Page 11 of Cuckoo (Kindred)

“I found her,” he said, skimming a hand over her hip to squeeze her ass. It didn’t surprise her that he had taken control when he found out Cuckoo wanted him; Brodie liked to be the one who made the first move. “A couple of guys told me about her, Art and I checked her out, then I made the approach and we made the deal.”

“Sex in exchange for?”

He stopped enjoying her body to meet her eye. “I don’t take payment in sex, never have,” he said. “Mischa had the capital and plenty of it. We fixed a price and she told me to make it look like an accident.”

As simple as that, Mischa wanted her father dead, and Raven did the job. “What kind of accident?”

His hand returned to its expedition across her exposed body. “I talked her out of that, it’s a rookie mistake. When billionaire’s die accidentally, there’s a heap of paperwork and a long wait for the beneficiaries. I have some experience with this.” From when his parents died. Though he seemed to forget all of those details after Grant died. Or maybe he didn’t want to face how big a deal his brother had become in the business world. “We settled on suicide.”

“You set it up to look like suicide?” she said, horrified and impressed, yet curious about how someone went about doing that.

“No,” he said. “It was suicide.”

She was lost again and she would guess the descent of her brows betrayed her confusion. Brodie curled his index finger under her chin and pressed the pad of his thumb to the front of it so he could tilt her head back and grip her at the same time.

Trying to think it through, she knew it would be quicker just to ask. “How do you make someone commit suicide?”

The faint smile on his lips was that of a learned man passing on his wisdom. “Easy. Do your research. It’s as simple as that.” He kissed her plumped lower lip. “A man will do almost anything if you threaten the thing he loves most.”

The tingling in her shoulders and awareness in her belly were making her itchy in an amorous sort of way. But that awareness wasn’t enough to distract her from the sadness of the truth Brodie had just revealed.

“You got him to kill himself by threatening his daughter? The one who wanted him dead in the first place?” He’d thought he was protecting his child when all along it was the child who had instigated the plot.

But Brodie wasn’t tormented by her assumption. “His daughter wasn’t what he loved most,” he said. “His company and his money were the catalyst. Destitution is what the super-rich fear most.”

That was even sadder and decreased her pity for Mischa’s father. Whatever the Corvi family politics were, it was none of her business. Brodie, on the other hand, was. “How did you end up with her?”

“You don’t need to know the details,” he said and took a section of hair in his hand, but when she drew back to focus her expectation, he sighed. “It was just lust, baby. Went to tell her the job was done, and she was grateful.”

Zara could imagine just how grateful, especially with what Art had said about Mischa enjoying the kill. Raven would have turned Cuckoo on in a flash with that brooding stare and his aloof manner. Zara and her father were not close. She’d gone out of her way to avoid him since leaving his home against his wishes when she was a teen. Yet, she didn’t think that upon hearing of his death the first thing she would think about was sex with the man who’d killed him.

Mischa had paid to have her father killed and when the job was complete there was no remorse, sorrow, or guilt. No, she’d jumped the assassin.

Rolling onto her back, her hands spread on her ribs as she absorbed his tale. “And now this beautiful, intelligent woman who you couldn’t keep your hands off is coming to run the family firm.” She couldn’t even hide her sarcasm. “Great.”

“You have nothing to worry about with Meesh and me,” he said, rubbing her abdomen.

Stretching, she returned to his side and welcomed his arm when it curled around her. “I know.”

“You just like freaking out?”

She didn’t like freaking out and wouldn’t say that she had. Pressing one fingernail into his ribs made him move his leg in a quick motion to scoop both of hers under his that were still jeans clad and that made her sigh.

“Forgot about that, didn’t you?” he teased. “Maybe next time you’ll remember how much you hate me screwing you with my jeans on and stay at base like you’re supposed to.”

“I didn’t know you were going to visit here,” she said.

“You were told forty-eight hours. You ignored that rule and the one about staying where I left you. You knew I was coming for you, baby. Whether you admit it or not, you fucking knew.”

Her subconscious had a lot to answer for today, and she had to wonder if that reasoning had contributed to her decision to stay here at the apartment. In retrospect, Brodie had always come to her here in her bedroom. Misbehaving, flouting his orders, was a surefire way to bring him to her.

Her issues weren’t resolved, but lying here, pressed into Brodie’s body, she found some peace. Being with Brodie made sense and she’d meant what she’d said about him making everything better. What she needed was closure on her former life before she could move into her new Kindred one at Brodie’s side, and she wasn’t sure where to start in achieving that.

FIVE

Brodie was still there when she went to sleep, and she’d expected him to be gone before first light. But he was still holding her and wearing his jeans when she woke up. They had breakfast together, and he was vague in answering questions about his plans, cryptic was his specialty. With a smack on her ass, he sent her out of the apartment and on her way to work, closing the door, and staying behind himself. Though he’d insisted she return to the manor after work, he hadn’t confirmed or denied whether he was going back to join Tuck.

Entering the CI building through the executive parking lot, she got off on the floor below hers to make her way through the law bullpen to the offices beyond where she knew she’d find…

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