“Nope. I don’t know anything. I am knowledge-less. I—oh.” The bark of a tree dug into her back. There was nowhere left to retreat to.
There was something dark and hot in his gaze, something that made her shrink back even more, even while a slow burn started in her belly. Who was this? This wasn’t the Gabe she knew. This Gabe was almost... dangerous.
Dangerous and... really, really hot.
His big hands came up to brace himself on the tree on either side of her head. He leaned in close. She breathed in. She couldn’t distinguish between the scent of him and the forest.
“Don’t lie to me,” he growled.
“I—I’m not. I don’t—”
“Why did you ask me those questions? About my tattoo? About my birth parents?”
A spy she’d never be. “Don’t know. Making conversation.”
“Eve.”
Damn it. She was literally between a rock and a hard place, except she wasn’t sure which one of those descriptions applied to Gabe.
His shoulders blocked the sun. There was no room to do anything but stare at him helplessly, prey caught by the predator. “Your shoulder. Jackson has the same design tattooed on his arm.”
His chest rose and fell. “So?”
“Robert did too.”
His lashes lowered. “So?”
“I’m fairly sure the tattoo is somehow related to the Kane family, and you don’t seem the type to appropriate.”
He lowered his head so they were nose to nose. “What does that mean, then?”
“I—I don’t know—” She gasped when his big hands wrapped around her arms, and gasped louder when he picked her up like she weighed nothing and brought her to eye level.
No one had picked her up since she was a child. One boyfriend had even complained if she’d tried to straddle him.
Do not be distracted.
But he hadpicked her up. There was something very sexy about feeling small and dainty enough to be manhandled.
“Eve. Talk.”
She licked her lips. “I overheard you on the phone last night.” It was like someone had taken whatever filter had been in front of her eyes and ripped it off. She couldn’t unsee the resemblance now. Gabe’s broad forehead was a direct replica of Jackson’s, his hair lit with Livvy’s glossy sheen, despite the difference in color.
His nostrils flared. “What did you hear?”
“I heard you say it would be too messy to get involved with a Chandler.”
“And?”
“Because of... because of Robert.”
His hands tightened on her arms. “Shit. You guessed, didn’t you?”
She trembled. “Gabe. Was Robert your father?”
She didn’t need an answer. He paled. She immediately forgot her unease and grasped his biceps, seeking to comfort him. “It’s okay. Don’t freak out. I won’t tell anyone.”
He shook his head. She’d never thought a man so big and tough—a man who could pick her up, no less!—would ever look so helpless and distraught. “No one knows.” His tone was bleak, the words tripping over each other.
