such a shitshow that he refused to take Brandon down the same path. The kid had been blessed with book smarts and street smarts, and Gabe had to let go enough to trust those.
She rolled to her back. Didn’t face Gabe but kept her eyes open as she stared into space. “So, it’s not like you sent him away to a boarding school in another country.”
As much as her immediate belief that he left his kid behind pissed him off, he did like the way she rushed to Brandon’s defense. Didn’t even know him and her first thought was to protect him. All those men who tagged her as being cold and unfeeling were jackasses.
“He’s very close by at all times,” Gabe said, carefully dodging the wrong words.
She glanced at him then. “Here?”
“I live in Virginia.” Not that he ever divulged that information. Anything that could possibly threaten Brandon and his normal life caused Gabe to hold back. But for some reason, he trusted her to know this much.
“Your file says Maryland.”
Of course it did, because that’s what he let people think. “A lie.”
“I’m surprised you shared that with me.”
“Me, too.” The place in Maryland was a real place but just an outpost of Tosh. A business property, not his house.
She laughed. “Now that’s the Gabe I’ve come to know.”
The sound of her voice was contagious. The thoughts running through his mind . . . her under those sheets . . . “Are you a danger to me, Natalie?”
“Only if you act like an asshole.”
And there was the Natalie he’d come to know. “I could be in trouble then.”
Her smile and her gaze skipped away from his face to the wall behind his head. “It just sucks to be sent away. That’s all.”
He wondered how long it would take her to circle back there. “Like you were?”
“Do you have my file memorized?” Her gaze met his.
“Pretty much.” He reached out and smoothed the hair off her cheek. Let the silky strands slip between his fingers. “I know the basics. Your uncle got custody and sent you to a girls’ boarding school.”
“Right.”
His fingers lingered on the side of her face, brushing over her soft skin. “I’m guessing it sucked.”
Her eyes searched his. “Are you saying that because you’re worried about your son?”
Now was the time. He could just set the record straight and move on . . . but the need to test her pulled at him. “The situation is very different.”
“Forget I said anything.”
He dropped his hand to the mattress. “I think you’re disappointed in me.”
“I don’t know you.” She looked away, but not before a shadow moved behind her eyes.
“We’re in bed together.” Him on top of the covers and her beneath, but the inches of material didn’t matter. Being right on the edge, if she gave him the okay he might just rip through the covers to get to her.
“I thought you were supposed to be sleeping.” She picked at the blanket. Folded it down and tucked it under her armpits.
The shirt outlined her breasts. No bra here. That meant no sleep for him. Blew his concentration all to hell as well. “Not really in the mood right now.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Touch you.” A stupid but honest answer, and it was out there now.
He started to get up, move away. Last thing he wanted was for her to worry that the threats to her safety started inside the cabin. No matter how many times he told her she held the power and he had full control over his needs when he dropped his zipper, he needed to back it up by showing her.
“Do it.”
The scratch in her voice hit him first. He froze, then sank back down with his weight on his elbow. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”
“Me either, but I want you to.” She lifted her hand and traced the backs of her fingers over the scruff of his beard. “Just wipe everything away.”
He could give her relief. Let her find a release of some of the tension trapped inside her. She deserved that. Probably needed to find some sense of peace, if only for a few minutes. But that meant touching her, just like he’d been aching to do.
The call to forget the job and lose himself in her echoed in his head until he couldn’t hear anything else. He’d taken this assignment instead of farming it out to his team because he needed a diversion. Rick kept coming around, insisting they