“Oh, thank God,” Mitch breathed with extra drama as he sliced a glance at one of the men who had drifted to Alyssa’s side and wound an arm around her shoulders. This had to be Teague. She’d have known by the blue eyes he’d obviously passed on to Brady. “He looks like us, Lys.”
Everyone burst out laughing, including Alyssa’s husband, who said, “Did you miss those eyes?”
“They’re all born with blue eyes,” Mitch said. “They rarely take.”
“Not that blue,” Alyssa said, leaning into her husband while staring at Brady with a perplexed look. “How’d you do that?”
“What?” Mitch asked.
“Get him to stop fussing? He’s been miserable all day.”
Sure enough, Brady had quieted, his unfocused gaze fixed on Mitch’s face. And when he smiled down at the baby, the resemblance between the two hit Halina with a fist of longing so strong, it closed her throat and pushed tears to her eyes.
“It must be an uncle thing,” Mitch said.
“Great.” Alyssa rubbed her eyes. “Want to move in?”
“Lys,” her husband hissed with a half smile, “bite your tongue.”
Laughter filled the space.
One of the men standing toward the back of the group stepped forward. “Since Brady has claimed the shark’s balls and Foster probably can’t even remember to take a leak on his own now,” he offered his hand to Alyssa, “I’m Kai, the one Mitch talks shit about all the time.”
Halina took his offered hand in a shake. He had green eyes, messy brown hair, and an angled, unshaven jaw. He also wore a very attractive—even a little wicked—grin. Another mischievous one. He, Nelson, and Mitch would be a handful to have around.
“You’re the empath,” she said, releasing his hand.
“Knew he was talking about me.” Kai’s grin widened. Eyes sparkled. “Don’t believe anything.”
Halina laughed. Unless this was a façade, he didn’t seem to be holding a shitload of animosity toward her. Maybe Mitch had been right about her fitting in here better than she’d expected.
“Twenty bucks,” Alyssa said to Kai. “In the jar.”
Kai’s gaze swung to Alyssa, his mouth hanging open. “What? What did I say?”
“You said,” the tall blond man next to him muttered, “the s-h word.”
“Aw, man.” Kai made a disgusted sound and pulled out his wallet, shaking his head. “I lose more fu—”—he froze, darted a look at Alyssa, then pulled out a twenty—“darn money at this place.”
“Why do you think we want you to stay?” Teague said then lifted the hand on his wife’s shoulder in a wave to Halina. He wasn’t quite as friendly, but he wasn’t cold or rude either. “I’m Teague, her lesser half.”
Alyssa frowned at him with a teasing, “Shut up.”
Teague kissed her head. “Come on, people.” He turned his wife down the hall in the direction they’d come. “Let’s take this into the living room.”
The group slowly followed Teague and Alyssa toward what Halina could see was an open living area beyond. She glanced at Mitch. He’d wandered to a corner of the foyer and stood with his shoulder propped against the wall. He held the baby in front of him, perpendicular to his body, but still cuddled up close, and just . . . stared.
Brady must have fallen asleep, because he was silent and still. She couldn’t quite figure out that look on Mitch’s face. Contemplative, deep, but soft and so very peaceful in a way that made her belly float. Made her wish. Dream. Hope. Imagine. All the things she couldn’t do. He was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t even seem to notice the others leave.
Kat was the last one out. Pausing at the hallway, she swung around, bent at the waist, and slapped her knees. “Come here, boy. Come here, Dexy.”
Hearing her attack dog called Dexy put a smile back on Halina’s face. “He’s trained in Russian,” she told Kat and nearly laughed at the scrunched up face the little girl gave her. “Say, prik-ho-dit.”
When Kat repeated the phrase, Dex trotted to her and followed Kat into the living room. And for a moment, a flickering, blissful moment, everything was right. Halina felt content, uncoiled, like she could breathe.
She turned back to Mitch, reluctant to enter the living room without him. And just what the hell was that about? She’d been dying to get away from him since they’d collided.
“Come here,” he said softly without looking at her.
Halina wandered toward him. When she stopped at his side and glanced at Brady, he was indeed asleep.
She sighed. Smiled. “He’s . . . heavenly. Sheer perfection.”
Mitch’s grin lit up like the flare of a candle, as if he were surprised and thrilled she would think so. “If you think that’s heavenly, smell him.”
She scrunched her nose. “What?”
“Trust me.” Mitch lifted the baby toward her. “Put your nose beside his head and breathe deep.”
With her brow drawn, she gave him a skeptical look, but, curious, did as he directed. Brady was warm and soft against her cheek, and she closed her eyes at the yummy feel of him, at the way her belly went liquid. Then she pulled in his baby scent. So . . . unique. She didn’t even know how to describe it. He smelled warm and new and clean. Sweet and innocent and . . . she straightened and breathed out on a sigh. “Oh . . . he’s just so . . .”
Mitch’s eyes twinkled with a kind of joy she hadn’t seen in him . . . maybe ever. “Yeah.”
They both simply stood there and stared at Brady again in silence. Emotion and anticipation hung heavily between them, unspoken. They could have had this if she hadn’t run. They could have this now, at the worst possible time.
She let out a long, anxious breath. “Mitch, I can’t go to Washington.” She spoke soft and low. Her earlier anger over his assumptions and manipulation were gone and she didn’t want to upset him. She wanted him to understand. “I have a long road ahead of me to build a new identity.”
His eyes went dark, his mouth stern, and her panic started to slip out.
“You’ve never done it,” she said. “You’ve never lived it. You don’t know what it entails. A complete and total change of habits. I’ll have to change what I eat and where I shop. I’ll have to retrain Dex to respond to a new name and language. I can’t practice Krav Maga anymore. I’ll have to get rid of my Heckler & Kochs and buy another type of weapon.
“When I go to gun ranges, I’ll have to start out looking like an idiot and build up to my current ability. I’ll have to find another job, now not only outside genetics, but outside vaccine research. I’ll have to build a new background. It takes months. Over a year to know the cover is solid. Everything I do, everything I say, everywhere I go could potentially give me away. It’s exhausting. And what you’re putting me through is draining me.”
“Halina—”
“You have them, Mitch.” She gestured toward the hall. “You have a million contacts, people who are indebted to you, friends, family. I have no one. No one. The longer you draw this out, the worse my chances are of building an impenetrable wall.”
He repositioned Brady in the bend of his arm, the joy gone, replaced by frustration. “First of all, you’re the one who hid those files. You know exactly where they are. Second of all, you’re not safe on your own, Halina. They’ll find you. If not Abernathy, someone else. Maybe Schaeffer’s guys, maybe another Abernathy, trying to take over. But they will find you. And they will kill you. When these guys want you, they get you. It doesn’t matter what kind of face you put on, what kind of wall you build. That’s why you’re here, Halina. Not only because you can help, but because you’re safer here. And if you’d give it a little more time, you’d see we’re going to get rid of Schaeffer’s threat and there will be no need for you to hide anymore.