Eyes Wide Open (The Blackstone Affair #3)(37)
Author: Raine Miller

“You going on like it’s nothing. You’ll be a dad, mate.”

“Well, what would you like for me to say? It’s not like we planned for her pills to fail, and really, it changes nothing in the end,” I said, sneering. “Thanks for the tip. I am aware.”

Neil cracked a grin. “You’re pleased.” He laughed and shook his head. “You’re quite chuffed about it, aren’t you?”

I was, and I had no reason to lie to him. “Yeah, I am. I’m marrying her too. And it will happen well before you and Elaina do it,” I challenged, daring him to raise an eyebrow about that. “The sooner the announcement goes out wide the better, I say. Let the senator and his goons read about it in the celebrity gossip. BLACKSTONE TO MARRY AMERICAN MODEL, FIRST CHILD ON THE WAY. The more publicity the better, I say. How about: PREGNANT AMERICAN MODEL BEAUTY WEDS FORMER SF CAPTAIN, SECURITY DETAIL FOR THE ROYAL FAMILY? That sounds a bit better, I think. The guest list will be impressive, I can promise you that much. Every celebrity I know will be getting an invitation. The higher her profile, the more layers they’ll have to break through to get to her. Can you imagine if any U.S. official got caught laying a hand on her now? They’d likely have a war on their hands. The more elevated her celebrity, the harder it becomes for her to ever be a target. It’s calling their bluff, and I’m fully prepared to f**k them quite rudely.” I faked a grin.

Neil nodded. “I’m happy for you, E. Brynne is your cure, anyone with eyes can see that.” He paused before asking, “How does she feel about being a mum?”

I couldn’t help the surge of pride that swelled in me when Neil asked that last bit. “You know how Brynne is. Very sensible about the important things, and this is one of them, but I know she’s frightened like anyone would be. Fuck me, it’s terrifying!” I reached for a Djarum Black and lit it.

“Yeah, but you two will manage to make a go, I’m sure,” Neil said before changing the subject. “How did Len do while I was gone away?”

“Fine. Solid, dependable, Len. In fact, he’s at the flat right now and I imagine as we get closer to opening ceremonies it’ll be Len on her most of the time. I’m going to need you to run things here when I’m off.”

Len was Neil’s replacement for Brynne duties. He drove her wherever she needed to go, and basically guarded the entrance to the flat at any point I wasn’t in there with her. I couldn’t and wouldn’t take the risk that she be exposed to vulnerability. The closer we dug into the Senator Oakley camp the more clues pointed back to the senator’s possible involvement in what I now believed to be cleverly camouflaged hits on Montrose and Fielding. There were clues that Fielding was dead, but no telling when his corpse might make an appearance, if ever. Neil had pegged what was surely Secret Service lurking around Fielding’s abandoned apartment in Los Angeles. That f**ker had been taken down, I’d bet my Victoria Cross on it.

“Time to go from here, boss. It’s too late for you to be lurking, and your woman is home alone,” Neil said.

“Agreed on that.” I sighed at the thought of the late nights still to come in the next weeks, took a long drag on my cig and extinguished it. I really was making improvements on tapering down. Sometimes I just let them burn without smoking them.

Neil clapped me on the back as we went out. “So, Dad, we need to get you good and drunk in celebration at first opportunity. You’ve knocked up your girl and you’re getting shackled to boot.” He shook his head again like he was still in shock. “You don’t do anything lightly, do you?”

“ ‘Fraid not,” I grumbled.

The flat was dark and silent when I let myself in. All I wanted was to get my hands on her. I always had a moment of panic if I came in and the place felt empty. But that was stupid because it was so damn ridiculously late to be coming home from work and I’d just relieved Len of his duties at the door. Of course she was in the flat! She would be asleep and the place dark.

I ditched my jacket and started working on my tie as I headed for the bedroom. I’m grateful I never made it in there, because I would have had a heart attack when I found our bed empty.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I spotted her stretched out on the sofa, her e-reader set on her stomach, iPod wired up with music, and just took her in. Her long legs tangled in a throw blanket, an arm stretched over her head, hair spread out beneath her.

Only the light from the city shining in through the bay windows lit the room, but it was plenty for me to see her with. She had on a pair of my black silk boxers and a little green top that showed enough of her soft curves to make me hard. It didn’t take much to bring me to life, regardless. The more we were forced to spend time apart, the worse I got with irrational need. I wanted her. All the time. Want. Need. Desire. I was losing my mind and I’m pretty sure Brynne knew it. She worried about me and that knowledge just made me love her all the more. I finally had someone who cared for me because of me, not how I looked or how much brass I happened to have.

Her eyes opened and she found me.

I stayed planted at least seven feet from where she was and kicked off my shoes. She sat up on the couch and stretched, arching her back and chest toward me in invitation.

We still hadn’t spoken a word to each other, but so much had already been communicated. We were going to go at it like beasts and it would be excruciatingly good. Like always. So . . . having a mutual strip show, huh?

Sounds goddamn perfect to me.

Me first. I had more clothes to get rid of than she did. I think I was smiling. If it wasn’t showing on the outside, I had a f**king clown grin going on the inside.

I worked the buttons on my shirt slowly, watching her watch me as her eyes grew smoky. I shrugged it off my shoulders and let it drop to the floor. I kicked it away with my foot and blinked at her.

Your turn, my beauty.

She did a move that I dearly love, and one she does so well it ought to be illegal. She raised her arms and crossed palms behind her neck and dragged them upward through her hair, flexing her neck in a stretch before bringing her hands back down to the bottom of her skimpy green undershirt. She peeked up at me and paused.

I growled low in my throat. Purely instinctual and utterly impossible to hold in. I needed to devour her right now.

Slowly she pulled the green scrap upward, revealing the satin skin of her stomach, a slight delay over the mound of her br**sts, and then a little bounce as they fell free, and the top went on a little fling through the air. She straightened her arms and set them palms down on the couch.