Page 39 of Deep Within Me

“Of course.” He touched Zeke’s forearm. “Do you want me to tell her?”

“We’ll both do it.” How, he wasn’t certain. He didn’t want to freak her out, but he couldn’t allow her to repeatedly deplete her strength with her father having to bring her back again and again.

That was, if he could.

The room spun with Zeke’s newest worry.

“What is it?” Munez asked.

Zeke hauled in a breath that did nothing to calm him. “How many times can you reanimate someone? Does it work more than once? Are there any repercussions to doing it repeatedly?”

Would the individual develop cancer or some weird disease no one had ever heard of and couldn’t cure? Would there be brain damage?

“I don’t know,” Munez murmured.

God, God, God.When Liz had stirred last night, taking her first breath that proved she lived again, Zeke thought they were home free. Not even close.

He pushed out of his chair and backed up to the door. “I’ll get Liz. After we speak to her, I’ll have one of my men bring you a fresh set of clothes and take you to the dining room to get something to eat.”

Not giving the older man a chance to comment or question him, Zeke left the room and hurried to his own. Empty. One of his tees and a pair of navy boxers lay on the bed. Liz must have decided not to put them on when Jacob arrived with clothes from one of the younger women.

Zeke headed for the dining room, suspecting they were still there. He stopped just outside the doorway when he saw them.

Liz’s back was to him, her food barely touched. Jacob sat facing her. He stared at her hands for what seemed like minutes, although Zeke figured only a few seconds had passed. Then, as if Jacob couldn’t stand it any longer, he regarded her face.

Zeke’s heart caught. Love, the kind he’d never seen from Jacob for any woman, flooded his brother’s features. He looked at Liz with such yearning, there was no mistaking what he felt.

What Zeke had warned him against.

“Don’t test me on this,”he’d said before the battle with Carreon’s men.“I’ll fight you for her, and I’ll win. She loves me.”

Now, Jacob felt the same about her, his passion fueled not by sibling rivalry—wanting everything Zeke had—but by deep affection.

When had it taken hold? When Jacob learned Liz had gone back to Carreon’s stronghold, putting herself in danger to protect them? Or had it been when Jacob found out she’d died. That they might have lost her forever if not for her father’s gift.

What did it matter? None of his musings would erase Jacob’s feelings. Ones his brother wasn’t acting on. Jacob kept his hands to himself. He didn’t flirt. He merely looked, until Liz lifted her face to his.

Jacob’s cheeks darkened, making him seem too young and vulnerable. He concentrated on his coffee cup, his hands wrapped around it.

Zeke recalled when his brother’s hands had cradled Liz’s breasts. He thought of his conversation with her father, asking the man if the healing she’d given to others could be poured back into her.

Dr. Munez didn’t know.

Zeke intended to find out.

Chapter Seven

At thirty-four, Maria Guzman was in the twilight years of her profession as a stripper, at least in the better clubs. Her body was still well toned, belly flat, thighs sleek, thanks to the rigorous exercise regimen Carreon expected of all his performers. However, there were also faint horizontal lines on her forehead, ones fanning from the outside corners of her eyes and those bracketing her mouth. A heavy smoker known to party hard on her days off, Maria had too many bad habits that were clearly catching up with her.

From reading her file, Carreon learned the club had hired her when she was twenty-three. Her twelve-year anniversary was coming up quickly. She had two children to support, twin boys who were now seven years old.

When she’d returned to the club a short while ago, bleary-eyed yet eager to earn the extra cash, she hadn’t mentioned her kids. She’d dressed for sex rather than a striptease, wearing nothing beneath her long coat, which now lay over Ernez’s chair. Her jasmine fragrance, laced with musk, filled the office.

Upon her arrival, Carreon hadn’t wondered if she’d gotten a babysitter for her boys or whether that person knew she’d been headed here. Ernez had warned Maria not to breathe a word to anyone. If she had, he’d learn about it eventually and then she’d be out of a job, including this special project.

Surely not wanting that at her age, Maria had kept her tongue. She probably hadn’t even said good-bye to her sons before taking off.

Carreon hadn’t considered who would care for them if his experiment didn’t work out or whether they’d miss their mother.

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