Mine

She was partially done. With Brandon headed back to school tomorrow, she’d had a relatively small window within which to act when it came to getting something with his DNA. Collecting Gabe’s would be much easier.

Now to get back to her bedroom without being seen. She had no idea what kind of security Gabe had in the house. Well, some idea. She’d staked out the place earlier, checking for cameras and such. She knew what she could see, but he would be just paranoid enough to own some new technology that she couldn’t even pick out when looking at it.

She slid into the hallway and tiptoed back down toward her room. Right as her hand touched the doorknob she heard a sound. Turning around, she watched as Gabe’s door swung open.

With only seconds to make a decision, she pitched the closed bag into her room, hoping it landed somewhere easy for her to find and hard for Gabe to see. Frozen by the soft creak of the hinges, she stood there. Gabe appeared in the opening. Even in the low light from the rooms behind each of them she could make out his frown.

He took a few steps and got closer. That’s when she realized he wore only a pair of boxer briefs, and those were on kind of sideways with the seam ru

“Why are you up?” she asked, dreading what he might say.

“I heard a noise.” He rubbed his head. “Why are you walking around?”

She thought through every possible answer and decided to go with the true one. “I was hoping the offer to share that big bed was still open.”

She’d grown accustomed to sleeping by his side, to the noises he made. Being in a strange house, in a strange room had her on edge. So did her mystery project.

But he didn’t invite her in. Instead, he stood there watching her.

Finally, he held out his hand. “You should consider it a standing invitation.”

She was down the hall and by his side in two seconds. Forget the DNA test she pla

TWENTY

Andy walked into his office in the morning and came to a stop. Almost dropped his beloved coffee and the briefing file in his hand. There sat Rick, in the big chair with his feet up on the desk and arms folded behind his head. It was enough to make a guy want to reach for his gun. Andy refrained, but he did plan on firing someone for this. No one got in here without his permission, and Rick certainly did not have permission.

“Move.” The tone worked, because as soon as Andy barked out the word, Rick’s feet dropped to the floor. It took another minute and some glaring to get him up and on the right side of the desk.

Rick didn’t bother to sit down in the visitor’s chair. Just hovered at the edge of Andy’s desk. “As suspected, they left Montana.”

“And good morning to you.” Andy set his cup down. A guy should have at least five minutes of breathing room in the office before dealing with yelling. He pla

“They took off.”

So much for pleasant conversation. Since he knew who the “they” were and wanted this over before it became a scene, Andy answered. “Their plane crashed . . . or don’t you watch the news?”

“The subterfuge angle. Damn it, Gabe.” Rick started pacing. More like walking in circles as he muttered under his breath.

“He’s not even here and you’re swearing at him.”

This was new. Not the anger. Andy had witnessed more than enough of that in the MacIntosh family over the years. Something else plagued Rick. His normal detachment slipped.

“They’re definitely together. Very cozy,” Rick said, as he massaged his temples then stared at the floor.

Not a surprise to Andy. He’d seen the way Gabe looked at her, the way Natalie looked back. Heated and a bit uncomfortable to anyone watching, so Andy had tried not to. Just accepted that Gabe felt more than protective toward Natalie. But who knew what the hell was going on in Rick’s head. “Does that piss you off?”

He stopped stomping around and shot Andy a confused glance. “Why would it?”

The easy answer proved to be a little too easy in this case, so Andy let it drop. “Honestly, I’ve given up trying to read you.”

“I cared about her, you know.”

It took Andy’s brain a second to catch up. When he did the emotional shields slammed down and his hands came up. “No way.”

Rick frowned. “What?”

The last thing—absolute fucking last—Andy wanted to hear right now was some convoluted explanation for why Rick thought it made sense for him to poach from Gabe all those years ago. “You are not unloading on me. Whatever you have to say about Gabe’s ex, you say it to him.”

“I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

Hell, no. Andy sat back in his chair to keep from coming up out of it swinging. “Your dick just slipped? Admittedly, I don’t date women, but I know how the body parts function.”

“You’re not fu

He wasn’t trying to be. Andy wanted, no needed, for Rick to understand how his words made it all worse. Maybe then he’d stop with the same tired refrain and take some responsibility. “And you can’t sell this as a mistake.”

“I don’t see Brandon that way.” Rick’s voice flattened and his mouth pulled tight at the edges. While he fought and engaged in what amounted to just the newest round of posturing, he looked different. Haggard. Exhausted, as if he aged in rapid acceleration the more he stood there.

Andy refused to give credence to any of it. “Truth is you went after Gabe’s girlfriend, slept with her, lied to him and created a mess. You did that. Not him.”

“I didn’t force her.”

As if that was even up for debate. Andy knew where to place the blame, firmly on Linda and Rick. Both of them. Together, their actions created the black hole that sucked Gabe in. “Is that really your defense for screwing over your brother?”

“I’m stepping up and helping now. Isn’t that what you want to hear?” Rick came to the edge of the desk. Something new moved into his expression. A note of desperation, maybe?

Andy leveled the one thing that stood a chance at mending the breach. “Then drop the talk about the DNA test.”

“Would you?”

That one was too easy. “I would never be in this position.”

“Because you’re gay.”

Rick could really be a clueless jackass sometimes. Andy did not love this side of his big brother. Those blinders. The denial. “Because I would never go out of my way to hurt Gabe.”

Rick shook his head. “It wasn’t like that.”

“It looks exactly like that, or are you trying to say you were a twenty-something in love with a seventeen-year-old?” Andy picked up the file on the fake crash aftermath and started blindly paging through. He’d had enough of this conversation. Enough personal stuff for seven o’clock in the morning.

“I have an appointment with my clients.” Rick leaned against the side of Andy’s desk, trapping a short stack of files under his thigh. “About this situation.”

This he could handle. Andy lowered the file to glance at Rick and gauge his sincerity. “You mean with the CIA assholes tracking Natalie.”

“I never actually admitted that was happening.” He shrugged. “Deniability.”

Right. There were limits to what he could share. Andy got it. He worked in this area as well, but he didn’t pretend to be stupid about reality. “Didn’t have to.”

“I’m trying to clear this up so she can get on with her life.” Rick’s voice dipped low and what little emotion remained in it vanished. “If that includes Gabe, fine.”

That was the least sounding “fine” Andy had ever heard. “You don’t sound too excited about that.”