Page 2 of Threatened

Kylie thought she understood, or at least she tried to. Her work kept her on the road too often. Kylie had always been the younger, more fragile sister. Her body was broken, and she wasn’t fit to be a mother. Tears stung the backs of her eyes before she blinked them away. Maya squirmed on her shoulder, and she cuddled the baby closer, rubbing her back and kissing her head, while inhaling her good baby scent.

Finally, the cloud of tension around Gage dissipated and he moved to sit in the chair across from her, his broad shoulders slumping back against the cushions as he sighed. Up until that moment she hadn’t paid much attention to the fact he was shirtless, but with the lamp beside him casting a golden glow over his tanned skin she’d have to be blind not to notice. Not that she was looking. She didn’t think of Gage Winters that way. He was attractive, sure. Handsome even, with that muscled sculpted torso and mysterious dark looks. In fact, he reminded her a bit of that guy, the movie star from that breakout Asian rom-com the year before. Okay. Fine. He was hot. But he was also very much off-limits and besides, Kylie wasn’t looking for romance anyway. She had plenty on her plate right now as it was.

“I’m sorry too,” Gage said, his voice quiet now. He rubbed his eyes with one hand while cradling a baby with the other.Was there anything sexier than a man with a baby? Nope. Kylie looked away fast. Not going there. It would churn up her emotions, and she couldn’t let that happen. “I didn’t mean to jump down your throat. I’m just so tired, and you caught me at a bad moment. If you need a place to stay for the rest of the night, you can crash here.”

“Thanks.” She met his gaze, still spotting a hint of suspicion in his dark eyes. “I’ll make other arrangements in the morning. Promise.” Maya stirred in her arms, and she smiled and whispered some soothing nonsense to the little girl, not missing the way Gage tracked her every move. “How are you doing with the twins?”

Her heart still stung when she thought of them living without her, but she shoved it aside. She was back now, and she wasn’t going anywhere for a while. Not until she made sure the custody arrangement her sister and brother-in-law had written in their will was really the best thing for Maya and Brennan. Yes, she planned to find another place to stay in the morning, but she wouldn’t go far.

“They’re good.” Gage yawned, drawing her attention once more to his rippling muscles, darn him. “They keep me plenty busy.”

She wanted to ask him to put on a shirt, annoyed with herself for even caring. Instead, she shifted her focus to a different topic. “What about the military? Aren’t you worried about being deployed again?”

His relaxed posture tensed again. She’d apparently touched on a sore spot but didn’t know where.

“I’m retired now,” he said, his tone abrupt.

Right. And not happy about it either, she thought, if his stony expression was any indication. Her inquisitive nature had her wanting to ask more about that, but she didn’t know him that well yet, so she just nodded and cooed to Maya again.

“What about you?” Gage asked, his fatigue evident in the roughness of his voice. “Don’t you have a decorating job or something?”

“Feng Shui Consultant, not decorator,” she corrected him, not missing the judgment behind his words. Honestly, after all this time, she should be used to it. People gave her crap every day when they discovered her occupation, but she didn’t care. The energies and vibrations she worked with were as real and true as anything else in the universe, and she loved helping people better align themselves and their homes with the eternal forces of nature. “And I did have a job. A big one in fact, with a Japanese billionaire and his wife. They own four homes they were having me realign. But then I got the news about the accident, and I did my best to get back to the States as soon as I could. That meant I had to break my contract with the billionaire and return the retainer money to them, then take two trains to the airport and wait on stand-by for a flight. All that, and I still missed the funeral.” She bit her lip against the grief welling inside her. She gave a small shrug and cuddled Maya closer. “I just needed to be here, to see them, you know?”

He nodded, his handsome face looking as sad as she felt. “I know. I’m sorry for the loss of your sister.”

“And I’m sorry for the loss of your friend.” Her last word almost broke her, and she had to bite back a sob. She wouldn’t cry in front of this man. She wouldn’t. She wanted to project an air of calm professionalism, in case she decided to fight him for custody.

