Fatal Consequences Read Online Free Page A

maintained the stony silence that had marked their day.
    Frustrated and confused, Christina turned to look out at the winter night passing by as he drove her home.
    They pulled up outside her town house in the swanky Georgetown neighborhood a short time later. Tommy killed the engine and stared at the windshield.
    Christina reluctantly released his hand. “I guess I’ll see you when I see you.” One thing she’d learned over the last six weeks was that dating a cop was nothing if not unpredictable.
    “Wait,” he said.
    Something in the way he said the single word tugged at her heart. He sounded so tormented that she wanted nothing more than to ease his pain. “What is it, Tommy? You can talk to me. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”
    He released a pained chuckle. “I hope you mean that.”
    “You know I do.” She took his hand again. “Come in with me. Tell me what’s got you so upset.”
    He got out of the car and followed her into the house, keeping his hand on her elbow the whole way in case they encountered ice on the sidewalk. It was just that kind of gesture that had endeared him to her from the very beginning. Underneath his suave, sexy Cuban exterior was a true gentleman.
    They hung their coats on the brass stand inside the door. “Can I get you anything? A drink maybe?”
    “Yeah,” he said, dropping onto the sofa. “That’d be good.”
    She fixed him a glass of the scotch she now kept on hand for him and brought it to him.
    “Nothing for you?”
    Christina shook her head. She was too wound up for a drink that would no doubt go straight to her head after all the champagne she’d consumed at the wedding.
    He held out his arm to invite her to sit closer to him.
    Christina scooted over and rested her head on his chest, breathing him in as his arm tightened around her.
    His lips found her forehead, and she was filled with relief. Whatever had him so troubled seemed to have nothing to do with her.
    “I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk all day.”
    “You weren’t a jerk. You were quiet, which isn’t like you.” She tilted her head so she could look up at him as he sipped the scotch.
    “You know me so well.”
    “Sometimes I feel like I don’t know you at all, but I want to. I want to know you.”
    He tilted her chin up and brushed his lips over hers, a teasing promise of the delights to come if he could find a way to tell her what had him so burdened.
    “You’re good for me, Christina. You make me want to be a better man than I’ve been in the past.”
    She reached up to caress the stubble on his jaw. He was so insanely sexy that sometimes she had to pinch herself to believe she was really with a guy like him. All her years of unrequited love for the late Senator John O’Connor seemed like a bad dream since she met Tommy. “Tell me.”
    He put down the glass and ran his free hand through his dark hair. “Last night, I got a text from a woman I went out with a couple of times. It was a year or so ago. I haven’t seen her since.”
    “Does she want you back?” Who could blame her?
    “Not exactly. She wanted to tell me about my son.”
    Christina’s breath caught in her lungs. She sat up so she could see him. “You have a son.”
    “That’s what she says, although I’m not sure I believe her. Who knows if he’s mine or not?”
    “You slept with her?”
    He seemed ashamed to nod in agreement. “A couple of times, but I used condoms. You know how I am about that.”
    “Condoms fail.”
    “She said the same thing. She swears to God he’s mine. All day today I’ve been trying to figure out what I should do.”
    Christina slipped into chief of staff mode. “The first thing you do is confirm he’s really yours. Demand a DNA test.”
    “What if she won’t do it?”
    “I assume she’s interested in financial support for the child.”
    “She didn’t come right out and say that, but the implication was clear.”
    “If she wants your money, you’re perfectly within your