Page 49 of The Sinners Touch

“Stop being charming?” He laughed at the absurdity of the conversation. The flush on her cheeks testified to how much hestill affected her, and it gave Kade hope that maybe he could win her back.

“Yes, stop being charming. It’s not working, anyway.”

“It isn’t?” He leaned farther across the counter until he was only a few inches away from her. Her eyes widened, and he heard the hitch in her breath.

“No,” she whispered.

He couldn’t take this too fast or he’d lose her again. He had to be sly and sneak up on her.

“Then you don’t need to worry about my being charming.” He kissed the tip of her nose then pushed away from the counter. “I spoke to Nik earlier, and he said we could put up a tree. I thought we could go shopping either tomorrow or the next day.”

“Christmas is two weeks away. Surely, I won’t be here that long…”

Her panicked expression gave him even more hope. “Angel, this guy has been operating in the city for months. He made a mistake, yes, he left a witness. Mistakes are how we find these guys, but it still takes time. You’re going to be here as long as it takes to catch him and eliminate the threat to you.”

Her shoulders slumped, and Kade silently cheered. She wasn’t going to argue about staying here.

“Now that your brother’s guards are here, does that mean you’ll be leaving?”

He scowled at the hope in her voice. “No. In fact, you’ll get to meet Dimitri soon. He said he’d be on the next flight out.”

“Which one is he?”

“He’s the next oldest out of the six of us, and a writer.”

“A writer?” She stopped eating and looked up. “What does he write?”

“Romance.”

“Romance?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the dumbfounded look on her face. When it came to Dimitri’s chosen profession, it was how most of his family felt.

“Why’s he coming here?” She took another bite of her food.

“It’s been a long time since so many of us have been in the same city. We thought it might be nice to spend some time together, it being Christmas and all. And he wants to meet you.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because you’re my wife. The how or the why of it doesn’t matter to any of my brothers. They just see the word ‘wife’ flashing in neon pink, and they can’t wait to start pestering their new sister.”

“But none of that is real, Kade. You were undercover, and…”

“And what?” His eyes narrowed.

“And the nugget and I were just collateral damage.” Her voice had gone quiet, small. “That’s what you told me. We were just collateral damage.”

“I lied.” His own voice went soft.

He lied? A hollow laugh escaped her. “When didn’t you lie to me, Kincaid?”

“When I told you I loved you. How I felt about you was never a lie.”

Why would he say this to her now? Why? After everything he’d done, this…this was cruel.

“Neither of you was collateral damage to me.” He reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet. Inside, he removed the one picture he carried with him and handed it to her.

She looked down and saw a sonogram image of their son. The technician had printed off two copies. The last she’d seen of them, they’d been hanging on the fridge, courtesy of a magnet. When she came home, she’d found one on the floor among the mess that had been made when the police searched the house. She’d assumed the other one had been destroyed.

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