Page 66 of Billionaire Unforgettable: Tanner

Trust took time, but I was starting to lose my battle for sanity when I was around Hannah.

Surprisingly, Devon didn’t look the least bit fazed by my admission.

“Glad you finally realized that,” he said as his attention went back to his burger. “When you get her back, I’ll be the first one to celebrate. You’ve been a cranky asshole for the last seven years. I’m not going to bullshit and say that you’re a ray of sunshine now, but you’re a lot happier since Hannah came back into your life. Plus, she’ll finally be my sister-in-law. Win-win.”

“I wish it was that easy,” I rumbled.

“It is easy,” he contradicted. “The feelings are still there. Just pick up where you left off, but don’t be a dick this time.”

“I’m not going to be a dick,” I informed him. “But we can’t just pick up where we left off. It’s been seven years, and neither of us are the same as we were before.”

In a more serious voice, he answered, “Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be, Tanner. You were always the most thoughtful Remington brother. You analyze things to death when it comes to Hannah.”

I shot him an annoyed look. “When you want something bad enough, you want to make sure you don’t screw it up. Hannah doesn’t completely trust me anymore.”

“Yes, she does,” Devon countered. “If she didn’t trust you, she never would have made a business deal with you. This business means a lot to her.”

I’d thought about that, and those thoughts had made me a little more hopeful. “Just because she trusted me in business doesn’t mean that she wants to be with me personally again.”

“Like I said,” he answered. “You make things way too complicated. You don’t have to be the same people you were years ago. People change over the years. The feelings just still have to be there. You and Hannah both feel the same way you did a long time ago. Seduce her and get it over with. That kind of sexual tension will make a guy insane.”

I shot him a curious look. “How would you know what it’s like to want a woman you can’t have?”

“I probably know more about getting burned than you might think,” he replied evasively.

“Are you ever going to tell me who she was?” I asked.

Devon might act like he never wanted entanglements of any kind, but all of that was bravado.

I’d always known that.

He dated, but he always managed to keep things simple and uninvolved.

Devon only dated women who wouldn’t tie him down or ask for more than he wanted to give, and I knew there was a reason for that.

There had been a woman he’d cared about at one time, but it must have been so short-lived that his family had never known what had happened.

“Nope,” Devon quipped. “And nothing really happened. You’re going to have to accept that I just don’t want the same thing that you and Kaleb do. I’m happy with my life, Tanner. I like my freedom. Just let it go.”

Kaleb and I had tried to figure out what was going on with Devon for years, and he hadn’t budged. We’d had a few theories, but I didn’t think what we assumed was actually true.

Whatever it was, there was something that had happened to Devon that we didn’t know about.

I didn’t buy that nothing had happened to change him.

In college, he’d wanted to meet someone in the future that he could share his life with.

For some reason, that had changed, and he’d become more than a little jaded about relationships and commitment.

It was a little perplexing that we’d never been able to wring the truth out of him.

For the most part, we’d always told each other everything.

Devon might act like he didn’t care about anything, but there was a heart buried under that cynicism of his.

He’d taken our father’s death just as hard as Kaleb and I had. He joked about prowling around Mom’s ranch because he wanted food, but I knew the truth.

Just like Kaleb and me, he was protective of the parent he still had.

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