Kas wrinkled his nose as he scanned my white couch covered in notes and balled-up pieces of paper to the open-concept kitchen with its Norwegian ash cupboards and stainless steel countertops. “So messiness is a family trait? Good to know.”
I shrugged with a guilty smile. “He was worried about me.”
His face fell. “And he was right to worry.”
“But he doesn’t have to anymore because I’m home.”
“With the very man who trapped you.”
“Yes, well...he doesn’t need to know that, does he?”
Kas’s eyebrows drew into a strict line. “You don’t plan on telling him the truth?”
I shook my head, my heart skipping a beat at the thought of what Josh would do. “No chance. Not unless I want you out of my life.”
Kas sucked in a breath. “Is that a possibility?” He stalked toward me. “That you’d want me out of your life?”
“What?” I shook my head so fast I made myself dizzy. “No, of course not!” I stepped into his arms. “I only meant, my brother is...protective. If we tell him how we met, he’s not going to accept you. He’ll do whatever he can to get you away from me.”
“Because he loves you and would see me as a threat,” Kas whispered.
I nodded into his chest. “But once he gets to know you—once he sees the man I see and understands how I feel about you, then maybe we can tell him the truth.” I pulled back to stare into his handsome face. “Promise me that you’ll go along with the story I share. Just for a little while.”
He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before nodding. “I’m not a very good liar, and it won’t help that I have the same tendencies as him. I would’ve happily killed anyone who dared to threaten my brothers and sisters...I did kill them when I had the chance.”
I stood on tiptoe again and kissed him. The distraction worked. “We’re together now, Kas. No one else’s opinions matter.”
“You sure about that?” he murmured against my mouth.
“Positive.” I opened my lips again, encouraging him to kiss me as deep as he had on the porch. Impatience as well as lust filled me.
I wanted so, so much to show Kas my home. I wanted him to curl up on my couch and watch TV with me. I wanted him to spoon me in bed and sleep with me. I wanted him to cook in my kitchen and laugh with me.
So many, many experiences I wanted to give him, yet he’d effectively told me that whatever I gave him, he’d pay back. Whatever gifts and memories I granted, he’d not feel on equal ground until he’d repaid them.
It frustrated me as well as made sense. I’d hoped to lavish him with new experiences to drown out the horrors of his past. I wanted to buy anything and everything that would grant him happiness, but how was I supposed to do that if being generous upset and emasculated him?
His hands landed on my hips, dragging me into his hard body. “Where’s your bedroom?”
The steel of his desire definitely didn’t seem like I’d stripped his masculine value by buying him lunch and new clothes, and I made a promise to myself to keep the promise I’d made to him.
I’ll let him pay me back.
I wouldn’t take that away from him, not after he’d had so much stolen from him. If Kas wanted to record every penny I spent on him, so be it.
In the end, it wasn’t material things that would prove my love. It was the intangible things. Things like having his back if anyone questioned our relationship. Things like standing beside him if my brother found out the truth and condemned Kas from being in my life.
It was the choice to put him first, above everyone.
And I could do that because he’d done the same for me.
Ending our kiss, I took his hand and walked him down the short corridor, past the two other bedrooms and family bathroom to the master at the end. There, I opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief that Josh hadn’t raided my room for answers, or...if he had, he’d at least tidied up after himself.
Kas stood by my huge bed, eyeing the white linen, the blush comforter, and the silver cushions thrown haphazardly on top. My orchid plant had died on my dresser from lack of water, and the scent of climbing chalk and flowery perfume wafted from my bathroom.
I waited for him to speak, to comment on my lack of perfection in neatness and decidedly bad plant care, but he merely stalked toward me, picked me up, and threw me on the bed.
I barely caught a breath as his hands unbuckled my pants, slipped off my sneakers, and pulled my jeans and panties down in one go.