Page 32 of Rugged

He stiffened slightly. Enough to make me twist in his lap to sit sideways with my arm draped around his broad shoulders, so I could see his face.

“What is it?”

“I…” He opened his mouth then closed it again. “It’s not a great story, to be honest.”

I drew back. “Oh. Well, um, you don’t have to tell it. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to–”

“No, no. Don’t be sorry. It’s just…” He swallowed. “I kinda got kicked out of my home.”

My eyes widened.

“I mean, I was an adult and all, so no big deal.”

“Eighteen is hardly an adult,” I rushed in, angry on his behalf. What kind of parents just kicked their kid out at that age? I guessed a lot did, but I found that pretty heartless.

“Why? Did something happen?”

He nodded, face sober. “My sister…got assaulted. And I broke it up. And…” He swallowed, hard.

I held my breath, waiting.

“He’d hurt her, and I was young. I…I got violent.”

“Oh.” It took me a breath to absorb that because I found it hard to reconcile violence with the considerate, attentive guy holding me. But I could see him being protective. He was the hero who hadn’t hesitated to rush in to rescue me from my burnt cookies and a false fire alarm.

“Well, of course you did. It was the heat of the moment.”

Johnny met my gaze. I saw anxiety in his brown eyes–like he was sure I would reject him, too. “I definitely took it too far.”

I held my breath. Did he mean….too far, too far?

Actually, I didn’t want to know. Whatever happened, it had been traumatic for him and all involved. He must have been scared. The fact that it still messed with him, years later, was telling. I blinked back tears.

He looked alarmed.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

He gave me a squeeze. “You–you’re sorry? For me?”

“Yes. It sounds like a horrible, no-win situation, and you did what you had to in the moment to make sure your sister was safe. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Johnny dropped his forehead into my shoulder and sighed, like he was overwhelmed by emotion he refused to show.

My heart thudded with his nearness. With his vulnerability and the closeness we’d just forged.

Maybe this was more than a hot date. My fantasy guy just took on three-dimensionality. Depth.

A heart with wounds in it.

He might have seemed absolutely perfect, but he was human, with flaws and insecurities, just like me.

I burrowed my fingers into the hair at the back of his head and massaged. “Well, I’m glad you found this ranch,” I said. “It seems like you’re part of a family here.”

He lifted his head and nodded, eyes crinkling. “Found family is the very best kind.”

Found family. That’s what I had witnessed in the big ranch kitchen this morning. What I’d been a little envious of. I’d had Lyssa as a constant partner growing up, and we’d even started at the same college before she dropped out to pursue a modeling gig in New York. It hadn’t panned out, but it started her on her years’ long adventures that now had her in Ibiza.

I was used to working collaboratively with people. As a team. That was why movie effects felt like a good fit at first. But it wasn’t a family, not at all. That team was toxic.

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