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 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.
He d essentially been an orphan, too. But look at him now. He was a mega-successful businessman
with a beautiful wife and child. The most frightening part of all of this was how badly she wanted to
know Damien  how badly she wanted him to love her.
How was it possible, through all the hurt she d endured, for her to still want to be loved? It was
ridiculous. Some would say she was simply setting herself up for failure. And they d probably be
right.
She looked down at the picture again and stared at eyes the exact same shape and color as hers. They
both had dark hair; they both had the same smile. Shared genes were on full display here. She d never
expected to see anyone in the world who looked so much like her, but then she d never thought she d
find him. Heck, she d never truly believed in his existence.
But he was real. And she was about to meet him. Would the meeting help heal her, or would it shatter
her ability ever to give her heart away?
 Breathe, Bryson whispered.
She hadn t realized she was now holding her breath. Bryson had been so good to her, understanding
that she needed silence, that she needed to brood. He was another man she didn t deserve, but she
was just selfish enough to hold on to him for as long as he would stand beside her  and all of her
dysfunctional, irrational behavior.
It was strange to think that she had not only a brother, but a sister-in-law, too, along with about a
million other relatives. And she was an aunt! Not that she d want to meet the whole passel of them all
at once. Not this first time  too much pressure. If, and it was a very big if, they invited her to come
back, she could meet them gradually.
Right now, it would be too overwhelming. She wouldn t be able to enter the room  wouldn t be
able to speak. What would they expect from her? Damien was hugely successful when they found him. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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