Page 32 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Laia’s jaw dropped. “Two million?”

“Yeah. He also admitted he was following you and that Colon’s people broke into your house.”

Her expression brightened. “That’s good. Now you can arrest Colon, right?”

If only it were that simple. “It’s more complicated than that. Jesus Montoya wasn’t part of the burglary, so that’s all hearsay, not probable cause to arrest anyone. Manny cut Montoya loose to get us more intel. He can be more valuable that way.”

High-pitched giggling came from the living room where Rosa was busy high-fiving Smoke and still trying to get him to “tawk to the paw.”

Her brows drew together. “I don’t have any of Colon’s money. Why does he think I do?”

“I don’t know.” What he did know was that stepping closer to Laia was a bad, bad idea, and idiotic sap that he was, he did it anyway.

“And why would Josh have to steal from Colon in the first place? Wasn’t he already getting paid for laundering his money?”

“I can’t answer that. For Colon, getting back any money Josh skimmed off the top would be a matter of principle. No one steals from him and gets away with it.” Kade had once thought there wasn’t anything else his brother could have done to make things worse. He’d been wrong. “Did Josh give you any money that you forgot about?”

“No!” She looked at him as if he had two heads. “Don’t you think I’d remember if he handed me two million dollars? Why don’t you ask your friends? Anything Josh gave me the government took away. Or did you conveniently forget that?” She covered her face with her hands and began shaking her head. “I can’t believe this is happening again.”

When her shoulders began trembling, Kade’s resistance crumbled faster than a house of cards in an earthquake. He pulled Laia into his arms, and she let him. Her body was slim, soft, curvy. Her soft hair tickled his chin, and he couldn’t keep from nuzzling the top of her head.

She sighed, a grief-filled, gut-wrenching sound that made everything in him want to protect Laia and her daughter from all the evils of the world. Starting with Fernando Colon. He tensed when her arms crept around his rib cage and wrapped around his back. God, she felt good. He’d never actually held her before, only dreamed about it. More specifically, dreamed about holding her lithe body as he drove deep inside her.

“We’ll figure this out,” he whispered. “I’ll be here with you every step of the way until we do.”

She lifted her head. “Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

Her arms around his back loosened. “Being so…helpful. So attentive.”

“You called me for help, and that’s what I’m trying to do. Help you.”

She pushed at his chest, forcing him to release her. “I did call you, to help me at the house with the burglary and to talk to the police. I knew they wouldn’t do anything unless you were there. But that’s over and done with. Why are you still helping us? Whatever’s going on here isn’t your problem. We,” she added, gesturing to the living room to include Rosa, “are not your problem.”

Now it was his turn to be confused. “Did you really think I’d just abandon you?” He could no sooner have done that than he could have cut off his own foot.

“That’s exactly what I expected from you.” She lowered her voice as she cast a quick glance to Rosa. “Not to belabor the issue, but you’ve made a distinct point of staying away all this time, so why would I ever think you’d actually stick around now?”

Jesus, she had no idea how much it had hurt, how much it had scaled his heart to keep his distance from her. He shook his head at the incredulity of what was happening and just how very wrong she was. About everything.

He ground his jaw, vividly remembered every single invitation he’d turned down because he couldn’t put himself through any more pain. “Don’t you get it? Once you married Josh, I couldn’t be near you.”

“Why not?” She parked her fists on her hips. “You were part of the family, yet you did an awesome job of being a selfish, self-absorbed, absentee brother-in-law. You could have joined us for Christmas, Thanksgiving, all kinds of family gatherings that for some reason you couldn’t manage to drag yourself to.”

“You’re right, and you’re wrong. I couldn’t have been there for any of those occasions, but not for the reasons you obviously think.”

“At the risk of repeating myself, why not?”

She was killing him, slowly, by painful degrees. Telling her the truth would be opening up a can of soup and turning the can upside down. Everything would spill out, and there’d be no putting it back.

“Kade, for God’s sake! Will you just talk to me?” When she took a step closer, he stepped back. “What in the world is going on with you?”

He squeezed his eyes shut, willing his heart not to burst from his throat and divulge how it felt. Then she reached for him, gently touching his forearm, and his eyes snapped open.

Something inside his chest lit, then exploded with the force of a hand grenade, and he couldn’t tamp it down a second longer. And what did it matter anymore? He still couldn’t have her.

He ground his jaw harder. “Since the moment I first saw you, I’ve never stopped thinking about you. Wanting you. Just because you said I do to my brother didn’t make that stop.”