by Mandy Harbin
Scott’s smile disappeared, his eyes narrowing. “You do that.” He walked over to his mom and kissed her cheek. Xan reached up and patted his head, not looking at him. Her mortification was rather quite adorable. But Brody didn’t have kids, so he really didn’t understand what she was going through.
Scott turned to leave and Brody smiled, watching. The kid had spunk.
“That was horrible.”
He leaned over and took her hand in his, rubbing soothing circles on it. “It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t horrible. He’s a young man who needs to understand his mother has needs like everyone else. Just like he does, unless he’s a eunuch.” He picked up his cooling coffee and gulped it down.
“Oh God, that’s even worse. I don’t want to think about his needs.” She sighed, shaking her head. “I know you don’t have kids, but did you ever walk in on your parents having sex?”
Since he couldn’t remember his childhood, he didn’t remember if he had. But that wasn’t really the point. Xan was freaking out and he needed to help her chill. And he could do that by playing down the incident. He stood, clutching the side of her head and kissing her hair. “We weren’t having sex. Now, if he’d come home thirty minutes ago…” He chuckled as he pulled away.
“Oh shit. He could’ve walked in on us having sex!” she hissed.
“Right. And he didn’t. So no worries.” She started to speak again, but he halted her efforts. “I’m getting dressed. I’m not sure what you’re doing today, but I have a couple of kids to beat at football.”
He left her gaping at him, and he stifled a chuckle. He quickly threw on some shorts, a muscle shirt and tennis shoes from his bag, grateful he had those workout clothes with him. He and the guys from work got together on occasion to play a little, so Brody was glad he wouldn’t make a complete fool of himself out there. He pulled out a hair tie to hold his hair out of his face. When he stood to leave, Xan walked in.
“You’re really playing football with my son?”
Uh-oh, were those unshed tears in her eyes. What did he do to upset her? Did she feel neglected that he wasn’t going to be spending time with her? He stepped up to her and pulled her into his arms. “It’ll only be an hour or so, baby. I promise we can do whatever you want after we’re finished playing.”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head against his chest. “It’s not that.” She eased back and tried to free herself from his embrace. He wasn’t having that. He squeezed her tighter, grasping her chin and lifting her face so she’d be forced to look at him.
“Then what is it?”
“It’s silly.” She waved a dismissive hand and tried to look away, but he held firm.
“Xan.” His tone was reproachful.
She took a shuddering breath and reluctantly looked at him again. “It’s just that…um, that Scott hasn’t had any adult male role models around. Ever. So it’s nice, er, sweet of you to spend a little time with him. That’s all.”
“Baby,” he breathed, leaning his forehead against hers, not knowing what to say. He wasn’t a role model. He couldn’t remember his past, but knew he’d been a contract killer once upon a time. Even though he didn’t do that now and had no memories of ever doing that before, he had some shady dealings with his side job under Colonel. Granted, it was within the realm of law enforcement. Mostly. But just thinking about being there for Scott gave him a warm feeling inside, gave him a sense of pride. Even if he’d only be in Scott’s life for a short while.
“Look, I know you’re not his dad or anything. Oh God. I can’t believe I just said that.” She tried getting away from him again. When he pulled her back, she struggled with him, obviously embarrassed.
“Stop fighting me, Xan,” he murmured. “I’m flattered you think he’d benefit from spending time with me. He’s a great kid, and I’d love to hang out with him.” That seemed to help because she relaxed and let him hug her to his body.
“W-why don’t you ever ask me about his dad?”
Oh shit. What was he supposed to say? He’d better think of something fast. “I figured you’d tell me about it when you were ready.”
She hummed against him and pulled away. “I’m glad you want to hang out with Scott.”
Why was she looking at him like that? She seemed distant, and he hated that. He wanted to do something to lighten her mood. “Yeah, of course I’d much rather play with you in the sheets, but we can always do that later. We can play find the pickle.”