They sat there watching each other warily across the room until the weariness in her bones threatened to pull her under. Finally, she said, “Any chance I might get a cup of coffee?”

Gage stared at her a moment, then sighed and stood, handing her the second baby as well. “Yep. Be right back.”

She watched as he walked into the open kitchen and grabbed two cups from the cupboard, unable to keep from peeking at the way his soft gray sweatpants cupped his taut butt underneath.

Good Lord. What was wrong with her? It had to be the exhaustion and jet-lag. Had to be. If she could really be checking out Gage’s ass under these circumstances, maybe she was just as ridiculous as everyone thought she was. And that meant she might never deserve to raise the twins. That thought was just too heartbreaking to bear.

2

Once they’d gotten both the twins settled in the nursery, Gage took a seat across the kitchen table from Kylie, the weight of awkwardness settling on his shoulders. At least he’d managed to grab a shirt from his bedroom to put on. Not that he wasn’t comfortable walking around half-naked. He’d been in the military his whole adult life. He didn’t know what “privacy” meant anymore. It was just he’d caught Kylie staring at him a couple times and damn if he hadn’t liked it. A bit too much, to be honest.

Crap. Must be the grief knocking him off kilter again. Yep. That had to be it.

“So,” he said finally when she remained quiet, staring down into her cup of coffee. “You mentioned coming back to see the twins. That’s good. I mean since you missed the funeral and all.”

She couldn’t hide her slight wince at his words and now Gage felt like even more of an ass. Bad enough he’d been grouchy as hell when he’d answered the door. And sure, he was beyond tired,but he still liked to conduct himself better. He took a deep breath and tried again. “How long are you planning on staying?”

Kylie sipped her coffee and seemed to consider his question a moment. “I’m not sure yet.”

“What about your work?” Gage asked, sitting back in his chair. “The Tokyo client?”

“That’s over, like I said.” She frowned down at the tabletop. “I’ll be in California indefinitely.”

A tiny ball of tension in Gage’s stomach tightened at that. It was a free country and all, and given her bohemian lifestyle he’d imagine she wasn’t one to stick to rules or schedules, but still. His mind flashed back to the reading of the will and the shock he’d felt when he’d learned that Tucker and Christine had given him sole custody of the twins. At the time, he’d been too overwhelmed to argue much or consider how Kylie had fit into that equation—or more precisely, why she hadn’t. One thing was certain now though. The twins were under his protection, and he’d do anything to keep them safe, including keeping them out of the clutches of their aunt who wandered the world rearranging people’s furniture to create better vibrations. Whatever that meant.

He drank his coffee and watched her over the rim of his cup, letting his analytical mind do what it did best. His knack for details and numbers had served him well in his role as strategist for his SEAL team and he hoped to put it to good use now that he was a civilian. He had to exercise those mental muscles. More than that, he had to control them. Not doing so had cost him relationships in the past. He had a habit of nit-picking, fighting, overthinking pretty much everything to the exclusion of his emotions.

Hell, that’s what had driven a wedge between him and his last girlfriend, with disastrous results. He’d been distracted, fighting with her for weeks about something stupid, exhausted mentally and physically. If only he’d kept sharp, kept on-task, kept them from hitting that IED in time… Then maybe his mistake wouldn’t have cost the lives of two of his teammates.

Gage’s chest squeezed with guilt and grief once more and he gritted his teeth and inhaled deeply. Dammit. This was getting him exactly nowhere. He didn’t like surprises and it was far too early in the morning and far too late to dredge up the past again. He set his mug on the table and glanced up at Kylie again. Despite her messy, wavy hair and crazy clothes, she was undeniably lovely. All creamy skin and pink, plump lips. Her exotic patchouli scent drifted past him again when she shifted in her seat and Gage was forced to admit there was something about her he found attractive. Really attractive.

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