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I push up from the floor onto my knees, looking Alana in the eyes, but she is throwing daggers straight through my man. Finally, after a battle of wills, no one wins. She glances my way, and her expression softens marginally.
“Nothing, honey.” Her words come out as a slow bite that she tries to cover with a quick smile before turning so I can’t see her face.
Oh, it is anything but nothing. She is hiding something from me. Me. Her best friend. Her family.
“Jackson and I like to keep family and business separate. You know that.” Irritation is thick in her voice. “In order to do that, very few people in the corporate world know we’re married. To each other, that is,” she adds, as if people may think they aren’t married at all.
This worries me. It frightens me so much I jump off the floor not understanding, but before I can question her further, Gabriel cries indicating he’s awake.
“Ah, he’s awake,” Alana announces with more enthusiasm than moments ago. “I’ll get him for you.”
How convenient, like she wasn’t just grilling me about still having him.
“Alana,” I call out, but she ignores me heading down the hall.
I blow out a stream of air from my mouth then pivot, turning to face Drago.
“You’re going to tell me exactly what you know later on, do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal, babe.”
Looking over at the small kitchen table in the corner, I remember the lingerie. Nodding in that direction, I say, smiling, “I got presents today. Would you know anything about that?”
His head turns, looking behind him.
“If it’s sexy underwear, then yes, I do. If not, then it isn’t from me.” His head turns back, facing me again.
“You tore up one pair of panties, not five, or any of my bras. D,” I draw out, “that’s too much.”
Striding over to me, he reaches out, tugs on his T-shirt and pulls me to his sweaty front. I’m not even grossed out. The sexy smile on his face has me weakening at the knees.
“Nothing, Bri”—his head moves slowly from side to side—“is too much when it comes to you.”
His hands slide under my butt, lifting me up in a move that looks effortless.
“Besides, I think I’m the one that’s going to benefit from that purchase, don’t you?”
He pulls on the back of my neck, smashing his lips to the skin below my ear. I squirm as it tickles, and my brother and sister-in-law’s issues are forgotten—at least for now.
* * *
A dipin the bed behind me pulls my eyes open the next morning. I don’t need to look at my smartphone to know it’s later in the morning than the time I’m usually awake by. The sun is already shining through the sheer curtains, letting me know it’s daylight outside.
Rolling over onto my other side, I see Drago placing Gabriel down on the bed between us, then he gets back under the covers, all while balancing a bottle between the baby’s lips.
My lips tip at the sight.
“I was trying not to wake you. I guess I did a real shit job of that.”
“Morning,” I greet him as I squeeze my pillow, snuggling up to it.
“You know, you didn’t have to come back last night. You could have stayed with your sister-in-law.”
I groan on the inside because that was the original plan. When Drago found out why Alana came over yesterday, he was all for me going with her to the luxury hotel. He told me, in front of her, he didn’t have any plans this weekend so he would keep Gabriel at my condo for the night so I could have fun. And it was fun—at first—until Alana started harping on me caring for the baby again. Then she got more serious when she wanted to discuss Drago.
She went all motherly, and frankly, I got tired of listening to it. I didn’t need her to tell me who D is, or who she thinks he is because she doesn’t know. All she knows, just like everyone else, are rumors. She doesn’t see into his eyes. She doesn’t witness the man underneath the dress clothes. She doesn’t see the good in him like I do.
Taking a cab, I was home before midnight.