She laughed and he smiled, just the reaction he wanted. God, he lov—um, no. He cared for this woman. He wasn’t in love with her. He quickly, forcefully shoved that thought away.
“I’d better go before I get razed by the kids for being held up by a mommy.”
She popped up on her toes and kissed him before he jogged out to play some pigskin with the young folk.
Love? No way. No how.
Right. He was in deep, deep shit.
Chapter Fourteen
Xan sat on her front porch sipping her hot cocoa late that evening, wondering why in the world she was drinking this hot stuff when it was still well over eighty degrees outside.
Brody’d left over an hour ago after spending the first part of the day playing football with the boys. They’d run drills and gathered some of the other neighborhood kids together for an impromptu game of touch football. Even Roxie and Scott’s and Chad’s girlfriends had come over to watch the game. She’d noticed how Scott lit up when Malorie Kimber arrived and remembered Brody’s little comment about Scott’s needs. Maybe it was time for another talk with her son. She tried to have them regularly, and it’d been about six months since the last one.
But Xan wasn’t the only one to notice Scott’s reaction to his girlfriend. Brody’d eyeballed him and had even pulled him aside a few different times to talk one-on-one. It could’ve been about anything, but Scott kept glancing at Malorie when he was talking to Brody. Xan got the feeling Brody was talking to him about his girlfriend, but she wasn’t sure about what. She’d had every intention of asking, but Scott was always around.
Well, except when Brody had tricked her into following him in for a glass of lemonade and pulled her into the pantry, slipped her shorts off, and took her from behind while covering her mouth to muffle her cries.
Yeah, except for that one time, there hadn’t been an opportunity to ask him, and at that moment, she’d been too caught up in lusty pleasure to think straight.
The day had been great, really wonderful. She’d had fun visiting with Roxie, watching Brody keep up with the young men, then hanging out with Brody and Scott all afternoon.
But in the last hour since he’d left, she couldn’t stop thinking about her conversation with Brody this morning when she’d asked him why he hadn’t asked about Marco. He’d stiffened slightly before giving her a perfectly good response. If he hadn’t flinched like that, she probably wouldn’t have given it another thought. She figured she hadn’t dwelled on it since then because of her obsession with Scott and his interest in his new girlfriend, but thinking about it now made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She had that itchy feeling that something wasn’t right. But why?
She tried reasoning with herself. Seriously, she hadn’t known Brody for very long. She already knew he was mostly a loner, so maybe he didn’t pry into her life because he felt as if it wasn’t any of his business. But they were sleeping together. And she cared about him. How much, she didn’t like to consider because she’d start trembling, breaking out in gooseflesh.
Which brought up another point entirely. Why break her abstinence streak now? Why Brody? And why was he reluctant at first? Why did he really have a change of heart?
Her neck kept itching as the questions swirled around in her mind. She rocked on the porch swing, sipping her cooling cocoa, trying to make sense of her apprehension. With the exception of her FBI agents, she hadn’t trusted a man since Marco. Maybe this was just new to her, and she wasn’t used to accepting male companionship.
Or maybe something was off.
Jack had told her that the FBI was watching her, and she’d already encountered them. Her heart stuttered. Or him? Was Brody an agent on her case? Was that why he’d fought his attraction to her? Oh God! Or was he not even attracted to her at all? Was getting close to her just a means to an end?
Wait, wait, wait. She was just being silly. If that was the case, then he wouldn’t have been hesitant in the beginning. He’d have taken his opening without reservation. Her experience with agents had shown her they were ruthless professionals.
She chewed her nails, considering. She could make guesses all night, but there was only one way to find out. She got up and walked into the house, heading for the kitchen since Scott was at the other end of the house in his room playing video games. She pulled out her cell phone from her purse and called Jack. He answered the first ring.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Jack, it’s Xan.”
“Yes, I recognize your number. Is everything okay?”
