Page 32 of Tell Me Again
“They’re good friends.” She took a step closer and gestured to the drywall behind him. “You’re making great progress in here.”
“It’s coming along, but the schedule’s tight to have everything ready by the wedding weekend.”
“Grace called me the other night,” she said suddenly. “She asked about modeling agencies.”
He kept his expression carefully blank. “What did you tell her?”
She cocked her head, studying him. “What do you think I told her?”
“If I knew,” he said through clenched teeth, “why would I ask?”
“But you knew she called me...”
“Hell, yeah, I—” He stopped, pulled in a deep breath. “Am I that easy to read?”
“You are when it comes to Grace and me,” she said with a tight smile. “The disapproval is like an electrical current coming off you. I keep dodging so I won’t be shocked by it.”
He refused to be shamed because he was protective of his daughter. That was his job as a dad. “I told her something she didn’t want to hear, so she went running to you.”
She shook her head. “Always ready to make me the enemy.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her she was too young.”
“See what I—” He stopped short. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I said that I’d be here to help when the time was right, but she needed your approval before she thought about pursuing any type of modeling work.”
“Thank you,” he answered simply. The knowledge that he was an unmitigated ass snagged in his chest, the barbs of it poking and painful. He took a step toward Sam. “I owe you an apology.”
“No need,” she said with a flick of her wrist.
He caught her hand and held it between both of his. “There is a need, and I’m sorry.”
“Are you done avoiding me now?” She glanced up at him, her deep blue eyes clouded with pain. Color flooded her high cheekbones. Christ, he’d hurt her feelings. Maybe her friends weren’t too far off the mark with that gooey-center comment. She’d certainly been more sensitive than she looked when they were teens. Her vulnerability, so well hidden that even she barely realized it was a part of her, was one of the things that had first drawn him to her.
And as much as they looked alike, Bryce didn’t have the same soft heart. It gave him a better understanding of why Sam had cut off ties with her twin, rather than be constantly speared by Bryce’s possessive manipulations.
“I’m sorry for that, too,” he whispered.
She tugged at her hand but he didn’t let go. “It’s fine. I get it. We had sex and it’s out of your system.”
He turned her hand and bent his head to place a kiss on the soft inside of her wrist. A shiver rippled through her at his touch. “You were never out of my system,” he said against her skin. “Being with you only makes me want more.” He glanced up now and didn’t try to hide his desire. “I’m avoiding you because the alternative is to spend all my waking hours, and most of my sleeping ones, in agony from how much I want you.”
She gave a husky laugh. “Aren’t we a pair?” She stepped closer, into his space. “What’s the plan? Do we spend the next few weeks taking turns dodging the other?”
“Or we can spend themnottrying to stop something we both want,” he suggested, leaning in to nuzzle her throat. “I want more of you, Sam. Christ, it feels like I need you like I need air.” Her eyes widened and he was glad he shocked her. The intensity of his desire was a shock for him, too. “Say no if you’re done with me but not because you’re afraid.”
“I don’t want to mess things up and have it hurt Grace,” she said on a sigh.
He loved that little sound and even more that her first thought was protecting his daughter. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t.”
She pulled back, her gaze serious but clear. “We have to set parameters.”
Since most of his blood had rushed to the southern half of his body, it took Trevor a minute to follow her train of thought. “Parameters?”
She nodded as if it was totally clear. “We can be together while you’re working on the repairs. It will be a break from regular life, and when it’s done we agree to end things amicably and focus on Grace.”
