Chapter 39
“That was amazing,” June said as they walked hand in hand back toward the parking garage that was a few blocks away.
“It always is.”
“That’s what you said.”
“And you didn’t trust me?”
“I did, I just didn’t think it would be the best Italian food I’ve ever had.
I am so stuffed. I’m glad the car is far enough away to walk off some of this food.
” She felt like she was four months pregnant.
That had been a lot of food, but it had been too good to stop eating until the plate had been emptied.
“I can think of other ways to help burn it off,” he leaned over and whispered suggestively in her ear.
June stopped in mid step, suddenly having a craving and not for food. She looked up at him and whispered in reply, “Good thing your place isn’t far away.” Rob’s house was closer than hers.
Rob’s eyes glowed in the darkness before he swooped down and claimed her lips. June clung to him and answered his kiss with a groan as her mouth opened easily for him. His tongue darted in and stroked along hers, enticing it to play with him.
June responded to the challenge, gliding her tongue along his as her hands coasted down his front.
June wanted to reach further down and cup his hard on but had to remind herself they were standing on a public street.
She pulled back from the kiss, tugging his bottom lip and releasing it with a pop.
“Damn, you are a dangerous woman.”
“You’re the lethal one,” she quipped, meaning it in more than one way. The man was a lethal weapon both as a soldier and a killer in bed.
Rob’s grip on her turned painful as if he was at war to pull her back to him and keep her away. “You don’t know what you do to me. You make me want to drag you into an alley and fuck you against the wall, not caring who passes by.”
Yes, please, though it sounded dirty. “You can do that at home. Close the front door and push me up against it,” she husked as she told him a deep fantasy. “I’m not wearing any underwear.” It had been a risky decision, and one she had never done before, but she’d wanted to surprise him later.
Rob’s nostrils flared as his gaze drifted between her legs as if he could see her sans underwear already. “We need to hurry and get home.”
She agreed. “The car seems so far away.” The few blocks had seemed like nothing coming to dinner. Now it felt like miles.
“I could carry you.”
“Don’t you dare,” she hissed, smacking him in the chest. She didn’t want to pass people on the street as Rob carried her. They would probably know what they were headed off to do. “I’ll race you.” Then, no one would suspect them. It would look like young lovers having fun.
“I’m never going to be able to run like this.” He gestured down to his cock that was tenting from his pants.
No, he would never be able to run with that. “Fine, walk fast then.”
“June Annabel Macintosh,” a dark and menacing voice snapped from behind her.
June whipped around, knowing the owner of the voice before she saw him. Her brother. “Liam, what are you doing here?” June couldn’t believe her brother was here. He hadn’t visited in over a year. He’d looked a lot happier the last time she’d seen him too.
“Do I need a reason to visit my sister?”
“When I just spoke to you telling you to stay home and now you show up out of the blue, yes.”
“I came to save you from a mistake.” His eyes drifted over Rob. She could tell Liam was sizing him up.
“I don’t need saving, brother. Where’s Cora?” Cora was a good mediator with her brother and could help in this situation. She looked around frantically for her, but Cora was nowhere to be seen.
“Back home,” he replied crisply, stopping a foot in front of them. People passing them on the street gave them a wide berth as if they could sense the tension.
“As you should be. Honestly, Liam, I don’t need your help.” She and Rob were in a good place in their relationship. “I’m a grown adult who can make her own decisions without her brother interfering.”
This was one of the reasons why she had moved to Vegas. Liam was trying to make up for not being there for her by now smothering her.
His eyes fell onto her. “I thought you dumped him.”
She shouldn’t be surprised he knew this was Rob. Nor would it surprise her if he had used his government access to do a background check on him or track her phone, which was how he’d known where she was. “Rob is not your concern.”
“He’s not good enough for you, June,” Liam snarled as he marched up to them. Rob held his ground and even took a step to the side to try and block June. It was sweet, but her brother would never hurt her.
“You don’t think anyone is good enough for me. The king of some country could propose to me, and you wouldn’t think he’s good enough. You’re just being an overprotective big brother.”
“Maybe, but I won’t stand by while you’re being lied to.”
“Lied to?” What was he talking about? She and Rob had talked everything out, hadn’t they? What did Liam know that she didn’t?
“Rob here isn’t who you think he is.”
June rolled her eyes. Now her brother was being melodramatic. Where was Cora when she needed her? “And who is he?” June asked, sounding exasperated.
“I don’t know what he’s told you, but he works for a secret group in the military,” Liam said in a low whisper.
