out his play. Then his lips tipped up into a cocky grin.
Um. Wrong.
“What does “noted” mean?”
“In this instance, it means I’m starving, I wanna take my girl to The Brewery, and I wanna do it in this lifetime. So I’m not gonna have a lengthy discussion about how I know she’s fully capable of taking care of herself and whatever problems come her way, she’s just not gonna do it.”
So I was right. His reply was dismissive at best, asshole-ish at worst. But whichever it was, he planned on butting in.
“I don’t like that, Brady.”
“I can see how you wouldn’t, being as your brother’s probably butted in a lot because he’s rightfully protective. What you don’t get now but you will, is that I’m not your brother.”
“I know that,” I snapped.
“I’m your man.”
I clamped my mouth shut and Brady’s grin went from cocky to smug.
“Warning, keep smiling at me like that and you won’t be my man for long.”
If I meant to say more it died in my throat when Brady’s hand darted out, tagged me around the middle, and pulled me to him.
“Right. I’m not your brother, meaning I don’t have brotherly concern for you. That doesn’t mean I don’t have care and concern. That doesn’t mean I won’t wade in and make sure you’re safe. This is who I am, Hadley. You take the good with the bad. And I promise you, baby, I’ll make the good so good, you’ll overlook the bad because you’ll know I’m stepping in to protect you because I love you, not because I’m a dick.”
The area between my legs fluttered at the mention of the good he could give me. I definitely wanted more of that goodness. But I didn’t want another man bossing me around, even if that was coated in love. Jasper Walker took protecting his family to an extreme. He taught my brother to do the same. I can’t deny my sisters and I didn’t benefit from their efforts, we certainly did, but that didn’t mean sometimes it wasn’t annoying as hell.
“Sex doesn’t—”
“Not talking about sex, Hadley. Though that’s part of the good we’re both gonna get. I’m talking about you knowing you’re loved so thoroughly, so deeply, you’ll look back over your life and wonder if you’ve ever been loved before.”
That was big. No, that was huge. He knew my family, so he knew how deeply my family loved each other.
“And you think you can love me like that?”
“I already do love you like that. Up until now, I haven’t been able to show you. But I will. I’m not some controlling prick who wants you reporting on your whereabouts. I don’t need you to tell me about some jerk at the grocery store cutting in front of you at the checkout line, or some disagreement you have with a co-worker. What I need to know about is some crazy person is defacing books and writing threats. Whether they’re direct or indirect I still wanna know. And not so I can step in and take over, so I can have your back, making sure you’re safe while you’re being Hadley.”
I loved all of that, except the last part.
“What does “being Hadley” mean?”
“Baby.”
He smiled but said nothing further.
“What? That’s not an explanation.”
“You’re you. A force of nature. You zero in on something and you don’t stop. Not even when you should. Part of the reason I fell in love with you. When Hurricane Hadley wants to do something, nothing stops her. You’re the calm, the storm, and the rainbow. When you roll in, I never know if I’m getting the gale-force winds that’re gonna steal my breath or a calm breeze that never fails to warm. That’s you. That’s my Hadley. Determined. Brave. A fighter. The only thing I want is to make you safe while you’re being you.”
Seeing as he knew me, he was right, that was me. I didn’t look before I jumped. Not because I was naive or stupid, but because I knew whatever the outcome, I’d be all right. And if I wasn’t, I’d fight to make it all right. That was just who I was and Brady knew it.
So I made my decision the way I made pretty much every decision in my life. I went with my heart.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” His lips quirked and I didn’t let that irritate me.
“Yep. Are you ready to go?”
“Need a kiss first.”
“You already had one.” I pointed out.
“That wasn’t a kiss.”
“No? Funny, I remember your lips touching mine.”
“Babe, quit