Maybe she should’ve thought this through before picking up the phone and just calling him. Too late to worry about that now. “Um, well, I’d like to talk to you about the agents you have watching me.”
He hesitated, and Xan wasn’t sure if she should say something else. “What about them?” he finally asked.
“Who are they?”
“You know I can’t divulge that information.”
She took a steadying breath while she considered another tactic. Best to just come right out with it. “Look, Jack. You told me after I arrived that I’d already encountered the person or people watching me. At that time, the options were limited to the people at my work, in my neighborhood, and at the garage where work was done to my car.”
“I never said the person or people in question were people you’d met. I said you’d encountered them. That could’ve been a person in a gas station, at Walmart, or many other locations where you ran into them in passing.”
Damn. He had a point there, but she wasn’t giving up. “Tell me what you know about Brutus?”
“Brutus, AKA Brody Jackson, is a mechanic for Sheppard’s Garage. Mid-thirties, blond hair, blue eyes, drives a late-model Harley Davidson Cross Bones motorcycle and a late-model Ford F-150 crew cab truck—I believe Harley Davidson Edition. The man likes Harleys.”
Why would Jack know so much about Brody? Surely this wouldn’t be that easy. “You spilled that much information when I just asked you about a man named Brutus. How could you have known who I was talking about? Do you know all this because he’s working for you? Is Brody the guy, or one of the guys, you have watching over me?”
He chuckled and she felt her face flush in anger. Why did he think this was funny? This was only her life they were essentially talking about. Before she got a chance to dig further, Jack responded.
“Some of the people I have watching you were at that little honkytonk you went to the other night. Saw you leave with him. It’s my job to know if the people in your life are a threat to you.”
Well, that made sense, she thought reluctantly. She strummed her fingernails on the kitchen counter, trying to think of another way to find out the identities of the people watching her. He hadn’t come out and said that Brody wasn’t part of that team. “You’re evading my questions.”
“You’re right. Because I can’t tell you shit, and you know it. We’re protecting you, so please don’t worry about that, but if you get suspicious about anything, call me immediately.”
That gave her pause. “How close are you?”
“My proximity is irrelevant. But I may be closer than you think.”
She guessed that was good. If he was near, then he could be here at a moment’s notice if something happened. Not that it helped answer any questions she had about Brody. Realizing she wasn’t going to get anything concrete out of her super-secret agent man, she mumbled her understanding and got off the phone.
Brody Jackson. Xan hadn’t even realized she didn’t know his last name until Jack had told her. Maybe she was overreacting to Brody’s reaction to her bringing up Marco. So he hadn’t asked about Scott’s dad or her past in general. She hadn’t even asked him for his last name. Or about his past. Maybe things were progressing normally for their budding romance. But she really had no idea if this was normal for a couple who were falling in love.
Love? Hmm. Maybe not love. Lust. Yeah, falling in lust. But if she was going to open her heart up to Brody eventually, maybe she should get to know him a little better before her heart overruled her brain.
But getting to know him meant she had to open up about herself too. And she wasn’t looking forward to telling him about her past. Too many painful memories. Though if she expected him to open up to her, she needed to be prepared to talk about Marco.
And Tess. God, even after all these years, that wasn’t a subject she enjoyed.
If Brody had no feelings for her at all, he’d probably run screaming when she opened up her baggage for his perusal.
And if he did have feelings for her and became concerned for her safety when she spilled all the grueling details of her life, her heart just might overrule her brain before she was ready.
Because she already felt as if that was happening.
First thing Monday morning, Brody pulled his Harley into the garage’s parking lot. Colonel should be pleased that he’d actually be early for this meeting. But he wasn’t here brown-nosing or seeking brownie points. No, he needed to talk to Gauge about his research.
Brody tried getting more information on Paul Sellers, Luke Riley, and Jeff Coleman last night after leaving Xan’s house, but he just kept hitting a brick wall. Wall? A fifty foot brick fortress was more like it. And he was frustrated as hell. Something wasn’t adding up right, and he needed answers before bad things started finding their way to Xan’s and Scott’s front door.
