Caught in the Act (The Davenports) (27 page)

Cat put her hands to her mouth.

He pressed his lips together before finishing. His chest swelled with his breath. “ ‘If he’s going to be my son,’ ” he continued, his voice breaking, “ ‘then Annabelle can’t be involved. Double the amount, and tell her she no longer has a son.’ ”

“He’d known about you all along,” Cat whispered. She rose from the bed. Naked. But he barely registered the fact.

“Of course he’d known,” he spat out. “And I was an idiot for not getting that.”

“You were sixteen. You wanted your father to love you.”

“I should have known better.”

She reached for his hands. “He hurt you, Brody. That’s on him. It’s not your fault.”

“I’d gotten rid of my car for this guy.” The pain in his chest pissed him off. He didn’t care enough to be hurt by this man any longer. “I’d worked afternoon jobs for three years to save up for that car, and I gave it away without a blink.” He clenched his fingers in hers.

“You left then, right?”

“I couldn’t stay.”

“What about Thomas?” Cat asked.

“That was the hard part. I was suddenly an older brother. I
loved
that. As an only child, you couldn’t have given me a better present.”

“But you wouldn’t have been able to see him after that. Not after you confronted Arthur.” She sucked in a breath. “You did confront Arthur?”

“Oh, yeah.” He nodded. “I let him know in no uncertain terms what a piece of trash he was. He still tried to save himself. Pointed out how much better my life would be as a Harrison. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut. No one could ever know that he’d known about me.”

Brody released her hands and stooped to pick up her gown. He pulled it over her head, caressing the silky material into place, and he let himself kiss her then. He needed to feel the goodness of her on him.

When he pulled away, her eyes swam in tears. She reached up and cupped his jaw.

“I came home and asked my mother about what he’d said,” he told her. “Had she taken money from him? She had. She’d used it to buy our house. Didn’t want us to ever have to worry about needing a place to live. She hadn’t come from money. She had a degree and a job, but unless I wanted to go to community college, the job wouldn’t pay for an education.”

“You didn’t ask Arthur to pay for school?”

“Absolutely not. I walked out of that man’s life and never looked back.” His body went stiff as he thought about the only other time he’d stood in front of Arthur. The experience had made a lasting impression.

“Until my fucking ex tricked me into talking to him again,” he said quietly.

He turned away, gripping the doorframe at the top and stretching his body forward. He needed to go for a run.

“What do you mean?” Cat asked behind him. Her hand landed on his bare back and he stiffened. “How did she do that?”

Brody closed his eyes and rushed the words out. “We met in college, I told you that. She had big goals, and she needed to be in Washington to achieve them. I was opposed at first, but Thomas was there. He was at Georgetown. So I got a job at the university, hoping to get some time with him and actually build a relationship.”

“Had you two talked at all over the years?”

“A handful of times. After he got his license we met once a year. As friends, of course. We couldn’t tell anyone we were brothers. Now that I look back, I think the idea of having a brother bothered him as much as it did Arthur.”

Cat went silent. When she finally responded, Brody knew she got it. She stepped around him so that she faced him. “He was already looking down the road to politics?”

He studied her, seeing understand
ing. Both his father and his brother had rejected him. “Couldn’t have a bastard brother in the closet.”

“But it wasn’t his fault.”

“Didn’t matter.” He shook his head. “He’s his father’s son.”

“That hurts.” She said the words as if it hurt her.

He nodded. “I get it, though. It’s what he grew up with. I grew up with my mother and I’m a lot like her. My values are hers.” He shot her a tender look. “You grew up with your mother.”

She nodded in understanding.

“I might have even figured all this out years ago. About Thomas. The signs were there, I just didn’t want to see them.”

“So you kept trying?”

“I kept trying.” He lowered his hands to put them on her. His palms curved around her shoulders. “I wanted a brother,” he told her. “In some small way, that would have made Arthur’s rejection okay. If Thomas cared.”

She stared up at him, and he suspected she could see the rest. He let her see it. “You still want him to love you,” she said softly.

“I know he’s like Arthur. I get that. Yet I can’t help but hope he’s not
completely
like Arthur, you know?”

She went silent as she watched him. Finally she spoke. “That’s understandable. And it’s okay to want that.”

