Don't Stop Me

by Lorhainne Eckhart

“And you’ve kept it a secret all these years?” Chase stood up from the bench, and this was the first time Vic had seen his brother so pissed at him.

  “It’s not like that. I just found out.” Why was he having to explain?

  “So let me get this straight. Fiona is some old girlfriend, she had your kid, you didn’t know and now you suddenly do, and she’s living here?” The moment Chase said it, Vic knew what he was hinting at: Fiona was a gold digger. “You sure this kid’s yours?”

  “Careful, Chase. Everything isn’t always so black and white. But yes, he’s mine. There isn’t even a question there. And Fiona…it took a lot of convincing to get her here, and there’s still a lot that needs to happen before she’ll agree to stay, so whatever you’re thinking about her, don’t, because she isn’t one of those women.” He wasn’t so sure he’d appeased Chase, but he wondered too why he felt the need to do so. “So you’ve invaded my house, interrupted my life, and driven across the country to drop a bombshell on me, which I’m still wondering why you think I give a shit about. You insist on dragging me into this thing with…”

  “Mom, remember? The woman who loved you, raised you.”

  “And walked out on us. Seriously, Chase.” He knew his mom had wanted all of them. She’d wanted kids; she just hadn’t wanted whatever trouble his dad had dug himself into. “She didn’t just leave Dad. She walked out on us, too, casting us into the same pile of being not worth her time, and now you’ve forgiven her? Great, good for you. I have other things that are more important.” Namely, his son and keeping Fiona from bolting. “So just say it, whatever this is with Mom now that’s so dire.”

  He wondered whether Chase was going to walk out, as he said nothing, but his face said it all: He wasn’t impressed with Vic. Why should Vic care? But the problem was that he did. “Sorry,” he said. “What is it? Mom and Dad are maybe getting back together, or Mom adopted another kid?”

  “That’s the thing. Our sister isn’t adopted. That’s what had Dad freaking out,” Chase said, still with the same odd look.

  “Well, so some guy knocked up Mom and she had a kid. Didn’t think Mom could have kids.” Then he remembered what she’d said, that it wasn’t in the cards for her and his dad to have kids of their own. He’d just presumed it was her. So maybe it was their dad.

  “No.” Chase was shaking his head. “She’s sixteen, and apparently Dad is the biological father, so maybe you understand a little better why Dad is freaking out.”

  Yeah, he could understand that maybe better than anyone. As he took another second to digest what Chase had said, it hit him. “Holy crap, a sister.”

  Chapter 35

  Fiona drained the bathtub and stepped out just as she heard the door to the bedroom close. She reached for a towel and quickly dried herself as Vic opened the bathroom door.

  “Wondered where you hurried off to,” he said. “You were quiet during dinner.”

  She wrapped the towel around her breasts and tucked it in, knowing how excited John had been to meet Vic’s brother. Dinner had been exceptional. Nora was a fantastic cook, which should have made the evening enjoyable, but Chase had made her uncomfortable with the way he kept watching her. “Was I?”

  He raised an eyebrow. Would he press?

  “So your brother is staying for how long?” She didn’t know what Vic had shared about her, about them.

  “Not long. He doesn’t know anything of our past, of you.”

  She wandered over to the sink, very aware of how Vic filled the doorway and was watching her. She picked up her toothbrush and squeezed paste on it, then turned on the tap and brushed her teeth. She rinsed, knowing what Vic wasn’t saying.

  “But he must have questions? He knows John’s yours.” Chase and John had connected and chatted all through dinner, and she’d stopped listening when the conversation switched to basketball.

  “It’s not his business, it’s ours, and since when do you care what my brother thinks?” He was behind her now, watching her through the mirror. The way his eyes connected with hers as she wiped her face had her realizing a lot was going to happen.

  “I don’t. I’m just thinking about John.” Why the hell had she agreed to give Vic these thirty days?

