Page 34 of Fighting His Fate
Grace shook her head. “Why would he kill someone he cared about?”
“And try to kill the twins.” Brett’s mind was racing. “There has to be a reason. I’ve got ten bucks says the answer can be found at Lamont Scientific. We need to get into her lab. Find out what she was working on.”
Grace pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll keep reading her published research. See what I can learn.”
Brett pressed harder on the accelerator and shook his head. “Why would Joni work for that bastard? Why would Luke let her? They knew Fleming was a goddamn sociopath. How could they let someone like that back into their lives on purpose?”
“She must have had a reason.”
Toby hiccuped again. Brett scowled, a new possibility crystalizing in his mind. “The babies.”
“What about them?”
“Joni and Luke were struggling with infertility. What if Fleming’s work gave them a chance to start a family? What if Lamont Scientific was doing work no one else was doing?”
“That would give them a good reason to put up with Fleming.”
He shook his head, foreboding brewing in his belly. He remembered the fear in Joni’s voice when she spoke about Fleming. How desperate must she have been to do this? “There’s no such thing as a good reason to invite evil into your life.”
18
Grace lookedinto the bathroom mirror of the motel, her reflection obscured by the fog from her shower. She brushed her teeth with a toothbrush gleaned from the front desk, then wiped the mirror clear with her hand and eyed her reflection. “You are an idiot.”
It was almost midnight. Trace, Razorback, and Mac were settled into the room beside theirs, and Brett was on the other side of the bathroom door with the twins. The first gave her some sense of safety. The second blew that out of the water.
What the hell had she been thinking when she agreed to join him on this journey? Her head was twisted up with feelings for him, even though she knew damn well he had no place in her life.
She hung her head and sighed heavily. She’d seen a different side of him these last few days, and she couldn’t unsee it and go back to her previous understanding of the man—no matter that it was far simpler than the empathy she was currently experiencing.
He was a good man, if damaged. Which only made him that much more appealing, and if she was really being honest with herself, that was the problem.
She was attracted to him, interested in more, and knew in her heart of hearts that wasn’t an option. Sure, she felt that punch to the gut when their eyes connected. But a relationship? She knew better than to think he was interested in that.
She lifted her head and threaded her fingers through her wet hair, wishing she had a proper brush. Without one, her locks were doomed to dry in tangled corkscrews that radiated from her head like Medusa’s snakes. So now she was going to look like an idiot in addition to feeling like one. She shook her head.
Had she really told him she’d never been as attracted to another man as she was to him, that she’d never felt that spark? She remembered how she’d touched him in the hospital, how she’d let him touch her back. How much more she would have allowed if he’d been willing.
But she was not Brett Champion’s type—nor was he hers—and she’d do well to remember that. There was a reason he sought out only physical relationships with women. He could barely even talk to her about things that mattered, wasn’t capable of expressing himself without biting her head off and cursing—or shutting her out completely.
And he was some twenty feet away, waiting for her to emerge so she could play nanny to the twins throughout the night, her own bed a mere heartbeat away from where he slept. His proximity was getting to her, her need for space overwhelming.
She sighed and got dressed, leaving off her bra and wishing she had fresh clothes, but grateful at least her body was clean. She braced herself for the tension she knew she would find heavy on the air and opened the door to the bedroom.
Brett lay on his back, shirtless, Theo curled up on his chest, his handgun on the bedside table. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight they made, softness and strength, tenderness and power. It pulled at her heartstrings and down lower where she had no business being pulled at all.
Wowza.
He was a beautiful man. There was no denying that. Her eyes roamed down the muscles of his defined abs, his belly button nestled in the dark hair sprinkled there. He wore a brown leather belt with a silver buckle like a cowboy, surprising her, and she wondered what other surprises might be lurking underneath those jeans.
Stop it.
What the hell was she thinking? She shook her head and moved to the opposite bed, Toby sleeping in the car seat at the foot of it. She pulled back the sheets and climbed inside, struggling to find a balance between covering herself with the blankets and cooling off from her hot shower.
“Good shower?” he asked.
“Yes.” She turned her back to him and stared at the wall, willing her stiff body to melt into the mattress. This was what she needed, a good night’s sleep to set her head straight, but how the hell she would ever relax enough to drift into oblivion was beyond her.
“Are you still mad at me?”
