by Law, Kim
He was in his car.
With Cat sprawled out across his chest. Completely naked, but still, he was in the backseat of his car.
He shook his head in wonder. The woman had talked him into desecrating his one true love. But then, he couldn’t think of anything else he would rather have been doing last night. Especially after the way she’d shown up at his office, then stuck by his side the rest of the day.
She’d come back to town a changed woman. It had been quite the turn-on.
He opened his eyes wider now, blinking the sleep away, and noticed that the beam of sunlight had slipped in around the edge of the blinds attached to the high, narrow windows. It gave the entire garage a dusty hue, but enough light that he could take in his surroundings.
There were clothes everywhere.
His shirt was slung over the side of the driver’s-side door, her panties dangled from his rearview mirror, and there was . . . he did a double take as he stared at the wadded-up tissue perched carefully on the edge of the seat beside him. He didn’t even want to think about what that might have been used for. Or the fact it was touching his car.
He dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling. If the sunlight hadn’t woken him, the cramps in his back surely would have. Geez, he was too old to sleep in the backseat of a car.
Last night had been insane. He’d never experienced anything like the madness that had descended on the tiny theater, and honestly, he would be okay going through the rest of his life never experiencing it again. He was not a fan of the utter madness.
But if he wanted to be with Cat . . .
He glanced down at her, still sleeping on his chest, her blonde hair splayed out everywhere.
If he wanted to be with Cat, the media would be a part of it. At least occasionally. And it would not be something he could set limits on. Not the kind of limits he would be able to enforce. He’d have to be okay with that.
For Cat.
For them.
He closed his eyes again. If that’s what it took, he’d do it. Assuming she could get past the Harrison name. And that was still a big assumption on his part. She might have taken a nice first step to independence the day before, but one step did not wipe away a lifetime of training. He simply had to convince her that a name he’d never had anything to do with would not hurt her family.
Emma Davenport could continue hating Thomas Harrison for years to come. Brody being a Harrison wouldn’t matter. Because no one needed to know. And hopefully mortification that her daughter was with a Harrison would be enough to keep Emma Davenport’s mouth shut on the matter.
Cat stirred against his lap, and as she wiggled, his lower body stirred right along with her. God, he couldn’t get enough of this woman. When he opened his eyes this time, a pair of gorgeous blues stared back at him. She yawned behind her hand and shot him a sexy half smile.
Her breasts were naked, her hair had that I’ve-been-loved-well tangle, and she looked as if she might be up for a good-morning round as well. It took everything he had not to dig out another condom.
“Morning,” she muttered.
He winked at her as his heart whispered things he wasn’t quite ready to hear. He had to pull the reins on his emotions fast if the two of them didn’t stand a chance.
“What have I let you do to my car, Kitty Cat?” He had to tell her about Arthur.
“Don’t complain. You enjoyed every minute of it,” she said around another yawn.
He slid his hands to her bare rear and squeezed. “I did. Though I’m not sure I can unbend enough to climb out of here.”
“Tell me about it. I feel like a pretzel.”
He chuckled and leaned forward, searching out her mouth. He slid both hands into her hair and closed his mouth over hers. She was warm and pliant, and she gave as good as she took. It was the kind of kiss he could stand to wake up to every day.
When they separated, she let out a shaky breath and flopped back to his chest as if she’d used up every last ounce of energy she had. One hand inched upward until it reached his jaw, where she simply touched his cheek.
He captured her hand in his. This was perfect. Except for being in the garage.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” she asked.
He tucked his chin in and looked down at her. Where did he start? With the fact that he might just want to keep her? Forever?
Or jump right into the harder issue? That being his Harrison blood.
“You.” He went with option three.
She pushed herself up off his chest. “What about me?” Her eyes remained squinted with sleep.
“You’re tough,” he told her.
“How so?”
“You lost your husband,” he began, “your dad. You’ve been through some rough times.”
She nodded. “There wasn’t any other choice.”
Brody twined their fingers together. “I know you were close with your dad.”
“Yeah. Which makes all of this even harder.” She let out a soft laugh that turned into a sad sigh. “I wish he was here so I could ask him what happened. What went so terribly wrong that he would cheat on my mother after all that time? With a seventeen-year-old.”
Brody rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. “You think you’d like the answer?”
A bleak look met his and she shook her head. “I’m not naive. But sometimes I wish I was. Dad was a driven man. Like Mom. Driven people enjoy the power that often comes with hard work.” She shrugged. “And power isn’t always used for good.”
Brody hurt for her. That abuse of power was the reason he kept his paternity secret.
“Life sucks sometimes,” Cat said wistfully. She once again tucked herself against him, one finger moving in tiny circles on his chest.
“It does,” he agreed.
And sometimes it was pretty darned good. He tilted her chin up. “This is more than sex, Cat. You know that, right?”