“It’s weak.”

“It’s your brother.”

He eyed her quietly, trying to decide if he really wanted to show her how pathetic he was. Hell, why stop now?

“My brother slept with my fiancée after we broke up,” he said stoically.

Cat went silent. Her eyes narrowed into thin slits.

He told her the ugly truth about his ex.

“She wasn’t aware that Thomas and I were brothers, but she did know an in into national politics when she saw one. And every single time I met up with Thomas, damned if she didn’t manage to show up too.”

“I hate her already.”

He gave her a wink. “So one night I told her who my father was.”

He tried to turn away then, but Cat didn’t let him. She brought his face back to hers, and he saw the concern in her eyes. She cared about him, he could see that. As deeply as he cared about her.

Swallowing his fear, he kept going. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it at the time, but the gleam that came into her eyes that night, it was like a bull preparing to charge. She started in on me not long after, wanting me to go to this fund-raiser. I didn’t want to go. Not that I didn’t support the cause, but the word was the Harrisons were big backers.”

“And you hadn’t talked to Arthur since you were sixteen?”

“Hadn’t laid eyes on him.”

“But you went to the fund-raiser?”

“I went to the fund-raiser. For my fiancée. And the next thing I knew, she had me in front of Arthur, demanding an introduction. She was aware I wouldn’t cause a scene. I was more reserved around her. Always did the right thing. I even dressed differently when I dated her.” His jaw tightened with disgust. “I didn’t see any of that at the time.”

“She wasn’t the right person for you.”

His laugh was hollow. “Clearly.”

“So what happened next?”

“Next . . .” He closed his eyes and went back to that night. Arthur Harrison’s green gaze had turned to ice the instant it had landed on Brody.
“
He was ‘happy to see his son’s long-ago friend,’ ” Brody explained, as he opened his eyes and looked at Cat.
“ 
‘It had been too long.’ ”

“He recognized you?”

“Sent his admin to my office the next day. With a check.”

Her jaw dropped. “He tried to buy you off?”

“What can I say? The man likes to write a check.”

“And Devan. What happened there?”

He told her the rest of the story. Devan’s new job for his father. Brody’s ultimatum.

Devan’s choice.

“Oh, Brody. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I think I was looking for an out, too. Didn’t realize it at the time. Things weren’t going well with Thomas, Devan and I were more roommates than a couple, and I was living in a town which raised my blood pressure every time I stepped outside my front door. I didn’t belong there.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “I belong here.”

“You do seem to fit in here. People love you.”

He wrapped his arms around her, wanting her in his arms, and sighed at the feel of her body pressed against his. “I love them, too,” he murmured. “It’s a good place.” He kissed the spot between her eyebrows and asked, “What about you? You ever thought about moving away from Atlanta?”

“Me?”

The shock in her eyes pricked at his heart. He didn’t let that show. “It would be easier to be out from under your mother’s thumb if you weren’t there,” he suggested, then carefully added, “if you wanted to be out from under your mother’s thumb.”

If she didn’t, there was nothing for them. He would have to accept that.

“I can’t say that I’ve thought about moving,” she began, “but I have hired an associate director. I’ve been training her to run the foundation.”

That gave him hope. “Yeah?”

Exactly the type of thing he wanted to hear.

“I haven’t decided to quit, but I would like to be out. I’m just not sure what else I want to do.”

He opened his hands and spread them wide on her back. Then he held his breath. It was time to make his move.

“You could move to Maine?” he suggested softly. “You and your kids. You could be here with me.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

C
AT
’
S IMMEDIATE RESPONSE
was silence.

Brody watched her. His hands still on her back, his arms wrapped around her body.

Worry crept into his eyes.

He wanted her to move there? What did that mean? Did it mean he wanted even more?

But he hadn’t even met her kids. She hadn’t told him about Annabelle.

Panic began to churn. She had to tell him. Now.
Before
she talked to Patricia.

“I—”

Her words cut off at the sound of feet thundering down the hallway. The feet were joined by childish squeals. She and Brody both stared at the door, then he swung back to her.

“Your kids?”

“You have to go.” They spoke at the same time.

