I held my breath as I waited for Ronan to answer me, but the fucked-up thing was that I wasn’t sure how I’d feel if he told me this whole thing was, in fact, over. I’d be relieved, obviously.

Of course.

Yeah.

Relieved.

Relieved and no other emotion.

Absolutely none.

My eyes chose that moment to meet Reese’s, and I could tell just by looking at him that this thing wasn’t, in fact, over.

“Come sit down, Ben,” Reese said softly.

Yep, definitely not over.

I glanced down at the dogs that were sitting politely at my feet. I recognized Piper, of course, but I hadn’t seen the shepherd before. I held out my hand to let him sniff it and was rewarded with a big, wet, sloppy kiss. Then Piper was kissing my other hand.

“Not the kind of action I’m looking for,” I murmured to the dogs and then heard Reese and Ronan chuckling.

Okay, so clearly I needed to work on my indoor voice.

“Benji, come see!” my sister called. She didn’t even let me come to her before she was up and rushing to me. There was an adorable blond-haired little boy about her age with her. I barely managed to keep up with Georgie’s explanation as she introduced me to her boy and girl versions of Spider-Man. I managed to catch the little boy’s name in the waterfall of details. I felt tears smart my eyes when I saw how happy my sister was and that she wasn’t hanging onto Duckie… or Reese.

She was just being a kid.

“Thank you, Jamie, that was so thoughtful of you,” I said as I reached out to shake his hand. “I’m Ben.”

“Wanna see my room?” Georgie asked before Jamie could even respond, then both kids were off like a shot, followed by the two dogs. I felt physically exhausted from the brief but chaotic scene.

“Come sit,” Reese murmured again as he suddenly appeared at my side. His hand was at my elbow, then caressing my back. My body still hurt all over, but his touch felt wonderfully warm… and familiar.

I let him lead me to the couch. To my surprise, he sat between me and Ronan. I nearly choked on my tongue when his fingers curled around my thigh as if they belonged there.

Which I kind of felt like they did.

“How are you feeling, Ben?” Ronan asked.

“Like someone beat the shit out of me and then broke my wrist for good measure,” I said with a smile.

Ronan began asking me questions about my symptoms, but with Reese’s fingers pressing into my sweatpants-covered thigh, I couldn’t concentrate. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask Reese if he knew his boss could see us when Ronan said, “I wish we had more information for you, Ben.”

I nodded because what else was I supposed to do? The fact that he was starting with that statement wasn’t a good sign.

“We haven’t found your father—”

“Kirk,” I cut in. “He’s not my father. He’s… he’s just Kirk,” I said. When I realized how peevish I must have sounded, I said, “I’m sorry—”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Reese interjected. “That man is a spineless piece of shit and doesn’t deserve to breathe even the same air as you and your sister.”

His vehemence took me aback. Something sizzled between us as we stared at one another. It wasn’t until Ronan cleared his throat that I managed to tear my eyes away.

“Well, the spineless piece of shit hasn’t shown up in any of his old haunts,” Ronan said, all pretense gone. His voice was just as dark and cold as Reese’s had been when talking about Kirk.

“You know where he used to frequent?” I asked.

“People’s cell phone records do a lot of talking for them. So do their credit cards… or in his case, your credit card.”

“Asshole,” Reese muttered under his breath. I hated to admit it, but I kind of really wanted Reese and Kirk to meet someday.

“Unfortunately, his phone is off so we can’t track his current location,” Ronan said. “But I’ve had some guys checking out your old neighborhood to see if Kirk has returned home. They also checked your apartment. I’m sorry, Ben, but it was trashed.”

“Trashed? What does that mean?”

Reese gave my thigh a squeeze. “It means someone broke into it and destroyed it because they were looking for something.”

I felt my throat close up.

“What?” I managed to squeak. I felt my heart start pounding in my chest as I looked at Reese. “Oh, god, Reese, I was going to go back there! I was going to take Georgie back there because I was so sure this was all a big mistake—”

“Take deep breaths, baby,” Reese urged as he leaned in close to me. “She’s safe, you’re safe. Even if you’d taken her back there, I would’ve been right on your ass, do you hear me? They wouldn’t have gotten to either of you.”

I forced myself to listen to his rumbly voice as he kept reminding me that my sister was okay, and the sound of her voice in the next room made it possible to relax a little. When I felt like I could take easier breaths, Reese actually tucked me up against his side and put his arm around my shoulder. A memory of the night before went through me.

