he’d developed so damn fast, he didn’t hold back. He gave the details he could without violating confidences. They’d only been out of bed and dressed for a half hour, which matched up perfectly with the time of Andy’s warning text.
He heard her footsteps on the stairs and glanced up. She wore jeans and a long-sleeve V-neck tee. This morning she had her hair up and off her face. So beautiful without makeup. Real to the bone.
But something else lingered there. Gone was the sure woman who knew what she wanted last night. Her steps seemed tentative, as if she expected something terrible brewed.
He hated pulling her into the middle of his family battle but it seemed shitty to cut her out or pretend he wouldn’t spill later anyway. That’s what he did with her. For the first time, he opened up. He shared intimate details and his greatest fear. He knew she wanted to help when she suggested he might want to think about the DNA test, but he’d shut that line of thinking down because he couldn’t find his way through the haze of denial that had fallen around him.
Fucking Rick.
When he saw her hesitate on the last step, not coming into the great room with him, he wondered if her apprehension covered more than Rick. After all, they’d turned a huge corner last night. He went from offering her a sanctuary to offering her more.
He wasn’t being nice when he said she should stay. Shit, what had that been about? No, he was being selfish. For once, reaching out and asking for something for himself—her. Them together, working this out and looking toward a future.
But with her past and her anti-commitment walls stacked even thicker than his, he understood how he could have shaken her up. In the light of day he might not seem as great a catch. “You okay?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “Should I stay upstairs while you talk with Rick?”
So, that was it. While she might want to avoid the discomfort, truth was he needed her in the room. It might take her and Andy to keep Rick alive.
“No. I want you here.” Gabe held out a hand to her and felt a wave of relief surge through him when she grabbed on.
She stepped to his side and sighed when he wrapped an arm around her. “Is this about Brandon?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” But he had a sneaky suspicion Rick’s patience had worn out.
“This might be battleground day.” If the anxiety pounding his insides was any indication, yes.
“We should talk about—”
The sound of Andy typing in the code rang out in steady chirps. Then the door opened, and his brothers walked in with a burst of cool air. Gabe thought that might be an omen.
“Ms. Udall.” Rick nodded his hello.
“You can call me Natalie.”
“Okay then.” Andy rocked back on his heels before walking around Rick and taking a seat on the armrest of the couch. “Now that we have the pleasant part out of the way.”
“Your attorney has made his displeasure known. My clients are pulling back.” Rick held out a thick white envelope to Natalie.
She just stared at it. “Shouldn’t my attorney be the one handing me any necessary documents?”
“In here is a copy of my termination letter and the stated reason why the matter was settled.” She took it and Rick dropped his arm. “Bast should be calling soon, or however you communicate, but I thought you’d like to see the copies of the affidavits and other documents Bast sent to the people who hired me. I can’t believe your old bosses will sign them, but you, and by extension Bast, do have the leverage.”
Gabe wasn’t convinced. He’d played games with these types before. They said one thing and did another, just like they had with Natalie’s original agreement. They dug for loopholes and called things by new names. Did anything to get out from under the restrictions they’d already agreed to, and when that didn’t work they violated the terms with impunity.
For Natalie’s sake, Gabe needed to know if this just ushered in a new round. “Are your people ending this in fact or pretending to?”
Rick spared him a brief glance. “Bast doesn’t exactly play fair.”
“You can’t when someone is holding a gun to your head,” Andy said.
Natalie tapped the envelope against her open palm. “So, this means the bounty on my head has been lifted.”
“There never was one.” Rick looked at them all. Met their eyes. “My