Chapter Eleven
Avery drove Shelby home to the townhouse they now shared in the District’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, his mind whirling with what Sam and Malone had told him about Troy Hamilton.
There was no fucking way on God’s green earth that Troy Hamilton kidnapped a child and passed him off as his own for thirty years. No way.
He couldn’t deny, however, that Josh Hamilton bore a striking resemblance to the age-progressed photo. But that didn’t prove a goddamned thing, and even if Josh turned out to be Taylor Rollings, that didn’t mean Troy took him or had any knowledge of a kidnapping.
The whole thing was so far beyond preposterous as to be laughable.
“Are you going to tell me about it?” Shelby asked as they made their way through streets congested by cars heading to the Capitals home game at the Verizon Center.
“I’m still trying to process what I just heard.”
“Can I help?”
He glanced at her and then back at the road, wanting to tell her but conditioned to keeping his work to himself.
“If it makes any difference, I already know about Josh Hamilton’s possible connection to the missing kid in Tennessee.”
“How do you know that?”
“I was at the house the other day when Sam brought him home. I didn’t know then that he was your director’s son, but since we heard about the all-points bulletin earlier, I put two and two together to get holy moly.”
“Yeah, that’s putting it mildly.”
“What’re you thinking?”
“That there’s no fucking way that Troy had anything to do with kidnapping someone else’s kid. There’s no way.”
“If it’s true that Josh is really Taylor, maybe there’s some sort of reasonable explanation for how he came to be in the Hamiltons’ custody.”
“What kind of explanation would be reasonable? No matter how it came to happen, if it’s true, his career is over and his reputation will be shredded.”
“Knowing how much you look up to him, I can’t imagine how you must feel after hearing their suspicions.”
Avery tightened his grip on the wheel. “Everyone in the bureau looks up to him. He’s a god to us. It’s not true. There’s no way it’s true.”
“I’m sorry you’re upset.”
He took a deep breath and tried to shake off the shock of what he’d been told by Sam and Malone.
Today was his day to spend with Shelby, and she deserved his complete focus.
If there was anything he knew for certain it was that Troy Hamilton could take care of himself.
He’d find a way to deflect these accusations away from himself and the bureau.
“You want to get something to eat?” he asked.
“I’m more tired than hungry. I was thinking about a nap.”
Knowing she tired easily in her second trimester, he said, “Whatever you want.”
She took hold of his hand and kissed the back of it. “I was hoping you might join me for a rest.”
Which was code for afternoon nooky. Under normal circumstances, Avery was onboard for any kind of nooky she wanted, but today… “Sure, honey.”
“Are you okay, Avery?”
“I’m…” He’d been about to say he was fine, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t fine at all. “I’m on edge about what this is going to mean for Hamilton and the bureau. I’m sorry. Today is our day. No more work.”
“I understand why you’re upset. If you need to go to the office, we can postpone our plans for another day.”
Avery thought about that for a minute. “Thanks, but there’s nothing I can do. It’s not like we have an active case to pursue or anything. This is the weirdest situation I’ve ever encountered, and that’s saying something in my line of work. Sam has Josh under protective custody—”
“I thought she was suspended.”
“She was—or is—but that’s not stopping her. Her captain was at her dad’s, so he’s aware that she’s involved. Apparently, Josh was willing to talk to her and only her, which made it necessary for them to involve her.”
“It’s ridiculous that they suspended her anyway.”
“She did assault a fellow officer.”
“Who asked for exactly what he got.”
“You don’t hear me arguing.”
Shelby looked over at him. “Do you think the U.S. Attorney will charge her for assault?”
“Hard to say. He’s in a tough spot on this one because of who she is to the department and the country.”
“Can you imagine the second lady being charged with assault?”
“No, I can’t, and I’d be surprised if the administration isn’t leaning on Forrester to go easy on her.”
“Nick would never condone that.”
“It’s probably coming from above him.”
“Wow. You think the president is involved?”
“I have no way to know that for certain, but I’d be surprised if he wasn’t. Having his vice president’s wife charged with felony assault isn’t going to look good for any of them. If Nelson can keep it from happening, I’m sure he will.”