  “John’s fine. My brother’s leaving.” He slid his hand around, flattening it over her stomach as he stepped closer, his body pressed to hers. His fingers slid up and were touching the edge of the towel, lightly touching her skin. She shivered.

  “You have a family I know nothing about, and now a sister?” She knew Vic was rattled, and she’d seen how he was sifting it all through his head without saying a word. Chase had shared a lot about the four brothers growing up, but Fiona was quite aware he’d left out all the bad, including the fact that his father had a gambling problem and his mother had run out on them.

  “Yeah.” He kissed her shoulder and then stepped away, pulling off his shirt and tossing it in a hamper in the corner. She again took in the scars and his tattoo as he stripped out of his clothes, turned on the shower, and stepped in. She stood there, watching him, trying to separate the young man she had known from this very quiet man who held on to everything.

  It took her a minute to realize he’d turned off the shower, stepped out, and was drying himself off. She rested her butt against the sink and slid over after he looped the towel loosely around his hips and then reached for his toothbrush.

  “I can’t help thinking there’s so much more about you,” she said as she turned and rested her hand on his back, running her fingers over his scars and then lower to the flame tattoo low on his hip. He rinsed his mouth and spat, then watched her through the mirror. She knew something had happened to cause the scar and inspire the tattoo, maybe the same event for both. “Your turn,” she said. “Tell me, why this tattoo?”

  He didn’t move except to rest his hands on the counter by the sink.

  Her fingers slid over the scars, one by his spine, the others by his shoulders and lower. “And the scars,” she said. “There has to be more to the story.”

  “Told you…”

  “No, you didn’t, not really,” she said, resting her face against his arm, wondering what he didn’t want to share.

  “Was days after you left. You just disappeared after screaming out your hate for me. Seeing your face and knowing it wasn’t just grief, I got drunk, high, everything and was so out of my mind. I was going to steal another car because I was all about reacting, but I was sloppy, stealing it right from this rich dude’s garage. Didn’t count on a silent alarm or the guy being a former boxer. He beat the crap out of me, dragged me down his hallway, and all I could think was that this guy was going to kill me. He threw me out a second-story window. I had just a T-shirt on, landed on my back. Was lucky I wasn’t dead. Crawled home, and Aaron used a pair of tweezers and pulled pieces of glass from my back and patched me up.” His eyes flared as he remembered. There was something about time and all the years that had now passed that softened her memory of those days.

  “I’m sorry I was cruel,” she said.

  He turned around and leaned back against the sink, resting his hand on her hip and settling Fiona between his legs. “The tattoo was for me, you. I saw it in Hong Kong and knew I had to have it because it was who I was, where I came from, all of it. You’ve always been with me, the memory of Badra, who you were and the part of us that would be forever entwined. I just didn’t know then that you’d had my son.” He flicked his finger in the edge of the towel, and it slipped to the floor, leaving her naked. “It’s time for bed.”

  She didn’t have to consider as he took her hand in his and led her out of the bathroom and to his bed, because she knew that it was going to be a long and pleasurable night, but it scared the hell out of her to have him pulling yet another piece of her armor away and exposing her tender raw heart, which was still so fragile and had never healed.

  Chapter 36

  They were skin to skin, and he couldn’t stop his hand from tracing over the lines and c
urves of her breasts, her stomach, and her thighs. Her head was resting on his arm and her back pressed into his chest, and he knew she was wide awake. He could feel her heart racing still after how he’d drawn out his exploration of her body. He’d tasted her and had her begging to finish, but he wouldn’t rush as he slid in slowly, taking his time to mark her and watch her and her vulnerability, open for him. It wasn’t lost on him how terrified she was of letting go, nor the lone tear that had slipped out when he’d spilled his seed in her. She knew and he knew he had no intention of letting her go.

  “I love you,” she said, and he could hear the confliction in her voice. It wasn’t something she was happy about, and he pulled her closer, never having believed she would say those three words to him.

