Page 67 of Prodigal Son

Her world collapsed as she screamed in denial that it was not her aunt. They had to restrain her, and when she lashed out, injuring one of the officers, she was strapped to the gurney and hauled inside the ambulance.

“No! I’m not leaving her!” Again, the oxygen mask was forced over her face and she was shoved down. A needle was pressed into her arm and the world wavered as the doors shut. The last she remembered was the support bars of the ambulance ceiling overhead.

CHAPTER 21

Destiny stared at the man beside her, searching for a single flaw and finding none.

“Do you always stare at your lovers in their sleep?”

Like she had lovers as in plural. “Where’s Vito?”

Cain’s eyes opened, reminding her of just how beautiful the irises were, and he stretched. “Ah, I can see you’re back to your old investigative journalist ways. There are a hundred other ways I’d rather start my morning than discussing the rather large man sleeping in our den.”

When he reached for her, she drew back. “Seriously, where’s my brother?”

Cain sighed and paused as if listening for sounds in the house. “Your brother’s in the next room. My sister is caring for him.”

“Your sister?” She literally knew nothing about this man. Yet she had sex with him. What was wrong with her? She needed her head examined, a shower, and a drug store.

“Relax, Destiny. You’re safer here than in your own home.”

“I doubt that.” She stood and collected her clothing scattered about the room.

Cain sat up, the sheets falling off his bare chest and rigid stomach in a show of sheer masculinity.

How the hell did she manage to land a guy like that?

He held out his arms in a show of innocence and grinned. “I’m Amish. Can’t get much safer than that.”

Her eyes narrowed. He might be living on an Amish farm, but nothing about this man struck her as safe or biblical-hillside-country boy-Dutch. “Where’s your beard?”

“Our sect doesn’t require beards.”

“What were you doing in the woods and at the Foster woman’s funeral? How come I can’t remember you?”

“But you did remember me a little. And you said yourself that you had a nasty fall.”

She only remembered the idea of him. Up until yesterday, she couldn’t recall his face or name. Something wasn’t adding up. It was like she’d been drugged. She wondered if there was a screening to test her blood for such a possibility.

She wasn’t being herself. The connection she felt to this man last night made no logical sense in the light of day. “I need to talk to my brother.”

“Fine.” He rose and the blankets fell away, revealing his body in all its naked glory.

Destiny pivoted and shaded her eyes, unused to seeing a man so unapologetically…manly.

“What’s wrong?” She jumped as his hands rode slowly up her arms and his mouth whispered close to her ear. “You weren’t this shy last night.”

“Y-your pants are over there. I’ll get them.” She rushed out of his grip and grabbed the slacks, handing them back to him while still averting her gaze.

He chuckled. “Interesting.”

There wasn’t a mirror for her to fix her appearance so she did her best by fluffing her curls and tucking them behind her ears.

“You’re on edge. Perhaps after I show you that your brother is alive and well, I can give you a tour of the farm. Put your mind at ease.”

She stuffed her feet into her UGGs and kept her mouth shut. It would take a lot more than a few goats and cows to build her trust.

He stepped into his pants and an open shirt, slinging everything loosely into place with a pair of leather suspenders. How was that doing something to her? This wasn’t sexy-cowboy-farmhand appeal. This was something totally new and different, something that should have never attracted her but made her insides melt. It had to be the definition of his abs peeking through his gaping shirt. That, and the fact that she could still feel him inside of her this morning. No one had ever had sex so thoroughly with her body before. Her muscles, insides, and even her skin ached in the best possible way.

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