He was interesting and complicated, smart and funny, and strong. Plus, I saw kindness in him. He was a man who’d been on top of the world and had it all crash down around him, but he survived. There was a strength in him he didn’t recognize in himself, but I did.

Of course, I couldn’t ignore the fact that he was as hot as a house on fire, but that wasn’t what made me respond to him. What really drew me to him was how he tried so hard to protect everyone around him from caring about him. As if he could push them away and save himself the heartbreak of caring for them in return if he just kept them at a distance. Ridiculous.

I saw how he joked around with Jackson. He pretended to be irritated by the big man, but I knew that if anyone crossed Jackson, Nick would destroy them. He had the same protectiveness toward Lupita and Juan. They were fiercely loyal to him as well. I knew the truth was that Nick Daire was a good man, even if he didn’t see it himself. As for his sister, Lexi, it was clear he’d never stopped looking out for her. It didn’t take any great powers of deductive reasoning to realize that the college scholarships she’d talked about at dinner, the ones that she didn’t recall applying for, hadn’t just appeared. They were from Nick.

“So it’s okay for you to help her but not for her to help you,” I said.

“I don’t need any help.”

“Really?” I asked. This was my moment. I knew it as surely as I knew my potential to crash and burn was at an all-time high. I didn’t care. My heart was pounding hard in my chest. Holy banana balls, I was about to make a move. “Seems to me, you could use an assist.”

He frowned. His eyes moved over my face as if he was trying to read my intent. “In what way?”

Moment of truth. I tossed my hair over my shoulder, because I’d picked up on the fact that he liked that. It was dark out and hard to see, but I was certain his pupils dilated just a little bit. Then I reached out and took one of his hands and put it on my hip. He didn’t move. In fact, I wasn’t sure he was even breathing.

I glanced up. His nostrils flared just the teensiest bit, and I wanted to do a fist pump in triumph, but I kept it cool. I didn’t want to scare him off. Ever so slowly, I took his other hand and wrapped it around me, moving into the circle of his arms, so that his palm sat on the base of my spine, right above the curve of my derriere.