Page 108 of Loyalty

“It has to when it means worse things for you.”

John’s lips curved into a semi-sneer. “I’m not really concerned about shit happening to me, Siena.”

“Well, what about me, then? Aren’t you worried about what it does to me, or how I would feel if you were taken away?”

He hesitated, and his grip on her tightened. She didn’t need him to reply, not when she felt it in the way he stiffened all over. Still, he gave her the right answer. In a way.

“I hadn’t considered it,” John said, “or thought about it like that.”

It was something. She only needed something to make sense of the rest. Something worth it, anyway.

John was worth it.

“Think about it now,” she urged.

John dropped a soft kiss to her forehead. “Yeah, I get it.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know, John.”

He cleared his throat, and asked, “Do you, uh, want me to go? I ruined the movie, and all.”

“No, I want you to stay.”

Amusement lit up his gaze. “That so?”

“Yeah. Besides, we can find something to watch here. And you can make me popcorn. I may even have chocolate for you to drizzle on it.”

“I guess that sounded good to you, huh?”

“You guessed right. So, is that a deal, or what?”

“Deal,” John said with a chuckle.

It was only later, once the sky had darkened, and they were halfway through a movie that both of them had already seen a few times over that Siena noticed something …

John was still keeping his distance. He sat across the couch from her, even though he had stretched his arm across the back, and played with the strands of her hair. He kept his gaze glued on a movie he clearly wasn’t that interested in. His responses to things she asked or said were quiet, and short.

Like he was pulling away, maybe.

Is that what he does to others, too? She wondered, is that how he protects himself … or them?

Siena didn’t like that at all.

“Hey,” she said.

John looked over at her. “Hmm?”

She moved fast, then. Crossing the space between them, and climbing into his lap. She grabbed his face, and dipped down for a kiss as his hands landed to her waist and grabbed tight.

“You’re too far away,” she whispered against his lips. “I don’t like that.”

John’s nose skimmed hers when he replied, “Sometimes, that’s just easier.”

“Don’t pull away, John.”