Mine - HelenKay Dimon Page 0,28
had been pretty rough. Hell, so had having the air knocked out of him when Eli walked away without an explanation. All had sucked, but no day compared to the one with that dinner.
“He deserved to know.” Rick’s cheeks got red and his chest puffed out. But he gave up on eye contact, which had to mean he knew the truth.
“Don’t act like you did it for him.” Andy had been there and heard every word. Rick created the rift then shoved it even wider by making demands.
“You know why—” Rick visibly wrestled his body back under control. “Look, this is between him and me. It’s not your concern.”
Andy refused to let that go. “If you really think that, you’re not as smart as everyone says you are.”
“You want to go at it?” Rick stepped back, showing off his two-inch height advantage and muscles honed by years of intense training. “Right now. We can have this out.”
Fighting wouldn’t move this argument one inch, so Andy didn’t even try. He held his hands up in the air. “You’ve got the wrong brother.”
“I will make this right with Gabe.”
Andy let his hands fall until his palms smacked against the table. “You know what you need to do to make that happen, and you won’t do it.”
“You can’t ask me to potentially walk away from the truth.”
The truth that would drive them all to the brink of emotional destruction. Andy couldn’t sit there. He shoved his chair back, letting it spin from the force of his push as he stood up. “You know what, Rick? I’m not asking you to do anything. Neither is Gabe. If someone needs to go out there and find him and report back, I’ll do it. You can pretty up your report and—”
“No.”
Andy exhaled, not holding back one bit of the frustration he held for the older brother he once idolized. “Oh, I see. You want Gabe to know you’re watching over him and be the one to rescue him.”
It made sense. Truth was, Rick could have turned down this job from the CIA and insisted someone else be sent out to check on Natalie. He acted now as if having his men lead on this protected her because his guys being out there might prevent a team of assassins from being sent. All true, but digging down to the core, Andy suspected this was really about Rick needing to ride in and be Gabe’s savior. As if that would somehow balance the books.
“He needs to know he’s not as safe as he thinks he is,” Rick said.
Oh, he got it. They all did. “You’ve already taught him that lesson.”
The red heat of fury stained Rick’s cheeks again. “Fuck you.”
“Good luck finding him. You’re on your own.” With that, Andy sat down and did what he’d been doing for months . . . pretended his oldest brother wasn’t there.
• • •
Natalie stood by the woodstove but her attention kept wandering back to Gabe. To last night. To his mouth. The scratch of his beard against her inner thighs had driven her wild until energy burst through her and she could not get close enough.
She’d suspected he could back up his sensual promises with real action, but she had underestimated the man. The combination of his big hands and that tongue had turned her insides to mush. She could only imagine what other skills he kept hidden behind his spare-talking façade.
At first she thought it was probably a good thing he ran from the bed as soon as her eyes opened again. Now she wasn’t so sure. The night had come and gone. So had most of today. If the man chopped any more wood, their location would be spotted because the stacks would be high enough to be seen from space.
As far as she could tell, while there were things in the cabin to keep their attention, they were running out of ways to stay away from each other. Not that she even wanted to anymore. Truth was she knew she could handle any attacker that came her way. With Gabe’s help, she’d be able to take down wave after wave of gunmen sent to her door. She didn’t need him for protection, but after weeks of him sniffing around and her following his every move she did need him for other things.
She glanced over to the sink and watched him play with the lid to an ancient stovetop coffeepot. Then her gaze traveled over those faded jeans