Page 76 of Operation Rescue
He met her gaze then, and it was the most tangled look of defiance and hurt that she’d ever seen. “You stopped loving Dad, and now you don’t love me, either.”
Erin was moving before she even thought. She pushed off the couch and ended up on her knees in front of her son. Appropriate, perhaps. And the words tumbled out just as fast.
“I never stopped loving your father. And I will never stop loving you.”
She heard a sharp intake of breath from behind her. And Ethan wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at his father.
The man she’d just admitted out loud to them all she still loved. And Blaine had to know better than anyone that if she’d said it aloud to Ethan, she meant it.
Chapter 38
Blaine told himself she’d just been trying to get through to Ethan. But he knew that wasn’t true. No matter where else she might have gone wrong, she would never lie to Ethan to his face. Telling him that in the heat of the moment was one thing, but saying it out loud to their son…
Memories of last night rose up to swamp him. He knew Erin, knew she never would have done what she’d done, never would have made love to him as much as he made love to her, if she hadn’t…if she didn’t…mean it.
At the time, he’d been grateful they hadn’t had time to discuss it. Thankful there had been no time for her to admit she regretted what they’d done. Although how anyone could regret the kind of impossibly hot, all-consuming sex they’d had—the kind they had always had—was a bit beyond him. That was why he’d made sure before, because he knew he wasn’t going to be able to think after.
…how are you going to feel…after?
I’ll deal with that then. But I swear, I won’t take it out on you.
And she wouldn’t, he knew that. No, Erin would just walk away. Saying only she couldn’t do this again. Just as she had before.
I never stopped loving your father.
The words rang in his ears. Had they been just to calm Ethan, or…had she truly meant them?
He gave a shake of his head. She’d meant them. Erin wouldn’t say something like that unless she meant it. But there were different kinds of love. Maybe she’d just meant she loved him as Ethan’s father, not the mate she’d had for decades. Maybe it had been too long, maybe they’d burnt it out, maybe, in her heart, there was nothing left but ashes.
If there was, he had to know. But this was not the kind of discussion to have in front of the boy they’d just pulled out of potential disaster. At the same time, he didn’t feel like letting his son out of his sight just now, either, because of what they’d just gone through—
Cutter moved. The agile dog jumped to his feet, trotted over to the door of the guesthouse, nosed around in a basket Blaine hadn’t even noticed before, and came back with a bright lime green tennis ball in his mouth. He trotted back and dropped the ball over the arm of the chair into Ethan’s lap. The boy looked startled. Cutter nudged the ball, then Ethan’s hand, and let out a tiny whine, sounding for all the world like any dog who wanted to play.
Ethan picked up the ball. And Blaine realized this was his chance. “Go ahead. We’ll…finish this later. There’s room in the courtyard. He’s earned some playtime, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” Ethan said, his expression brightening.
The dog would also keep Ethan safe. And here. Blaine knew that deep in his gut now, and apparently so did Erin, because she made no complaint as the two headed for the door.
“And hey,” Blaine called out. “Think about calling your buddy Connor. He’s been worried about you.”
Ethan looked embarrassed, but nodded, and then followed Cutter out the door.
Erin got up from her kneeling position, but instead of coming back to him she turned and sat in the chair Ethan had been in. And he didn’t know how to interpret that. And was too fearful of saying the wrong thing to speak at all.
“Aren’t you going to ask?” she said.
“Ask…what?”
“If I meant it.”
“No, I’m not going to ask.”
Her head tilted slightly. “Why?”
“Because I’m afraid of the answer.”
To his shock, she laughed. “You? Afraid? The man who’s faced combat, the man who flies a machine that wants to tear itself apart, the man who faced down death and won?”
