“Oh.”

“You’re better than that,” he says quietly. “Don’t let people speak to you like you’re less than you are.”

My heart skips. I wasn’t enough, apparently, to make him stick around. “What?”

“You’re valuable. Worthy. Loveable. Everyone is valuable. Worthy of respect.”

I snort. I so do not want to be loveable. I love my family, but I don’t love anyone else. I can’t. Love makes you vulnerable. It gives people the power to hurt you.

Like him.

“You’re pretty darn cute too,” he says with a grin.

“Did you seriously just call me cute?” I laugh. I can’t help it. “And you said darn.”

“Curse words aren’t always necessary to get the point across.”

“You afraid you’re going to go to hell?” I ask on a laugh. Drop a few F-bombs and get the key to the fiery gates.

“I used to be,” he says. “Now I’m not so sure.”

I realize how stiff he is in my arms. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I shouldn’t have teased you.”

I look up at him. He has dark hair that falls over his forehead in a wave. His eyes are almost black in the waning light, and they’re staring directly into mine. I know they’re brown, but right now they’re dark. And hot.

“I forgive you,” he says with a small smile.

“Next time, I’ll just tease you about that cow lick.” I point up toward his hair.

He chuckles loudly and throws his head back. I watch him, wondering at a man who can laugh with no restraint.

“We need to talk,” he says next to my ear. A delicious shiver crawls up my spine.

“No, we don’t.” I hold tightly to his hand, which is wrapped around mine.

He holds me tighter. “Yes, we do.”

“What did you do with the rugrat?” I ask when I suddenly remember his son.

He laughs. “Your mother took him and told me to go and dance. She wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“She usually doesn’t,” I murmur. I look over and find her cuddling the kid while she feeds him a bottle. She winks at me.

“Your family is pretty fabulous.”

“Yeah, they are,” I agree. My family is awesome.

“You’re lucky,” he says, his voice getting husky. “Not everyone is that lucky.”

“You were adopted by an uncle, right?” I vaguely remember the story. The uncle didn’t want his sisters, so Tag went there alone.

“Yes.” He’s stiff as a board now.

“Then you were lucky too.”

He doesn’t say anything.

“So you’re going home with us?” I wince when I realize how that sounded. “I mean,” I stumble to say, “I mean you’re going to use Star’s old room again?”

He nods. “For tonight, at least.” He looks down at me. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“As long as you promise not to pee on the toilet seat or leave the seat up.”

“I’ll do my best.” He chuckles. “Can you survive my presence for a day or two?”

I shrug. “I’ll try. It’ll be difficult.”

“Thank you for your sacrifice.” He laughs again. It’s a warm, clean chuckle and my insides melt. He speaks again and it’s right by my ear. “I’m sorry if my leaving hurt you. I had to take care of something, and I couldn’t explain it at the time. But now I want to tell you about it. Can I?” He waits expectantly.

“Maybe…”

The music stops and he lifts my hand to his lips. He places a tender kiss across the backs of my knuckles, and my belly flips. “Thank you for the dance,” he says, his lips lingering over my skin, his breath warm and humid.

“Thank you for punching the douchebag in the face.”

“You’re welcome.” He tangles his fingers in mine and leads me back to my parents. Then he takes Wren to go and dance.

I watch him as he laughs with her, and his cheeks get rosy and I imagine she’s teasing him about hitting the guy. But then he looks in my direction and his eyes meet mine. She’s teasing him about me if he’s searching me out like that. He winks at me, and my heart betrays me with a little flip. What the fuck is that about?

Another man comes up and asks me to dance. I get up and say quietly to him, “Did I fuck you too and just don’t remember it?”

He shakes his head. “Not yet,” he says with a grin.

I laugh and let him lead me out onto the dance floor. But I can feel Tag’s eyes on me and I don’t even unbutton the top button of the guy’s shirt. I don’t run my fingertips beneath his collar. I don’t accidentally graze his dick. I do nothing. Because Tag is watching me, and for some reason I feel funny about having him see me put the moves on some random guy. Just in this moment. Just for this second.

The thought irritates me, because I can do whatever I want with my body. It’s mine and I don’t have to let anyone judge me. Not a single soul.

I’m beyond irritated when the dance is over, because I could have taken this one home with me. Tag is already messing with my game.

I have to fix that. Starting immediately.

Tag

I flex my fist, stretching my fingers because they hurt. I haven’t hit anyone in a really long time. I couldn’t help it though. He was so rude and inconsiderate. I wanted to shove his teeth down his throat but couldn’t, not with her watching. It’s bad enough that I hit him.