Page 91 of Sin for You

We didn’t talk much besides me giving him my drink orders.

And later, when I’d finished my shift and went out to my car and started it, I sat there stunned when I realized the right front headlight that had blown the night before was going again, and the heater that kept dying was again blowing warm air.

Bull.

My tummy squirmed and I headed for home.

The next night when I came out, the snow around my car had been dug away, and the day after that I woke to find he’d done the same to the path to my front door.

This went on for the rest of the week. He was still doing things to make my life easier, little things and not-so-little things, without a word, without expecting a thank-you.

He was still looking after me, still trying to protect me.

I’d tried to tell myself I only wanted a sexual relationship with Bull, but I thought I might have already been half in love with him before this even started.

I’d fallen hard for the big man; there was no denying it anymore. I couldn’t fight the truth. I didn’t want to.

We’d only been seeing each other for such a short time, but I already knew Bull, and I loved it all. Every part. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know if I was truly ready for a relationship or that I was terrified that I couldn’t give Bull everything he deserved, that I wasn’t enough. It was too late. My heart had already made the decision. I loved Bull. I was in love with Bull.

I just didn’t know if he truly felt that way for me in return, or if that beautiful, caring, protective part of his nature had just fooled him into believing his need to take care of me was something else, something deeper.

I glanced across the bar. It was closing time. Bull had been talking to Dice and Dane for a while earlier. They’d looked deep in conversation, so I waited.

They were finally finished, and Bull was at the open fireplace, stacking the firewood he’d just brought in for the next day. I watched him head out back, calling goodbye to the other bar staff as they left.

We were finally alone. I took a steadying breath and followed him.

The cellar door was open, the light on, so I headed down the stairs.

“Bull?”

“Yeah?” He was at the far side of the room.

I walked over, and he watched me approach. I didn’t miss the way he shifted in those big boots, or the way the muscles in his arms flexed as he clenched and unclenched his fingers.

“Hey,” I said as I reached his side.

“Hey,” he said back.

His chest was rising and falling rapidly and his eyes were intense, moving over me again before locking on mine.

“Okay?” he said.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” It was a complete lie, of course. I was far from okay. “Look, I just wanted to thank you…for all the stuff you’ve been doing for me, but you don’t need to do it anymore.”

God, I missed him. Just the thought of leaving in a week, of not seeing him every day, physically hurt so badly. I’d been on the verge of a panic attack more than once since I handed in my notice just thinking about it. That in itself should have clued me in on my real feelings for Logan, but I’d been too afraid to face them.

I made myself say what I came to say and tried to find the courage to tell him how I felt. “You don’t need to feel obligated or responsible for me.”

He frowned one of his Bull frowns that I loved so much, the kind that made the center of my chest warm. All versions of Bull’s frown made my chest warm.

“You think you’re some kind of obligation to me?”

“I know you promised Mase—”

“Jesus, Quinn,” he said suddenly, and I could see he was shaking slightly. “I’ve tried…fuck, I’ve tried to stay away from you, to give you time and space like Cal said, like Mase said—fuck, even Dane told me to give you some space.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

Mase? “What are you talking about?”