Page 74 of Strangers in Love

“You’re obviously former military.” She gestured toward my face. “I guessed that’s where you got…I mean…oh shit…I’ve had too much to drink.”

I glanced at her beer and wanted to argue the point since she’d barely drank half of it, but embarrassing her even more would’ve just been me being a bastard.

Fortunately, Cain saved me from having to say anything. “We don’t talk about stuff like that.”

“Oh.”

An awkward silence fell for a few long seconds before Fever stood up. “I’m getting a refill. Anyone else want one?”

Tension broken, Cain and Dez said yes, and Fever headed for the bar. As he went, Aline stood too.

“I’ll be back.”

Freedom started to stand, but Aline shook her head. It wasn’t much of a gesture, and I doubted anyone else had caught it, but I found it interesting. I didn’t blame Freedom. If one of my sisters had been kidnapped, I wouldn’t have been letting her go anywhere by herself.

I told myself that was why I watched Aline until she disappeared into the short hall where the bathrooms were located. I didn’t want to have to rescue her again.

“Watch yourself.”

Freedom’s voice was so low that I almost missed it. One look at her face, however, and I knew I hadn’t imagined the warning in her words. It didn’t mean she knew what’d happened, just that she’d caught me staring at her sister.

She didn’t want me checking Aline out, and again, that was something I understood too. I hadn’t always been the best brother growing up, but my sisters all knew that I’d kick the ass of any man who treated them badly. Or who looked like they might treat them badly. Or who didn’t deserve them.

It’d be a miracle if any of them found guys who could put up with all of us.

“Mind if I ask what line of work you’re in?” Bruce gave Freedom the kind of smile that I was sure got him laid more often than not. “Law, maybe? You seem like you could be a lawyer.”

Freedom raised an eyebrow. “I have a master’s degree in International Relations with a focus on language.”

“Wow.” He looked genuinely impressed. “How many languages do you speak?”

“Ten. More or less.” She took a long drink without breaking eye contact with him.

Damn.

Bruce put his hands up. “Yeah, you’rewayoutta my league.”

Everyone laughed, including Freedom, but there was still something tense about her, like she was waiting for something. As the conversation turned into a pissing contest between Bruce and Dez about who had the more impressive resumé, she turned all that intensity on me.

“I know what happened.” Those clear blue eyes were cold as ice. “Don’t fuck around with my sister’s heart.”

I wasn’t sure which caught me off-guard more, the warning or the second curse. I’d assumed that Freedom would be like Aline, tough but with that elegant sort of thing that made any hint of vulgarity seem out of place. Before I could really even finish processing, though, something else happened that blew Freedom’s threat out of the water.

“How dare you.” Aline didn’t shout, but the volume didn’t make her words any less powerful. Her cheeks were red from what appeared to be a combination of embarrassment and anger. “I’m not a child, and I’m getting tired of being treated like one.”

If that hadn’t been enough to surprise us all into silence, Freedom included, Aline’s next move fell like a bomb.

She kissed me.

Not a little brush of lips that I could barely register before it was done. No, this was a full, deep kiss that I had to return because any other response just wasn’t possible. Her hands clutching the front of my shirt, teeth scraping over my bottom lip, tongue exploring my mouth.

I was actually a little dazed by the time she broke away, but not so much that I didn’t hear what she said.

“Take me somewhere we can be alone.”

Her eyes locked with mine, but I knew she was saying this as much for Freedom’s benefit as mine. Not that I cared. I’d need a better reason than that to not agree to do whatever she wanted.

The guys might not approve, and it might even cost me the job I hadn’t started yet, but I couldn’t walk away. Not when she’d put so much on the line. Rejecting her now, even if it was for the right reasons, would be like me agreeing with Freedom that Aline wasn’t an adult with her own mind. I couldn’t do that to her.

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