Rene looked like he was ready to explode one minute, and then the next he completely deflated, sitting back on the bed and staring at the floor. “I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I should give you time to figure out what you needed, what you wanted out of life. I knew what my life was going to be from the time I was born. I was always going to take over the business and live here. I was always going to slide right into my father’s life. You didn’t have to do that. You had choices.”

“You should have been one of those choices.” She said the words with a sigh, her anger fleeing because she was mad at a college kid who’d thought he was doing the right thing. “I don’t know if it would have worked out, but we should have decided to take the chance or to not take it together. You shouldn’t have decided I couldn’t make that decision with you. I’m worried you’re still doing it.”

He reached for her hand again. “I’m used to making decisions, but I don’t want you to think I don’t value your input. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I told you I inherited my father’s life, but I don’t want his marriage. I want something that’s meaningful to me. I’ve been trying to keep you at arm’s length when it comes to my family because I don’t want to scare you away.”

“Maybe instead of worrying about me being scared, you should trust me. I don’t scare easily. I’m not unused to criticism. I know Papillon isn’t DC, but you try explaining to Herve and his cousin that he can’t put a ramp over the highway to prove he can make it to the other side on an ATV.”

That brought a slight smile to his lips, and he pulled her closer. “Did I ever tell you how much I missed you?”

This was why he was dangerous. She’d been mad and unsure a moment before, and now she wanted to melt for him again. “If you don’t want your parents’ marriage, then you have to stop doing the things they would do. You said your parents had fairly separate lives.”

“They did.” He wrapped his arms around her, laying his head against her breasts, the sheet the only thing between them. “I don’t want that for us. I don’t want to scare you off. I don’t want my relatives to insult you and harass you the way they do me. I’m worried that my world is a bunch of don’ts right now, and that’s going to scare you off as surely as you figuring out how screwed up my life is will.”