Page 64 of If You Were Mine

I froze, uncertain. “Really?”

“Yes. And he never forbade me dating you, but he did ask for me to wait until I was older to act on it.”

“You’re serious.” My heart beat so quickly I was afraid it was going to rush right out of my chest. “He wanted you to make a move?”

She laughed, taking a step away. But she let me slide my hand over hers, so the loss didn’t ache.

“I don’t think he meant that, but he didn’t warn me away from you. He didn’t get all overprotective and growly. Why would he be friends with somebody he wouldn’t trust with his own sister?”

“When you say it that way?—”

“You know I’m right.”

“I have a feeling that in whatever this relationship is you’re going to be right often.”

She beamed. “Damn straight.”

“I should also tell you that I was thinking about how I didn’t call us a helicopter even though I knew the roads were going to be slick, well, for the obvious reason.”

Her face paled once again, and she wrapped her arms around me. She didn’t squeeze too tightly, but the burns at my sides didn’t hurt today. Apparently time did heal some wounds. Maybe not all of them.

“I thought about that. I just didn’t want to mention it and bring back memories to the surface.”

I ran my hand up and down her back and brushed a kiss on the top of her head.

“I know I will have to fly again. Maybe not as a pilot, but I’m going to have to get on a plane. Or one of the multiple helicopters the company owns.”

“Of course the Cage Empire owns helicopters,” she said dryly.

“We own a plane or two as well. But I don’t think I could get on one.”

“We can drive anywhere you want from now on.”

“But what if I want to take you to Paris?” I teased.

Her eyes widened. “Paris?”

I had only said it as a joke, but right then and there I promised myself I would find a way to get on a plane and take her to Paris. I would take her anywhere that she wanted. Because Harper Wellesley deserved to see the world. And if my asshole father and his money could help that, I’d do whatever it takes.

“Let’s do it.”

“I might need to take a little more time off work for that,” she said dryly.

“That means I should probably learn to get on a plane.” I paused. “Do you think you’d be able to fly?” After all, it had been her brother with me.

She nodded, though carefully. “Yes. Because I don’t have those nightmares. Not the ones that keep you up.”

I swallowed hard, remembering how she had wrapped herself around me, naked, willing, but so steady for me. I wasn’t used to that. Hell, the only serious girlfriend I’d ever had before had been Amy. And she’d walked out on me without a second glance. I’d been too much for her when I’d been broken.

And here I was, trying to pick up the pieces, and Wellesley was there.

Where she had always been.

And I had nearly been blind to it.

“Do you talk to your therapist about this?” she asked after a moment.

I nodded, rubbing my chin over the top of her head. “I do. And I’ll get there when I get there. I might scream and cry and pass out, but I’ll get there. I don’t want this to stop me from anything.”