She silently nodded.
“I’m not exactly sure what it is. And we don’t have to define it yet. But if we’re going to do this, you have to be on the same page as me. It’s more than sex.”
He was surprised at the lack of hesitation in her eyes.
“I agree. It’s more. And we both probably knew that before we started. And no, I don’t know what it is either. But I want to find out. It could be something good.”
It was as if the garage no longer existed and he was staring directly at the sun. The day was glorious. This was going to be okay.
“I have a brother,” he blurted out.
He held his breath as shock ricocheted through her eyes.
“That’s who I was talking to on the deck yesterday morning. He called because he was . . . worried about me.” Which wasn’t a complete lie, but he would work up to the true reason for the call. “He knew you were up here. That I once loved you.” Brody tightened his fingers around her thighs as she simply watched him, not saying a word, and fear began to fill him. It kept him from immediately sharing Thomas’s name. “He’d been watching the news,” Brody explained as if she wouldn’t understand why Thomas might have been worried.
“You never told me you had a brother.” She finally spoke. It came out as a question, but also as if it hurt that he hadn’t shared that information before.
“I didn’t know about him then. He’s two years younger than me. I met him and my father, both, when I was sixteen.”
“So he’s not your mother’s son?”
No, he’s Arthur Harrison’s.
Brody held his breath instead of speaking. That had been it, the perfect opportunity.
And he hadn’t been able to do it.
How in the hell was he supposed to tell Cat that he was the son of the family trying to destroy hers while he had her naked in his lap? He’d planned this poorly.
“Let�
��s put our clothes on,” he suggested. His words seemed to let her know that his father was a difficult topic. Off the table for the moment. She nodded and climbed out of the car.
“Tell me about your brother, then. Are you close?”
“No,” he said wryly. He reached for his pants. “I once wanted to be, but he’s . . .” He paused, trying to figure out how best to describe it. He lifted his hips to pull up his pants and watched Cat as she stepped into her panties. “He’s not like me,” he finally said.
“How so?”
In every way that mattered. “We want different things.”
“And that makes it wrong?”
With a first and last name he could explain why it made it wrong. But he was a coward.
He hoisted himself to the side panel of the car and swung his feet over. “It makes it difficult.”
She grew quiet, as if contemplating what “difficult” might mean. She had her tiny scrap of a bra on now, and the car stood between them. He wanted her back in his arms.
When she spoke again, all that came out was a soft, “Hmmm.”
He shoved his arms through his shirtsleeves. “What?”
“I guess that means you weren’t out there talking to a reporter yesterday morning.”
He paused. “That’s not what you really thought?”
Because if it was, they had even more issues than he’d believed.
She gave an apologetic shrug. “Not really. But with everything coming out lately, I get nervous. Especially when people leave the room to keep me from hearing.”
“I left the room because I was mad at you.” And to keep her from hearing.
“I know. Circumstances just have a way of making me question things I’d otherwise trust.”
“And you trust in us?” He stopped all movements to watch her closely.
Blue eyes carefully studied his from the other side of the car. The look lasted longer than he would have liked given that particular question, but in the end she gave a small nod. He blew out a breath of relief.
“I trust in us,” she stated.
“Good. Don’t question us. We’re good.”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t go home yesterday.”
Her soft words placed a large lump in his chest.
“Cat. I have to tell you something.”
She nodded encouragingly.
“My brother . . . he’s—”
The phone inside her pursed chimed loudly in the quiet garage, and Brody groaned with frustration. Good God, the number of times they’d been interrupted by her family was ridiculous. He gripped the side of the car. “Ignore it,” he pleaded.
“I—”
“They can wait. I need to tell you something. Something important.”
“Okay.” Her eyes darted to the small purse lying on the front seat of the car. “I thought it might be my kids,” she mumbled.
Damn. She was right, it could be her kids.
And he didn’t want to be that person.
He stood straight and waved a hand at her purse. “See if it’s your kids,” he conceded.
She hesitantly dug into her bag, and he sagged in exhaustion. Unburdening himself was not an easy task.
The instant her eyes locked on the screen, Brody knew their conversation would have to wait. She had an ohmygod look about her. “Who is it?”
“My brother.”
He scowled. Her brother was not an ohmygod thing. He’d called her every day this week.
“My older brother,” she stressed.
Ah.
She’d explained that she and JP had been trying to get in touch with their older brother for a while. She hadn’t told him why, but he’d sensed she had a good reason.
Probably more secrets.
Which he did not want to know about.
He held up his car keys and motioned for her to take her seminude body into his house. “I’ll go for doughnuts,” he said. They’d have to put off their talk until he got back.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
BENNETT,” CAT SAID in a rush as the call connected.
“Squirt,” Bennett teased.
Emotion flooded her. Finally, she’d reached her brother. “You are one hard person to contact. I called you back yesterday but it went straight to voice mail.”
