“Really?” he asked, as if the thought had never crossed his mind. “Of course I trust her,” he said, as if any other option were ridiculous.
“Have you ever told her that?”
He was silent for a moment. “Well, I guess not.”
Could it be that Bryson still had a lot to learn about family? Even Misty knew trust was important, and she’d grown up with no one. Maybe she’d learned that lesson the hard way: by not having anyone in her life whom she could trust.
“I think I’m going to have to see her soon,” he said. Misty’s words really seemed to have mattered to him.
That made all sorts of warm feelings flow through her.
His fingers came around and he started to rub the sides of her br**sts, sending sweet sensations through her sated body. His touch evoked such incredible responses that she didn’t think she would ever grow used to it. Maybe that was for the best. If she got too comfortable with it, it would hurt horrendously when it was gone.
“Should I meet Damien?” Here was the real question she’d been wanting to ask.
Bryson was happy she trusted him enough to value his opinion. “I think you should go when you’re ready.”
“They want me to come right away. Joseph left me a ticket. Two, actually,” she said shyly.
“Two?” he asked.
“Um, yeah. I told him about my situation. But he already knew!”
“I think Joseph Anderson knows more than most people,” Bryson said.
“Well, right before he left, he said the tickets were open-ended. I could come as soon as tomorrow, or in a week if I wanted. I said that I didn’t know if I could.”
“What did he say?”
“He was real quiet for a minute, and then said that I had Anderson blood in me and the calling of my family would be too strong to ignore.”
“Is he right?”
“I don’t know. I liked him. It was odd. I’ve never trusted someone that quickly, but I just felt…comfortable during our conversation, as if I just knew he didn’t want to hurt me. I don’t normally feel that way.”
“Yeah, I remember quite well that you don’t take kindly to strangers. You Tased me,” he said with a laugh.
“Sorry about that, Bryson.”
“I’m not. I got to lie on top of you.”
“That was an unusual first meeting…”
“So, Misty, do you want me to go with you?”
“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” she said, but he heard hope in her voice.
“I want to.” He wouldn’t push her, but he would be by her side, with or without an extra ticket.
He could tell she was undecided, so when she changed the subject, he didn’t hesitate to follow her lead.
“What made you decide to join the FBI?”
He considered her question for a moment. “I was in the Mideast, fighting in the war, and I saw so many things that could have been done differently. I’m not saying anyone was necessarily right or wrong, but I saw things no one should see. When I came home, it was the same thing here. So many victims. I got recruited, and I never looked back. This is just where I fit, where I belong.”
“Did you get wounded when you were fighting?” She hadn’t seen any scars, but then again, they also hadn’t had good lights — only the flickering candles.
“No. I was lucky. I lost some good friends, but I was never shot, or bombed. I have been shot once here in the States, though,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Where?” she gasped. “How can you speak so casually about being shot?”
“It wasn’t that big a deal.” He seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden.
“Getting shot is always a big deal,” she cried.
“I don’t know why I said that, ’cause I really don’t want to talk about it.”
Misty was crushed. He didn’t trust her. He didn’t want to open up about something that was obviously traumatic for him. “I shouldn’t have pushed,” she mumbled, and she pulled back a little.
“Hey! Don’t do that. It’s not that I don’t want to share. It’s just…well…embarrassing,” he finally admitted with a sigh.
“How could getting shot possibly be embarrassing?”
“I was shot in the ass,” he said with a groan.
Misty was stunned. Was he making this up? Teasing her? Who would make something like that up, though? Should she just drop it? Suddenly she felt a giggle in her throat and she clamped her teeth down on her lip — hard — so her amusement wouldn’t reveal itself.
“I can feel your chest shaking, you little wench,” he said, flipping her so fast onto her back that she lost her grip on her lip and her laughter spilled out.
“I’m so sorry,” she gasped. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Getting shot is so not funny,” she said between fits of laughter. “But your tush seems to be accident-prone.” She hadn’t forgotten about the dog story.
“Don’t worry; my colleague Axel, brother, sister, and everyone else I know has made a few butt jokes, or rather made me the butt of their jokes.”
When she was just about to pass out from lack of oxygen, a new gleam crept into his eyes, and her laughter died away. Oh, that was a look she was beginning to know.
One second she was giggling uncontrollably, and then the next, he was hard and inside her. “Oh,” she gasped. This was much better than laughter.
“I have ways of making you cooperate,” he said, then lowered his mouth to hers and took her remaining breath away.
Yes, any thoughts of laughter had evaporated — moaning had taken its place.
Chapter Sixteen
Taking a deep breath, Misty gazed out the windows, watching the clouds below her shifting, blowing, making shapes. Now a herd of elephants rushing to a water hole, now wild stallions roaming free.
Anything to take her mind off meeting her brother for the first time. This was forcing her to confront all sorts of emotions she’d never thought she’d have to. Her biggest fear? Rejection. As the plane made its final approach, her stomach dipped, her heart thudded, and the only thing holding her in place was the feel of Bryson’s hand clasping hers.
What if her brother was cold, cruel, a person she wouldn’t want to know? What if he had a great life and he was kind — too kind to reject the sister he wished he didn’t have? Yes, she’d met Joseph, and, yes, he was a kind man, but this man, her brother, hadn’t grown up with the Anderson family, either.