True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (28 page)

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Elizabeth heard
Callen’s door slam, and she glanced over at her husband. Next was the less audible click of Desdemona’s.

That wasn’t a good sign
at all.

“Uh oh,” she said
, softly. Immediately, she was concerned for Whitefox.

“Don’t get involved, Lyzee,” he warned
, and he noticed she wasn’t listening to a word he was saying. “You’re going to get involved aren’t you?” he asked, sighing.

“I’ll be back,” she
answered, kissing him on the lips. “I’ll go talk to Callen.”

“No bloodshed.”

Elizabeth laughed. “I promise no bloodshed.”

“Hurry back,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows
, lecherously. He had devious plans for his wife once he trapped her in bed with him.

Elizabeth snorted, sliding
off the bed and out of the room, before her husband could pounce. At Callen’s door she knocked, only to earn a growl of ‘go away’. Of course she ignored it and opened the door anyway. Lying on the bed was her brother in law, his shirt was off, and he was barefoot and still in his jeans. His focus was on the ceiling. “I said go away!” And then he realized who it was, and his temper cooled instantaneously.

“Can I come in, Cal?” she
paused, waiting at the door.

“Yeah, you can,
beautiful. You’re always welcome,” he answered, watching her cross the room, as he patted the bed beside him. He’d be crazy to not let her crawl into bed with him.

Elizabeth hopped up beside him. “I’m sorry we interrupted you in the kitchen
. We didn’t know.” She started, and he just closed his eyes.

“I'm not mad at you
or Ethan.”

Elizabeth rested her hand on the tattoo of the fox on his abs. “Want to talk about it?” she asked, gently. “I'm a pretty good listener
.”

Whitefox let out a breath he was holding and took her hand in his
, twining his fingers with hers.

“Are you mad at Desdemona?”

“She has me all tied up in knots, and when I’m this tangled up I lose my temper faster.” Whitefox looked up at her, and tried to decide if he should continue. Here he was confessing lust to the woman he loved and wanted. Callen needed Desdemona to forget the truth.

“Cal, you know you can tell me anything and I won’t tell a soul. You can trust me.”

Whitefox knew he could. It was once upon an assignment when he told her pretty much the same thing that he was feeling now. “I’m beyond sexually frustrated.” He left it at that.

Elizabeth laid beside him, and placed her head on his shoulder. “
What can I do to help you?”

He started laughing at the words, knowing she didn’t mean it the way it sounded. “You helping me would get me killed,” he snickered.
“But then again, it would be a great way to die.” God, he wished he could take her up on that offer. His body tightened.

Elizabeth started laughing. “Nice
! You’re definitely hard up to want a wobbly pregnant woman.”

Callen honestly believed she was still
incredible while pregnant. If she wasn’t married to his brother, he’d still be chasing her down.

When he didn’t answer
, she saw the truth in his eyes. Immediately, Elizabeth changed the subject. “Did she upset you?”

Whitefox shrugged.
Upset, hurt, what was the difference at this point? Her denial of him was a big turn off for him. If a woman could deny him, then she wasn’t what he needed.

“Want me to go next door and kick her ass for you?” she offered
, smiling up at him. “I can promise she’ll cry.”

Whitefox
hugged her closer to his body, and some of the tension lessened, and he didn’t feel as angry as he was a moment ago. She always had that effect on him. “No, I think you’ve kicked enough ass today to cover it.” Elizabeth curled against him, relaxing into his body and giving him peace.

“I think you like her.”

“Yeah I do.”

“More than any woman you’ve ever met before,” she said
, softly.

“
No, not every woman.” Whitefox alluded to the only other woman he’d ever loved, and she was currently pregnant with his brother’s child and married to him too. That woman still had him tied up in knots and always would. “There’s only one woman I’m crazy for in this world.”

“
Then that other woman is damn lucky to have such a role in your life and place in your heart. Don’t think that it doesn’t matter a great deal to her. It does.”

He
glanced at her.

“She also thinks that you have plenty of space in here
.” Elizabeth ran her hands lightly over his heart and continued, “for Desdemona.”

“
Yeah?”

“Yes,” she answered, honestly.

“The other woman is very important to me too.” Whitefox kissed the top of her head, and this was why she was the center for him. Elizabeth just knew and understood. “More than I have words to express. I hope she knows the truth.”

He started playing with a piece of her hair, as he stared at the ceilin
g thinking about the two women.

“
I told granddad to butt out of your life today and let you find any woman you wanted to be happy with.” She waited for his reply.

“
You didn’t use those exact words, did you?”

“Yes
, I most certainly did.”

Only Elizabeth could get away with talking to the family patriarch like that. “
What did he say? That couldn’t have been good.” Now he was definitely surprised. Her defending him to Timothy touched his heart, and he fell harder.

“He laughed and told me to bring the girl when we get back.”

Whitefox kissed her on the forehead and inhaled the spicy scent of her perfume. He couldn’t love her more. When he was hurt she comforted him, when he was worried she protected him. “Thank you, Lyzee, but it might have been for nothing at this point. I just might have ruined any chance I could’ve had because I was frustrated.”

“
Tell me what she did, and I bet I can help you patch it up.”

Callen spilled it all to the woman lying on his shoulder. Not only was she the heart and soul to their f
amily, but he trusted her to hold onto his secrets. It seemed unfair that he had help navigating love, when he knew his brother had to figure it all out on his own. His life was messy, and still she never complained. He purged it all from the kiss in the autopsy room to the fight in the kitchen, and the hurt he had felt at her words.