Wow, so maybe I hadn’t been dreaming about sleeping next to Reese on the floor and then having him put me back in bed.

“What else, Dr. Grisham?”

“It’s Ronan,” Ronan said. “Even though Kirk is in the wind, we were able to find the storage unit he bought the contents of. We’re still tracking down who the contents used to belong to because the belongings changed hands a few times and we’re not really sure if anything is missing or not.”

“The man at the warehouse, he wanted information but never said what it was,” I whispered. “I’m so stupid… I didn’t think to ask him—I just wanted Georgie back, and I thought if I had a gun I could force him to let her go. I’m so stupid.” I shook my head.

“Knock that shit off,” Reese growled. “I’ve never met anyone as fucking brave as you, do you hear me, Ben?”

He was asking me a question, but it sounded more like a demand.

I almost apologized, but managed to catch myself.

I listened as Ronan shared a few more details that only resulted in more questions than answers. When he asked me if I understood, I nodded, though in truth, I didn’t understand any of what was happening. It was like my mind was in a fog that was taking its damndest time to clear up.

“Ben, did you and Reese have a chance to talk about Georgie—that she’s okay physically, but she’s going to need help dealing with the trauma of what happened to her?”

I nodded as my throat threatened to close off again. “She was whimpering last night in her sleep.” I looked at Reese. “Is that why she was sleeping with you?”

He nodded. “She had nightmares after I put her to bed. She was asleep for a couple of hours before I went to sleep myself. I didn’t realize she’d come into our room until early this morning.”

My heart skipped a beat when he called it our room. I knew he hadn’t meant anything by it, but the idea of lying in that big bed with him and Georgie coming in every morning to wake us up…

“Ben?” Ronan said softly.

“Sorry,” I responded with a shake of my head. I needed to get a fucking grip. “Do you think talking to someone will help?” I asked him.

“Definitely,” Ronan answered. “I can try to find someone, but your brother, Blue—”

“He’s not my brother,” I cut in without thinking. “I don’t have any brothers.”

Both Reese and Ronan were silent at my outburst, and I immediately felt like an asshole. “I’m sorry, I didn’t… that’s not what I… fuck!”

“Ben—”

“Look, I didn’t mean that, okay?” I said. “Blue is really nice, and what he and Tristan are doing for me and Georgie is amazing… what you’re all doing is amazing…”

I felt my face heating with shame.

“Ronan, can you give us a minute?” I heard Reese ask. I could feel tears building in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I couldn’t shed even one more tear in front of this man, even if that was all it felt like I was good at anymore.

“Hey,” Reese said as he tilted my chin up. Ronan had indeed left us, and when I heard both kids talking excitedly, I had to assume that meant that he’d gone to Georgie’s room.

“I’m sorry—” I began.

Reese suddenly covered my mouth with his. I gasped in surprise, but he just as quickly pulled back to say something. “I don’t know what happened between you and Griff, but chances are when you do finally trust me enough to tell me what he did to hurt you, I’ll have even more of a reason to turn him into a human pretzel.”

He kissed me softly again. “Okay?”

I nodded dumbly, then he was calling Ronan back. “You said more of a reason. What’s the more of for?”

Reese stared straight ahead. “No reason.”

I prodded him in the side. “Yes there is. Tell me.”

“He called me Peanut Butter Cup.”

I almost laughed until I saw something flash in his eyes. I found myself reaching out to brush the thumb of my good hand over his cheek. A normal guy would have been able to brush the nickname off, whether it’d been said in jest or as a taunt, but Reese’s reaction was telling.

“Has someone called you that before?” I asked.

Reese shook his head.

“But they called you other things,” I prodded.

“They were just dumb names. They didn’t mean anything,” Reese said with little emotion. But he also refused to look at me. I couldn’t stop myself from leaning in to kiss the spot where his neck met his shoulder.

“They meant something if they meant something to you.”

Reese let out a soft breath, then looked at me. He looked like he was going to say something, but then Ronan returned to the room and Reese went stoically silent again.

“I’m sorry, Ronan,” I said, earning me a hard look from Reese. I actually covered his mouth with my hand so he wouldn’t interrupt me. “What did Blue say?”

“Blue said he might know of someone. I believe it’s someone nearby, not from the city.”

