Page 77 of Inexplicable

I’d never been possessive with a guy in my entire life, but something told me that with Brock…I could be.

“Okay,” I said softly.

“Did I just scare the hell out of you?” he asked in a cautious tone.

“No.”

“So you’re just going to deal with the fact that I could lose my shit with you?” he asked in a low, hypnotizing baritone.

“Are you planning on hurting me?”

“Fucking never,” he growled. “I’d want to kill anyone who hurts you.”

“Then yes, I’m just going to acknowledge and respect the way you feel, and I hate it that you’ve never felt comfortable telling me this before. I’m cautious and I don’t trust easily, but I feel intense emotions when it come to you. I’m crazy about you, Brock. I’ve been drawn to you since the day we met. I’m not always comfortable with those emotions, either, but I want to learn to talk about it.”

He started to caress the nape of my neck as he replied, “Then talk to me whenever you want, Stargazer. Fuck knows I’m never going to judge.”

“I love your tattoos. What do they mean?” I asked as I continued to run my fingers over his chest.

God, I loved the way he stroked my nape and then gripped it gently but possessively.

I felt like he was trying to claim me in some small way, and it was arousing for me.

Did I actually like the fact that he felt possessive with me?

Yes. Yes, I think I adored it so much that I wanted to purr every time he played with my nape.

He put his hand over mine, stilling my roaming hand as he replied, “My whole team has the rising phoenix tattoo. We got them after the incident that scarred Seth. It was therapeutic for us and a symbol that we were ready to start a new chapter of our lives. We’d all been in since the age of eighteen, and we were getting ready for a new start. A different phase in our lives.”

“It’s beautiful,” I breathed softly as I gripped the fingers he’d threaded between mine.

“The small one on my shoulder I share with one other person that I served with in the Rangers. We lost a friend and a fellow Ranger during a shitty mission. It was our way of remembering him.”

I wanted to ask him questions about those missions, but I wasn’t sure that he could talk about those operations, and I already knew the only important thing about those situations.

They’d been painful for him, and my heart ached for every time something like that had happened to him.

It also wasn’t the time to change the subject.

I wanted the two of us to be clear on our relationship.

“So exactly what would this commitment look like to you? What do you need from me, Brock?” I queried softly.

“I have no fucking idea,” he said drily. “I’ve never felt like this before, but I think you’re going to have to tell me that you’re mine and that you’re committed to making our relationship work in the future.”

I was quiet while I thought about what he needed.

I desperately wanted Brock to be mine, so I’d have no problem telling him that I wanted to be his.

And I absolutely knew that I couldn’t imagine us not sharing a future together.

Everything was different with Brock.

He wasn’t anything like the men I’d had in my life before.

I was never going to choke up and run away, because Brock meant far too much to me to do that.

I opened my mouth to say those words, but he covered my lips with a finger. “Think about it, Jenna. If you decide to tell me what I want to hear, there’s no going back.”