“I appreciate that you want to protect her, and you’re definitely the best qualified to do that right now, but Sarah is . . . different,” Grady replied.
“Fuck! Do you think I don’t know that? She’s lived a life that most people can’t understand. She was never a child; she was a curiosity to be examined by the scientific community. Not one single person has ever cared that she’s a kindhearted, warm woman who wants the same things that other women want. They hear the way she speaks, the way she tries to reason everything out. Or they listen to her talk about something that goes right over their head, and they ignore her, shut her out. Nobody has ever tried to get to know her. They were too goddamn insecure and intimidated to want to befriend her.” Grady raised an eyebrow at Dante and he added, “She’s made friends here, and I know Emily and Randi care about her, but that’s new to her. She’s happy here. She might be a genius, but she’s also still naive and innocent in a lot of ways. She never had a chance to learn normal things. But underneath, there’s a woman who just wants someone to care about her. And dammit, she deserves that.”
“You are fucking her,” Grady stated with a small grin. “You care about her.”
“Hell, yes, I care. I wouldn’t be protecting her if I didn’t. And I haven’t been in shape to get that physical. I have to heal so I can protect her if necessary. But do I want to? Fuck, yeah. I want her more than I’ve ever wanted a woman before.” Dante’s body was tense, and he glared at Grady. “I’m so damn possessive and protective that I can hardly stand myself. She drives me crazy, but she also makes me feel like I can fly. How screwed up is that?”
Jared shook his head as he said gravely, “You have it bad. I don’t think there’s any woman in the world worth getting this worked up about.”
Dante looked at Jared, but his younger brother wouldn’t meet his eyes. What the hell had happened to him? When they were boys, Jared had been the more sensitive, artistic brother. Now he was jaded, almost like he was bored with life. Okay, maybe he wasn’t bored, but he was definitely cynical. Dante wondered if there was more to Jared acting like a man-whore than just apathy. He seemed almost bitter, and he hadn’t always been that way.
From his seat on the couch, Dante could see Coco waiting patiently at his feet. The damn dog actually liked him. He wasn’t sure why, but he had a feeling it had to do with the fact that he snuck Coco human food occasionally, when Sarah wasn’t looking. The dog really was kind of pathetic, and Dante hated seeing that expectant look on the mutt’s face. He patted his thigh, and Coco sprang onto his lap almost immediately. She circled twice and then settled into his lap, laying her head on his thigh with a contented sigh like she belonged there. “Damn dog,” he grumbled, but his statement had very little conviction. He stroked her silky head as he looked over at Grady.
“I have to agree. You do have it bad. But I obviously disagree that no woman is worth it,” Grady stated flatly. “Emily was worth it. She changed my entire life, accepted me exactly as I was. I realized that the world hadn’t shut me out; I had shut out life. It took meeting Emily to make me realize there was so much more than just work, and that not everybody was like our father.”
At that moment, Dante hated himself for not staying closer to his brothers and his sister, Hope. He didn’t know what had happened to Jared, and he hadn’t realized that Grady had isolated himself so much. “What happened to us?” Dante asked in a harsh, loud whisper. “We were all close as kids. What happened? I can count on one hand the times we’ve actually all been together since we left for college. ”
“We were all self-involved assholes?” Jared suggested. “Well . . . except for Hope.”
“We were all involved in our careers. But we still could have been there for each other,” Dante responded angrily.
“We’re here now, Dante,” Grady mentioned soberly. “I think that you almost getting yourself killed was a slap in the face to all of us. Hope and Evan call me almost every single day.”
“They call me, too,” Dante answered.
“And Jared has no business here in Amesport, but he’s still around,” Grady added, looking over at Jared and holding up a silencing hand. “Don’t give me your crap about not having anything else to do. You have a business to run. You were worried and you still are.”
Jared shrugged. “Nothing that needs my immediate attention. Now that Dante’s playing the hero again, I just want to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.”
Dante smirked, knowing Jared was completely full of shit. “I think I can handle myself if you need to go.”
“I’m staying,” Jared grunted, grabbing his beer and taking a large gulp.
“I could tell you not to mess with Sarah, but I don’t think it will sink into your thick head right now,” Grady told Dante. “I think you’re too far gone.”
“What do you mean?” Dante frowned at Grady.