Page 40 of Sin for You

His head finally came up. “What?”

“Is there more between you and her, more than just friends?”

“No,” he said quickly, too quickly. “People make assumptions about her, that’s all, because of her past. They think they can take advantage of her, that she only has her aunt looking out for her. I hate not being there. I need to…fuck, I just need to be there.”

I hated seeing him like this, feeling so helpless. I got the feeling he’d had a lot of that while he was in the system, and being back in that headspace was never a good place for him. “You don’t have to protect her anymore. You kept her safe when she needed it most, but she has family, friends with her now, right? They’ll make sure this guy doesn’t hurt her,” I said, trying to reason with him.

Dane’s eyes flashed. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

I didn’t, not in this situation, and I hated that I didn’t understand and couldn’t help him the way he needed, the way probably only Everly could. “You’re right. But I’m thinking you need to trust her in this. She’s smart. Christ, after what you told me, if anyone can pick an asshole out of a crowd it’s her.”

“So…what? I should just stand down?” he said, even more pissed off.

“Yeah, unless you want to drive her away.”

“Like you did with Quinn, right?” he bit out.

Yep, I was a fucking hypocrite. How could I expect Dane to control his need to protect Everly when I’d behaved like a rabid guard dog since Quinn came home?

He stood, shoving his phone in his back pocket.

“Dane—”

“I need to go. I have a piercing at four thirty.” He strode out.

I fired a quick text to Cal, giving him a heads-up. When Dane was like this, any fucking thing could happen. He went looking for trouble to take his mind off things or, shit, to punish himself, which meant Cal and I had bailed him out of a lot of scrapes over the last few years.

Warm fingers curled around my forearm. “Okay?”

Quinn was beside me, looking up at me with her big gray eyes. I wanted to yank her off her feet, march to my office, close us in, and sink inside her.

Instead, I nodded. “Yeah.”

She bit her lips and glanced after Dane.

Fuck, I wanted to kiss her. “Girl trouble,” I said.

“Ahhh. No wonder he looked like he needed a hug,” she said absently.

Jesus. Now all I could think about was the way she’d wrapped herself around me after telling me she was a cuddler. I’d never liked or wanted that kind of affection. It always made me feel awkward. Not with Quinn. Christ, several times it had been me pulling her closer.

I tucked her hair behind her ear before I could stop myself. “Anyone would feel better having you wrapped around them,” I said, voice full of grit. “Though if it’s with anyone but me, I might have to kill them.”

She blinked up at me, a surprised look on her face, before she suddenly stepped back, gaze darting around the room.

Fuck. Day two and I was already close to breaking the damn rules.

She was blushing and that made me want to kiss her more.

She aimed her thumb over her shoulder. “I better get back to work.”

I dipped my chin and forced myself to look away from her when I wanted to do the complete opposite.

After that, I headed into the basement to do inventory. It was either that or blind myself with hot pokers, because looking anywhere but at Quinn turned out to be an impossibility. A couple of hours later, I heard someone on the stairs.

Quinn had only come down the first four steps, too far away for me to reach unless I went up after her, but then that would be too risky. Someone might see us.

“I’m gonna head off,” she said.