Abel glanced over at Harper. She sat in the passenger side of his car, looking like she was hugging the door. The skirt she wore had ridden up her thighs, exposing her flesh. He wanted to reach out and touch her. Abel gripped the steering wheel tighter in his fists. He’d made himself a vow not to touch her. After he’d scared her, it was a miracle she had gone to dinner with him last night. Now, his mission was to actually make sure she was comfortable around him. She looked beautiful. The skirt she wore was white with a large blue flower that seemed to bloom. It always swirled. She wore a pastel blue shirt, and he noticed the pumps.
“You don’t need to be afraid,” he said.
She glanced over at him, her brown eyes wide as she stared back. “Oh, er, sorry.”
“No need to be sorry. You look like I’m kidnapping you. I promise I will bring you back home, safe and sound.”
“I trust you. I do.” She chuckled. “I guess I was worried you’d head to Vegas.”
“Marriage is still there. You want to get hitched, all you got to do is say the word, and I will be all yours, wife of mine.”
“I’m not your wife.”
“Yet.” He winked at her. “I can see that you’re thawing to me.”
“Just a little bit.”
“You see, that is my trick. Get you to thaw to me, and then I will get you to love me.”
She tucked some of her hair behind her ear. Damn this fucking curse! It wasn’t a legacy, but a curse. He wanted to touch, to hold her, to breathe her in, and he couldn’t do any of it for fear of scaring her.
“Hey, did you know that your brothers had a one-night policy?”
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about,” Abel said.
Damn, he did know. It was his brothers’ way of never getting involved with anyone. They had seen their uncle go through a lot of pain for falling for a woman, and then finding the woman for him. It had caused a lot of heartbreak, and none of them wanted to deal with that kind of fallout.
“They told my friends that it was one night, and nothing else. Is that what you’re going to do with me? One night?”
“Is this why you’re a little distant? Last night you were warming up to me, and now you’re cold again. I don’t get it.” He was going to beat the shit out of Gideon and Damian. Both of them were meddling with his woman’s friends, and it could damage his chance with her. He wasn’t happy, and he was going to let them know it.
“I don’t know. I was just thinking about it last night. You know, if that’s what you’re hoping to happen, then please don’t. I’d rather go home, eat with my friends, and nothing happen between the two of us, if that’s okay?”
“I’m not my brothers. They’re both insensitive assholes. I’m not just wanting a one-night stand. A marriage proposal is not a one-night stand.”
“I guess not.”
“Offer is still there.”
“You are serious about the marriage offer?”
“Totally, deadly serious.” The sooner he could get her married to him, the happier he would be.
“I’ll wait on the whole marriage front.”
“I’m hoping my family will help to change your mind.”
“I think I’m starting to like the fact you don’t give up. You just go after what you want.”
“Most of the time. I don’t like waiting around. We live one life, and I don’t want to age with regrets. Do you have any regrets?” he asked.
She didn’t say anything for the longest time, so he turned toward her. She was nibbling her lip.
“What are they?”
“I don’t have regrets per se. I haven’t done anything to make me be afraid.”
“What have you done?” He wanted to know everything about her, not what was written in a file without her consent.