“People would go crazy if she gets charged. She’s so crazy popular—not just here but everywhere after what she did during the inauguration.”
“There’s a lot to consider beyond whether she hit him or whether he deserved it. I don’t envy Forrester this situation.”
He parked at the curb outside their townhouse and cut the engine.
“Wait for me to come around,” he said as he got out of the car.
Ever since she fell a couple of months ago, he treated her as if she were made of spun glass, or at least that’s what she said.
But with the sidewalk coated in a thin layer of ice, he wasn’t taking any chances.
He opened the passenger door and held out a hand to help her up and out of the car.
“Thank you.” She curled her hand into the crook of his elbow to climb the stairs he’d salted earlier in the day. “Spring can show up any time now.”
“Going to be a few more weeks, I’m afraid.”
“Ugh, enough already with this cold weather.”
“I’ll remind you of that when you’re sweltering through the last weeks of pregnancy in the dog days of summer.” Inside, he unwound her puffy pink scarf and used the two ends to draw her closer to him.
She looked up at him expectantly.
Sometimes he still had to marvel at the series of events that had led to where they were now—engaged, living together and expecting a child.
Whether or not that child was biologically his was of no consequence to him, and that thought led Avery right back to Troy Hamilton and the baffling situation with his son.
“What?” Shelby asked, reminding him that he’d been about to kiss her.
“Nothing.” He shook off his worries about Hamilton to focus on her, leaning in to kiss her. “You mentioned a nap?”
A smile lit up her adorable face. “I did.” She took him by the hand to lead him upstairs to the room they now shared.
He put up with pink throw pillows on his bed because he loved having her in it, but he’d drawn the line at allowing any other pink in his bedroom.
Whenever she teased him about his willingness—or lack thereof—to compromise, he referred to the pink pillows on his bed that were now flying through the air as Shelby prepared for their nap.
Smiling at her haste, Avery pulled his sweater over his head and dropped his jeans to the floor, kicking them aside. He got into bed and propped his head on his upturned hand to watch her undress. She was effortlessly sexy. Everything she did, every move she made, every word she said turned him on.
She removed her sweater, revealing the gentle swell of her abdomen and the breasts that were getting bigger by the day, much to her dismay.
He had no complaints. He loved her. He loved their life and the plans they’d made for the future.
But goddamn if he didn’t still react to Sam Holland every fucking time he saw her.
Today had been no different. What the hell was wrong with him?
How could he be in love with a woman who was perfect for him in every possible way but still be drawn to someone he could never have?
He didn’t want to want Sam. He’d never wanted it, knowing all along she was permanently out of reach to him.
And yet… The reaction today was because he hadn’t seen her in a few weeks, or so he told himself.
During that time, he’d barely given her a thought.
He was too busy with his work and his life with Shelby to be thinking about Sam.
Yesterday he would’ve said he was well and truly over whatever it was he’d once felt for her.
Then he walked into her father’s home, she looked at him with those eyes that saw everything, and as always, he felt like he’d been struck by lightning.
Why did that happen every time? Why, why, why?
It wasn’t like he wanted to react to her.
He didn’t. He wanted to put that madness in the past where it belonged.
He wanted to focus on the life he had now with Shelby and the life they were anticipating with the baby.
Nowhere in that life was there room for his fascination, or whatever you wanted to call it, with another woman.
He’d gone so far as to wonder if he needed to be hypnotized or exorcised or something—anything—that would make it stop once and for all.
Shelby removed her jeans and panties, putting an extra wiggle in her motions for his benefit, and crawled into bed with him. The feel of her soft skin rubbing against his had an immediate and predictable effect on him.
She curled her hand around his erection. “Is this all for me?”
The question hit him like a gut punch. It was all for her. Of course it was. “You know it, sugar.”
“Mmm, that accent. You could read the phone book to me, and it would turn me on.”
“Is that so?”
“God, yes.” Tightening her grip, she stroked him the way he loved it best, her small hand moving quickly up and down his shaft.
“I do love your naps, Shelby Lynn.”
Her lips curved into a smile as she peppered his chest with kisses.