Page 24 of Take Me, Sir

Dean

Well, that was a complete and utter fuck-up.

Aside from a couple good drinks, everything else about tonight had been a bust. I hadn't been having much fun outside of my little fantasies, and then Dalton had shown up to tell me, in no uncertain terms, to stay away from Kyndall.

I respected his place as her brother, and as his friend, I should respect his request, even if it had actually been more of an order. But I still wanted her. If I pursued her, though, it could drive a wedge between her and her brother, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. Ruining my friendship would be bad enough. Being responsible for ruining a family was something else entirely.

I yanked my shirt over my head and tossed it onto the sofa. This whole thing was fucked up. I wanted her but knew that going after her would have the sort of repercussions I wasn't willing to risk. My only option was to sit back and wait to see what happened. To see if I could forget her and move on to the next person. To see if, by some fluke, Kyndall and I ran into each other, and I could convince her to...to do what, exactly? Go on a date? Sleep with me again?

I had no fucking idea.

I'd just undone my belt, flicked open the button of my slacks, and was ready to step into the bathroom when someone knocked on my door. I sighed, running my hand over my hair as I walked back over to it. I hadn't ordered any room service or anything like that, but the hotel had occasionally sent some perks up to me over the past six months, and some expensive alcohol sounded good at the moment.

Except when I opened the door, it wasn't a hotel employee standing on the other side, staring at my bare chest.

“Kyndall.”

“Can I come in?” She still wasn't looking at my face, but her eyes had moved away from my torso to some fixed point behind me.

“Of course.” I stepped back, my answer and actions coming before any true consideration of what I should say or do.

Dalton had told me to stay away, but she had come to me. She was an adult, and this was her choice. I wouldn't pressure her into anything. Besides, she looked like she could use a friend, and while I wasn't sure I really counted as one, she must have thought of me like that in some way since she was here.

These were all the things I told myself as I closed the door and followed her farther into the room.

“Did you tell Dalton that you and I slept together?”

Her question had an edge that told me my answer would shape the way everything between us went from here.

I gave her the truth. “I told him that you were an adult and that if you wanted him to know anything about your personal life, you would tell him.”

She nodded, her lips pressed together in a straight line. I took a step toward her, my hands clenching into fists so I wouldn't touch her. I wanted to be closer to her, comfort her, but I was going to stick with my decision to let her make a move here. I couldn't bring myself to walk away, but I could at least give Dalton this: I could let it be her choice.

She ruffled her hair in the sort of absent-minded way that told me it was a nervous gesture. “I babysat for Dalton and Juliette tonight. When I got to their place earlier, Dalton said something about me going on a date with a guy Juliette knew.”

The stab of jealousy I felt surprised me, but I didn't say anything. She had a story to tell and I was going to let her.

“I told him that I'd already met someone,” she continued. “He kept pushing until I said it was you. He told me that you were too old and too experienced for me.”

She finally looked straight at me. Shit. That wasn't a conversation I wanted to have right now, but I could at least get one question out of the way, especially since it was one I'd been turning over in the back of my head since I found out who she was.

“I'm thirty-one.”

She nodded but didn't freak out. “Twenty-two.”

Okay, a bit younger than I usually went for, but not jailbait. If it didn't bother her, then I didn't care either. I braced myself for the next inevitable question, but it didn't come.

“I pretty much blew him off after he and Juliette left, but then they came home and the shit hit the fan.” She sat down on the loveseat. “He wanted to know if we'd slept together, and then asked if you'd given me money.”

“What the hell?” I couldn't stop myself. What had Dalton been thinking, asking his sister something like that?

“Yeah, that was pretty much my response,” she said dryly. “When I told him he was being an asshole, he told me that he didn't want me earning money by doing something I'd regret.”

“Wanker,” I muttered.

She laughed at that, but it wasn't a happy laugh. “It gets better...or worse, I guess, depending on how you look at it. How he said it...Juliette had been pissed at him when they got home. I got the impression that she'd been trying to tell him that what I did was none of his business, and he didn't agree.”

I nodded, remembering how Juliette had been at the club.

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