Page 14 of A First for the Playboy Dragon

“Wow, that’s amazing. You all must have been through a lot together,” she said. “I have to admit that I’m a bit jealous. I never had the chance to make close friends growing up, I moved around too much.”

“I would have been lost without them; they were my family,” he said. “My parents weren’t exactly the loving and nurturing type; my dad spent most of his time working, and my mother’s main interest was my older brother. They kind of shoved me to the side and just expected me to fall in line. I was supposed to go to college, take a job in the family business, marry the right woman, and give them a couple of grandkids, follow in their footsteps, if you will.”

“The family business?” Juliet asked. “I bet it’s not security.”

“Not even close. Try investment banking; with my family, it’s money, money, money,” he said, shaking his head. “Nothing is more important to people like my parents, and for a long time, I thought that was normal. It wasn’t until I got to college and got a glimpse of the real world that I realized I didn’t want to live that way. After I graduated from college, I was a bit lost, and I bummed around for a few months. Then I met a man who changed my life. I ended up joining the Navy and finding the place I was meant to be. After basic training, I was invited to join the Seals and spent six years serving with them.”

“I bet that didn’t go over very well at home,” she said. “What did your parents think about your decision?”

“They cut me off without a penny,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I wasn’t surprised. I expected it, but it still hurt; I guess there was a little part of me that hoped they’d support my choice.”

“I’m sorry, Harrison. I’m not sure which is worse, not having parents or having parents that don’t support you,” Juliet said. “Do you have any contact with them now?”

“Not really. My older brother and I talk every once in a while, but I left that life behind, and it never really bothered me,” he said, shaking his head. “I was never alone. I had my friends and George and Annie filled the other gaps that were left.”

“George and Annie?” Juliet asked. “Were they friends too?”

He paused, surprised by how much he’d already revealed to Juliet, then found himself plunging ahead. “They were the parents I never had,” he said. “George was the man who changed my life; he saw my potential from the very beginning, but it was Annie who pulled me into the family. They taught me how to love and the true meaning of family. I’ll always be grateful for that. I wish you could have met them. I think they would have liked you.”

“I’d love to meet them,” she said. “They sound like wonderful people.”

He paused, letting the wave of pain and grief well up as it always did, then took a deep breath. “I lost them both a couple of years ago,” he said, then sighed. “George was killed by enemy fire during a mission, and Annie followed him less than a year later. I don’t think she wanted to live without him. They were everything to each other, and watching her fade away without him was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I swore at Annie’s funeral that I’d never fall in love, that I’d never put someone through what she went through, and until now, I’ve been able to stick to that promise.”

The words were out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying, but they rang true, and he didn’t want to take them back. Juliet studied him for a second, her face full of sympathy. Then, she reached out and took his hand, which rested on the table, but she didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Warmthspread through him as they looked into each other’s eyes. He felt a connection between them slowly coming to life and looked away, thrown off balance by what he was feeling.

“Thank you for telling me all that,” Juliet said, pulling his eyes back over to her. “I know it couldn’t have been easy to talk about. Losing people we love is never easy, and it sounds like you didn’t have enough time with them.”

“That’s the part that still makes me angry. I wanted years more with them,” he said with a sigh. “But you can’t control death, so I try to only think about the good stuff. I think they both would have liked you, Juliet.”

***Juliet***

A huge wave of guilt washed over Juliet, mixing with the other emotions swirling through her, and not for the first time, she wondered if she could really go through with stealing the security plans. This time, it wasn’t because of her own insecurity or the ability to get access to them; it was because of the man sitting across from her telling her his deepest secrets. Spending time with Harrison was only making her feelings for him grow stronger. What had just been a crush was quickly turning into something more, and the thought of breaking the trust he’d put in her made her feel physically sick.

“I have a brother, he’s three years younger than me,” she blurted out before she could stop herself. “I didn’t tell you before because…well, I didn’t want to sound completely pathetic. I didn’t want you to feel sorry for me.”

Harrison set his fork down on his nearly empty plate, then pushed it away and she looked down, surprised to find that her food had disappeared. “Hold on, there was a lot of informationthere,” he said, his face full of confusion. “Maybe we could take one thing at a time.”

She let out a long sigh. “My brother’s name is Joe; he’s a bit of a troublemaker, I guess you could say. I managed to make it out of the system, but he didn’t,” she said, drawing in a shaky breath. “He’s been in some kind of trouble since he was thirteen and we were separated. He’s spent time in juvie and probably jail, I’m not sure. He blames me for everything that went wrong in his life. He thinks I abandoned him, that I turned my back on him when I left, but it wasn’t my choice, he just can’t see that.”

Harrison studied her for a second, then looked around at the other diners around them, and she took a deep breath, wondering if she should tell him the entire truth. It would be a huge relief to share her worry and fear with someone else, but Harrison and his security plans were her target. Telling him could get her brother killed.

“Maybe we could continue this discussion someplace a little more private,” he said, getting to his feet. “Let’s go for a walk on the beach.”

She couldn’t resist taking his hand when he held it out to her, sucking in a deep breath when warmth traveled up her arm and spread through her, leaving her with a feeling of well-being unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Letting out a sigh, she let him lead her down to the ocean, still wishing that she could tell him why she was there but too afraid of what might happen if Mr. Adaloni discovered that she’d ratted him out.

They walked along by the water in silence for a few minutes, the sound of the waves calming her, but then Harrison looked over at her. “Why did you and Joe get separated?” he asked. “I saw the look in your eyes when you talked about it, Juliet. Whatever happened, it wasn’t your fault.”

She tensed up, couldn’t help herself. Those memories were still painful and always would be, and she wished for a secondthat she’d never mentioned her brother. “I’m sorry, Juliet, I shouldn’t have asked,” Harrison said, pulling her to a stop and looking down at her. “I’m just trying to understand why you would think that I’d feel sorry for you.”

The concern in his eyes was her undoing, keeping a tight rein on the memories of that night and the terrible months that followed, so she took a deep breath. “I was almost raped when I was sixteen by one of the boys that lived with us in foster care,” she said, feeling the humiliation burn her cheeks. “He was a year older, new to the house, and so charming that I fell for him instantly. I thought I was in love with him, and that he was in love with me. But then everything changed when I wouldn’t have sex with him; we fought, and he tried to force me. We got caught by our foster parents, and I was sent away to a girl’s home for three months.”

“What happened to him?” Harrison asked, his voice oddly calm. “I don’t think I’m going to like the answer, am I?”

She shook her head, “I got the blame. They said I was teasing him and that he was just doing what any healthy teenager would do under those circumstances,” she said. “Then I was sent away, and the whole thing was brushed under the rug.”

Harrison pulled her into his arms. “Oh, Juliet, I’m so sorry you had to go through all that,” he said, then looked down at her. “But none of it was your fault, you have to know that. You were just an innocent girl, that boy is the one who should have been sent away. If your brother can’t see that, then he doesn’t deserve you. You shouldn’t feel guilty for something you couldn’t control.”

“I tried to get back to my brother. I changed my appearance, I did everything I could to blend into the background after I was released. I started dressing in baggy clothes, I stopped wearing makeup,” she said. “All I did was study all the time. I thought if Iturned into the perfect foster child, they’d let me go back to him, and it worked, but by the time I got back, it was too late.”

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