, now colored with curiosity, though he didn’t ask the question that was so clearly swimming in his thoughts. “I need to save my brother.”

“I know.”

“I can’t let that thing take him from me,” I whispered, hating the tendril of panic that began rising inside me again.

He planted a firm, reassuring hand on my thigh a half second before a loud knock nearly cracked my bedroom door. “Never, you need to see this.” Leo’s voice was barely muffled by the flimsy barrier, so it was all too easy to pick up the urgency in his words.

Hook rocked back and stood in a motion so fluid I would swear the man was made of silk. He held out his hand, and I took it without thinking, letting him pull me to my feet.

It wasn’t that I needed the help. I wanted it. Whatever else was going on inside me, I wanted to be close to him and feel the heat of his body.

I had tried like hell to let the man go, but the truth was I’d missed him fiercely. At least now I knew why holding that damned pendant always seemed to make me feel better. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze, hoping the move said what I couldn’t, and let go.

“It’s open,” I called, forcing myself to turn my attention to the door.

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