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KAL
Shit. Fuck. Why did he have to say that?
When Remi stepped out with that gun, I almost pissed on myself. But then he looked at me like he’d been hunting and finally had his prey in his sights. I felt every single place his eyes landed on me as surely as he had touched me with those big strong hands of his.
I’d forgotten what a thrill it always was just to be in his presence. Like dancing on the edge of a fire, the flames licking the tips of my toes, but not feeling any fear, because he’d never let me hurt myself. Safe. Cherished, seen. Remi had made me feel all of those things.
It had been so long since I’d felt any of them.
I was so desperate to touch him, I ached. He looks impossibly handsome. His cheeks covered in a dark beard that my fingers itch to touch. His hair has grown, too. He’s always worn it close to his head, but today, it’s long enough to get lost in.
His dark ringlets cover his head like a crown. He’s leaner, but more muscular. Every bit as tall and strong as I remember him.
Oh, God.
I want to climb him like a tree.
I deflected earlier by gushing about the scenery and trying to get us out of the pocket of tension we’d stepped into the minute we saw each other.
I’ve been taking huge imaginary gulps of air. It hasn’t helped the feeling of light headedness that’s come over me.
Being forced to think before I speak feels like a huge task. But, I have to remember why I’m here in the first place. My job.
“Kal. Did you hear me? Are you okay?” Remi peers at me.
“I’m fine. It’s just a shock to see you and of course, what you tell me, stays here.” I think I can make that promise in good faith. Whatever is going on with him, can’t possibly be about the Rivers woman. “I’m listening, go ahead.” I nudge.
He takes a deep breath. “My father didn’t die when I was two.”
Those are the very last words I expected to hear. “Come again?”
“He left when I was two,”
“Left? I don’t understand.”
“He divorced my mother. Remarried, had another kid.”
I process that quickly. “Okay, so everyone just thought he was dead?”
“No, they—my grandfather and mother—knew he wasn’t. They let us think he was dead because that was easier in their minds than us and the public knowing that he walked away.”
My eyes bug out of my head. “But, that’s… crazy. Do people actually do things like that?”
“Apparently, my people do. The kicker? Gigi Rivers was the woman he left her for.”
A feather could knock me over right now. My mind is racing. I make a mental list about everything that I know about Gigi Rivers. Other than she’s Hayes Rivers’ aunt and that she lives in Italy, and that she was estranged from her family for years, there’s not much information about her. And the word is that she and the family reconciled when her brother died. She raised Hayes in Italy from his teens until he came back last year. Something clicks, the way it does when I finally find the last piece of a puzzle.
I remember the paternity test Jules mentioned.
Oh my God. It can’t be.
“You said they had a kid. You have a half sibling? Do you know where they are?” I ask in a neutral, but hopeful voice. I need him to dismiss that impossible thought.
“Yeah, I know.” He looks at me, his eyes glinting and his lips set in a thin hard line.
“You do?” My eyes nearly bug out of my head.
“But, it’s not for me to tell you. That is not my secret.”
