“Tess –”

“No, I –”

“Tess –” he growled.

“No, I’m not done –”

“Tess,” he clipped, one arm leaving me so his hand could cover my mouth and his face got in mine, “Shut it. ”

I glared at him.

He held my glare and stared at me.

Then his eyes started dancing and he asked, “Errol f**king Flynn?”

“This is not f**king funny,” I said against his hand so it came out garbled and he burst out laughing, his hand leaving my mouth to become an arm wrapped tight around me again and he shoved his laughing face in my neck.

“I’m not finding anything funny, Brock,” I told the wall behind him as my hands slid up and put pressure on his shoulders (to no avail).

He lifted his head still chuckling and gave me a squeeze.

Then he asked, “Can you shut up for two minutes so I can talk?”

“Yes, but I’ll give you that answer with the warning that you better not say anything that pisses me off or I’m cancelling Christmas.”

His body started rocking and his eyes were still dancing but he wisely didn’t verbalize his still obvious hilarity.

“Right,” he muttered but it came out sounding choked.

“You have two minutes,” I prompted him.

He grinned at me, repeated a muttered, “Right.” Then said, “All right, baby, no games, no bullshit, no lies, you called the scene and I’ve been playin’ by your rules. I told you, shit got hot for me with what I did at the DEA and I was facin’ a desk. I didn’t lie. What I didn’t tell you is that I had an option. They were thinkin’ of transferring me to LA.”

My body grew tight at these words and his arms grew tight with it.

“Now, I got family in Denver, I got kids in Denver and, yes, you are in Denver and my boys are gettin’ older, shit is not right there so I had a decision to make. Bail on all that, leavin’ my boys, and yeah, you behind or takin’ a job with the DPD, doin’ something that has less of an opportunity for my dead body to be found in an alley or stay here, take care of my sons and explore things with you. No lie, you know you meant something to me when I was going over my options so you were part of that decision. But I didn’t do it to change into what I thought you would want. I did it because it was time.”

Oh, well then.

“Oh, well then,” I whispered and he grinned again.

Then he said, “I got that apartment because Olivia worked part-time as a medical receptionist when we were married, she wasn’t very good at it and doesn’t have any other skills except whatever she did to get her bulldog attorney to wring me dry. I didn’t fight that too hard because kids get caught up in that shit and I didn’t want my boys in the middle of a dirty war between their parents. I also didn’t fight because, bottom line, she needed the money to take care of my sons. I lived in a shithole so they wouldn’t. I got on my feet since and two years ago she got herself a man where the extra she asked for and I gave her, I stopped givin’ her. But I had no time or need to move outta that apartment, in fact, livin’

there solidified the cover I was under at the same time it allowed me to set aside a whack. Not havin’ that job or crippled by Olivia, I didn’t need to live there anymore. It isn’t a great place for me to take my woman, for my boys to stay in but, honest to God, babe, I didn’t like it either. I got my shot, I moved out. End of story.”

Hmm.

Maybe I overreacted.

I didn’t share this. I just held his eyes.

His arms gave me another squeeze and his lips twitched.

He knew I knew I overreacted.

Crap.

Then he asked, “Now, I was gonna suggest tomorrow that you go with me and the boys to look at new trucks. My heat doesn’t work, the tires need changing, winter’s almost here and any money spent on that truck is the same as burnin’ it. So are you gonna have a shit hemorrhage if I buy a new truck?”

“I didn’t have a shit hemorrhage,” I denied.

His face dipped to mine. “Baby, you flew up here, put your hands on me and lost your mind. I had to put my hand over your mouth to shut you up. If that isn’t a shit hemorrhage, I don’t know what is.”

Oh man. I did that. I shoved him.

Not good.

“I…” I swallowed. “That wasn’t cool, Brock. I don’t know what came over me. I shouldn’t have shoved you.”

His body started rocking again and he shook his head like he didn’t know what to do with me but, luckily, he was shaking it like he thought I was so damned cute, he didn’t know what he was going to do with me.

“Darlin’,” he said low, “I love that body of yours, all soft, all curves, no way you could take me, even in the middle of one helluva shit hemorrhage and you know it. You didn’t do that to hurt me because you know you can’t. You did it because you were pissed and wanted my attention. There’s a difference.”

“It still wasn’t good,” I whispered.

“You make a habit of it, I agree. You do that often?”

I thought about it. Then I said, “Uh… not to my recollection.”

He burst out laughing again.

I glared at him still not finding anything funny.

“Uh… hello,” Levi called, my body grew tight and Brock stopped laughing and his eyes went over my shoulder.

Damn. I totally forgot about Levi.

All humor was void in his tone when Brock announced, “You and me got problems, brother.”

Uh-oh.

I turned in Brock’s arms and he let one drop but the other one he used to tuck my front in his side and keep me close as I looked to a Levi who had his hands up and his thoughtful hazel eyes were on me.

Then they went to his brother as his hands dropped. “I’m seein’ I might have got it wrong.”

“You think?” Brock asked sarcastically.

“I was –”

“You were doin’ what you do, Levi, mouthin’ off without thinkin’. You gave me the two minutes Tess gave me, I woulda told you the same thing I told Tess.”

Levi’s lips twitched and he reminded his brother, “You had to put your hand over her mouth to get that in there, Slim.”

“All right, next time you mouth off and piss me off, I’ll let loose the urge to find a way to shut your mouth so I can have my say, is that good for you?”

Hmm. It appeared even though Levi admitted he was wrong, Brock wasn’t going to let it go.