Page 38 of Sinful Seduction
He drops his chin, a soft smile wrinkling the corner of his mouth. “They’re parenting me, the way Tim II should have. They’re understanding and kind and selfless and annoyingly tolerant. Fuck knows where they got that from, because it wasn’t from our father.”
“Cato—”
“But you, Mayet… You’re always good for a fight. You’re always ripe for a knock-down-drag-out bust-up, and it turns out I kinda like that, too. When you fight with me, you make me feel like I matter, because we both know you go cold on the people whodon’tmatter. And when you’re whispering with Archer, cuddling and giggling when you think I can’t hear, you become the voice I hear when everything feels hard. Because you accept a Malone—even though he’s a Malone—and you love that asshole so much, you’d trade your life for his. And he makes your flaws pretty. He loves you so much, they stop being flaws, and instead, they become reasons. Reasons to love. Reasons to hold on. Reasons to fight through the hard, knowing the good is worth it.” He folds his arms and looks down at his feet, nervously toeing the floor. “I like knowing I matter, and Iloveknowing I don’t have to die to escape my destiny. Turns out, I get to choose where I go.”
“You’re making it really hard to apologize, just so you know.” I fold my neck and peek up at his emotional, glassy gaze. “I’m a bitch, and you deserve better. I’m trying to say those words, but you keep cutting me off with really sweet things.”
“I’m saying I love you exactly the way you are. And it’s possible I put my shoes on the counter this morning,hopingyou’d explode over it. I leave my things lying around, I take up space, and I push your buttons, because Tim and Archer… Micah and Lix… theyhaveto love me. Family loyalty kinda means they get no choice. But you do. Aubree does.”
“Cato—”
“You fight with me, even when it would besoeasy for you to ignore me instead. I guess… what I’m trying to say is…” He hesitates, shaky and nervous. “I’m saying that I love you, Minka. I love you like I love my brothers, and it woulddestroyme if you ever stopped fighting with me. The shoes and the mess and the picking at you… That’s all for fun. It’s intentional. But I swear… Steve.” His eyes glitter with torment. “I didn’t ignore him. I didn’t do that to annoy you. But after our fight this morning, and our fight on the phone… I can see how you might think I fucked him over on purpose.”
“I don’t think that.” I lay my hand on his arm and gently squeeze. “I promise, I know you did everything you could to help him.”
“If you want space to cool off… if you don’t want me around right now, ‘cos your brain isn’t adapting and my presence is a real bother, then I’ll go.”
I snap my neck straight and search his green eyes. “What?”
“The bar apartment is technically empty now. And Archer’s apartment is available, too. Both are still close, so I’ll be around, but I’ll give you your space back so you don’t cross that line between fighting for fun, and going cold because I’m just… I’mtoo much. No guilt trip,” he rasps. “No drama. This isn’t manipulation or bullshit. This is me telling you that I love you, and I value having you in my life. So I’ll back off, because that’s better than losing you altogether.”
“I don’t want you to leave.” I step forward and wrap him in a hug, surprising us both—myself most of all—when I lay my ear over his wildly pounding chest and squeeze my arms tight. I crush my eyes shut and spiral, counting every excruciating second that he doesn’t hug me back. One. Two. Ten. I’m weird. I’m socially incapable. I was reading him wrong, and hugging him isdumb. My thoughts ricochet through my mind like bullets crossing no-man’s-land, pinging when they hit, only for another to follow immediately after. My stomach rolls and my heart tumbles—stop hugging him, stupid! Maybe it’s just the culmination of an insanely long day, and maybe I’m a little worried about Steve, but tears fill my eyes and make them itch. Furiously, insanely, infuriatingly itch.
Let him go.
Step away from the boy!
Stop touching.
Oh, God. I’m an idiot.
But then he wraps his arms around me, too. It’s not stiff. Not formal. It’s not uncomfortable. It’s just… It’s a Malone hug, the way Archer does it sowell, and then it’s his nose dropping to my hair and his heart calming in my ear.
“I don’t want you to leave,” I whisper. If I speak even a fraction louder, he might realize I’m emotional and ridiculous. “I like having you in our apartment.”
He chuckles. “You’re lying. No one likes their unemployed, lazy, freeloading brother-in-law sleeping on the couch.”
“I do. Truly. I like knowing you’re with us. I like how it feels,knowingyou have the money to stay literally anywhere else, with anyone else, on a bed that is actually comfortable, in a room you could have privacy in, in a place that has adequate heating and cooling anddoesn’thave a four-floor walkup. You’re not there because you’ve got nowhere else to go. You have all the options in the world, and you choose us anyway.” I sniffle and pull back, just far enough to look into his eyes. “You choose us, because you love us. And considering Iknowhow weird and hostile and unfriendly I am… your presence is kinda healing my kiddie trauma and fear of abandonment.”
“Guess we’re both freaks, then.” He drags me back in and crushes me against his chest. “Do you love me enough to toss Archer aside and make me your man instead?”
“No!” I shove out of his hold and smack his arm, the crack of my open palm reverberating along the hall. “And we will never speak of what happened earlier today.”
“You mean when I was nutting inside some chick and thinking of you?”
I hit him again. But his shoulder is muscular and solid as rock, and my palms are already sore. “You’re annoying! And wildly inappropriate.”
“And you’re back to normal.” He drapes his arm over my shoulders and starts along the hall with slow, un-straight steps. “Maybe someday I’ll meet a chick who is age-appropriate, and if I’m lucky, I’ll like fighting with her, too. She has large shoes to fill, Chief Mayet, and a fancy white coat to make look good. But if the day comes, maybe you could check her out for me and give me your scowl of approval.”
“My scowl of approval.” I roll my eyes and spy Archer hovering at the end of the hall. Waiting. Watching. Worrying. But not intruding. “I’ll take her side. Always.”
“I’d expect nothing less.”
“And if you piss her off too much and get a divorce, I’ll choose her.”
“As you should.” He glances down, grinning. “From now until then, I’llfight with you andnottell outsiders how I have mommy issues and nut sometimes when I think of you.”
“I’m going to stab you while you sleep.” I push him off and slap his grabbing hands away. Brushing my dress down and broadening my shoulders, I lift my chin and head toward my husband. “He’s a pain in my ass and completely incapable of being a normal, mature adult human being.” I walk straight into Archer’s arms and stop only when my ear rests over his heart. “He’s annoying.”
