Page 126 of Forever Defiant
“I never said you couldn’t.”
“You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Not so sure about that,” he countered, his voice quiet but rough. “I can give a damn about the fact you might get hurt.”
My breath stuttered. And there it was again — his raw, unfiltered sincerity. The feeling he actually was concerned hit harder than any kiss.
“I’m not fragile,” I whispered.
“I know that,” he said with a smirk. He finally looked at me, really looked. “And maybe that’s the problem.”
My heartbeat went sideways.
He dragged his gaze back to the road like it physically cost him something. “You won’t back off. Even when you should.”
“Because I’m right.”
He made a face. “Or because you’re stubborn.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
He snorted, shaking his head. We fell silent again, but it wasn’t the choking silence from before. I shifted in my seat, watching the lights flash across his profile — sharp jaw, focused eyes, that stupidly attractive vein in his forearm where his hand gripped the wheel, showing his strength even when he was relaxed.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked suddenly. “Helping me. Chasing leads. Getting in the middle of something that could blow up your whole damn career?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Because you’re already in it,” he said. “Savannah was already in it before we knew you were. Because there is shit we need to fix, or at least understand...” He looked over at me. “And I’m not letting you, or her, do it alone.”
Heat poured through me so fast I had to press my palm to my thigh just to steady myself. “That’s not—” I swallowed — “That’s not the answer I expected.”
He gave a humorless laugh. “Yeah. Me neither.”
Miles rolled under the tires as I thought about everything he said, everything Ava had said, which, to be fair, hadn’t meant much to me — except where to find Mason. There was a good chance he went back home after whatever actually happened at Wrighton. I ran through everything in my head that Mary had told us. Something didn’t add up. But more importantly, Ava remembered Mason. Mason had been a big deal. Who the heck in the program had enough influence towipe him out completely?
“Dustin—”
“Yeah, I know,” he agreed, patting my knee. “We’re not done talking about earlier.”
My pulse slammed. I turned my head. “Earlier?”
One corner of his mouth lifted — not a smile, exactly, but the ghost of one. Dangerous. Knowing. “Don’t play dumb.”
I refused to blush. “I wasn’t thinking about earlier.”
He cut me a look that shut me up instantly. “Really?” he asked softly. “Must just be me, then.”
Was he kidding me?NowI was thinking about earlier. I... Oh my God, I was speechless again. What the fuck was wrong with me?
“And that’s my problem,” he added, eyes flicking to my mouth for half a second before snapping back to the road. “You live up here now.” He tapped the side of his head.
My entire body lit up like someone plugged me into a wall socket. But I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of letting him see how much he affected me when he said something like that. So I said, “Well, you’re a bigger problem.”
He huffed out a laugh — real, warm, and so unexpected it knocked the air from my chest. “Yeah,” he whispered. “I know.”
“Which problem do we tackle first?” I asked him carefully. “The issue at school or... the one between us?”
He glanced at me, heat in his eyes, and his gaze dropped down my body like a caress. “I don’t think this is the best time to answer that.”
Really? In a car, just the two of us, where no one could hear? This was thebesttime to hear it.
