He didn’t say anything to that, but there was a slight flush to his cheeks. I laughed, and he gently shoved me. “Brat,” he muttered under his breath.
I grinned.
At this rate, Ethan was going to give himself a coronary worrying about me. I knew my accident brought up a lot of bad memories for him. About how he’d abandoned our family and let Evelyn shoulder the weight for so long, about how he hadn’t protected us like he thought he was supposed to, but this was beyond normal.
I just wished he would ease up soon and get a life of his own.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” I said. I didn’t wait for his reply. I moved out of the kitchen and walked upstairs to one of the bathrooms. I realized too late someone had followed me up until he pushed his way into the bathroom with me. I let out a small squeal, which was cut off by a large hand over my mouth. I fought to get out when my eyes connected to gray ones in the mirror.
I stopped struggling, and Jensen let me go when I pushed him away. “What the hell are you doing?” I asked, trying to get my heart rate back under control. He shot me a sheepish smile.
“Sorry, I didn’t think this through, and the last thing we wanted was for you to scream and for your brother to come to your rescue.”
“That’s the last thing I want, huh?” I said, looking at him.
His eyes twinkled, and though I hadn’t been on the receiving end of this look all that often, I knew what he wanted. I backed away and held out my hands in front of me.
“Oh, no, buddy. I am mad at you.”
He frowned, but the glimmer in his eyes told me he really wanted to laugh instead. “Buddy?”
I scoffed and turned away. I felt him move closer to me, so close I could feel the heat emanating from his body. My body’s reaction to this closeness was ridiculous.
He placed two heavy hands on my shoulders and turned me around. I knew I was pouting when he looked at me.
He let out a sigh. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
I shrugged. “Leave me alone.”
“Can’t do that.” He bent down so he could see my eyes. I tried not to let his gray eyes affect me so much. “I don’t know how.”
“Really? You didn’t seem to even remember I existed when what’s-her-face was flirting with you.”
He frowned. “Who?”
I rolled my eyes and tried to pull away. His grip stayed firm. Though he didn’t hurt me, I knew he would let me hide. I knew the moment he figured out who I was talking about. It was in his eyes.
“You mean Laina?”
Laina.
Even her name sounded cool.
I hated it.
Then he did something that surprised me. And pissed me off a bit more.
He laughed. I wanted to punch his face.
“You’re jealous.”
“Am not,” I said petulantly.
“You are.”
“Why do you sound so happy about this?” I asked, my fists closing at my sides.
He smiled at me, and yeah, I was finding it hard to stay too mad at him when he was looking like this.