Of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (15 page)

Gabriel was following Jericho around like a lost puppy in the front yard, and if he didn’t stop soon, Jericho was pretty sure his heart was going to bleed right out of his chest.

God, how was he ever going to be strong enough to get through this? Gabriel was the perfect eight-year-old boy. Full of orneriness, love for his mama, and now hero worship for him.

The worst part of it all was that Gabriel’s constant presence was, for the first time since Jericho had watched his mate die, pushing the pain of his own child’s loss into the background.

Jericho stumbled over his own feet in the front yard where he was moving debris from the roof into a pile. He realized with horror that this was the first time he’d so much as thought about his family in —

When
was
the last time he’d thought about his family?

Jericho waited for the onrush of guilt at betraying his mate and child. He waited. And waited. He stood still so long that Gabriel looked up at him from where he had been playing with rocks by the debris pile.

Jericho finally had to admit that, other than a slight niggle, he did not feel guilty. For anything — not what he’d done with Dahlia the past couple of days, not for falling fast for a bright-eyed little boy.

Something had changed between them. Jericho knew he was not the kind of man who could get involved in a physical relationship with a woman and have it mean nothing to him. He’d had one lover in his life, and when he had made love to Emily for the first time, it had bonded them body
and
soul. It only made sense that his actions with Dahlia would have the same effect.

But then, what had happened this morning with Dahlia had bonded them as well. His protective instincts had roared to full life. Rage that anyone was threatening the safety of his mate and her child — he had no words for the depth of that emotion. And now, he wanted Dahlia so badly he couldn’t see straight.

Gabriel rocketed to his feet and bounded toward Jericho. “What’s next, Jericho?” he asked in that childish, slightly accented voice.

Jericho couldn’t stop himself from grinning down at the boy and ruffling his hair. “Same old, same old, buddy. We need to keep moving all the junk in your yard to this pile.” He nodded toward the growing pile of shingles, rotted timber, and other extraneous pieces of construction.

The little boy’s shoulders slumped slightly as his bright eyes took in all they still had to do in the front yard. They hadn’t even begun to tackle the backyard. Jericho knew he had to be bored. “Hey, why don’t you go help your mama in the house? I bet she could use a man to do some heavy lifting for her.”

Gabriel straightened with an air of importance. “Okay,” he said gravely before sprinting through the yard and into the house.

Jericho watched him go with not a small amount of sadness. The boy’s presence had brightened Jericho’s work. But Dahlia would benefit from having him close more than Jericho would.

Her tears this afternoon had broken his heart. No one had to tell him how strong of a woman she was. That she had lost it as she had was pretty glaring evidence that life was giving her a little too much to handle right now.

Whatever Jericho could do to lighten the load, he would do.

For the next several hours, Jericho worked through the front and back yards, gathering all of the rubble. By the time the sun went down, he was tired, he was sweaty, and his hands felt like they’d been ripped to shreds, even though he wore thick gardening gloves.

Oh well. The one thing Jericho knew for sure was that any pain was temporary. He peeled off the gloves and ran a quick inspection over his fingers and palms. The blisters were already healing. In the next hour or so, they’d be completely gone.

He headed toward the front door, excitement coursing through him that he would be seeing Dahlia and Gabriel again. He was a little worried that he seemed to have missed them. He was still going to have to take Dahlia back to the compound eventually. What would he do when his actions caused her to hate him? He missed her after a couple of hours apart while on the same property. What if she refused to ever see him again?

His gait quickened, and when he ducked through the low threshold, his eyes found Dahlia immediately. She and Esperanza were still in the middle of the deep-clean of their house. Jericho spotted Gabriel with the broom — the handle towered over his head — at the same time that Gabriel spotted him.

“Jericho,” he crowed joyfully, dropping the broom and zooming over. He skidded to a stop right in front of Jericho and shifted his weight back and forth on both feet self-consciously. Some unknown instinct informed Jericho that the kid was trying not to hug him. Jericho raised one arm slightly, and it was all the invitation Gabriel needed. He scooted under Jericho’s arm and wrapped his dust and dirt caked arms around Jericho’s waist tightly, burying his face in Jericho’s ribs.

