DONOVAN (Gray Wolf Security, #1)(114)

I burst into my bedroom, the doors vibrating as they bounced off the walls. I didn’t care. I went to the small balcony that looked out over the front of the house and stood at the railing, barely seeing the scene below me for the memory of Randy’s arm around Penelope’s shoulders.

“I don’t know what you think was happening down there, but it wasn’t anything nefarious.”

I hadn’t heard her come into the room.

I gripped the railing harder, holding on to it so that I wouldn’t spin around and wrap them around her throat. I was so angry in that moment that I might have done it. But then, just touching her…I held on to that railing with all I had.

“He was in the house when I got here. I didn’t invite him.”

“But you didn’t throw him out, either.”

“That’s what I was doing.”

“It didn’t look that way to me.”

“Then you weren’t looking close enough. I mean, honestly, you’ve got to be the blindest guy in the whole f*cking country.”

I don’t know what shocked me more: her calling me blind, or her cussing. I’d never heard her use a word quite like that before.

I turned and found her standing just inside the bedroom, the sight of my huge king sized bed behind her was enough to ignite a few thoughts that my anger did nothing to dampen. In fact, the anger might have made it worse, might have made me want to do things I might not have considered under different circumstances. Not with Penelope, anyway.

“You told me I was the only woman you wanted,” she said softly. “Did you mean that?”

“I don’t say things I don’t mean.”

A slow smile touched her lips. “Yeah? You said last night you’re not the jealous type. But you’re sure acting awfully jealous right now.”

“I’m not jealous.”

“Then what is this? Why are you so angry with me?” She cocked her head slightly, that smile spreading. “Tell me this isn’t about the way your brother was touching me.”

I crossed the small space between us before I even realized I was moving. I grabbed her upper arms and pulled her hard against my chest.

“Tell me he wasn’t here to see you. That he wasn’t flirting with you last night.”

“He wasn’t. He talked about you all night.”

“Liar.”

She shook her head, her hand coming up to press itself against my chest. “He told me about the time you dyed your hair, the time you got caught drinking at some high school party. He told me about the tattoos on your wrists, about the one on your chest, told me how the two of you went together to get that one because you knew your father would hate it.”

I squeezed her arms until I saw pain in her eyes. “Why was he here?”

She shook her head. “I told him I wouldn’t say.”

“And you’re suddenly so loyal to a man you don’t even know?”

“No. But I love you. And I want to protect you.”

I let her go so abruptly that she nearly fell backward into the loveseat situation not far behind her. I moved past her, stormed across the room, not sure where I was going. I just…how could she say that to me after everything I’d done to her? How could she say that when I walked into her life and turned it upside down, tore her brother from her home, took away the whole reason she was living in that small town, keeping a business she hated afloat? How could she…?

“Why?”

I turned slowly and looked at her. There tears in her eyes, but not a single one fell.

“I don’t know. Why not?”

“Because…because I’m the * who ripped your family apart.”

“No. You’re the guy who wanted to do the right thing when you stumbled on a secret your mother kept from you.”

“The right thing? Marching into your life, turning it upside down…that was the right thing?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. JT…he needed something more than I was giving him. Maybe you can give that to him.”

“And you?”

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “But I’d like to find out.”

There was such honesty in that statement. How could I turn my back on that?

I crossed to her, took her face between my hands and stared at her. “Tell me you aren’t just saying this because you think it’s the only way to stay close to JT.”

She groaned. “You really do have commitment problems, don’t you?”

I laughed, but the sound was drowned by her kiss. And then there was no more laughter, just groans and sighs.




“How would you feel if we all moved in together?” I asked JT later that night.

He looked up from the video game he was playing. “I thought we already had.”

I tilted my head slightly. “I mean, a little more permanently.”

“Are you going to marry my sister?”

I think I choked a little. Penelope, however, just laughed.

“Don’t rush him,” she said. “He’s a little commitment phobic.”

“I am not. I’m just…” I looked from him to her and sighed. There really was no point in arguing, was there? “I just thought I’d be able to do it a little later, maybe a little more romantically.”