denying his relationship with the baby growing in her belly, she was condemning the child to a life without a father. The only way forward is through the flames. “I don’t want anyone here to know the baby is his.”
“Baby is ours.” Growled out, the words reverberated through her, and Myrt pressed another kiss against the notch at the base of his throat. “I’m not destitute, Myrt. You want to set aside any claim to Sallabrook’s estate, that’s your prerogative. But I will not let you go without. Feels like I keep sayin’ that I promise or askin’ you to trust me, but I’m all in, baby. Gonna take care of you. Of us. And that includes the bump.”
His hand slipped around to cover her low belly, and she laughed, the sound so loud in the quiet of the room that she cut if off, silencing herself. “I’m amazed by you, Bane.”
“You got any other questions, darlin’?” He created space between their bodies, holding her far enough away he could look down into her face. “If not, then I need to get business taken care of so we can come back and relax. Revisit those moments we’ve had interrupted. See where we go next in that arena.”
The hungry expression on his face gave her the courage she needed to be bold. “I know where I wanna go.” Bane swallowed hard, muscles in his neck working as his jaw clenched. His reaction to her words emboldened her further. “I want to take you all the way. Want to find out what it’s like to play, to tease.” On impulse she stretched up, relieved and pleased when he met her halfway. The kiss was tender and passionate, one trembling along the edge of her control. Bane pulled away, and she choked off a groan, which made him laugh quietly. “Seems you’ve got the teasing part down already.”
“Baby, we’ve got business to tend to first.” He guided her to stand, then pushed back the chair to climb to his feet, too. “This’ll be the only time you hear me say business before pleasure. We gotta deal with a couple of things, and then you’re all mine.”
“Or…” She grinned as he lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. Everything he did gave her more confidence, a willingness to pull him close. “You’re all mine.”
***
Bane
The day had delivered a series of surprises, and every single one of them had been positive. Bane had kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, expecting to find trouble around the corner, or at least questions that were hard to answer.
He’d first made a call to Blackie, needing to bring him up to speed on everything that had happened since their earlier conversation. He went into greater detail about the events on the mountain, and laid out their planned next steps.
Fortunately Mason had already talked to Blackie, expounding on the RWMC ask where it touched on Myrt via Truck and Vanna. With shrewd questions, Blackie had steered the conversation, ending with a musing, “Need to get my ass to Florida, seems. See you in a couple of days.” The man hadn’t given Bane time to respond, disconnecting and leaving only dead air in his wake.
The next call had been to Mason, wanting to give him a heads-up on the name-dropping Bane planned on doing today. Not only had the man been entirely on board with the idea, he’d immediately initiated a three-way call with the local sheriff. Obviously well known to the lawman, Mason had been judicious with the details he’d offered, without dropping anything incriminating.
“Yeah, everyone knows Sallabrook’s place burned down yesterday. I’m going to call in an investigator.” Sheriff Heame laughed, the sound broken by a wet and awful cough. “Man died in bed. If you ask me, too easy a death for a bastard of a man.”
“What’d it take for you to drop your investigation and take face value into your reports?” Mason’s question was far more direct than one Bane would have posed, but it seemed to be the right tack with the sheriff.
“That question’s enough for me.” Another series of coughs. “Mountain cleansing herself, way I look at it. She kept the fire from damaging anything else in that clearing. Barn, trees—hell, Sallabrook’s truck wasn’t even singed. Divine intervention. Man like me?” He chuckled and Bane braced for another round of coughing, relieved when it didn’t present itself. “I won’t question God’s plan.”
“Good deal.” Mason was quiet for a beat, then asked