Calmly, Carefully, Completely(62)

“You talk about it like it’s nothing.” She’s embarrassed.

I tip her chin up. “What I’ve done in the past with other girls was nothing. What we did tonight? That was far from nothing.” I tweak her nose because I’m about to rock my own world, and I want to ease the blow if she rejects me. “I have real feelings for you, Reagan,” I say quietly. “I can’t explain them. And I don’t want to. But don’t try to push what happened between us tonight off as common. Because it wasn’t. It was big. And I want to keep doing it. I want to learn all about you and have you learn all about me. I want you to meet my family. I want to go on a date with you.” I look around. “This place is nice, but…seriously?”

She laughs. “You want me to meet your family?” she asks.

“If you think you can stand it. There are five of us. All men.”

“I’m not afraid of men in general,” she explains.

“Just the ones that touch you.” I run my crooked finger along her cheekbone, and she turns into my hand to kiss my palm.

“Your brothers look like you,” she says.

“How do you know that?” I ask.

“I saw them when you got out of prison,” she says quietly.

“You were there?”

She nods. “My dad made me sit in the truck while he talked to you about camp.” She draws her lower lip between her teeth and bites down like she’s anxious about my response. “Sorry. I should have told you sooner.” She groans. “I kind of asked for you to be here. So I could see you.”

“I’m glad you did.” Never been happier about anything.

“Your brothers all have tattoos, too,” she says. She looks at the tattoo on my arm that’s for my mom. She picks up my hand and traces the tats that go up my forearm to my sleeve. “I want to look at all of them so I can find out what makes you tick.” She draws a circle around the American flag.

“That one’s for my buddy who died in Afghanistan.”

Her silky fingertips slide up the dragon on my inner arm. “And this one?” she asks softly.

“That one was a little too much courage one night,” I say with a laugh.

Her hand slips beneath the edge of my sleeve. “I guess I can’t go much farther,” she says.

I reach behind my neck and pull the shirt over my head the way guys do. She grins and gets an evil glint in her eye. But I move, lean back against the stall door, and pull her across my lap. “If you get to explore me, I get to explore you,” I warn. I tickle my fingers up the side of her leg.

But then her lips press against the words that line my collarbone. She suckles my skin gently. I groan quietly and move my hand to her inner thigh. Her skin is soft and silky, and I know I’m going to have to call a halt to this soon. I can only take so much in one night. She tilts her head to read the words she just tongued across my chest. “All for one, one for all,” she reads quietly. “That one is about your brothers?”

I nod. “I live for them. When I thought Matt was dying, I wanted to die with him.”

“Your brother was dying?” she asks. Her hands stop exploring, and she looks into my face.

“Matt had cancer. It was really expensive, and Logan had to come home from college. We were broke, and we were all afraid he was going to die.” I look into her face. “Do you want to hear about this?” I ask.

She nods and settles in my arms. “I want to hear everything.”

“Sam and I took side jobs with this guy in our neighborhood to make some extra money. It wasn’t really illegal.” I stop and growl. I can’t lie to her. “We knew it was illegal, but we needed money for Matt. That’s how I got arrested.” I’m not proud of it, but I can’t undo my past. That would be like putting toothpaste back in the tube.