The Ultimate Betrayal - Kat Martin Page 0,106

ordered a bottle of Chianti, which the waiter brought and poured, then left them to enjoy for a while before making their selections.

Jessie swirled the wine in her glass and took a sip. “Mmm...nice. What’s the occasion?”

Bran smiled, took a drink of wine. “Maybe I just wanted to do something special for my favorite girl.”

One of her russet eyebrows went up. “Am I? Your favorite?”

He reached over and covered her hand. “You’re my only girl, Jess. The only woman I want. All of this is going to be over soon. When it is, I want you to come back to Dallas with me.”

“What?” She sat up straighter, her eyes wide with shock. She eased her hand away. “Where did that come from? You’ve never mentioned anything like that before.”

Unsure of himself in a way he rarely was, he ran a finger down the side of his glass. “I’m not good at this stuff. Truth is, I never had a reason to be. I never thought I’d find myself in a serious relationship and never really wanted to be. Not until I met you.”

“I can’t believe you’re saying this.”

“Why not? I’m crazy about you, Jess. Surely you can see that. When this is over, I don’t want us to end.”

Jessie’s pretty green eyes filled with tears. “It has to end, Bran. We both know it could never work between us. The kind of life you live? Just because you aren’t in the army anymore doesn’t mean you aren’t a warrior. You’re a bodyguard, for heaven’s sake. You face danger every day.”

“It’s not always this bad. Your dad’s murder and the attempts on your life...that kind of thing doesn’t happen every day.”

Jessie just shook her head. “I don’t want to live like that, worried every time you leave the house you might not be coming home. I saw what my mother went through. I was there when Danny died. Now my father is gone. I want someone I don’t have to worry about.”

Something was squeezing inside his chest. It was a different kind of pain than he had suffered before, not a bullet wound that could be stitched up, but an ache that in some strange way hurt even worse.

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he said, desperate to make her understand. “People can change. You said so yourself. I can change, Jess. For you. I can be the man you want me to be.”

“Brandon...” A tear rolled down her cheek.

“Just think about it, okay? We have a good thing going. Surely you can admit that much. We’re good together. Really good.”

She swallowed, and he could see she was trying not to break down. “If things were different...if I was different, there is no man on earth I would rather be with than you.”

Bran leaned back in his chair. Something was burning behind his eyes. He took a deep breath. “Is it because of what happened in Mara Ramos’s garage?”

Her fingers tightened around the stem of her wineglass. “For a while that bothered me. But I’ve had time to think about it. I trust you to do what’s right. You were trying to save people’s lives—and you did. This is something else. The life you lead just isn’t something I can handle.”

Inside his chest, his heart beat dully. He thought of Danny. Maybe he didn’t deserve a woman like Jessie. Maybe he was being punished for living when his friend had died.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said, his voice suddenly gruff. “We live in different worlds. It was probably just spending so much time together, you know?”

She nodded, wiped another tear from her cheek. “I know,” she said softly.

He glanced away, took a long drink of wine. “We should...um...probably order.”

She tried to smile, but her lips trembled. “Actually, I’m not very hungry.”

“Yeah,” he said, closing the menu. “Me, either.”

“Hawk’s upstairs. Maybe we could take a walk before we go back up. It’s kind of windy, but there’s a full moon tonight.”

“A walk sounds good.” He need a good stiff wind to blow some sense into him, get his head back on straight.

Calling for the waiter, he paid for their wine, then helped Jessie out of her chair. As they walked out the door to look at the moon over the lake, he draped his jacket over her bare shoulders.

They stepped out onto the flagstones, the breeze lifting her long red-gold hair away from her face. Jessie looked up at him. “Don’t change, Bran. Not for me or anyone else.”

His hand came up

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