She ran and locked the door, and he went into action. His shirt was in his hands within seconds, along with an empty condom wrapper and his shoes. She looked at the balcony. Then at her closet. Then her bathroom. She couldn’t make him jump off the balcony.

“Mom?” Becca shouted from somewhere down the hallway. “We’re here. We left before the sun came up ’cause we was in such a hurry to see you.”

“Oh, God.” She couldn’t let her children catch her in her bedroom with a man.

“I’ll got out the balcony,” he said. “It’s the way I came in.” He kissed her, and then he went over the balustrade.

Cat winced when she heard him land in the shrubbery.

“Mommy!” Tyler yelled, his voice panicky. Her doorknob rattled. “Where are you?”

“I’m right here, sweetheart. Just a minute.”

Another set of footsteps joined her kids’ in the hall as Cat hurried to close the balcony doors, doing one last sweep of the room. She crossed the plush carpet, stopping only long enough to snatch up the other two condom wrappers and throw the cover over the rumpled sheets. The fallen picture and crashed lamp would have to wait. Then she rubbed at her eyes as if she’d just woken up, and opened the door on a yawn.

“What are you guys doing here so early?” she scratched out.

“Mom!” Both kids threw themselves at her. “We missed you.”

Cat chuckled. “I missed you, too.”

And Brody wanted her to move there.

She stooped to take her kids in her arms.

“We couldn’t wait another minute to see you,” Becca exclaimed in her typical dramatic fashion. “And then we got here and we couldn’t find you.”

“My babies.” Cat hugged them even tighter. Her chest ached at the fear of telling Brody about their daughter, while at the same time it flourished in her other children’s love. She’d needed them this week.

Vega reached the kids while Cat was still holding them close. She stood slightly behind them, looking an unhealthy shade of gorgeous for such an ungodly hour of the morning.

Vega had been a model in a past life. She was five ten, had long curly hair and dark eyes to match. No matter how good Cat might look, standing next to Vega always made it clear that they weren’t even on the same playing field.

But beauty aside, Vega was the best sister-in-law a woman could want.

She was also astute.

Her knowing gaze skipped past Cat to take in the room. She paused on the far wall where Cat knew the lamp was lying on the floor, before finishing her sweep. She ended by taking in Cat’s tightly clenched fist.

A teasing smile lifted Vega’s cheeks.

“I’m sorry.” Cat grimaced. She was embarrassed at being caught. Becca took the words as meant for her.

“It’s okay, Mommy. We found you now.” Becca pulled out of the embrace and patted her mom’s cheek with pure sweetness. Tyler merely slung an arm around Cat’s neck and held on.

“We missed you lots,” Tyler announced. “I don’t wanna miss you that much again.”

Cat laughed and pulled her kids to her once more. “I don’t either,” she declared. “Never, never, never.”

The kids giggled, and Vega reached to take their hands. “Come on, kids. How about we wait downstairs while your mother gets cleaned up? I heard something about breakfast being cooked.”

Cat shot her sister-in-law a look of thanks, but both kids immediately squeezed in tighter to their mother. At their pouty little faces, Cat couldn’t make them leave. “I’ve got them,” she said. “They can watch TV in my bed while I take a shower.”

“You’re sure?” Vega glanced once more into the room as if worried there might be a man hiding under the bed.

“Positive.” Cat motioned with her head to the balcony doors.

Vega lifted a brow. “Impressive,” she murmured. Then she shot Cat a wink and headed back down the hall. Her five-inch heels made her look like a goddess and forced Cat to glance down at herself.

She was rumpled, no doubt wore the air of someone who’d spent the night doing what she’d been doing, and her gown was too sexy to be worn in front of her kids.

She grabbed a robe and stood to the side as her children entered the room. They both chattered nonstop as if it had been three weeks since she’d
spoken
to them, instead of seen them.

In a brief second of silence, they heard her phone chirp out a notification.

“Your phone is ringing, Mommy.” Tyler was so helpful.

“I know, sweetie.” She kissed the top of his head, nuzzling her nose in his soft hair. “It’s a text message.”

Both kids climbed on her bed as she snatched up the phone.

Becca sat, feet tucked under her legs, and watched her mom expectantly. “Is it your boyfriend?”

