I shrug out of my coat and pull my sweater sleeve up. “See? Nothing there.”
He carefully studies every inch of my arm to verify I’m okay, then his gaze locks onto me. “Who is Jackson?”
“My brother.”
“How do you know Bryson?”
“He’s in my social circle.”
Dean’s brow arches. “Your social circle. What does that mean to you?”
“It means he’s a cunt who thinks he can get whatever he wants. And my family is old friends with his, and I’m just all too lucky I didn’t get matched up with him because I’d be committing murder on my honeymoon.”
Dean takes a step back, his brow furrowed. “Honeymoon?”
Crap. That was too much to say at once.
“I’m being dramatic.” I wave it off like that could never be a possibility. When really, I know how close it is to my reality. Bryson’s married, but his younger brother isn’t. And honestly, marriage isn’t a sacred thing to most people I know. It’s paperwork.
“That wasn’t dramatic, Grace. That was specific. Are you engaged to him?”
“Hell no.” I shiver at the thought and pretend to gag.
“Then why did you just bring up marrying him?”
The possessiveness in his tone makes me swoon and cringe at the same time. “My family is just different from most. It’s one of the reasons I’m here.”Crossing my arms, I don’t want to give him the details of my sordid life, but I also hate that he looks so devastated. And honestly, Iwantto tell him personal things, which makes no sense, because we’re not close like that. I shouldn’t be airing family secrets to a stranger.
“Why did you really come up here?”
“I’m trying to cut myself off from almost everyone in my life. My mother, specifically. I’m from a very wealthy family.” Geez, I sound like a privileged, spoiled twit.Youarea privileged spoiled twit, Grace. “Ugh. Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Not you. Me.” Great, now I sound like a lunatic. “I mean me in my head.”
That’s not helping.
“You came up here to escape your family.” Dean crosses his arms. “And what else?”
“That’s it.” I shrug, trying to look non-threatening. “I swear.”
“And you picked this place of all vacation rentals?”
“Yes. It was the only one not booked. And like I already told you, if I stayed at the finer resorts, someone would have recognized me. I don’t want to be around anyone I know.”
“Like Bryson.”
“I don’t want to be on the same planet as that fucker, let alone the same state.”
Dean doesn’t find my humor amusing. “So, he didn’t know you were here? He just happened to show up, and you knew each other from your ‘social circles’ and nothing else?”
“Correct.” I mirror his posture.
Dean’s dark brown eyes search mine. “Are you here to take it from me?”
I can’t believe he’d ask me that. “No.”
He swallows hard. “You sure about that, Grace? Sounds like your brother Jackson is in competition with that asshole. Are you helping your brother with that?”
