Page 103 of Forbidden Bond

“How do you know you’re making the right decisions?”

“Strat?” he asked. Good guess. Her friend was on her mind, but he wasn’t the only one. “It’s handled.”

“I know, you handle everything. I never have to ask twice.” She wasn’t worried about her guy following through. “Just… do it delicately.”

“He’s been good to you. It’s loyalty, Macushla.”

Which, in the past, he’d accused her of not having or understanding.

Rolling onto her stomach, she cupped her face, supporting it with her elbows on the bed. “My decision to take him off our books isn’t about that. I still love him and trust him as much as I always have.”

“You think he feels different about you?”

“No, I’m not severing our relationship. With everything that’s happened recently… When Strat had the chance, he chose to get out of this life. He wanted a quiet existence, not one like this.”

“And Ford walked away from the Manzanis.”

“Will you love me any less if I come without the excess baggage?”

“Excess” was relevant because even with protecting the Stratford’s, they still had her father, Vex, and everything else she dragged in her tail of destruction.

He drove his fingers into her hair. “Macushla.”

Just the word reminded her he’d support her through anything.

Her eyes dropped before meeting his again. “Will you tell me what’s happening with Lachlan?”

“Trust your brother.”

“Do you trust him?” An honest question. With Conn, she wouldn’t shy from asking the hard ones. “I love my brother, and I love you, but I never thought you’d play nice together.”

“You think it’s a con?”

“Hard to say when I don’t know what you’re doing together. I know him as a man strict about his career, about his morals. Seeing him with you in secret talks, it’s strange, but…” she held her breath a second. “If he wanted to corner or incriminate you, I’m not sure he’d take his current stance with me. Wouldn’t it be easier to keep me sweet? Maybe then I’d inadvertently help, soothe your potential suspicions or something. Maybe it’s a double bluff, or a double, double bluff. I don’t know.”

On a groan, her hands went up through her hair as she face-planted on the bed.

This wasn’t her ratting on her brother. She had to be honest with Conn and hope they’d never be in a situation onopposite sides. If Lach was in, he was in, great. If he wasn’t, and he planned to prosecute the man she loved, or his underlings, Conn could only follow one line of action: annihilation. She couldn’t lose her brother, but she couldn’t lose Conn to twenty-five to life either.

“You need to breathe, Macushla.”

Just his voice was enough to loosen her clenched muscles. “When did life get so complicated?”

Crawling up the bed, she climbed on top of him, rubbing the inside of her knuckles hard up and down his abs, avoiding his scar.

“This isn’t complicated,” he said. “You make it complicated by layering everyone else’s crap on yours. Stick to this, baby.”

“This has always been easy.” Her head tilted. “Straightforward? Simple?” None of the words seemed right. That was it. “Right. This has always been right. Even all the times I said it wasn’t, being with you is right.” Lowering to kiss him, she tucked her head under his chin and relaxed. “People don’t understand us. How can we be such a puzzle to others and such a breeze to ourselves?”

“Other people are insignificant. They don’t interest me.” His hand went behind his head. “Focus. One thing at a time.”

And he’d take care of the big picture. Having a safety net like Conn almost felt unfair. Whatever happened next week, next month, he’d be there, looking out for her, keeping her safe.

“I focus on you as often as I can.” She took a beat. “Why didn’t you tell me about the flash drive? Ours? I brought up the sex tape and you never said a word about the one I had being blank.”

“You don’t like lies.” And, technically, giving her a blank drive that was supposed to contain something was a lie. “Not revealing a truth is—”

“An omission not a lie.” At least his rules were consistent. “You wanted me to come back. Telling me we were through… you didn’t mean it.”

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