Gee, that sounds familiar. Talk about calling a spade a spade. “I already know that. I can’t be angry with him for that. So how dare you,” she chastised, giving him a pointed look.
Her brother did the same thing as Rob, so how could he condemn Rob? Liam should be shaking his hand, not looking like he was ready to punch Rob.
“I’m not condemning him for what he does, but you should be angry with what he’s keeping from you.”
“Liam,” Rob said in a warning tone.
Liam turned his lethal stare onto him and raised a finger in his direction. “Stay out of this. You’re already on my shit list.” June stepped between them. Both men were angry with each other, but they both loved her. No one would swing a fist as long as she stayed between them.
“Why are you being so hostile toward him? What has he done to you?” Liam was a protective older brother, but it was as if he had a vendetta against Rob, which didn’t make sense. They didn’t even know each other.
“This is something between us. June doesn’t need to be involved,” Rob spoke up, taking a step closer to pull June away, but she refused to budge. She didn’t want to see the two men she loved most in the world come to blows over some imagined slight.
“I believe you have something to tell my sister.” Liam glowered at Rob and took a step toward him. They both seemed to have forgotten June was getting squished between them.
“Liam, what are you talking about?”
“Rob here has been looking into my background.”
June whipped around to look up at Rob, sure she had misheard her brother. “Rob, tell him that’s not true.” Rob didn’t say anything. He continued to look straight ahead at her brother, a tic working in his jaw. “You looked into my brother?” If he hadn’t, he would have said so.
“You were secretive about him, so I was curious. I thought he might be a criminal,” he explained so matter of fact, as if that gave him every excuse to violate her trust like that.
“So that gave you the right to look into his background?” Did that mean he’d looked into hers too? Not that he would find anything, but still. It felt dirty that he would do something like that. Why not just ask her?
His gaze flickered down to meet hers. “In my line of work—”
“No,” she cut him off. “You don’t get to use the secret military group as an excuse for what you did.
Lots of people don’t talk about what their families do for a living.
That’s not an excuse to do background checks on them.
Nor does my brother have anything to do with your line of work.
Did you do one on me too?” June took a step back as if preparing herself for a physical blow.
She bumped into her brother’s chest. He placed reassuring hands on her shoulders, letting her know he was there for her.
Liam was right; she didn’t know this man.
“Is that the only reason you kept hanging out with me, to learn about my brother? Thinking I might reveal something about him. Did you think I was a criminal too? That I was his accomplice?” Come to think of it, Rob had asked her a lot of questions about Liam.
She had thought it was curiosity, but now she knew otherwise.
He had just been using her. June thought she might be sick.
“No.” He shook his head and took a step toward her, but a glance up at her brother had him seeming to reconsider and staying where he was.
“I was with you because I enjoyed being with you. There was no other reason. No ulterior motive. Yes, I was curious about your brother because you were so secretive about him. I asked someone to look into him before I left, and I swear I stopped caring by the time I came back. It’s no longer important, June. You are.”
If he thought that was supposed to appease her, he had another thing coming.
“Yet because I wasn’t forthcoming with information, you did it anyway, behind my back,” she snapped at him, pointing at herself.
“What he does for a living has no bearing on my life and shouldn’t have had any basis in our relationship.
So, what if he had been a criminal—which he isn’t—that has nothing to do with me.
You should have respected that boundary. ”
Rob looked away in shame, but that didn’t make her any happier.
He had been in the wrong to violate her trust. What Liam did was highly classified.
If anyone found out he had a family and friends, they could be used for revenge or collateral for government secrets.
That was why she’d gone out of her way to never mention his name or Cora’s.
She didn’t have pictures of him in the house in case people discovered their connection. She never guessed that the lack of knowledge about him would draw just as much notice.
“You know I respected your privacy about secrets, but you couldn’t do the same for me.” This was so much worse than when she’d thought he’d ghosted her. This hurt a lot deeper. It felt more personal now.
“June, why don’t you head home while I talk to Rob,” Liam suggested gently as he steered her to the side, so the men were face to face.
“I don’t have my car.” They had taken Rob’s.
Without looking at her, Liam pulled his car keys out of his pants pocket and handed them to her. “It’s a block back that way.” He pointed behind him. “Then turn left, and it’s on the right. Red Nissan.”
June looked at Rob one more time, unshed tears glistening in her eyes, before she turned around and walked away once again, but this time it would be the last. June couldn’t trust him after this. This had been the ultimate betrayal.
She could forgive him for not calling or whatever while he was on assignment. They had still been new and not even considered in a relationship yet, but this? How could she trust him after this?