“Yeah, sorry. I got pulled into some things. Thought I’d try again this morning before the same happens again. I take it what’s going on in the news is why you’ve wanted to talk to me?” her brother drawled out. For someone who’d lived the past twenty years outside of Georgia, he certainly still sounded like a Southern boy.
“Not quite,” she stalled.
“You mean there’s more?”
She sank into a chair at the kitchen table. “Where are you? Can you take a few days’ leave? Catch a flight to the States?”
“I’m in the States.”
“Then come up here. I’m in Maine.”
“Hon. I know where you are. You’ve been on the news almost as much as our mother.” He chuckled lightly, the sound easy and familiar. His laugh had a way of taking her back to her teenage years. He’d teased her mercilessly as a kid. Always poking at her. Laughing when he got her riled up.
She missed him.
“So you’re an actress now?” She could hear the smile in his voice.
She blushed. “No. I’m just having some fun. I was in the drama club in high school.”
“I remember.” He’d been away in the army by then, but they’d kept in close contact those first few years. “You were pretty good, if I recall the stories correctly. Sounds like you still are.”
“I’m not bad,” she admitted. And then she remembered why he’d called. “But that’s not why I need to talk to you. The press is ruthless lately. All over the place, looking for a story.”
“Doesn’t appear they have to look very hard.” Bennett’s tone turned somber. “Sounds like Dad had some issues. How long have you known about this?”
“A couple weeks,” she said. “JP found out last summer.”
“And Thomas Harrison is the one getting the pleasure of sharing it with the world.” His tone was dry.
“You know him?”
“I’ve met him. Along with his father.”
“I take it you didn’t care for them?”
There was an odd pause before Bennett answered. “Arthur’s a piece of work, that’s for sure. Thomas is a replica. The way they’re running this campaign doesn’t surprise me. What about the kid?”
“Daniel?” she asked.
“Is that his name? No one has said.”
“Yeah. Daniel.” She couldn’t help but imagine Lexi alone, scared, and pregnant at the age of seventeen. With hush money as her only comfort. “His mother’s name is Lexi Dougard. She was seventeen when she volunteered on Dad’s campaign. From what JP says, she’s gone off the grid now. She never wanted Daniel to be exposed as a Davenport, and she doesn’t intend to come up for air anytime soon.”
“Can’t say as I blame her,” Bennett muttered.
They both fell silent, each in their own thoughts, and Cat pictured Daniel in her mind. JP had shown her a picture when he’d told her about him. Dark hair, vibrant blue eyes. The child looked like a Davenport. He looked like JP.
She ached with the thought that she had a brother out there she didn’t know. May never know. All because her father and mother had hidden him from the world.
“What in the hell was Dad thinking?” Bennett spoke once again.
“I know. It’s a mess. Our parents . . .” She closed her eyes as she thought about her own secrets. She wasn’t one to judge. “They’ve done some things, that’s for sure. And I’m terrified the Harrisons won’t stop.” She paused again. She didn’t want to have to tell him over the phone. “There’s more, Bennett.”
> “Something big?”
“Yes.” The word shook.
“And, what? It involves me? Or do you just want me there to stand by Mom?”
It broke her heart to think about telling her own brother that he was actually her half brother. “Come see me,” she pleaded. She rattled off the address of her rental. “It involves you.”
“Can’t you just tell me over the phone, Squirt?”
“I want to see you. It’s been years. Tyler doesn’t even know you.”
“Is he there with you?”
“The kids will be up next weekend. Vega is flying to Florida to get them tomorrow, then they’ll stay with her and JP in Atlanta for the week. We’d all love to see you.”
She pictured Bennett pacing in whatever room he was calling from. He’d paced as a kid any time he’d had a decision to make. Big or small, it hadn’t mattered. He’d paced over joining the army. He’d paced over which girl to take to senior prom. The memories made Cat smile.
“And you won’t tell me what this big secret is unless I come there?”
“I’d rather not,” she hedged.
A sigh sounded through the phone. “I’m not making promises, Cat. I’ll try.” The heaviness of his voice worried her. “But it’ll take some time.”
She heard people in the background, and Bennett said something, but not into the phone. When he returned, he was all business. “I’ve got to go.”
And just like that, her spirits sank. She wanted more time with her brother.
“Please try,” she begged. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too, Squirt.”
Cat sat there all by herself after the phone was silent, thinking about how few times she’d seen her brother since he’d left home at eighteen. And wondering if there was a hidden reason for that. Could he already have an idea about his paternity? Surely not. But he was the oldest. It was possible he knew even more secrets than she and JP did.
Nothing would surprise her at this point.
She put the phone down, realizing that Brody had taken off with her purse still in the car, so she rose from the table and headed for his shower. He would be back soon. With doughnuts.
