He smiled. “Last night was amazing.”
“It was perfect,” I said.
He sighed. “But now back to reality.”
“Afraid so.” I kissed his lips lightly. “Unless you’ve got time for another round?”
He pulled me into his embrace. “I always have time for that.” He pushed my long hair out of my eyes. “I’ve never been so afraid in my life as I was when you were missing. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, Marjorie.”
I kissed him again. “You won’t lose me.”
“I can’t.” He inhaled and let it out slowly. “I want you to go to Paris.”
“We’ve been through this. I’m not leaving until Jade has the baby. And right now, I can’t leave. Not until all this is settled.”
“I miss Henry like crazy,” he said, “but at least I know he’s safe. I text my mom hourly. I’m sure she thinks I’m nuts.”
“She thinks you love your son, and you do.” I kissed his forehead, his hair tickling my lips.
“I’ll miss you like crazy too, and I’ll text you all the time. I just can’t go through not knowing where you are again, what’s happening to you.”
“Nothing happened to me. Nothing horrible, anyway.”
“But it could have. What if it hadn’t been Dominic who took you? What if it had been that psycho brother of his?”
“It wasn’t. He was busy trying to take on you and Joe. How do you think I feel? You got pepper-sprayed, but something much worse could have happened.”
He shook his head. “We were ready for him to be armed. We took care of that.”
“But you weren’t ready for the pepper spray.”
“How could we be? It’s a pro move. We’re lucky it wasn’t something lethal.”
“It didn’t have to be. It took you out for the time required for him to get away.”
He chuckled. “I’d like to say you were wrong, but—”
“You can’t,” I finished for him.
“Fucker had his office booby trapped. It’s not a bad idea, actually.”
“Don’t you start booby-trapping your office. Or this house. I don’t want to live that way, Bryce.”
“We won’t,” he promised. “But I have to figure out this whole thing first. Cade Booker and Ted Morse and how they all tie in to Justin Valente and my father. I need to talk to Joe.”
“Yeah, we all do. He’s busy with the new baby.”
“I know. I hate to bother him, but he knows Booker better than the rest of us.”
“He does?”
“Yeah. I can’t say how, but he does.”
“You can’t keep secrets from me, Bryce.”
“I don’t want to, but this is Joe’s story to tell, not mine. Talon and Ryan don’t know either.”
Curiosity pounded through me. “Bryce…”
“I can’t. I’ve already violated Joe’s trust once, and I won’t do it again. You wouldn’t do it to Jade, would you?”
Shit. He had me there. “No,” I said reluctantly.
He threaded his fingers through my disheveled hair. “Thank you. For understanding.”
“I do understand. I don’t like it, though.”
“I don’t like it either. I promise a day will come when there are no secrets between us.”
“Just not today,” I said.
“Not today. But I can give you something else today.” He pulled me to him and kissed me thoroughly.
And a moment later, I forgot all about my oldest brother and his secrets.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Bryce
Her mouth was warm and inviting, as always, and I hardened instantly.
Would we always want each other like this? I couldn’t imagine not wanting Marjorie. Not craving her. Not aching for her touch, her lips on mine, her body gloving me.
I hovered over her and slowly entered her, and then I wrapped her in my arms and rolled us to our sides, so we were facing each other.
I met her gaze, our eyes locking. “I love you so much,” I whispered.
“I love you too.” She cast her gaze downward. “Watch. Watch as you go in and out of me. It’s so beautiful, isn’t it?”
I followed her gaze to our joining. As I slid in and out of her sweet, tight body, I did as she asked.
I watched.
Mesmerized.
Entranced.
Had I ever seen anything more perfect?
We always ended up fucking in a passionate frenzy, but this morning…this was lovemaking in all its truth. In all its perfection.
Slow. Sweet. And with the perfect partner.
Our lips met tenderly, our tongues twirled, and our mouths melded into one.
And I made love to my wonderful woman.
At the office later, Joe showed up.
“Hey,” I said. “How are Melanie and the baby?”
“They’re good. She’s set up in her hotel suite but spends most of her time at the hospital with little Brad so he can get regular breast feedings. He should be good to come home in a week or two.”
“That’s great news.”
He nodded. “I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive you guys for going after Marj and my mother without me.”
“You had to stay with Melanie and the baby.”
“I know, but you could have at least told me.”
“Your attention needed to be focused on your wife and child, Joe. We all agreed.”
“We all agreed? I didn’t get a vote in there.”
“We all thought—”
He stopped me with a gesture. “Fine. I get it. I probably would have done the same thing if it had been Tal with Jade giving birth. Still…”
“You didn’t like being left out.”
“Nope. It doesn’t sit well with me.”
“It’s over now. We got Marj and your mom back. But there’s still a lot—”
He nodded. “I know. Let’s go outside.”
I followed him outside the office building until we were about a hundred yards away.
“You still think we’re being spied on?” I said.
“I can’t prove it, but damn, I feel like someone’s watching me.”
“We’re doing everything we can. Changing our cell phones, watching what we say anywhere inside. What else can we do?”
He didn’t reply.
“Joe,” I said, “you’re going to need to be straight with me about something.”
“What’s that?”
“Booker. Cade Booker. I know you don’t want to tell me anything more about how you know him, but I’m going to ask you to do it anyway. You both went to the same underground leather club.”
He nodded.
“I need more information if I’m going to help you figure this out. What else can you tell me about him?”
“Nothing.” Joe was adamant.
“Please.” I quickly filled him in on our discussion with Dominic last night. “His own brother says he’s a psycho.”