Page 53 of A Brother's Secret

He chuckled and whispered, “Pretty much the same, but that wasn’t what I was asking… I didn’t hurt you again, didI?”

“Mm-mm, no.”

“Good,” he pecked me on the tip of my nose and I crossed my eyes to look. He laughed for real then and I felt my smile grow brighter. I loved that I could make him laugh, I loved that I made him smile, I loved that I could finally love him and not hide it behind a bunch of teenage insecurities.

Speaking of which, I felt young again. I mean, I know I wasn’t exactly a bitter old hag at thirty-five, going on thirty-six, but all of this… I felt seventeen again. Pre-all the garbage that had taken me away fromhim.

He pressed his lips to my forehead and murmured, “We went at it for a really long time. I was a little worried this morning.”

“Mm, nothing to worry about here.” I closed my eyes and laid my head back down on his chest and he chuckled deeply.

“You ready to head for home?” he asked.

“Are you? I mean, you only just got here and it’s a longride…”

“Came down in my truck, figured it’d be easier onyou.”

“Explains why I didn’t hear you arrive.”

He chuckled and kissed the top of my head again, “Snuck up on you pretty good, huh?”

“Yeah, you did,” I said and I was glad it came out brightly, I was glad it felt bright.

“Need some time to pack?” he asked and I shook myhead.

“No?”

“No… I kept all my shit ready togo.”

“For the last six weeks?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay… okay…” he held me tighter, the way he said ‘okay’ like he was trying to digest this bit of information.

“I just want to go home, Kyle… this isn’t home and I don’t want tostay.”

“Back to Indigo City?” he asked carefully and I looked up at him, frowning.

“Don’t be stupid,” I chided. “You are home. You always have been and you always willbe.”

He chuckled then and snuggled me closer, “Sounds about right to me, babe.”

We spent another lazy hour or so in bed, but then we had to reluctantly drag ass out of it. The ten-hour or so drive back to Kentucky wasn’t going to make itself. We showered together, caring for each other in a new, simple way… although I was a shower girl at heart, I think I would always prefer bathing with Kyle in a tub. I was a little sad that we likely wouldn’t be able to as comfortably as in the damn horse trough, though.

Our goodbyes were sweet, and I found that I really would miss this charming little sea side town and the men and women of The Kraken. I had started learning from Hope and the lessons would be missed. Still, I was confident enough that I might, might, might pull at least one fast one on Reaver and I was hoping the opportunity would come up. I owed him a touch of light-hearted revenge.

“You take care now, y’hear?” Cutter asked, and I smiled at him, hugging himback.

“I promise,” I said and he grinned.

“The broken find their way to Ft. Royal, but they rarely, if ever, leave the way they came. They always go home better. You come back anytime you should need us,” Faith murmured and she hugged me tightly.

“Leave it to my ol’ lady to find just the thing to say. Couldn’t say it any better m’self,” Marlin smiled at her and it lit up his whole world.

“We’ll totally take you up on coming back to visit. Might be a while, though. I think we’re both looking forward to getting back home and rebuilding our lives… together this time,” Kylesaid.

“Thank you for hiding me, I don’t think it’s a kindness I could ever repay,” I murmured.

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