Cat gaped, and while she stood there, unable to come up with a word to say, Becca smiled sweetly. “We saw his picture at the airport. It was on the TV. He looks pretty.”

“Yuck,” Tyler muttered. He’d found the remote and had the TV on. “I don’t like boyfriends.”

Cat glanced at the TV. “Watch cartoons,” she told them. “That’s all.”

She grabbed fresh blankets and pillows from the closet to tuck around the kids as Becca explained to her brother that only girls got to have boyfriends. Boys had to have girlfriends.

Tyler ignored his sister and continued searching for the right cartoon.

Cat looked at her phone.

See you at the park later?

Her heart rate sped up. Brody would meet her kids today. He wanted them to move there.

Yes. And tonight . . . the beach house? We need to talk.

She wondered if he’d still feel the same after they talked.

I’ll be there.

Cat put her phone away after Brody’s confirmation and decided her shower could wait. She and her children had things to talk about. Like boyfriends.

Climbing into the bed with them, she scooted up to the headboard and finagled a kid to either side of her.

“Mom,” Tyler whined. “I’m watching the turtles.” Looked like his stint of missing his mother was over. It was now all about cartoons. Cat grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. Tyler groaned.

“I want to talk about something for a minute,” she started.

Becca watched her earnestly, while Tyler frowned at the remote.

“That man you saw on the TV at the airport this morning. He’s a friend of mine.”

“The news said he was your boyfriend,” Tyler informed her matter-of-factly. Becca nodded in agreement.

“Well, he is a boy. And he’s my friend.”

“And you kissed him,” Becca said.

Cat caught a hint of worry in her daughter’s eyes. “You saw a picture of me kissing him?”

Both kids nodded.

“And did that bother you?”

“I don’t know anything about kisses,” Tyler said. “Did it bother you?”

Cat chuckled. “No,” she said. “It didn’t bother me.”

“Boyfriends kiss their girlfriends,” Becca explained to her brother as if she fully understood the workings of the adult relationship.

“Yes, they do,” Cat agreed. “And yes, Brody is my boyfriend. But he’s also my friend. A good friend. I’d like you both to meet him. Would you be okay with that?”

Becca’s blue eyes stared back at her. Tyler tilted his head in thought.

He was the first to speak. “Will he play ball with me?”

“I’ll bet he would.” Cat kissed him on the nose. “We’ll ask him today.”

Tyler nodded. His gaze once again sought out the remote. “Then I can meet him.”

“Thank you, Tyler.” Cat winked at her daughter. “How about you, kiddo? You want to meet my friend?”

“Will he like me?”

“Absolutely.”

“Is he going to be our new daddy?”

Cat’s breath caught. Her daughter had been four when Joe had died, and Cat suspected her memories had faded. “No, baby. You’ll always have your daddy. He loved you. Just like we loved him.”

“But he’s not here anymore.”

“That’s right. And unfortunately he won’t ever be here again.”

Tyler was watching them now. He scooted in closer and wrapped a small arm around Cat’s waist. “I don’t remember my daddy,” he said.

“I know, baby. You were too young.”

“But
could
he be our daddy?” Becca asked timidly. “I don’t know if I remember our first daddy either, and all my friends have daddies.”

A lump stuck in Cat’s throat. It was a good question. One she’d asked herself. And the honest answer was, she wouldn’t be introducing Brody to her kids if she didn’t think he could be their daddy. But she wasn’t sure what to tell them.

She and Brody still had things to discuss. And there was no guarantee he would forgive her.

But if he did forgive her, if they did get past this, then Cat would have hope that he could be their daddy. He hadn’t said long term that morning, but surely that’s what he’d meant. Uprooting herself and her kids was a big deal. He would understand that. “I’m not sure,” she finally answered Becca. “But I think our hearts are big enough that we can fit all kinds of friends inside them. Don’t you?”

There was silence before Becca asked, “How big is my heart?”

Cat chuckled. She pulled her daughter to her and kissed the top of her head. “It’s as big as the world, baby. As big as you want it to be.”

More silence, and Cat could visualize her serious little girl weighing the pros and cons of her decision. Finally, the grip on Cat’s heart released when Becca announced, “I think I’d like to meet your friend. And I think he’ll like me. Because I’m going to show him my new shoes.”