  He kissed her shoulder, and she let out a shaky breath. “You okay?” he asked. He couldn’t say it back. It was there on the tip of his tongue, but he’d never told anyone. She was the only one he’d loved.

  “You’re not playing fair,” she said. “You won’t let go, will you?”

  He was still touching her, running his hand over her stomach and her breasts, holding her. “You’re inside me,” he said. “You’re a part of me and have screwed me so I can never have anything with anyone else.”

  She moved a bit away from him and slid over onto her back. He leaned up on his elbow, taking in the alarmed expression he could still make out in the dim room.

  “You’re scared,” he said. “Don’t think I can’t see that.”

  “Of course I’m terrified.” She was overthinking again.

  “Of me?”

  She frowned, and he couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. “No, of myself. I’m scared of letting you love me and giving myself permission to be loved. I feel so much with you that I’m waiting for something to go wrong and blow up in my face. I want to believe that it will be okay, but I fear it won’t. I don’t know how to do this and be with you, and you want more.”

  There it was. He’d wondered whether she’d ever admit it. “Yeah, I want everything,” he said, everything they were owed, the lost years and a family. “I never allowed myself to consider being a father because that would mean having a woman in my life and a relationship, and that wasn’t going to happen. But now…” He couldn’t say it because it was still so raw. He couldn’t love anyone else because she’d broken him.

  “Now what?” She was waiting, and the only light in the room was from the moon, spilling in from the window.

  “I don’t want anyone else, just you, me, John…”

  “And other children,” she said. “You’re trying to get me pregnant. I figured that out already, Vic.”

  “Yeah, I want more, and this time I want to be part of my kids’ lives from their first breaths, first teeth, first steps, and I only want that with you.”

  Maybe she’d never expected him to say it, as he could feel her tense. Then she lifted her hand and touched his face, and he pressed a kiss to her palm. “You expect to have everything your way,” she said.

  He wondered whether she knew he was smiling.

  “But you won’t, just so you know. I’m not a pushover,” she said as she rolled back on her side, sliding closer to him. “I’m tired.” She tapped the hand that was running over her stomach and lower again. “Yes, I suppose I’ll marry you. You really left me no choice in the matter.”

  He moved Fiona onto her back and settled between her legs. “So you’re telling me you’re staying, no more freaking out and trying to find a way to bolt?”

  She rested her hands on his cheeks as he slowly entered her. “No, I’ll try.” She was breathless as she tried to talk.

  Then he moved again as her legs wrapped around his waist. “You’ll do more than try. This is our time, and no one is coming between us,” he said as he lowered his mouth and kissed her deeply. He moved faster and took her once more over the edge, and this time he whispered in her ear, “I love you.”

  Chapter 37

  Fiona was out on the front step with John and Chase as they said goodbye. His brother tucked his bag into the trunk of his BMW.

  “Great to meet you, John,” he said. “The fact that I now have a nephew is pretty cool.” He shook John’s hand and then ran his over John’s hair, messing it up. John beamed, taking in the teasing. “We’ll stay in touch. We’ll take in a game or two.”

  “Yeah, that would be fun.” John was all smiles.

  Chase stepped over to Fiona. Vic could see the tension, knowing his brother was dealing with half truths and seeing only part of the story. “Fiona, pleasure. Congrats, you two, on the engagement. Keep my brother happy.”

  Fiona inclined her head and accepted a kiss on the cheek from Chase, who then stepped up to Vic and pulled him into a hug.

  “So no big wedding?” Chase said. Neither Vic nor Fiona wanted anything with a lot of focus. She wanted a civil ceremony with just the three of them, and Vic was fine with getting it done at the courthouse. John was over the moon with the fact that his parents were getting married and that he’d soon be a McCabe.

  “Not what we want. You heading up to Dad?” he asked—and, he supposed, their mom, too.

  He shrugged. “Was hoping you’d come, too, meet that sister of ours. Heard Aaron and Luc are planning a trip as well.”

