Page 52 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
“But you don’t want me to move either.”
“No. Stay.”
So I do. I press into his side and soak up his clean, masculine scent.
“Why were you crying?” he whispers, dropping his chin to the top of my head.
“It’s nothing, really.”
“Liar.”
“Don’t call me a liar, Thane. You don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
He sighs, shifting the hair at the top of my head. “Maybe not yet, but I will. I know that you scrunch up your nose, not unlike Hercules actually, for four different emotions, and I suspect it happens for a lot more, so I’ll have to search for other clues to tell me which one I’m dealing with. I know that you care about my sister and other children like her. I know that you like Rowan even though her laugh sounds like a turkey’s gobble.”
“Thane.” I swat at his chest. “It does not.”
“Little liar,” he whispers again. Hearing him be so…gentle is strange, and my heart beats through my skin as though it’s the bass in a nightclub vibrating the floorboards beneath my feet. “My point is, I know enough, and I’m learning more every day, so I know that you’re lying. Why were you crying?”
I’m sick to my stomach even recalling the words I’m about to say. I don’t know if I trust Thane yet, but I want to, and that’s the only reason I spill my news.
“My father is taking me to court, and someone, probably him, is trying to steal my algorithm and data.” There, that wasn’t so bad. But it’s also not the entire story.
Thane turns to granite beneath me. Each inch of his body stills as though he’s slowly becoming concrete beneath my touch.
“What is he taking you to court for?”
There’s the growly caveman I’ve come to know and lo—whoa. That was a slip I’m glad I didn’t say aloud.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll figure it out. I don’t need a knight in shining armor, just someone to listen.”
“It does matter. To me it matters.” He sounds so angry I don’t dare to even peek up at him.
“Why does it matter so much to you?”
“He made you cry,” he roars, and I almost tap out and say “tone,” but I don’t. It’s been a long time since someone’s been angry on my behalf, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t nice to share the uncomfortable emotion with someone.
“He’s always making me cry. It’s nothing new.”
The swing comes to a halt so quickly, I fall forward. I’d be on my hands and knees if Thane hadn’t grabbed me by the hips and hefted me back onto the seat. It happens so fast I can almost convince myself that I imagined it, except that Thane is now standing between my legs and cradling my face.
“It’s unacceptable.” The power behind his words worms into my being as if he’s the medicine my particular brand of sickness has always craved. Has anyone ever cared this much about anything concerning me?
Sure, my brother loves me, and would do anything for me, but it’s different with Thane.
“It’s unavoidable.” I barely get the words out before he presses his frame into my belly and lifts me over his shoulder. His hands are on my bare thighs as my cutoff denim shorts ride precariously high.
“Nothing is unavoidable.” He grunts when my head bobs against his back as he begins walking.
“Put me down. What the hell are you doing?”
His hands squeeze my legs, holding me in place.
“Thane?” Rafe’s voice sounds strange from upside down.
Bracing myself against Thane’s back with both of my hands, I attempt to figure out which direction we’re headed, but now I’m eating my hair, so I drop myself like dead weight and bang against his back with both fists.
“Go back inside, Rafe. This doesn’t concern you.”