He killed the engine and stalked into the bays. Gauge was already there, waiting for him.
“Thanks for gettin’ here early, man. I appreciate it.” They shook hands and Brody patted his buddy’s back before crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ve got squat, and it’s pissing me off. Tell me you got something.”
“Yeah, I got something.” Gauge nodded his head to the side to motion Brody over to their makeshift conference room. Since no one was here yet, it’d be private, so he followed. Once inside, Gauge turned to face him. “I had to call in some major favors and sell my soul for this shit, so I’d like to keep it on the D.L. Unless it becomes necessary to tell Colonel, this stays between us. Got it?”
The words should’ve sounded grave coming from him, but Gauge actually sounded pissed. Brody didn’t know what to make of that, so he just nodded, wanting to hear the news.
“Paul Sellers and Luke Riley are still agents, but they’re deep undercover. From what I hear, we’re talking years. No specifics on their assignments, but my contact told me those guys are so involved in their own shit that they couldn’t possibly have anything to do with what’s going on with Alexandra Collins, AKA Xan Bradley, or the Colleoni family.” Gauge shifted and glanced behind Brody, making sure they were still alone, Brody figured, and lowered his voice. “Jeff Coleman is a little trickier. I’m still gathering intel on him, but apparently, he’s the guy who was the head agent on her case before Dave Simmons. He orchestrated her extraction from the Collins estate, but was injured before he could follow through with it. After he was retrieved and treated, he disappeared. Whether that happened on his own or if he got too close and is now under FBI protection, I haven’t figured out.”
Laughter flowed in from the other room right as the front door opened to the shop, meaning some, if not all, of the other guys were here, and this conversation was over. “Okay. Thanks.”
“No problem. Just remember, keep your trap shut unless this info becomes necessary to spill. The identification of undercover agents is serious shit, and I don’t want to lose a valuable asset over it.”
“You got it. Thanks, man.”
Brody patted the guy on the back and took a seat as Blade and Bear strode in.
“Well, looky looky here,” Blade said with a smirk. “I can’t believe you got your big ass outta bed this early. Usually, you ain’t strollin’ in until right at eight.”
“Fuck off, Blade,” Brody growled.
“Ahhh, did we interrupt your little bromance with Gauge over there?” Hunter teased as he walked in, chuckling. Roc was right on his heels.
“Don’t be jealous, Hunter. C’mon over here and I’ll let you suck my dick.” Brody groped himself and flipped the bird.
“Seems like you’re getting enough action. You don’t need that pussy over here too,” Roc muttered as he sat down, glancing at Hunter.
Brody glowered, remembering the bullshit Roc had fed to Xan about Mimi. And he sure as hell didn’t like Roc’s tone, but he had to be careful and not show too much emotion, otherwise the guys’d rake him over the coals. Luckily, he didn’t have to worry about a comeback that wouldn’t insult Xan or implicate him because Hunter stomped over to Roc.
“I ain’t no pussy, you dickweed.”
Bear stepped in between them. “Enough, you two. We don’t have time to referee a fight that Hunter’d lose.” He chuckled.
“Eat shit, Bear!” Hunter stormed over to the other side of the small room and sat. Stewed, really.
But even through the horsing around, Brody felt his blood pressure rise as he stared at Roc, arms crossed over his chest. The idea of keeping quiet sounded like a good plan, but he was having a really hard time sticking to it.
“You’ve got somethin’ to say to me, Brutus?” Roc barked.
Brody’s arms dropped to his side as he took a step toward Roc. That mouth of his was going to get him in some serious trouble, starting right now. Brody was fucking pissed, and he didn’t want to hide it. Blade noticed the look in Brody’s eyes and stepped over, immediately coming to his aid. The other guys looked confused and started to gather around as Colonel came rushing into the room, not paying any attention to the gathered men.