Page 37 of When We Dare

“Yeah?”

Parker closed his eyes, leaning his head back before he leveled his gaze with mine again. “That’s my sister.”

“No way.” I shook my head, as if that would change the situation.

“Paralegal, just finished law school, studying for the bar, works for Blackthorne Law here in town,” he recited the details about Stella.

“Oh, my God,” I said slowly.

Parker narrowed his eyes. “You’d better not hurt her.”

I held both hands up in surrender. “Dude, I’m talking to you about her because I’m pretty sure I’m in love with her.”

I was scrambling inside. I was terrified to be in love with anyone. And yet, I was falling in love with Stella and my heart had zero doubts.

“Fuck!” Parker ran his fingers through his hair as he stared back at me. “Does Stella know?”

“Does Stella know what?”

“That you’re in love with her. Have you told her your whole story?” he demanded.

I dropped my head forward into my hands, feeling my ragged sigh filter through my fingers. When I lifted my head again, I didn’t even have to say anything.

Parker knew the answer. “You’d better tell her.”

“I will. Look, I didn’t plan this. Stella told me she didn’t want to get serious. I’ll tell her, but that’s probably the end of it. She’s gonna fucking hate me.”

My friend shook his head. “She knows my story.”

I drew in a slow breath, steeling myself mentally as I nodded. “I’ll talk to her.”

When I arrived home and saw Stella’s car there, my anticipation for her kept humming along inside. But now, it was mingled with a subtle anxiety and almost dread. I wasn’t ashamed of my past. A lot of feelings about the trouble I had gotten into were linked to my father. I knew perfectly well that he had struggled to straighten his life up in part due to how many people judged him for his mistakes. I was deeply proud of him now. By no meanswas his life perfect, but he’d made some actual changes. He was trying to do the right thing.

I wasn’t sure how to address this with Stella. In my heart, I knew most of my anxiety around this was because I was in love with her. It was one thing to break our rule about not sleeping in the same bed, but it was something else altogether to fall in love with her. I could run straight toward a fire in the wilderness, but the idea of bearing my heart was terrifying, and I wanted to run away from it.

When I walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, taking longer than I usually would to shrug out of my jacket and put my boots in the tray by the door, Stella was rinsing a glass in the sink. Her blond curls were pulled up in a messy ponytail. I wanted to walk up behind her and smooth my hands down her sides and nuzzle her neck. I loved how she always smelled a little sweet.

“Hey,” I said. Even I noticed that my voice sounded strange, almost stilted.

She set the glass in the rack beside the sink and dried her hands on a dish towel. Her lips curled in a smile and my heart tripped and stumbled. Fuck me. This woman, so sweet and independent. She was everything I’d never expected and so much more.

Stella read the room instantly. “Is everything okay?” Her eyes searched my face.

It didn’t surprise me, not even a little, that she knew something was weighing on me. I let my breath out in an abrupt gust. “You know how I mentioned I had a good friend who moved here?”

Her brows rose up. “Uh-huh.”

“Well, it turns out he’s your brother, or I guess your half-brother.”

“Parker?” Her voice squeaked on the second syllable.

“Yeah.”

Her eyes went wide as she lowered her hands, absently tossing the dish towel onto the counter. “What… how… did this…?” Her questions kept starting and stopping.

I pressed my tongue in my cheek as I cocked my head to the side, letting out a wondering chuckle. What I said next shocked me.

“Parker was one of my closest friends in high school. We met in detention. I was afraid to tell you because I thought you might judge me, what with you being in law school and everything.” I made the sign of the cross in front of my chest. “I’m not the most religious guy, but you need to know I’m not lying. I haven’t gotten in any trouble since then. I promise. Just like Parker, I had a dad who didn’t make the best decisions and I got pulled into it. It’s not my dad’s fault, but it didn’t help.”

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