Trust in Me Read Online Free Page A

earlier making him impossibly sexier. Golden bristles of a heavy five-o’clock shadow on his jaw and cheeks. Heavy-lidded blue eyes, shadowed and watchful, peered at her with a patience that made her whole body vibrate. He must have remembered too, because a slow, sensual smile spread across his face, freeing dimples on either side and showing off his perfect white teeth. Tigers couldn’t look so predatory.
    Susie dropped into the chair opposite him, her knees shaking and her underwear in a state she refused to admit to.
    His brows rose in question.
    “Shut up and eat.” She grabbed her own spoon and stabbed it into the bowl. Keep your eyes on the plate and pretend he’s not here. He’s not here. Food magically created itself and he’s not here.
    A deep, warm chuckle forced its way through her mantra.
    Don’t talk to him. He’ll go away if you don’t talk to him. A total lie, but it wasn’t like she was listening to herself anyway. She was already glaring at him again. “What are you laughing at?”
    “Nothing. Bread?” He offered a torn piece of the loaf with one hand, his gaze gobbling her up at the same time.
    “You suck at the innocent act, Locke, so knock it off already.” She snatched the bread from him. She was mad, not stupid.
    His big shoulder shrugged as he tore another piece for himself. “It’s just nice to see you being more like… you .”
    “Which is?” This ought to be good. She blew on the steaming spoonful of what looked like some kind of rice soup with pieces of chicken in it. Did he find that in her freezer or was it something else purloined from the elder twins?
    “Not afraid of me.”
    Once more, her gaze snapped to his. “I’m not—”
    “You have been.” Banked anger flared to life in his eyes.
    She couldn’t help it, she flinched.
    Locke’s mouth tightened into a flat line, his back straightened, affront filling every line of him.
    Guilt, her new best friend, flooded her. She reached out without thinking, grabbing his hand, feeling worse when his rough fingers tightened reflexively around her own. “It’s not like that, all right? I know you’d never physically hurt me. You’re not that kind of man.”
    “I’m not the kind who would hurt you any other way either,” he said quietly, his thumb sliding over the back of her hand.
    Her breath shuddered out of her. Damn it, she didn’t want to have this talk with him. Not yet. But with every stroke of his finger, she softened a little bit more. Truth spilled out before she could stop it. “You might. Without even trying.”
    Possibly more than anyone else in her life. A crazy sentiment, considering how acrimonious their relationship had been over the two years since they’d met, but that didn’t make it any less true. She trusted Locke, for small and grudging things, which was more than she trusted anyone else. He’d won it from her, though, with his forthrightness. The nobility that seemed a natural part of him. The fact that he’d managed to raise his siblings without killing or maiming any of them—a feat she certainly couldn’t have promised, especially not with that brood. But every single one of them would jump in front of a train for him, a fact he never seemed to exploit.
    In her life, exploitation was all she knew to expect. From her mother to her former friends, right up to her ex-husband. There had only been one person she’d ever tried believing in and the price of that trust had been catastrophic. She’d vowed not to take that kind of chance again…but then came him.
    Locke stopped stroking, now turning her palm up so he could lace their fingers together. He stared at their joined hands as if concentration alone would keep them together. “You could hurt me too, Suze.”
    No, she already had. Deeply. And she would keep hurting him, without wanting to. But what good would apologies be, when she would just do it again and again and again? She knew too well, apologies like that weren’t worth