  Vic had no desire to visit, but he knew Chase was always trying to figure out a way to bring everyone together. It was what he did, managed conflict, and he always wanted that happy ending. “Not this time,” he said. “So what about work? When are you heading back?”

  As Chase looked away, he knew there was something more. It was in his expression, something he was holding back. “I’m not. Congressman retired. Figured with all the changes in Washington now, it’s probably best if I look at some other options.”

  He wondered whether there was more. With Chase, it was possible.

  “If you need a job, let me know,” Vic said, but Chase only laughed as he strode down the steps and around to the door of his BMW. He pulled it open, resting his hand on the roof.

  “Take care, guys,” he said, and he slid behind the wheel, started his car, and pulled down the driveway.

  Vic stared at the taillights and felt Fiona slide her hand in his front pocket, where one of his hands was shoved. John had already gone back into the house. He linked his fingers with hers and pulled his hand out of his pocket.

  “You know it’s okay to go and see your mom and dad,” Fiona said. “You should. They’re family and the only one you’ll have.”

  He knew what she was saying, knowing her loss would always be with her. “You’re wrong there,” he said, and he took in her expression and the question in her eyes. “I have a family. My family is right here.”

  Chapter 38

  Vic was absolutely dashing in a black suit, white shirt, and navy tie. John stood beside him in a suit he’d picked out the day before with Vic, and he was so much his father’s son. There they were, the three of them at City Hall before a judge, who Fiona had learned was a friend—or rather a business acquaintance—of Vic’s.

  He had a reach with people who mattered, and Fiona was just beginning to realize the significance of his position in the community. Her world had spun out of control fifteen years earlier, leaving her feeling helpless, alone, and vulnerable, knowing rights were only an illusion for the average person and were really only extended to people of influence, so it comforted her to realize that Vic’s influence now extended to her.

  However, it was also unsettling. Instead of thinking it to death, though, she’d finally decided that allowing herself to be happy wasn’t a crime. It was her right to be happy, and Vic made her so. His power and position and money would be that wall of protection she’d never believed she’d have, and she had to remind herself that it was okay to want it and have it.

  She knew she looked good, fantastic. Vic hadn’t been able to hide his appreciation in his dynamic hard gaze, which had softened when he saw her walk down the stairs in his huge estate wearin
g a white dress and strappy gold sandals that made her feel like a true woman, Vic’s woman.

  They repeated their vows. It was efficient and legal, and they now had matching bands, platinum, though for her Vic had added a second diamond ring inscribed with the word Forever. “You’ll always be safe,” he said as he leaned in before kissing her deeply.

  She scribbled her name, Badra Walker, all legal, and Vic took the marriage certificate and tucked it in his jacket pocket before leaning in, kissing her again, and whispering, “We’ll change it legally. I promise you I’ll make it happen.”

  She knew he would, and she knew he now understood. Badra had died fifteen years earlier, and Fiona had been born. She’d never go back to being that girl.

  John looked so happy, and Vic said, “Yours, too. Your mom and I are married, so you’re both McCabes.”

  She could see how that seemed to lift John higher. Vic reached for her hand and linked their fingers. She could feel his calluses, and they told their own story of how hard he’d worked to get where he was. His touch had her wanting to begin their honeymoon, too. They’d never really talked about where; she just knew he was taking her away for a few days, and John would be staying home with Nora.

  Vic had already loosened his tie when they walked to his car. He opened her passenger door while John slipped in the back. “I have a surprise for you,” he said, taking her hand and running his thumb over the ring he’d placed on her finger.

  “Oh, and what is that?” She wondered what he’d bought for her, feeling so spoiled now.

  “Surprise, remember? Put your seatbelt on.” He closed her door and walked around the front of the car.

  “What do you think it is, Mom?” John asked. With Vic, it could be anything.

  “I don’t know,” she said, though she didn’t have to wait long, as Vic drove a few blocks to the building where his construction office was and parked in front.