Mine - HelenKay Dimon Page 0,49
made it clear I would kill him if he broke it, was that he wouldn’t tell Brandon on his own.”
Gabe didn’t fully trust Rick’s word. It was hard to after everything that had happened. The only thing that made it possible for Gabe to keep moving and not spend every day paralyzed with fear was that Andy joined in the threat. Rick would literally lose everything, including possibly Brandon, if he pulled some reckless stunt. Still, tired of waiting, Rick had given Gabe a deadline and it was coming toward them pretty fast.
“And you would.” Her hand dipped into his hair and she nuzzled his chin with her nose. “Go after Rick, I mean.”
“No one hurts Brandon.” That was a fucking vow.
She lowered her head until it fit in the crook of his neck. “No wonder the idea of Rick sending someone here made you hostile.”
“Understatement.”
“Why would he get involved in this?” She touched his knuckles to her lips.
“I know you’re thinking sabotage, but no.” His lips brushed over her hair. He took a second to inhale, breathing in that scent he now associated with her. The one that stomped all over his self-control. “More than likely he thinks he’s helping. He does this work and is trying to put the power of his business between us and the person at the CIA who is determined to cause trouble for you.”
She groaned. “Please don’t try to make your brother out to be the good guy after telling me what he did to you.”
The automatic acceptance. He wondered if she even knew she did it. She liked to fight with him about details, but they generally agreed with each other on most things. And her trust in him after such a short time, knowing her past and who she was, humbled him.
“That’s just the thing, he was. For a long time.” Rick had helped Gabe raise Brandon. Stepped in when work intruded for Gabe or Army travel pulled them apart. That’s what made the breach of loyalty such a deathblow. “He got this idea in his head, and now he’s pushing it. I blame the injury. It’s as if it turned him around and has him going back over every mistake in his life and trying to set them right.”
She rubbed her fingers over his chin. Back and forth over the stubble and through his beard. “Don’t get pissed off here, but is there a chance he is Brandon’s dad?”
He sensed the question before she asked it. He would have been disappointed if she didn’t raise the issue, not with her curiosity and tendency to solve problems. “They were having sex back then, so yes. Biologically.”
“Okay, God. This just gets worse.”
Gabe shifted, because suddenly just lying there made him twitchy. He needed her to know how strongly he felt about this issue.
He lifted his shoulders off the floor, and she inched up just far enough that her face hovered in front of his. “He’s my son, Natalie. I don’t give a shit who provided the sperm.”
She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Just stared at him, as if waiting for him to say something else, but he’d made his declaration. His point was that simple. Brandon was his son. Period.
A sexy smile broke across her mouth. “You know, you may act like an asshole sometimes, but you’re actually a very good guy.”
With that, the tension building inside him and the charged energy zipping through the room changed into something very hot and, if he was lucky, a little naughty. “Don’t tell people that. I’ll never get a protection job again.”
She lowered her head and put her mouth by his ear. Licked the outer rim as she talked. “How about if I just whisper it?”
She crashed through his defenses. Made him want things he hadn’t wanted in so long. He’d closed some parts of himself off. Enjoyed sex and moved on. Concentrated on Brandon and work and keeping them all moving forward. Then she walked into his life. At first all haughty and demanding, cool in a blue business suit as she fought off any hint of vulnerability underneath. Now, tough and sure, even as her world collapsed and her future darkened. She was the most competent woman he’d ever met . . . and the sexiest.
“That works, but I bet I’d hear it better if you got on your hands and knees.” He drew his finger down her neck and under the band of her sweater collar. “Without the shirt.”
She