Page 136 of Unseen Danger

All that mattered was he didn’t have the funds to start his own security business. Not while still supporting his dad through the cancer treatments.

He should just be grateful he had a job left at all after everything that had happened.

But it was going to take him away from the woman he loved. Maybe if he could stay here, he’d devise an excuse to keep seeing her. He could offer his services to the Phoenix K-9 Agency or get some job as a security guard in the Twin Cities.

He was dreaming. None of those options would pay enough to fund his dad’s treatments. Not even close.

He had to stay with D-Chop and the lucrative career he was coming to loathe.

He had to leave Nevaeh.

As if she sensed his attention, she turned her head toward him, her gorgeous brown eyes landing on his face.

Her smile faded as she watched him.

Too much of his inner turmoil must be showing.

He tried to force a smile. After all, he was looking at the most beautiful person he’d ever seen in his life. A smile shouldn’t be hard.

But it was. Because he couldn’t ignore the reality that this was one of the last times he’d have the opportunity to smile at her. Probably the last time he’d ever sit next to her like this. Be close, be part of her world, her life.

“Should we go, guys?” Jazz’s voice drifted past Nevaeh to reach Branson’s ears.

Go. Exactly what he didn’t want to do.

“Want to throw some rice at people?” Nevaeh’s full mouth quirked in a half smile.

A chuckle bubbled from his throat. Leave it to Nevaeh to make him laugh, even when his heart was aching. “Absolutely.” He stood and extended his hand toward her.

Her eyes widened slightly like she was startled, but she smiled as she slipped her hand in his.

He kept it—her hand—even though he had no right to, as they moved with the crowd of guests out of the reception hall and to the large lobby at the front of the building.

The people clustered, bottlenecking at the double doors they had to take out of the reception hall.

Branson shifted Nevaeh in front of him, releasing her hand to cup her shoulders and keep her shielded from the people bumping into each other. He didn’t mind the excuse to hold her close.

The grin she shot him as she tilted her head up and back said she didn’t mind either.

A surge of heat pulsed through him. This was what he wanted. To be always near her. Always protecting her—from jostling crowds, from PTSD, from anything that arose. He wanted to make her happy. To keep that grin on her face forever.

But he wouldn’t sacrifice his faith, wouldn’t be disobedient to God, to be with her.

So when they reached the lobby where the people spread apart, he dropped his hands from her shoulders.

“Over here, guys.” Bristol waved them to the front of the two sides that were forming an aisle between them. “You didn’t get rice.” She glanced past them. “Oh, Sofia. Good.”

The petite woman in a navy blue pantsuit hurried toward them with a small plastic bucket in her hands. “Rice for everyone.” Sofia grinned as she extended the bucket for them to grab handfuls. “Though I don’t think the cleaning crew is going to be thrilled the farewell moved inside.”

Branson didn’t miss the way her husband’s hand went to Sofia's back when she swung the bucket toward him. And the way their daughter beamed up at them with an excited, joyous expression of a child who had a happy, safe home.

Branson shook his head at himself. He’d heard weddings could do this to people—make them imagine marriages and families of their own. Make them want those things so much it hurt. But he’d never experienced the wedding effect before. Not until Nevaeh.

“Are you okay?” The woman of his thoughts stepped close, her arm brushing against the sleeve of his tuxedo jacket, sending a jolt of awareness straight to his heart. “You look like you got bad news.”

His chest squeezed, the ache strengthening its grip. He put his arm around her shoulders. He couldn’t seem to help himself. He had to hold her, to try to banish the concern in her eyes. “Nothing important.” Except the news he was trapped in the career he no longer wanted. And the news that he had to leave with D-Chop in less than forty-eight hours, that he’d probably never see Nevaeh again. That he probably shouldn’t.

“Here they come!” Someone’s shout at the back of the lobby drew everyone’s attention to the makeshift aisle they’d created for the couple to pass through to the door.

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