179

EOIN

I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHY ALINE WOULD – AGAIN – THINK I DIDN’T

want her. I knew her family was really overprotective of her, but I couldn’t imagine that translating into any type of emotional abuse. She was a certified genius and one of the most selfless people I’d ever met. And she was gorgeous. The fact that she’d been a virgin – barely even kissed if Freedom had been right about that too – confused the shit out of me because she had to have had guys all over her.

Just the thought of any other man near her made my arms tighten around her. I still had my hand in her pants, could hear her ragged breathing slow and even out…and I was jealous of men I didn’t even know, men who might not even exist.

Men I didn’t want to exist.

I wanted to be it for her. The only man who’d ever know what she looked like when she came.

Shit.

The thought should have terrified me, but it didn’t. Even though I was painfully hard, I was content to stand here, holding her, rubbing her back with my free hand.