Fate (Steel Brothers Saga #13) - Helen Hardt Page 0,66
get scared real quick. Come on, Daphne.” He grabbed my arm and yanked me to the stairs.
Halfway up the stairs, he stopped and gripped my shoulders. “What were you thinking?”
“It was just a stupid game.”
“I don’t want any other guys looking at you.”
“Brad, I’m on a campus full of guys. They’re going to look.”
“Not at your bra.”
“I told you, it was—”
“Truth or dare. I get it. Why didn’t you just answer the question, Daphne?”
Chapter Forty-Six
Brad
“It was too personal,” she said, “and it would have invited a lot of other questions I didn’t want to answer.”
“What was it?”
She blushed. “They wanted to know where I’d been this weekend.”
“Why didn’t you tell them? Are you embarrassed?”
“Of course not. I loved this weekend. But it was so special to me, and if I’d told them, they’d have wanted to know all about you, whether we…you know. I don’t know them well enough to let them into that part of my life. It’s too personal. Too special.”
Her lips trembled a bit. Had I frightened her? Granted, the thought of her taking her shirt off in front of that degenerate unnerved me more than a little. Okay, it pissed me off and sparked a jealous anger. In my heart, I knew she was innocent of any wrongdoing, but still, I was livid.
I grabbed her in the stairwell and crushed our mouths together.
Mine, I said with that kiss. You’re mine. You’ll always be mine.
She opened for me, and in a fit of jealous rage, I groped her breasts through her shirt.
She pulled back. “Brad…”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just… I can’t deal with the fact that he saw them.”
“He didn’t. I had my bra on.”
“Still. I hate it, Daphne. I hate it.”
She cupped my cheek. “I have no interest in Dirk. I actually think he’s kind of a dick.”
“Then why—”
She covered my lips with her fingers. “It was a stupid game. That’s all. If it means that much to you, I’ll never play it again. It was awkward, anyway. I hardly know these girls.”
Yes. That’s what I want. Never play the game again.
But I couldn’t say the words. For the first time, the four years’ difference in our ages became crudely apparent. She was barely out of high school, and I was almost through college. Games like truth or dare and spin the bottle seemed like a lifetime ago. In fact, I’d never played either.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You were just trying to get to know the people on your floor. I understand.” Sort of.
“I did the best I could. I made her say it could be anywhere on the guys’ floor, which meant I could minimize who saw me.”
“Why him? Why not Prince Charles?”
“Ennis? He wasn’t home. He was my first pick, after a closet or the laundry room, but we couldn’t find a closet, and someone was using the laundry room.”
I let out a breath I’d only just noticed I was holding. “All right.”
“I don’t want anyone else, you know.”
I smiled like a moron. “I don’t either.”
“I meant it when I said I thought fate had brought us together.”
“I meant it too, even though I never really believed in fate.”
“You don’t?” She smiled. “I do. I have to.”
“What do you mean?”
“My life has been…a struggle in some ways. I have to believe fate has something better in store for me from now on, and when I met you, I had the strong feeling that I’d found my destiny.”
I kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry you’ve had a struggle. That year couldn’t have been easy.”
“Parts of it weren’t. But parts of it I just don’t remember. I’ve promised myself I’ll never go down that rabbit hole again. I’ll stay happy. I’ll find the sunrise in everything in my life.”
The warmth of a sunrise glowed in her. She glowed. She dazzled. Daphne Wade was so innocent, yet she knew so much more about life than anyone I’d met so far in my twenty-two years. This woman was my destiny, my soul mate. She was right. Fate had brought us together.
I trailed my finger over the apple of her cheek and down her jawline. “Daphne.”
She met my gaze. “What, Brad?”
“I love you. I love you so much.”
She widened her eyes. “Oh.”
“I know it’s ridiculous. We’ve known each other for a week. It doesn’t make any sense.”
She reached up and laid her soft hand over mine. “It makes perfect sense. I love you too.”
“You’re so young,” I said.
“So are you.”
I chuckled softly. “You’re right. I am. I didn’t expect