Page 51 of Guarding Bristol
“In general.”
A slight frown drew her eyebrows closer together.“Were you always that way?”
“No.”
“Didn’t think so, because my brother always made you sound like a really social kind of guy.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say that.And that was a long time ago.”He searched for something else to say.“You must miss him.”
“I do.But he’s still in here and always will be.”She tapped the center of her chest.Her scrubs hid the gorgeous shape of her body, but, of course, now he was looking at the curve of her breasts.
“What do you remember most about him?”she asked, pulling him out of his thoughts and his gaze from her chest.
“He was solid,” he answered without having to think about it.“Team player, professional, always had his head in the game.Always had your back.”
Her soft smile did things to him.“Yeah, that’s what I loved most about him too.”
“He was lucky to have you.“
“I was lucky to have him too.”Her expression shifted, edged with a sadness he could feel.“Even if he was lost for a while, he came back to us in the end.”
And then was killed.It was fucking tragic.“I’m sorry he went through all that.But I’m glad he had you.”
She gave him a saucy grin.“Yeah?Even though you endured a taste of what I put him through?”
One side of his mouth lifted.This was getting a bit easier now.Talking to her this way still felt alien, but he could feel some of his walls coming down.“Even then.Not many people would go to those lengths to help someone.”That kind of goodness was rarer than diamonds, and deserved to be protected.Just like she did.
“I loved him,” she said with a shrug, as if it explained everything.
“I know.He had a picture of you both as his screensaver.”
Her eyes welled up.“He did?”
“Yeah.He told us all about you.”Shit.“Maybe we should talk about something else.”
She cleared her throat.Sat up straighter.“All right, fine.Then how about your background?Will you tell me some of it now?Since you already know all about me from Eric.”
Yeah, he supposed that was only fair.Although he definitely didn’t know everything he wanted to know about her.“I was born in Pennsylvania.In a little town not far from Gettysburg.”
Her eyes brightened.“I’ve been there.My dad took Eric and me when we were kids one summer.Were you close with your parents?”
He nodded.“Pretty close.”
She frowned.“Your job must be hard on them too.”
“No.They were both gone before I joined the DEA.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.What happened?”
He didn’t like talking about it.But she’d been honest with him.She deserved to know what kind of man she was trapped here with.“My dad got behind the wheel in bad weather after a Christmas party.They went off the road into a flooded ditch on the way home.Neither of them made it out.”
“That’s terrible—”
“I was home to visit them on leave.I was supposed to drive them that night.But it was my last night stateside, and I was too busy having a good time with some buddies, so I bailed on them at the last minute.And they died.”
The guilt over that would haunt him forever.
“Oh...I’msosorry.”He could tell she wanted to ask more, braced himself for it.They had both lost close family in car accidents.Another twisted quirk of fate that connected them.“How old were you?”