Jericho closed his eyes slightly as he fought to swallow past his suddenly swollen Adam’s apple. “Hey, bud,” he said on a croak. “Good work in here. Looks almost good as new.”

Gabriel beamed up at him. Dahlia’s stomach growled — Jericho heard it from all the way across the room — and Jericho’s eyes flew to her face. She was watching Gabriel and Jericho warily and absently rubbing her stomach.

“Supper time,” Jericho said, looking at Gabriel once more. “Want to go with me to pick up some food, little man?”

He should have thought of food earlier. He knew that the women had been working on tamales earlier in the day, but the excitement of Gabriel’s predicament and then their hasty decision to sell the house had distracted them. Now Dahlia was hungry enough that her stomach was roaring. Guilt assuaged Jericho again. He needed to take better care of her.

“Sure,” Gabriel said.

Jericho raised questioning eyes to Dahlia, who jerked herself out of deep thought once she realized he was looking at her. “That sounds great, thank you,” she whispered to him.

Jericho knew Gabriel and Esperanza were watching, but he walked over to Dahlia to briefly trail his fingers down her cheek. “Doing okay?” he asked for her ears only.

She jerked anxiously away from his touch and nodded like a bobblehead. Jericho frowned for a second before carefully schooling his expression. Apparently they’d lost some ground since earlier.

That was okay. They’d been apart. She’d had time to freak out and think everything was a mistake. Jericho could work to regain some of that lost ground.

“We’ll be back soon,” he said to her, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I’ll keep him safe,” he tacked on in a whisper.

Gratefulness flared in her eyes briefly. “Thank you.”

“Okay, Gabe, let’s go,” Jericho said, turning around and heading toward the door. He could hear the over-exuberant slap of Gabriel’s tennis shoes on the ground behind him as they exited the house and walked toward the truck.

“Jericho, can we get Happy Meals?” Gabriel asked as Jericho buckled him in.

“Happy Meals?” Jericho asked. Would Dahlia kill him if he got Gabriel junk food?

“Yeah. Mom needs a Happy Meal so she gets happier.”

Sound logic. “Yeah, sure, bud, we can get Happy Meals. That’s a great idea.”

Twenty minutes later, bogged down with two Happy Meals for everyone, they were returning to the house. Jericho had to admit he’d had more fun on this little excursion than he could remember ever having. The kid was keeping up a constant litany of pointless jabber, and Jericho was hanging on his every word.

Kids were so …
neat
. How had he missed that memo? Jericho had mourned the loss of his own child for eight years, but if he’d have known he was missing this magic, he’d have been even more inconsolable than he had been.

God, how did Dahlia stay away from him?

Guilt flared. He was going to be taking her away from him again. He felt blood rush to his neck and face. That didn’t sit well. Those were his orders, but he wasn’t sure he could follow them anymore. A new plan began to formulate, and for the first time in years, Jericho felt hope.

They arrived back at the house, and Jericho followed an exuberant Gabriel into the house, his arms laden with bags of food.

“We’re home!” Gabriel announced to the empty living room.

Jericho couldn’t prevent the flare of warmth the boy’s innocent words caused. Oh, if only —

“That was fast,” Dahlia said, coming around the corner quickly and a little anxiously. She had obviously worried about Gabriel while they had been gone. “And you brought … McDonalds.” Her eyes found Jericho’s and she raised an eyebrow.

Yup, he’d been right. Dahlia was not a fan of feeding her son junk. Jericho shrugged with one shoulder and tried to prevent a grin. Dahlia was pretty cute when she was piqued.

“Happy Meals,” Gabriel announced importantly.

“Oh,” Dahlia said, shooting Jericho another look, this one asking
Um … what?

“To make you happier,” Jericho said softly. Gabriel nodded.

“Ah,” Dahlia flat-out grinned, and Jericho heard himself suck in a breath. Damn, she was amazingly beautiful. “Now, that is a genius idea,
mijo
,” she told Gabriel, striding over to him, swinging him up and planting a noisy, wet kiss on his cheek. “Go wash your hands and get
abuelita
. She’s in your room.”

She gave Jericho a shy smile and gestured for him to take the food into the kitchen. He couldn’t wait to let her know the plan he’d come up with.

