“Why, what?”
“Why is he so important to you?”
She pulled her wrists free and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Because he’s going to be part of my family. Please, let’s not argue about this, okay? You don’t need to be jealous.”
I swallowed a curse and hugged her, letting go of the anger that wanted to push through my sanity. Jealousy over the other guy was already eating at me, but I didn’t want to fight with Kin over it. The past few weeks had been great with us, even with the stress of Alicia’s illness and treatments, and Kin had been beside me the entire time. I didn’t want to fuck things up between us again over petty jealousy.
Over Kin’s head, I caught sight of Derrick. Spotting Kin, he started toward us. I dropped my head, kissing her possessively. Her fingers tightened in my shirt, kissing me back. I felt Derrick stop beside us, and I lifted my head, triumph in my eyes as I pressed my lips to Kin’s forehead.
He cleared his throat, and Kin jerked, startled to find him right beside her.
Clearing her throat, she pushed away from me to greet him. “Hey.”
Derrick’s eyes drilled into me for a few more seconds before he looked at her. When his gaze floated over her face, his dark eyes softened. “You’ve lost weight.”
She hmphed at him. “I haven’t seen you in over a month, and that’s the first thing you say to me?” She rolled her eyes, leaning back against me and crossing her arms over her chest.
“I missed you too,” he assured her.
“That’s more like it.” Smiling, she gave him a hug then turned to me. “I think you two should be properly introduced this time. Jace, this is Derrick, my future uncle. Derrick, this is Jace, my boyfriend.”
The other guy held out his hand, and I knew if I wanted to make Kin happy, I needed to shake it. Clenching my jaw, I grasped his hand, squeezing. Derrick squeezed back, a smirk on his face. “So you won her back. Good.” The smirk disappeared. “Break her heart again, and I’ll break your neck. Clear?”
“I won’t break her heart again,” I growled. “She’s mine, and I’m not letting her go again.”
“Good. You keep her happy, and I’ll be happy.”
Kin reached around me for her glass, sipping it again as she watched our exchange. Nate came over, producing a beer for the newcomer before moving on to other customers.
“What was so important it couldn’t wait until later in the week?” Kin finally asked as she set down her now-empty glass.
“Jillian is trying to stall the divorce.”
“Of course she is,” Kin muttered. “I told you she’s an attention whore.”
“Shannon is upset,” Derrick told her, his face clouding with displeasure. “She thinks this is a sign she shouldn’t marry Scott, after all.”
“If she’s smart, she won’t. He’s only going to break her heart in the end.”
“She loves him, Kin. He makes her happy, and I think he’s happy with her too. Is there anything you can think of that can help them?”
I stood there, watching them quietly, waiting for the other guy to look at her with that hunger I’d seen in his eyes the first night I’d caught him watching Kin. But it didn’t happen. His eyes were clear of lust and want. He looked at her like Caleb did, with brotherly affection.
That made me relax a little, and I stepped into the conversation with them. “Maybe you could talk to Carolina,” I suggested. “Get her to talk Jilli
an into backing off.”
“Caro doesn’t talk to her mom,” Kin said with a regretful shake of her head. “Jillian cut her off when she didn’t give in and change her mind about going to Virginia Tech.”
“Maybe if you could have dinner with Shannon and Scott, show my sister you’re on board with their marriage, Shannon will relax a little.”
Kin went still, her eyes narrowing on the other guy, but her voice was full of hurt when she spoke. “Oh, I see now. You’re just trying to get me to see Scott.”
“No,” he said with a grunt. “This has nothing to do with you and Scott and everything to do with my sister’s future happiness. Please, Kin. One dinner, that’s all I’m asking. A single meal where you’re nice to Shannon and tell her everything will be okay. You don’t even have to look at Scott if you don’t want to.”
“You want me to lie to her, and I won’t do that.”
Frustrated, Derrick held out his hands pleadingly. “You wouldn’t be lying to her. I believe Scott really loves her. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t even bother trying to keep them together. I think those two are good for each other. My sister has never been as happy as she is with Scott.”