He was protective.
He was funny.
He loved, and was loved, without apology.
God knew the man was attractive, which could become an issue.
Am I really ready to be myself with a man?
I wasn’t sure, but I felt ready to poke my head out of the shell I’d built around me.
“Same terms,” I said before I could stop myself. “No sex. No ass grabbing—”
“No criticizing,” he finished. “I think you know by now that I won’t do that, Riley. At least I hope you do.”
“Then I guess you have a date. Same days and times we already agreed on?”
His laughter boomed through the vehicle. “Do we really need to plan everything? These are dates, not business commitments.”
I frowned. “I suppose not. But I want to make sure I have the appropriate attire for whatever we’re doing.”
This whole dating thing had me rattled, and I already felt like it was out of control. Planning made things more normal for me.
Seth didn’t say anything as he exited the freeway and drove to my house.
In fact, he didn’t comment on what I’d said until we got to my door.
When I put my key in the door, he grabbed my arm gently and turned me around to face him. “I’m going to say this one last time, and then I hope I never have to say it again. But if I have to say it a million times, that’s okay, too. I like you exactly the way you are, Riley. I don’t care what you do, what you wear, or how you want to express yourself. I really just want to be with you. Do you get that?”
A lump formed in my throat as I saw the truth in his turbulent gaze.
“No. I actually don’t get it.” My voice sounded strange as I tried to speak. Probably because the lump in my throat was actually my heart. “I’m used to conditions. I think I’m more comfortable knowing what somebody wants.”
He reached out a gentle hand and tipped my chin up. “No, you aren’t. You just aren’t used to being spontaneous. You’re afraid of losing control because you don’t trust very many people. But I’m willing to wait until you do trust me. I’m not going to hurt you, Riley.”
He might!
It just wouldn’t happen in the way he imagined.
What if I did come to trust him?
What if I got used to being with a guy who didn’t want anything from me except . . . my company?
I knew he was getting ready to kiss me. I could feel the tension between us. It was thick enough to cut with a sharp knife. I was disturbed by how badly I wanted to be intimately connected with him. My body was shivering with anticipation, my senses filled with his masculine, alluring scent. I wanted to get closer to him. I was drawn by an inexplicable source.
What in the hell am I doing?
I turned away, breaking our contact, and fumbled with the lock on the door. “Same terms. Two months. Nothing else after that. Since it’s your contract, you can pick where we go and what we do.”
“You’ll be consulted,” he said, sounding amused.
“Fine.”
Sweet Jesus! I need to get away from him before I tear his clothes off.
“You can run away, Riley, but I guarantee that I’ll catch you,” Seth said in a husky voice behind me.
Not tonight you won’t.
By the time I stepped inside the house, my heart was racing.
“Good night, Seth,” I said in a breathless voice.
“Good night, gorgeous,” he answered, his eyes scanning me covetously before he walked back to his car.
I flipped on the lights and leaned heavily against the door I’d just hastily closed.
I was breathing hard, wondering why I wasn’t completely relieved that I’d escaped so easily.
CHAPTER 11
SETH
“She’ll either make me happy or she’ll end up killing me,” I told my brothers Aiden and Noah as we sat at Noah’s kitchen table drinking coffee the next morning.
I’d just finished spilling my guts to my elder and slightly younger brothers about the situation I’d gotten myself into with Riley.
It wasn’t unusual for Aiden and me to meet up several times a week, but we normally had to come over to Noah’s place to pull him physically out of his home office.
When we were younger, my eldest brother had been around for all of us, even though Noah had worked like crazy to keep our family together. But lately, we didn’t see much of him. He was always busy developing some new app, a career choice that he’d taken on when we’d all come into money. Before that, he’d worked for various companies to put his computer-science education to work.
I looked at the exhaustion that clearly showed on Noah’s face.
None of us liked the way that Noah seemed more overworked now than he had been before the inheritance.
Not to say that Aiden didn’t work hard at his goal of building a fishing empire, but his daughter, Maya, and his wife, Skye, were his priorities. Unlike Noah, Aiden had a life outside his career ambitions.
I didn’t want to remember that I’d nearly ruined Aiden’s life by doing something stupid when we were younger, but at least he was happy now.
Unfortunately, Noah . . . wasn’t. My eldest brother might say he was doing what he wanted to do, but I had a hard time believing it. It was like he was trying to avoid some kind of hidden demons by immersing himself in work.
For about the millionth time since our inheritance, I had to wonder exactly what Noah was trying to evade in the world outside his work.
“I honestly think she’s smart to avoid the life she used to lead,” Aiden observed. “I met her once when she was with Jade. She didn’t seem like the snotty type.”
“Haven’t met her,” Noah grumbled. “But I can’t help but think anybody is better off not being with a superficial, rich crowd.”
I smirked at Noah. “I hate to tell you, man, but you’re one of those rich guys now.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I’m rich, but I don’t fit into that group.”
“None of us do,” Aiden commented. “And most likely we never will. Thank fuck. I’m pretty damn happy the way I am right now. I have everything I want, but it has nothing to do with material stuff.”
“I almost fucked that up for you,” I told him regretfully.
“I’m over all that,” Aiden said sincerely. “I was pissed, but even then, I knew your heart was in the right place.”
It was the first time my younger brother had told me that he’d completely forgiven what I’d done when we were younger to screw up his relationship with Skye back then. It was a relief for me that he no longer held a grudge, and it made my heart feel a little lighter.
“Now let’s figure out how to make sure you’re happy, Seth,” Aiden added. “Are you sure you want to pursue this with Riley if she has no inclination to date or find a relationship?”
“I think she wants to,” I mused. “I think she’s just scared. Apparently, she had a pretty bad experience with her ex.”
The only thing I hadn’t told my brothers about was Riley’s private pain over Nolan Easton’s choice of cheating partners. She’d been so broken up about her ex sleeping with a child in her underage teen years that I knew it was incredibly personal to her, so I’d skirted around the details.