• • •

Dinner was quick and mostly silent. They were all exhausted from the labor of the day. As soon as Gabriel finished his chicken nuggets and bounded off to play, Dahlia felt despair filter in again. “I can’t lose him,” she whispered.

“That is not going to happen,” Jericho said with authority. “Not today, not ever, do you understand me?”

Dahlia shook her head. “Luis will have help. I’ve never been able to win against him. He wants Gabriel, he will take him, and I won’t be able to do anything about it.”

“Yeah, well,
I
want Gabriel,” Jericho said, still calmly, but Dahlia reeled back. “And I want you. You’re all my family now,” he said, leaning back to include Esperanza. “And I won’t ever let anyone take my family away from me again.” He leaned forward to press a swift kiss to her lips. “I love you, Dahlia.”

“
Shit
!” Dahlia screeched. “Are you kidding me with this?” she asked the ceiling, tossing her hands up in the air.

“Wrong answer,” Jericho said, and then he scooped Dahlia up with an arm beneath her knees and behind her back and carried her down the hall while she sputtered in disbelief.

“Where are we going?” she asked as she wiggled to get down.

His firm grip tightened even more. “Somewhere private.”

She felt no fear at his words, but she did feel panic. No, she couldn’t be alone with him. Not after he’d just offered to fix her world for her. Oh, yeah, and thrown in the love thing. No, she definitely could not be alone with him, because the moment the door closed, she was going to jump his bones.

And then the door closed. Jericho stepped inside Dahlia’s bedroom and kicked the door closed with his foot, not even pausing in his stride to her bed. He dumped her unceremoniously onto the top, and she bounced a good two feet before landing. In a flash, Jericho dove on top of her, pinning her with his weight. He slid one thigh between her legs and brought his hands up to her face. One set of fingers dove into her hair, the other languorously brushed across her lower lip. Back and forth, back and forth.

“Now,” he said in a soft, low voice. “You’re the bravest woman I know. Earlier today, you were holding a gun, ready to go to battle for your son. You’re a fierce and strong fighter.” Dahlia opened her mouth to protest, remembering with shame how completely she’d lost it while huddled in the corner of the living room mere hours ago, but he cut her off. “Just what is it about me — about
us
— that scares you so much?”

Scared? Of a relationship with Jericho? Try debilitatingly terrified. The idea was completely abhorrent to her. Letting another man close enough to her to hurt her? To make her fall in love with him and then watch, devastated, as he walked away?

Never again.

But did he need to know all of that? Self-preservation was Dahlia’s greatest learned instinct. “I’m not scared.” There was no way he was going to buy that. Her voice had wavered.

He smiled at her briefly. “Okay, then.” And he swooped down and kissed her. Thoroughly. He didn’t have to wait for her lips to part, they did automatically, but then he completely infiltrated her. His tongue swept into her mouth, teasing, tasting. His hands moved, one to cup the back of her head and hold her more firmly against his onslaught, the other to trail down her neck, leaving licks of fire, over her collarbone, and down to cup her breast.

She cried out, and his mouth absorbed the sound. He made a low, encouraging noise in the back of his throat, and deepened the kiss even further. He sucked her tongue back into his own mouth, nibbled on her lower lip, fisted his hand in her hair.

He seemed to be everywhere at once. A million different sensations, and all of them swept her away. Her hands, where they had been fastidiously fisted at her sides, uncoiled and rose to clutch him to her. She could feel him smile against her lips.

He pulled back. “Hmm.” His tongue swept his glistening lower lip and then he sucked it into his mouth and nibbled on it, drawing every last taste of her lips from his own.

Dahlia’s mouth fell open and a whimper escaped. She’d never seen anyone do that before, never had that effect on anyone. It made her want to lean forward and chew on his lip for him. She was leaning forward to do just that, but he pulled back when she neared. She frowned at him.

He shook his head, an obnoxious crooked smile spread his face. “Not yet.” His hand rose from her breast to her face where his fingertips brushed over her lips. “How do you feel about me?”

She jerked her head away from his fingers. Oh, that’s how he was going to play this? Tease a confession of love — or whatever, she mentally corrected herself — out of her by teasing her libido? “That’s fine. I wasn’t really into this anyway,” she lied — blatantly apparently, as his grin just got wider.