“At least this makes so many things clear. You took up ménages after Heather’s death, didn’t you? Then if any woman got pregnant, you always had another man to blame.”She’d figured him out fast. Exactly. She was exactly—Wait!His gaze snapped over to Luc. “Maybe you’re the baby’s father. Maybe—”“I’d love to take responsibility for this.” Luc dropped to his knees in front of Kimber, lifted her T-shirt, and placed a gossamer kiss on her still-flat belly. Deke waited for the relief. And waited. But watching Luc’s reverence as he stroked a soft hand over Kimber’s stomach, he could only feel sick at the thought of his cousin creating life inside his woman. The possibility made him want to retch and break something at the same time.Then Luc stood and looked at him with not just sadness, but tragedy in his dark eyes. “But I can’t take responsibility, Deke. The baby can’t be mine.”“You fucked her, too. Both of us did.”“True.” Luc crossed the room and sat beside him, clapped a hand across
Damn, the man could flat out kiss. The finesse…wow. The way he raked his tongue across the roof of her mouth sent a shiver through her. Then he nibbled erotically on her lip. A tilt of his head later, and the kiss changed, deepened, as he swept through. He had full command of her mouth now, and she tingled, felt…taken. It would be easy to melt against him. But it would give him false hope.She pulled away. “I’ll be leaving in the morning.” Luc’s fingers tightened in her hair, and he looked like he wanted to argue.Instead, he gritted his teeth and released her. “Where will you go?”“I need to check in with my brothers. My dad should be coming home from the hospital soon, and they’ll bring him to Logan’s place when he’s released. They’ll need my help. My place isn’t too far from his, and my poor neglected apartment…Bet all my houseplants are dead.”“Will you leave me a number? I want to be with you. I want to be as involved as you’ll let me.”She smiled. “Sure. I have no doubt I’ll ne
“Damn it… What do you think? Is he guilty?”“Could go either way. But my gut…he didn’t set the bomb.”“So we could still have a psycho out there after Dad?”“Or after you. While you were in the swamp, we got a couple of phone calls on Dad’s cell, some guy asking where you were and how to find you. He always used private, untraceable numbers and never talked long. I never knew if he was a reporter or a criminal.”She frowned. Surely, he was overreacting. It had to be the press trying to get ahold of her and bite into the big juicy story of her and Jesse’s busted relationship, which seemed like a lifetime ago now…. She’d assumed about all the unavailable calls and mute voice mails on her cell phone were all members of the press, too.“I haven’t made any enemies.”“That you know of.”True. Kimber sighed. But unlikely. Had to be the pesky press not knowing when to leave a story alone. “Go with me to the hospital later today, just in case?”“Yeah. Let me know what time. Could I…” He hesita
“Why are you trying to make everything better between Kimber and me?” Deke turned his attention back to his cousin. “To make up for manipulating us? To get closer to the baby?”Luc closed his eyes. “I deserved that. I…influenced you both to get what I want. I thought it was in everyone’s best interest, not just mine. Now, I’m trying to talk some sense into you purely for your own good. Like you said a few days ago, I regard you as a brother. You should be happy. You deserve it after all this time and shit.”Deke swallowed. That was probably the nicest thing Luc could have said to him in that moment. He wanted to believe it. He almost did… “Thanks.”At one o’clock, Kimber sat on the patio of her favorite deli. The area was shaded by live oak trees and bordered a quiet side street, which would help with privacy.She plucked at the tank top wilting against her skin, hoping that the heat would ensure that if they were gawked at, it would be purely through windows in the deli’s cool interi
The footsteps entered her bedroom, paused, wandered around, then headed to the closet.As Kimber braced herself against the wall behind her walkin closet’s door, her hand came into contact with something solid, wooden. She smiled. And she was damn glad that she’d been on the apartment complex’s co-ed softball team.Wasn’t this shithead in for a surprise?Deke’s palms had sweated for the entire one hundred miles into Dallas. Nearly twenty-four hours after Kimber had dropped her bombshell, he was ready to talk to her. No, he had to talk to her. So he’d driven west, into the thick, inky night, with his insides jolting like he was hooked up to jumper cables.Luc had spoken a lot of truths. A dozen years ago, Deke had been guilty of many things. Having sex with an emotionally unstable girl. Thinking with the wrong head. Letting the abundance of Heather’s emotions—and her family’s—drown out his logic.What he hadn’t done, as his cousin and Kimber had pointed out, was forced Heather to swall
“Keep talking,” he told the old man. “Cal, isn’t it?”“Yes,” the old man said cautiously.“What do you mean, start over again?”He hesitated. “I’d better not say anymore without my lawyers.”Within three minutes, pandemonium erupted in the apartment. Police units stormed the place. Deke led the suspect out by his nape and prodded him forward with the barrel of his gun.After the police verified Deke’s credentials, they were cool. And he turned all his attention to the EMTs working on Kimber.He detailed the cut on her arm calmly. “Why the hell is she still unconscious?”“You family?”Oh, this shit. “I’m her…” Boyfriend? Fiancé? Father of her child? “She’s mine.”“Your wife?”“Not…yet.”“Sorry. No information given out to nonfamily members,” said one as they carried her out on a stretcher.Deke couldn’t resist touching her face, her shoulder, as they passed. He followed them out to the ambulance. “Let me ride with her.”“I’m sorry, sir. Family only.”Fuck family only! “Where are you ta
“He told me that Call had lost another star about a decade ago to marriage. He couldn’t name names, but he said the guy let a promising career fade away so he could play house with his new bride.”“The pansy-ass pop star was making excuses for his manager?”“No, just filling in the gaps.”Deke relaxed. Or tried to. “So…what? Call was going to off you so that Jesse wouldn’t be distracted by you anymore, could keep making his silly-ass CDs, and the old guy could rake in all that money?”“Cal’s getting old and apparently felt like he couldn’t lose his nest egg.” She shrugged. “Even though I’d turned Jesse down, Call was worried by Jesse’s pressroom antics and convinced he wasn’t letting go of me, so I guess Call figured it would be better to eliminate me before Jesse self-destructed.”“That’s twisted.” Luc shook his head as he walked to the other side of the bed and took her hand. “Hi, sweetheart.”Kimber looked at Luc and fresh tears tracked down her face. She turned her watery gaze to
“You are.” Deke gently worshipped her mouth. “You are.”“Feel like demonstrating that?” She lifted her hips to him in blatant invitation.“God, yes.”Kimber nipped at his shoulder, kissed her way up his neck.“I’m still on the pill, but if you’d rather…condoms are in the nightstand.” They were really going to do this, just the two of them. He hesitated, fearing the nasty sideswipe of panic. But it didn’t come. “Whatever happens we’ll handle it together, right?”“Yes.”The reassurance in her voice went straight to his chest, where he felt all damn mushy. The rest of him…taut, tense, every bit rigid. Everything from his shoulders to his toes was juiced with adrenaline. Nerves. Anticipation. He’d never needed and feared something so much at once.“For three days, I’ve been thinking about nothing except how you’d feel inside me.”Then she lifted her legs high on his hips. Damn, her pussy pressed right against his cock. And she was wet. Oh, hell. Deke started to sweat. His heart took off l