Holden's Resurrection (Gemini Group #6) - Riley Edwards Page 0,62
he hadn’t—I started to pray. Really, really prayed, like I never had before, that in a moment of sober clarity he’d gotten up and flushed the wrapper and the spent condom.
“Baby?” Holden murmured.
“Yeah, I don’t want to talk about the past.”
“Charleigh, we’re looking forward.”
“Okay.”
Something that looked like relief washed over his features before he gave me my third lip touch of the day. Holden knew what he was doing. He was a good kisser, and even the slightest brush of his mouth did wonderfully-crazy things to my dormant girly parts. And effectively wiped clean the last remnants of self-recrimination over my drunken one-night stand.
His hand fell from my face, found my hand, and once he twined our fingers together he started walking toward the sidewalk that would take us to the front door of his office.
“Why’d you leave the Navy?” Holden’s step faltered and I quickly backtracked. “Forget I asked.”
“I left because it was time.”
“Oh.”
I’d never given much thought to Holden leaving the military or what he would do after.
“That’s not me dodging your question, Leigh-Leigh. I didn’t get out for some traumatic reason. It was just time. My body had been beaten and worn down too many times to count. There were a few missions I almost didn’t come home from…fuck.”
“Don’t do that,” I sighed. “I know Paul’s not your favorite person, but what happened to him was horrible. But—”
Suddenly, I was yanked to a stop and Holden was staring down at me with the fiercest expression I’d ever seen.
“I despised the man. But when we went out, he was my teammate. I had his back—we all did. And when he took that bullet, I worked on him the same way I would’ve if it was Nixon. Maybe harder knowing he had you and a baby at home waiting for him.”
“I wasn’t implying…Holden, I would never think that of you,” I whispered.
He nodded and stepped back but I tugged him forward and waited until his fiery eyes met mine. “Seriously, honey, it never crossed my mind that you wouldn’t’ve tried to save him. You’re a good man. A good teammate. I was going to say, but I don’t want what happened to him to stop you from telling me about your experiences. It might make me the world’s worst person, but I got over his death a long time ago. He was my husband on paper only. We were just friends and I mourned him as such. He wasn’t my lover. He didn’t have my heart. He was just Paul.”
Holden’s face softened and he gave me a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I overreacted.”
“You didn’t. You thought I was questioning your integrity.”
“I know you better than that. I was wrong. Let me apologize so we can move on.”
“Okay.”
And once again, we were on the move. This time, he didn’t stop until we made it up a narrow staircase, only pausing on the landing to open the door and wave me through. That was when I got my first look at the Gemini Group office. I’d walked past the street-level door plenty of times. I’d sat at the park across the street while Faith tossed pennies in the fountain and stared at the building wondering which second-floor windows belonged to them, but I’d never been in the office.
Holy wow. Holden and the others must’ve charged a whack for their services if they could afford a place like this. The reception area, minus an actual receptionist desk, was beautiful. Tall arched windows had a perfect view of Fountain Park and the courthouse. The farthest wall was exposed brick, the floors were worn hardwood, the ceiling was stamped tin square tiles, and the furniture, though sparse, was handsome and looked expensive.
I only had a moment of contemplation before Jonny, Nixon, and Jameson joined us.
“Morning,” Nixon greeted and I winced at his disheveled appearance.
“Long night?” I returned.
“Yeah. Holly was up half the night.”
I could remember those sleepless nights like they happened yesterday. For the first two years of Faith’s life, I felt like I was walking around in a fog. Dazed and confused was the best way to describe my state of mind back then. I was fumbling through, trying to learn how to be a mom with no example of what that looked like. I had a cold, distant mother, not a loving mom, and I refused to follow in her footsteps.
“Teething?”
“Yup. Two bottom teeth coming in at the same time. She’s miserable.”