Page 75 of Possessive Mafia Bodyguard

She hasn’t moved. Her hand is still smothered by mine, motionless, cold, fragile. But I sense her natural shift into fight-or-flight mode, and I know that she’ll choose flight like a deer facing the hunter.

“You don’t have to say anything.” I lean in and tilt her face towards me. “He asked for a reason to help you find Ivana, and I gave him one.”

She nods once and swallows, her chest rising and falling with each breath.

Then she turns back to face Aiden. “I shot Connor.”

It isn’t an apology, but I know her well enough to know that it’s as close as it’s going to get.

“I guessed as much.” Aiden aims a lazy smile my way. “My friend here is a terrible liar, and the animosity between him and his brother… Let’s just say it was a dead giveaway.”

Here’s the part where he says he can’t trust me anymore. Where he accuses me of choosing my love for a woman over my loyalty for my best friend. And over my own brother’s life.

“Also, I recognized the symptoms,” he continues.

“The symptoms?” I furrow my brows.

“Do you remember where you were supposed to be the evening you were in Joliet, Illinois?”

Shit! Was I supposed to be somewhere else?

I’m still racking my brain when his smile widens. “I rest my case, your honor.”

“You knew? Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because love, my friend, is uncharted territory, and I didn’t want to risk losing you.”

I feel like a little kid again, looking up at Seamus Kavanagh and his son, and wondering if he’s playing some massive prank on me before he turns me over to Social Protection.

“You’re not angry with me?” I ask to be sure.

“I’m fucking happy for you, Finn.” He reaches across the table, shakes my hand, and then pulls me into a bear hug.

I’m grinning when I sit back in my seat, until my eyes meet Connor’s. I don’t need his approval to love Tamara, I’ll love her till the end of my days regardless of what he thinks, but I love my brother too, and maybe I’m being selfish, but life will be easier without this chasm between us.

“She’s a fucking good shot,” he says to the room in general. Then he faces her, and his expression grows serious. “If you ever hurt him, you’ll have me to deal with, and I’ll make sure I get the first shot next time.”

He meets my gaze and winks, and I feel like I might explode if I get any more kindness from the people I love.

“Deal,” Tamara says. “So, will you help me find my sister?”

Tamara doesn’t mention the pregnancy test.

She showers, climbs into my bed, and sleeps twelve hours straight.

When she rises at dawn the following morning, she rolls over and I’m instantly alert, conscious of the tiny ways in which her body is already changing, and the new life incubating inside her.

“I have a plan,” she announces.

I smile. “Good morning to you too, sweetheart.” I kiss her on the lips, and she watches me wide-eyed as if it’s the first time we’ve ever kissed.

Narrow lines appear between her brows. “Why did you tell your boss that you love me?”

“Because it’s the truth, and because I’m done keeping secrets.”

She flinches and I feel like a fucking asshole for speaking without engaging a brain cell first.

“I’ve known him since we were kids.” I don’t need to justify myself to her, but I’m not pushing her away, not when our relationship is finally out in the open. “I knew he would be on our side.”