The comment surprised me because from what I’d seen of the Marians, they looked like the kind of people who steered as clear of people like me as they could.

The spiteful part of me didn’t want to accept any kind of help from the high and mighty Marians, but the fact was that I was already doing so by staying at the family’s vineyard. And it wasn’t about me. It was for Georgie and simply put, she needed the best.

“If you think the person he’s recommending is the best person to talk to Georgie, then I’d be grateful if you could tell him I accept and thank him for me.”

Ronan nodded. He looked at Reese and said, “I’m going to go check in with Cain and get an update.” His eyes shifted between me and Reese. “Do you guys mind if Jamie hangs out here with you for a bit? The kids seem to be hitting it off.”

“No, not at all,” I quickly said.

“Great. I’ll be back in just a bit. He knows my cell number if he wants to talk to me at all, but he’s so busy with your sister that I doubt he remembers my name at the moment,” Ronan said with a smile before leaving.

The silence between me and Reese grew, and I knew I should excuse myself to go check on Georgie, especially since I was supposed to still be pissed at Reese. But the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“What did you mean when you thanked Ronan for saving your life?” I blurted, recalling what I’d overheard them talking about before I walked into the room. “That was… just an expression or something, right?”

I didn’t think he’d answer me, but to my surprise, he did.

“No, not an expression.” Reese was silent for a moment. I watched as his fingers came up to dance along my casted arm. For such a seemingly distant man, it was like he couldn’t not touch me.

I reminded myself not to get too used to that fact because all of this was temporary.

“After the military, I fell in with some guys who I thought were doing good things but really weren’t.”

“What kind of men?” I asked, because I just couldn’t believe Reese had even one bad bone in his body.

“Mercenaries… the kind who believe in profit over country,” he said coldly.

“What happened?” I asked.

“When I figured it out, I went to the authorities… anonymously.”

“Why? What were they doing?”

“Selling stolen weapons to terrorists.”

He said it so simply that it left me speechless. It was a stark reminder of how very different we were. How different our lives had been from day one.

“Ronan found out about them putting a contract out on me a little over a year ago. One of the guys was supposed to be in jail, the other was dead. They were brothers, and when the older one was released early, he and some buddies decided the price for him losing his family was me losing mine.”

“What… what happened?” I croaked.

“They went after my father and his new family.” Reese shook his head, and I saw him dash at his eyes. “My stepsister, she’s only ten… one of the guys grabbed her, and then my father was there to stop him, but another guy…”

Reese’s voice cracked, and I quickly pressed our heads together like he’d done to me before. I grabbed his hand and pulled it to my chest. “It’s okay, I’m here,” I whispered to him.

He managed a shaky nod. “Another guy put a gun to my dad’s head,” Reese managed to get out. “I thought I was going to lose him, Ben. I saw that gun aimed at him, and all I could think was that I was going to lose my dad. I was so angry with him for so long, but I love him so fucking much.”

“I know you do, Reese,” I murmured as I stroked the back of his neck with my other hand. “He’s safe. Your family is safe.”

“It’s my fault. I should have known—”

This time it was my turn to kiss him to shut him up. “If your dad was here right now, what would he say to that?”

“He told me that night that we had a second chance and that we wouldn’t waste a second of it on regrets.”

“Your father is a smart man, Reese,” I said. “Almost as smart as you, probably.”

“Smarter. Much smarter considering he’s—”

I kissed him hard but kept it brief.

“Seriously, Ben, he’s—”

I kissed him again and grabbed his face between my hands. “Ok, new rule. Every time you try to tell me your dad is better than you, I’m going to say how much I can’t wait to lay a big, fat, wet kiss on him, capisce?”

“Ben, I’m telling you, he’s—”

“Hot, I bet,” I cut in. “Is he a silver fox? I bet he’s a silver fox. I wonder if he wants to be my daddy—” I began in my most flamboyant voice.

“Okay, okay,” Reese said with a laugh. “You win.”

“Good,” I said with satisfaction as I sat back against the cushion.

“Oh, um, Ben?”

“Yeah?”

“Just a word of warning about my dad?”

“Yeah?” I asked, secretly glad he was going to go all possessive on me again and tell me not to even think about his dad, which I wouldn’t because, ewww, gross.

“You touch him and not only will you have to deal with both his boyfriends, you’ll have his Secret Service detail putting you in cuffs before you can even say ‘It’s nice to meet you, Mr. President.’”