“Fuck,” he muttered, then went on as if talking to himself. “The whisper of a promise.”
“What?”
“We have a lot to talk about,” he returned instead of elaborating. “Before we get dressed and go out there, I need to know you understand me.”
Crap.
I didn’t understand but we didn’t have time to dally. Hadley was impatient. I was surprised she hadn’t barged back into my room and demanded an explanation. Hadley remaining in my living room reminded me that Brady was out there, too. She wasn’t being patient, her fiancé was likely containing her.
Crap and crap.
“Trust me, Trey, we have to hurry.”
“You’re naked.” My shoulders tensed at his weird statement. “You’re standing in my arms completely naked and you’re comfortable doing it. Remember that.”
“Why?”
“I’m a lot of things, Addy. Stupid isn’t one of them. I know the second you’re dressed and out of this room, you’ll find a hundred excuses to push me away. You’ll tell yourself what we shared was all about sex. You’ll tell yourself that you should keep your distance. So, I’m telling you straight out, what we shared was not about sex but intimacy. I’m telling you, I want more. More in every sense of the word. I’m telling you I want the opportunity to explore what we have and I want to do that in a real way. Not hiding from each other and not hiding it from our friends and your family.”
“Trey, that’s—”
“Baby, you are not a secret. I will not keep us in the shadows. Hadley and Brady knew what was going on in your bed before they showed up. I will not lie to them—not about you. I will not brush it off or pretend me being in your bed doesn’t mean what it means.”
“And what does it mean?” I asked even though I was scared to know.
“Being as I’m not stupid, I know that Adalynn Walker is not the type of woman you fuck and leave. And that isn’t because essentially you’re my boss’s daughter, and everything to do with the woman you are. I wouldn’t have come here, and I sure as shit wouldn’t have taken you to your bed unless I was sure I was ready to give you what you deserve.”
“Addy,” my sister snapped.
“Hadley,” Brady snapped back. “Shut it.”
“Don’t tell me to shut it. They’ve been in there forever. How long does it take to get on clothes?”
“It’s gonna take longer you keep interrupting them.”
I needed to move. Not to the Bahamas, Hadley would find me there. Finland. Yeah, she’d never think to look in Finland. I was wondering if Finns were welcoming to Americans, when Trey’s body started to shake. Then I stopped wondering about Finland and started wondering if I could handle more with Trey.
The answer was—no.
I absolutely couldn’t handle a man like Trey. His experience alone put me at a disadvantage. But it wasn’t him having a girlfriend in sixth grade and how he’d gained the vast skill he’d learned between then and now that worried me. I already had feelings for him, feelings that ran deep. Meaning, it wouldn’t take but a gentle nudge to turn ‘like’ into ‘love.’
The whisper of a promise.
Darn it all to hell.
“We’ll talk later,” I told him and watched him smile.
Crap. I’d been wrong again. That smile lit his eyes.
8
“Trey.”
“Don’t,” I warned and tore my gaze from Addy and Hadley to Brady.
We were standing outside on a slab of concrete that couldn’t have been more than a ten-foot by ten-foot square. The women were in Addy’s living room and I’d been watching Hadley animatedly flail her arms and pace. Contrary to her twin, Addy was standing still with her arms crossed over her chest.
I wasn’t big on Addy's posture. I also knew I couldn’t get between the sisters, and not because it wasn’t my place or they’d work it out. I had to deal with Brady, which didn’t make me happy. But out of all the men closest to Addy, I was thanking all things holy it had been Brady who had walked in on us.
“You hafta know we’re gonna talk about this,” Brady retorted.
“I’ll tell you two things and I’m gonna do it once. After that, you have a problem with me being with Adalynn, then it will be just that, your problem.”
“Being with Adalynn?”
“You think I’d fuck Addy?” I asked, unable to keep the irritation from my tone.