Page 12 of The Unwanted Wife

I rise and walk around the counter and to my office. "Where are you, big bro?"

"Sorry, I had to head back on a mission.” He sounds tired.

"I thought you’d be on shore leave for another ten days, at least?" I close the door to my office and walk over to sit down behind my desk.

"I thought so, too, but an emergency came up."

"They can’t do without you, eh?" I say lightly.

"I really did want us to spend time together, but you know how it is when duty calls." He clears his throat. "I’d hoped to introduce you to my girlfriend and?—"

"You have a girlfriend?" I screech.

"I was going to tell you, but uh, I only realized how I felt when I was called away so suddenly. For the first time in my life, I didn’t want to go on a mission."

"OMG. You, and hesitating to take on an assignment?"

"Shut up, scamp," he chides. "It was a physical wrench to leave. I would have come by and told you the news myself, but uh… I wanted to spend every second I had with her.”

"That’s quite understandable.” I curl a strand of hair around my finger.

"I gave her your details. She might reach out to you while I'm gone. Hope that's okay?"

"Of course. You don’t have to ask." I move the phone to my other ear. "When will you be back?"

"I’m not sure. A couple of months, maybe more?"

There’s something in his voice that makes me realize, he doesn’t sound like my happy-go-lucky brother. His tone is more sober.

"You really didn’t want to leave her, huh?" I ask softly.

"It’s not every day a man realizes he’s in love." I sense him begin to pace. "If anything were to happen to me..."

"Nothing’s going to happen to you."

“But if it did—” Someone calls out to him. "Shit, I have to go, Skye." The phone goes dead.

I glance at the screen. It’s not the first time Ben’s been interrupted in the middle of a call. But it is the first time he's sounded so preoccupied. He needs all his wits about him when he heads into combat. And normally, he’s so focused, I don't worry… but this time, there was something off in his voice. Probably just the fact that he was leaving his girlfriend. My brother's in love! OMG, I’m so happy for him. There’s a knock on the door. It swings open, and Zoey pops her head around. "Skylar, you’ve got to get out here. My granny’s a hoot." She laughs. "You’re going to love her." She must see something on my features, for she frowns. "Everything okay?"

"Of course." I rise to my feet. "Shall we join the book club discussion?"

6

Nathan

"This could be something out of a smutty novel." Brody, my half-brother grunts as he lifts the barbell over his head. I spot him, and he lowers it back to his chest, his biceps bulging. The planes of his chest strain against the sleeveless T-shirt he has on. He sits up and swings his legs over the bench before grabbing the towel I hand him, and mops at the sweat beaded at his temples.

"What do you know of smutty novels?" I scowl. The man loves to read. He’s never seen without a book, except for at the gym, though if I weren’t here, he’d go through his routine listening to audiobooks.

"More than you, apparently." He smirks.

"Do you read them?" I scan his features.

He shrugs. "Enough to know what women enjoy."

"There’s a line between fiction and real life."

"But fact is stranger than fiction." He hooks the towel around his neck, reaches for his bottle of water and chugs down half of the contents.

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