“Oh, well, if that’s all it is...”

He shook his head and blew out a deep breath. “He wants to date Abby.”

Stephanie hadn’t seen that one coming, and suddenly she couldn’t seem to breathe as she recalled what Adam had been saying as she came into the kitchen. She sucked in a breath and fought to maintain her composure. “Why would he think you’d be threatened by that?”

“I’m not threatened by it. Not at all. I want you to hear me on that. Do you?”

As she nodded, her mind raced and her palms were suddenly damp.

“Say it. Tell me you heard me.”

“I did,” she said haltingly. “I heard you.”

“Come here.”

Because she couldn’t stay away, Stephanie crossed the room to him, stopping in front of him. “I’m here.”

“Closer.”

She moved another inch forward.

“Closer,” he said with the sexy grin she hadn’t seen since before the accident.

A happy gasp escaped from her tightly clenched jaw, releasing all the pent-up tension with it.

He put his arms around her and looked into her eyes. “I love you. I don’t care if my brother dates her. I will care if he hurts my friend, however. I don’t want to see her hurt again. She’s had enough already. Okay?”

“You…”

“What, Steph?”

She forced herself to look up and meet his gaze. She forced herself to ask the question. “You don’t think it would be weird to see him with her?”

“Maybe the first time. And the second. After that, it might seem less weird. But it’s no threat to me—or to us. I promise.” He dipped his head and kissed her, softly at first and with more intent when she responded with greedy enthusiasm. It had been a very long week.

Her hands coasted over his chest and up to link around his neck. She couldn’t get close enough to him.

Judging by the way his arms tightened around her and the thrusts of his tongue, he felt the same way. “Missed you,” he said between kisses.

“Me, too. I’ve missed you so much.”

“I don’t like that furrow between your brows,” Grant said, placing a kiss on the area in question. “I don’t like that you think what we have isn’t going to last.”

“I wish I wasn’t like that. You don’t know how badly I want to believe that everything is going to work out perfectly. I’m just not wired that way. I have visions of you seeing your brother with Abby and wanting her for yourself again.”

“That’s not going to happen. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t wish he’d chosen to ‘hang out’ with someone else, but not for the reasons you think. It’s because she’s been through a lot. I don’t want anyone, especially my own brother, trifling with her. She deserves better.”

“Adam is a good guy. Your father didn’t raise any other kind. Any woman would be in good hands with you or one of your brothers.”