Page 27 of Love Gamble
And let me tell you, like father like son.
My dad might not have been around to raise Tatum, but genetics won out with this one, because my half brother looked and acted so much like my dad it was like he was watching his own funeral. From the way he stood and held himself, to his cold, dead stare. I just knew he was bad news right from the get-go.
“Does Tatum know that River’s actually not his brother?” he asks, eyes on mine.
I scoot forward on the countertop, my legs around his hips, feeling the tension between us. I want to look away under his intense stare, but I don’t. Something has changed. I don’t know when or how, but I know that the way he’s looking at and touching me is different.
“I don’t know. Probably not. But I know he hates River. When Robert died, he thought it was suspicious, and tried to get River pinned for it.”
“Is he nice to you?” Damon asks, trying to piece together our extremely dysfunctional family situation. “Do you care about him at all?”
“No,” I admit, shrugging. “When I first met him at the funeral, he wasn’t mean or anything, just indifferent. We don’t have any kind of relationship. I don’t consider him my family, at all. This is only the second time I’ve ever seen him in my whole life. We’re pretty much strangers.”
As far as I’m concerned, River is the only brother I have left. He has always been there for me, and loved and protected me.
He’s my family.
“I think he’s here because of River. There is something there and I just know it’s because of River,” I say.
Damon’s thumb starts to rub circles on my thigh, and I can barely think straight.
“Well, at least we can try to understand their motive now. Before we had no idea what they were up to,” he replies, stopping and just studying me a little too closely with...gentleness in his eyes. And also a little heat. He strokes the side of my face and my breath hitches.
What the actual fuck.
“Are you drunk or something?” I ask, eyes narrowing. “You’re acting weird.”
Anyone could walk into this kitchen at any moment and see him all up in my grill, leaning over me, our faces close enough that I can see the speckles of blue in his gray eyes.
“No,” he replies, sighing. “I’m not drunk, Corey. I just think that I’m finally seeing things in a different light. Tomorrow isn’t really promised to everyone. Hell, I could die this next week. Who knows? But I don’t want to leave this earth without tasting you, fucking you, and making you mine. I think that would be my only regret.”
My jaw drops open.
I cannot believe the words coming out of his mouth, and I can’t even form a witty or sexy reply because I’m about to have a heart attack.
And then Bella walks in and stops when she sees us. “Oh, sorry. I’m just going to...uh...”
Damon steps back, his lip twitching. And then he moves back to me and kisses my forehead before leaving the kitchen.
“What was that?” she asks, watching him walk away with her brow furrowed. “Did he just kiss you?”
“Yes, he did. I don’t know what that was,” I admit, jumping down from the counter and staring at the now empty doorway. “But I think that he’s had an epiphany of some kind. He doesn’t have the best timing—we’re in a crisis right now.”
“I guess crisis mode brings out certain things in people. And I’m sorry I interrupted your moment,” she says, grinning as she pulls out a chair and sits down. “But I will say that you’re lucky it’s me and not River that came in to get us a drink.”
I sit down next to her. “Is this my main character moment? I feel like it might be.”
Oh my god.
Damon is finallyseeingme.
I mean, really seeing me.
What is going on in that head of his? Why now?
I can’t deny the fact that I feel...good about this. Really fucking good.
Bella takes my hand in hers and squeals. “Okay, tell me everything!”