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A ball of heat lodged in his chest. His loyal brothers.
“I returned. I returned to the Bureau.”
“You call working in South America on an undercover drug task force returning? I was supposed to drop that bombshell on you under those circumstances?”
“You have an answer for everything, Christina. You always did.”
Closing her eyes, she dragged a breath through her nose, her nostrils flaring. “Do you want to know about your daughter? See her pictures?”
“Of course.”
“Now you want a child because you have one?”
“Give me a break.”
Color flooded her cheeks, but she pulled her phone from her back pocket. “I have just about every stage of her life on my phone.”
“Then, thank God for cell phones.”
She perched on the end of the love seat. “D-do you want to join me?”
He took two long steps toward the love seat and sat on the cushion next to her. His weight made the sofa dip, and she tipped toward him, brushing his shoulder. He stiffened and she pulled away.
Holding the phone in front of him, she said, “First pics are from the hospital.”
The phone display came alive with a picture of Christina, her hair scooped back in a ponytail, smiling into the tiny face of a baby—his daughter.
He took the phone from her and held it up to his face, drinking in the little button nose and the wide eyes below a tuft of dark hair peeking from a pink cap.
He breathed out one word as his throat tightened. “Beautiful.”
“Her name’s Kendall Rose Brody.”
He twisted his head to the side. “Same middle name as my mother.”
“I know that.” She leaned over and swept her fingertip across the display. “Next.”
His little girl’s life flashed before him on the cell phone display. It was like time-lapse photography, watching her change from newborn to chubby-cheeked baby to a mobile creature crawling and scooting on the floor. She resembled her mother, but he could see his features in her. The pictures and Christina’s constant commentary filled him with longing...and resentment.
After she showed him the last picture, a dainty toddler in head-to-toe pink, hugging a stuffed white bear, he collapsed against the back of the love seat.
“She’s sweet and wonderful, and I want you to meet her as soon as we wrap up this case—if you want to.”
“Of course I want to see my own daughter. Whatever gave you the idea that I wouldn’t want to know my daughter? What gave you the right to keep her from me?”
She sighed. “I’m sorry, Eric.”
He closed his eyes, blocking out his daughter’s face and the years of memories he’d lost. “I was working on the report for Rich. I’ll email it to him tomorrow morning.”
“Sounds good. I’d like to talk to Nigel today if we can find him.”
Back to business. “Do you still think he attacked you last night?”
“No, but he might know who Uma is, and since he seems a little less connected to the whole coven thing, he might be more forthcoming about what this coven has done that’s so bad and who’d want to take them out.”
“It just so happens,” he stated as he pushed up from the love seat and shuffled through the file on the desk, “I got his card last night.”
“Really?” She pocketed her phone and joined him at the table. “What does an old hippie do for a living?”
He flicked the card between his fingers. “He restores old books.”
“Interesting. I wonder if that’s what brought him into Libby’s shop in the first place.”
“Most likely. I’m going to get some breakfast and work on the report. I’ll give Nigel a call.”
On the one hand, he wanted Christina to ask to join him so he could grill her some more about Kendall, but sitting across from her would be hard. Before that phone call last night, they’d given in to the sexual heat that had been simmering between them for the past two days. The sex had been mind-blowing, and he’d been ready to take her again—before the phone call.
Her phone rang and she answered it, putting it on speaker. She didn’t have a need for any more private conversations.
“Hi, Mom. How’s Kendall this morning?” Her eyes met his as she talked on the phone.
“She’s good. I told you she wouldn’t remember much.”
She paused and held up her finger to him. “I told Eric about Kendall.”
That was obviously for his benefit, but it did make it more real.
“He’s eager to meet her, and yeah, he’s pissed off at me.” She raised her brows at him.
Was that to verify that he was eager to meet Kendall or that he was still pissed off at her? Right on both counts. He nodded.
