Page 54 of Bulletproof

“Fine, what do you want to know?”

“You got a divorce because you figured out that you weren’t bi, huh? You were just gay.”

He just stared at me before he reached out and put a hand on the side of my neck.

“And you were scared to come out because David already was and you were worried that two gay sons would freak the folks out since he’d had kind of a rough time with them at first.”

“How do you⁠—”

“But now they’re fine with it. They just want you to be happy, and they see that David’s okay, so you will be too.”

“Jory—”

“So, is that it? Or is there more to the divorce drama?”

“Jory,” he said after a long silence, “how did you get all of … who told you what … just from being here tonight?”

“I ask a lot of questions,” I told him. “So, all your secrets might be stuff you’re keeping out of the tabloids, but it’s pretty tame in my world.”

“Oh, yeah? You’re a badass, are you?” He asked a taunting question, but his tone was nowhere near that. In fact, his voice was low and deep as his thumb slid up under my chin.

I took a step back out of his grip. He was a nice man, and his brother was nice, too, but I didn’t do gentle, sweet, easygoing guys. Only growling alpha males did it for me. I was more likely to sleep with Cristo Liron than⁠—

“Crap.” I jolted, realizing that my fantasies were starting to flesh themselves out.

“Jory?”

“I gotta go,” I told him, turning to jog through the living room to the coat closet in the foyer.

As I pulled on my jacket, Hayes stepped in front of me, blocking me in.

“What are you doing?”

“I do this sometimes,” I told him, taking a breath. “I give people the wrong impression.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I can’t date you or your brother. And your brother is looking for someone who gets that his kids are great, not me specifically. And you’re lookin’ for the one, and that’s not me either. I would, however, mention to the people at Synergy that you’re gay ’cause, as far as I know, they’re looking for a woman for you.”

“What?” He was trying to absorb everything I’d said at once.

“Synergy,” I reiterated, talking slow, “is looking for the woman of your dreams. Tell them you’re looking for Prince Charming instead.”

“Jory—”

“I would get on that kinda quickly.”

His mouth opened as I stepped around him and walked out the front door.

On the porch, I could breathe, and then I realized I was in Lake Forest. I had to think.

“Jory,” Hayes said as he came up behind me.

But my brain was consumed with the logistics of getting home as I started across the driveway.

“Jory!”

I stopped and waited.