“It
just hurt to have her deny me, like she was embarrassed by the man I am.”

Elizabeth was well aware that both brothers were emotionally damaged. Ethan Blackhawk ran from his past and built a very attractive outer shell to keep life from hurting him. Callen Whitefox was completely the opposite. He wore life on his sleeve, and when he was hurt, he wore that too.
Of the two brothers, this one was the more sensitive and more easily broken.

“It hurt to hear he
r say those words right to my face.”

Part of Elizabeth wanted to kick Desdemona’s ass for hurting one of the men she loved fiercely, but part of her completely understood.
“Cal, she wasn’t mortified by the kiss. Desdemona was busted by her bosses in the kitchen, making out with their brother. Not to mention on an assignment in a house work is paying for and it was her gut instinct.”

“I know,” he said,
twisting the hair around his finger.

“I know it hurt you, and I’m so sorry that she wounded you.” Elizabeth watched
, as he thought it through. “What if it was reversed? You’re at her house and her family walks in and catches you man handling her.”

Point was taken. “I really hate how you’re logical like my brother,” he said, sighing. All the anger was now gone.

“Wow, I come in here to help you and you insult me by calling me logical. Nice one,” she laughed.

Whitefox kissed her on the forehead and continued playing with a long curl.
“How do I fix it, Lyzee? I’m not good with this kind of thing. You’re my only frame of reference. I make you mad, I let you beat on me and we’re good.”

“Violence is the answer, my friend,” she quipped
, and then got serious. “Tomorrow you tell her you’re sorry and the truth.”

“Which is?” he asked.

“That she has you tied up in knots because you like her.”

Callen
stared down at Elizabeth and contemplated his words. “I’ve only loved one woman in my life,” he said, honestly. “I haven’t cared about a lot of people in my life.” He spoke the truth because she would protect him. “Is it wrong to build a life with someone else when you can’t give them your whole heart?” he asked, quietly. Life was seldom simple, and he’d learned that a long time ago. People were going to love who they loved, and it wasn’t always going to end the way they wanted. Maybe being in love with Elizabeth wasn’t the most logical thing in the universe, but he had to believe it was for a reason. It was completely out of his control. Deep down he knew the truth; anyone else was just a distraction from what he lost to her.

His heart
.

“We can love lots of people in our life, Callen.
” Elizabeth thought about what he said. “I know you can too. Tell her you’re sorry and try to enjoy life and live for the moment. You know what’s in your heart, and you know how you feel. It doesn’t make it wrong, if you honestly feel it. Love is unconditional, and that’s how it needs to be. Not everyone fits into the same mold. There’s nothing wrong with your feelings.” Elizabeth patted his cheek.

Whitefox
gazed directly into her eyes, believing her

“I wouldn’t lie to you
even if I’m the other woman. What we have isn't going to disappear if you open yourself for a chance. I’ll still be part of you. We’re a family and that’s unbreakable.”

“Thanks Lyzee,” he
answered, helping her sit up. “I love you,” he said, grateful that she always had his back.

“
I love you too,” she replied, leaning back to give him a kiss. “Night Cal,” she whispered, and then touched his cheek. “If you need me, you know where to find me. Come get me. Sleep is overrated, and I’m always available for you.”

As she left, he found himself smiling
. Yeah, he was pretty lucky to have her in his life. Maybe the love they had was the best kind. It was unconditional, and unclouded by a physical relationship. All he knew was she’d always be there, and help him get through all the things that tied him and tripped him up. Deep in his heart, he knew he could love Desdemona and try to start a relationship. The love of his life just gave him permission to open himself up to the possibilities, and still have her to fall back on just in case.

He was a very lucky man
to have found true love, as unconventional as it may be.

Now came the hard part. He had to fix
the mess he made with the doctor.

It was late in the night, and she just had no hope of sleeping. When she came back to her room, she could hear the whispers next door of Callen and Elizabeth. There was no doubt that he told her everything that happened,
about their fight. She felt so incredibly stupid. There she was in the kitchen, making out with the sexiest man she’d ever seen, and she had to go and use the word ‘mortified’. For some unknown reason, the man wanted her, and here she had to hurt his feelings. Callen and his family had been nothing but kind to her, and even offered her friendship, and she threw it back at him. What a complete moron.

In frustration, she climbed out of bed, and decided to go make a cup of tea. Maybe it would calm her down, and help he
r finally sleep. Granted, she didn’t need much, but she still needed more than zero.

In the kitchen
, she stood with her back to the sink as she drank her tea. A slight click drew her attention, and when she looked over, it took her a few seconds to register what she saw. Horror and fear filled her, as she saw the deputy that Elizabeth beat up earlier in the day, opening the previously locked door. Not only had he escaped, but he was in their kitchen, and the knife this time didn’t look fake.

“You’re coming with me bitch,” he moved at her, and Desdemona screamed.

It had to be the loudest scream that ever came from her mouth in her whole life. It didn’t stop the man from dragging her toward the kitchen door, and trying to get her out of the house. If he got her through that door, she was going to be dead. They’d never find her in the snow and dark. She began fighting, and fighting hard, as he dragged her across the room to the back door.

Bobby Lee Tills wanted her to stop screaming, so he hit her, just in time for the two men to race through the door guns drawn. He released the woman
in a panic and headed for the snow covered yard.