“You didn’t. I really don’t care what you think of me.”
His sigh was heavy, like having this conversation made him feel incredibly put upon. “You were a kid in that picture. I saw the date. You couldn’t have been more than eighteen.”
“Right. It was shortly after I moved to the west coast. I don’t understand where you’re goin’ with this.”
He crossed his arms over his broad chest, the muscles in his forearms twitching. “It bothers me, all right?”
“What bothers you, Santi?”
“That you were out there, no one to protect you, wearing shit like that. You were so fucking young and so fucking sweet. And I know you’d been hurt, not just by me, which made you even more vulnerable. Makes my mind go places, think of all the things that could’ve happened. Makes me want to go to that place and rip every last one of those fuckers’ eyes out for having seen you like that. Just a kid.”
Thank the good lord above I hadn’t told them the cleavage poking story. Santiago would probably be having a stroke instead of just looking like he was going to grind his molars to dust.
“Iwasa kid, and I made a lot of stupid choices. Gave my heart to men who didn’t deserve it. But I came out all the better for it. I’m here, and I’m unscathed. I don’t need you goin’ on a rampage over something that happened five years ago. In fact, I don’t need you to ever defend my honor. Like I said, I’m not into the daddy kink. No shame if that’s your thing, it’s just not mine.”
I brushed by him, but he was quicker than he should’ve been with those massive muscles. His hand landed half on my hip, half on my stomach, pressing into my soft flesh.
My eyes darted up to his, waiting for him to recoil at the feel of me, but he did no such thing. His gaze turned molten, intense, fixed on mine.
“You ever have anyone look out for you, not because they want to fuck you, but because it’s the right thing to do?” he practically growled at me, his hand flattening below my belly button. I felt his heat through my jeans, and it made me mad how much I liked it.
“I have plenty of people lookin’ out for me.” I looked down at his hand, my breath catching when I noticed how low his pinky was. “You need to stop touchin’ me now.”
His hand fell away immediately.
“We should get back in there. We have a lot of work to do,” he murmured, standing far closer than I wanted him to be.
I tossed my ponytail and pushed my shoulders back, giving him my behind. “Let’s go.”