Page 7 of Their Virgins Secret

Jessa looked around as though assuring herself that they were truly alone. “Sure, but on once condition. I get to dance with Cole, too. Don’t say no. It’s Christmas Eve, and I want a present. ”

He never danced. He wasn’t sure he could. And yet after Burke finished twirling her around, Cole found himself standing and taking her in his arms, his hand curling around her little waist. He practically sighed when she put her head on his chest.

What the hell was he doing? This was a bad idea. But the moment she snuggled closer, he knew there was nothing he could do except sway to the music. The snow fell on the streets of New York just outside the window and, despite the danger and the world’s seedy underbelly awaiting him, Cole Lennox felt happy for the first time in what felt like forever.

CHAPTER TWO

Present Day – Virginia

The chill in the air hit Burke’s lungs like a knife to his chest. He forced the air in deeper as he moved them outside the house, toward the car.

Them. Not just Jessa, but Caleb, too. Their son. That truth hammered at him. If the tiny mop of black hair didn’t give the kid away, there was the fact that Jessa hadn’t been around any man for the last year except Angus. Who, it turned out, was a cat. So it was a pretty damn good bet that Caleb was theirs.

After all, she’d only had two lovers in her whole life.

How had the PI they’d hired gotten it so wrong? Another question for another time.

Cole stood by the car. “I couldn’t find anyone else in the house, just that fucking cat. He’s in the car. Obnoxious furball. I called the cops. Let’s get Jessa away from the house in case that idiot of Delgado’s is telling the truth. ” Cole frowned as Jessa hurried to the car, the baby swaddled in a blanket against her chest. “Is that another damn cat? No more. The first one has a seriously bad attitude. I won’t mention his breath. ”

The blanket came loose, and Caleb gave a little gurgle, his tiny head turning to take in the newcomers. Unlike his mother’s grim face, Caleb’s was happy. He grinned, showing off a completely toothless mouth.

“That’s a baby, Burke. What the hell?” Cole’s mouth hung open.

If the situation hadn’t been so goddamn dire, he would have reveled in his brother’s surprise. Nothing ever fazed Cole. Even when they had been jumped by ten armed Taliban fighters in an Afghan backstreet, he’d merely killed his half, shrugged and said “I told you so” before popping open another black-market beer. Burke took the opportunity to snatch the keys from his brother’s hands. “Your powers of observation are staggering. Get in the car. We need to reach the cops. Jessa, get in. ”

She shook her head. “I’ll take my car. I have Caleb’s car seat. ”

Burke felt his patience slipping. Did the gravity of this situation not register with her? “You will get in the car now. Goddamn it, Jessa, someone just tried to kill you. That asshole said he planted charges around your house. Charges mean shit blows up,” he snarled. “We don’t know how many eyes are on us right now. Get in the car. ”

Jessa’s head swiveled as though she was looking for whoever stood in the darkness watching. Her hand went protectively over Caleb’s head, cupping his whole body against hers. She eased into the front seat of the rented SUV and closed the door.

Cole simply stared at the spot where she’d stood.

Burke glared at his brother and opened the driver’s side door. “Snap out of it. ”

He pointed back to the house. “We’re just going to leave her husband to die? She won’t forgive us. ”

“There is no husband. Angus is the fucking cat. She wasn’t trying to save her husband, Cole. She was trying to save Caleb, her baby. ”

Cole frowned and shook his head. “That baby can’t be more than a few months old. If there’s no husband, that means…”

“Caleb is our son, yes. Well, one of our sons, biologically speaking. ” Biology didn’t matter in their case. A simple paternity test would tell them nothing of importance. This was their son. It didn’t matter who had actually provided the DNA. Like everything in their lives, it was shared and identical. Caleb was theirs.

“How the fuck did the investigator miss this?” Cole snarled. “We’ve been getting reports for a year, and he didn’t think to mention that she was pregnant? And why would he think Angus was her husband? Can’t the idiot tell the difference between a man and a cat? She had our baby. She’s been dealing with this all alone. ”

Burke totally understood his brother’s fury. He felt it himself. The idea of Jessa in a hospital giving birth without either of them to hold her hand made his heart clench and his stomach turn. “Not here and not now. We have to go. ”

Cole nodded. Burke could feel the anxiety coming off his brother in waves, but there was no time to calm him down. Burke breathed a sigh of relief when Cole acquiesced, getting into the back of the SUV and shutting the door with a hard thud.

Burke hopped in, his heart twisting at Cole’s words. God, his brother was right. Jessa had been alone. They hadn’t even known she needed them, despite all of the money and effort they’d put forth to have a PI keep tabs on her. How the hell had this happened?

He started the car. The night around them was quiet. The baby cooed. The cat meowed. But the tension between the human adults was thick and pervasive. Burke gunned the car, and it flew down the road.

“Which way to the police station? I’d rather not be sitting ducks here waiting for them. ” The station would be a good, safe place to stash Jessa and Caleb while he and Cole figured out which of Delgado’s henchman had taken over the business and was looking for a little revenge.

“When you get to the road, take a left. ” Jessa’s hands trembled. Caleb patted his mother’s face as though he could sense her fear and was trying to soothe her. “Why are you two here? Who was that man? He came out of nowhere. I was cleaning the brushes after working on a painting, and he just walked in. ”

That explained the turpentine. “What did you hit him with?”

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