Chapter 29

29

Genny just let the man carry her away like a conquering marauder, and she was the spoils of whatever war he had triumphed over. Next thing she knew, Chad was lowering her to her oldest brother’s former bed—and Chad was coming down on top of her.

Well, she really had no choice but to wrap herself around him, right?

His lips pressed to hers. She let him kiss her long enough to scorch her brains, then he pulled away. “I am not going to seduce you in your brother’s bed, with your other brothers all around us on every side, and my own baby sister just down the hall. But I don’t want to let you go just yet.”

“It was a rough night.” And there had been pain in his blue eyes. That had been what had stuck with her. This was one of the most compassionate men she had ever known. That made her feel even more gooey for him inside.

And…she wouldn’t mind letting him seduce her tonight. Let him touch her and hold her—and she do the same to him in return. Even if her brothers knew about it in the morning.

Which was absolutely insane. That whole not caring what her family thought if they knew thing. That wasn’t like her at all. She was ninety-nine percent certain her brothers still thought she was a virgin—and she liked it that way.

There were some things older brothers just did not need to know.

But she didn’t mind if they knew about Chad.

She told herself that it had just been the night they’d had making her need that connection. But as he slept, curled around her, almost chastely dressed in her brother’s pajamas, she knew it was different than that.

What was happening between them just felt different now.

If it wasn’t, there was no way she’d be snuggled up in his arms like this, not with her family all around her.

She just wouldn’t do that. Not with her family all around them—and her just fine with that. Not unless what was between them really mattered.

That terrified her to her size-six feet all the way. She thought about all the ways that terrified her deep into the night, the man’s strong arms holding her tight.

She had no clue what to do now.

When she woke the next morning—after somehow finding her way back to her own bed via his strong arms when he’d woken her around four and carried her back to where he said she temporarily belonged—it was with the certainty that her world was never going to be the same again.

Chad had just changed everything.