Page 36 of Their Virgins Secret

Cole’s eyes went dark as they always did when he thought of that day. Burke was pretty sure he was the only one to whom Cole had told the whole story. “Tal was in bad shape by the time we rescued him. We were trapped for a couple of days under fire until we got away. ”

“Until you managed to kill everyone. ” His brother still had nightmares.

Cole shrugged it off. “Same difference. We got cut off from my team, and I got him out of there. Anyway, we got to be friends. He does a lot of work with Black Oak Oil, the company Gavin and Dex run with their brother, Slade. When they were looking for a firm to handle outside security, Talib recommended us. ”

“So when his cousin disappeared in New York City, he asked us to look for her,” Burke explained. “The morning we left you, we’d just gotten word that Delgado had a girl for us. ”

“So you used a fake last name while you were investigating Marco’s father,” Jessa said. “You didn’t tell me the truth because…?”

“We were posing as men looking to buy a slave,” Cole said bluntly. “We had to build a whole cover story that would check out to Ricardo Delgado’s people. Any loose end could have unraveled the whole case. ”

Burke winced at the indelicate way his brother put everything. “We had to work very carefully to even get the elder Delgado to talk to us. It was months before the cautious bastard agreed to a meeting. We took possession of our ‘slave’ about three hours after we left you that morning. When the buy went down, we recorded everything and turned it over to the feds. It started a whole shit storm. The FBI stormed the Delgado compound and arrested Ricardo. He was dead in prison six weeks later. ”

“And now his son wants you to feel his pain. ” Her fists clutched the folds of the blanket.

“Yes. He figured out that you were our weakness. I’m sure he started investigating us. It wouldn’t have taken much to find out that we’d hired a private investigator named Landry to keep tabs on you while we were gone. And apparently he bribed the PI to keep us apart. ”

“What do you mean?” Jessa looked between the two of them as if searching for answers.

Cole scrubbed a hand through his hair. “We got regular reports, Jessa. We knew you went to Scotland, and Landry said that you’d gotten married there. ”

Bitterness welled inside Burke. So much time lost. Marco Delgado had cost him in ways Burke couldn’t have imagined. Marco Delgado had made sure he hadn’t been there at the birth of his child. That he hadn’t held Jessa’s hand and comforted her. That he hadn’t been there when Caleb woke up in the middle of the night. Fucking Marco had played them like pawns on a chessboard.

Jessa rolled her eyes, a little huff coming out of her mouth. “He’s the reason you kept insisting that Angus was my husband. So this PI was on Marco’s payroll?”

“Right. ” Burke sighed. “And Landry didn’t bother to mention your pregnancy. We would have come home. We were going to leave South America after we rescued Alea and come back to you. But he said that you’d married…” He shrugged. “We didn’t have anything to come home to but a fucking empty condo, so we decided to stay on and rescue as many as we could. ”

She shook her head. “I went to Scotland early in March. That was long after you left me without a single phone call or e-mail. Or even a shred of real information about you. Don’t try to cover your asses now. You could have contacted me, asked me about my ‘marriage’ yourselves. I get that you were doing something important. I really do, but I was important, too. Well, I thought I was. I realize now that I misunderstood. I was a stupid little virgin who thought sex meant love. ”

This was what he’d wanted to avoid. “Jessa, we told you we love you. I still love you. Cole still loves you. ”

She stood, leaving the coffee and food behind. “You also told me you would come back for me, so you’ll forgive me if I find your undying devotion hard to believe. You lied about everything, Burke. You’re two dangerous men who amused yourselves with a little virgin who was dumb enough to get pregnant. I’m sure I was an interesting conquest, but that’s all I was. I’m going to take a shower. No, you are not invited. Just get this guy so I can get back to my son, and you two can get on with your lives. ”

Cole reached out and grabbed her arm. “If you think we’re going to let you go at the end of this, you don’t know us at all. ”

She pulled away. “Yeah, well, since I just found out your real last name and occupation in the last twenty-four hours, I think I can safely say that you’re right. I never really knew you. Now let me go. Don’t you need to clean your gun or shoot bad guys or something?”

As if he’d been burned, Cole released her. She turned and walked to the bathroom, her face set in stubborn lines. The door closed with a little slam.

“That went well. You know you could tone down the caveman act. ” Burke looked down at his sandwich, but his stomach turned. He understood why Jessa didn’t want to eat.

“Yeah, well, your nice guy act isn’t working, either. I’m not letting her walk away. She belongs to us. She’s the mother of our child. I’m not going to sit back and wave as she leaves. ”

So stubborn. “Neither am I, but I don’t think tying her up is going to work in this case. ”

“I don’t see why not. She can’t leave if she’s bound to the bed with both of us deep inside her. ”

His brother’s skull could be so fucking thick that not even a chainsaw could penetrate it. “We fucked up. We got scared for her safety and fucked up. We didn’t want her to know about our work or tell her how often we get our hands bloody. We should have told her everything, but we kept our mouths shut. ”

Cole’s eyes turned down. “Yeah, well, would it have mattered? You saw how she reacted just now. Someone as sweet as Jessa doesn’t need a man as hard as me. Our job is dangerous. I’m not good for her and Caleb. ”

“She’s not pissed about our work. She’s furious that we didn’t call. And the minute we thought there was an obstacle, we let her go. We shouldn’t have believed Landry or given up on Jessa without checking out this ‘husband’ ourselves. We caused this. We have to make it right. ”

Cole’s whole body deflated. “You should work it out with her. I love her, but I’m too rough. I don’t fit into the life she deserves. I sure as hell can’t raise a kid, not when his mom thinks I’m nothing more than a gun-toting motherfucker. ”

“Do not let Uncle Martin win. Whatever shit he told you, you aren’t unwanted and unlovable. Were you listening to her, damn it?”

But Cole was done. Burke could see it plainly. His brother turned away. “I need to make a few more calls. Did you get what you needed off the hard drive?”

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