I frowned. “I never have.”
“I’m sorry about tonight, okay? I regretted what I said the instant it was out of my mouth. I knew it, and so did my brothers. It was Dominic who told me to go and kiss your ass until you forgave me and took me back, you know?”
The brother I physically whacked?
I blinked. “Dominic? Really?”
Ryder nodded. “You impressed him tonight, and not many people do that often.”
That pleased me because I wanted Ryder’s brothers to accept me, but I didn’t want him to know that so I shrugged it off like it meant nothing to me.
“I impressed ‘im by punchin’ ‘im in the face?”
Ryder grinned. “Yes.”
“You’re all so weird.”
“Trust me,” Ryder chuckled. “I know.”
I thought about my sister and said, “She’ll really be okay?”
Ryder nodded. “He’ll tuck her into bed and they’ll go to sleep, I’d put my life on it. Dominic would never hurt a woman. He’d never hurt anyone unless he had no choice. He isn’t a bad person, Branna, he just has to do bad things.”
Has to? That wording worried me.
“Tell me what you mean about him,” I pressed. “So he likes me sister, big deal, millions of people like other people and—”
“She is the first person he has ever taken a liking to.” Ryder cut me off.
I blinked. “How can that be possible? He is gorgeous. Surely out of all the girls throwin’ themselves at ‘im one would have ignited these feelin’s within ‘im.”
Ryder shook his head. “Dominic is focused, and he believes women are a… distraction. To a point, he is right. He fights, and he cannot afford a distraction when he fights, so he distances himself from women until he… needs one.”
Disgust must have shown on my face, because Ryder sighed and rubbed his face with both hands.
“He has sex with women, lots of women, and don’t let his age fool you. He has fucked women older than you.”
I swallowed. “That’s disgustin’, he is only a baby!”
“It is what it is,” said Ryder with a shrug of his shoulders. “When he wants to have sex, he finds a willing woman, and he has sex, but that’s the extent of things.”
“So what’s his deal with me sister then?” I questioned. “She isn’t willin’. She doesn’t even like ‘im so I know she won’t have sex with ‘im.”
Ryder snapped his fingers at me. “That’s exactly it. He took an instant attraction to her, and she instantly shut him down. That’s never happened before. I don’t mean to sound conceited, but me and my brothers, it’s never been a task to hook up with someone we set our sights on.”
I grunted. “Yeah, you’re all genetically blessed, I get it.”
Ryder’s lips quirked. “You think we’re genetically blessed?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re all gorgeous, and you all bloody well know it.”
Ryder had the decency to slightly blush. “Yeah, well, genetics didn’t help Dominic with your sister.”
I shrugged. “From what she has told me, he is an arsehole. Why would she want to hook up with an arsehole?”
“You’d be surprised how many women dig the asshole vibe, most think they can be the ones to finally straighten out the bad boy.”
I frowned. “That’s not me or Bronagh. If you’re an arsehole, then that’s it. No matter how good lookin’ you are, nothin’ will shine brighter than your dickhead personality.”
“It’s why Dominic is struggling with Bronagh. He is demanding by nature, so when he orders her about, or his hard on her, she comes out swinging and he has no fucking clue how to deal with a female like that. It’s why he screws up so much with her, he just doesn’t know what to do when sex isn’t involved.”
I frowned. “That’s kind of sad, Ryder.”
He nodded. “I know it is, but it is…”
“What it is,” I finished.
His lips twitched and he took a step towards me. “You don’t think I’m an asshole, do you?”
My own lips twitched in reply. “The jury is still out on that one.”
Another step.
“Branna,” he murmured, his eyes locked on mine.
I locked my knees together to avoid them buckling from under me and quickly lifted my hand and held is out in front of me. “Stop lookin’ at me like that, we aren’t finished talkin’.”
His hands went to his belt buckle, and so did my eyes.
“Aren’t we?” he asked as he popped the buckle.
The sound sent a shiver up my spine and—No, Branna, be strong!
I cleared my throat and lifted my eyes back to Ryder and narrowed them. “No, we aren’t.”
Ryder sighed when he saw I wasn’t backing down. He let go of his now undone belt and placed his hands on his hips. “Okay, talking it is,” he said. “What else do you want to talk about?”
“You said before that all of Dominic’s behaviour isn’t his fault, you said it was your upbringin’. I want to know what you meant by that.”
Ryder set his jaw so I pointed my index finger at him. “This isn’t up for debate, I want to know exactly what you meant by that or I’m leavin’.”
“Don’t threaten me,” Ryder said, his voice low.
Shit.