Honey Red Read Online Free Page B

talked about every Friday. It gave Ian an entire morning alone, and he was always grateful for it. Since Gavin’s boys were visiting on one of their rare trips to Michigan, Jamie was beside himself already. They were great kids and loved their cousin, or at least tolerated him admirably. Ian shook his head. The least he could do was meet this Nick and his sister Alyssa whom Gavin seemed as ga-ga over as Gavin ever got. What would it hurt?

     
    “Daddy! I want to come with you,” Jamie did his usual round of whining before realizing he got to have a sleep over with his cousins. By the time Ian had showered, tugged on dark jeans and a somewhat non-wrinkled button down shirt the little boy was standing by the door, backpack full of army men and Legos, ready to go. Nervousness coated Ian’s brain as he kissed the boy’s face when he dropped him at Gavin’s. “Take me with you,” Jamie gripped his arm once until he saw the older boys headed toward him.
    “Next time, sport,” Ian said, sensing his heart clench for the millionth time at the sight of his son. He hesitated, somehow realizing this was a strange pivotal moment, but unable to pinpoint why. He smiled at the nanny and climbed back into his car, pointing it towards Ann Arbor and the address Gavin had given him for Alyssa and Nick.
    He parked in front of the bungalow and took a long breath. Gavin needed his support, so he was here, nothing more or less. His life was complete. He did not need anything, including a relationship with a total stranger. By the time Gavin pulled up, Ian felt in control and that he could handle whatever lay behind the front door he’d been staring at for ten minutes. The two men walked up the steps in silence. Gavin knocked on the door, and the smile Ian saw spread across his brother’s face when it was opened by one of the most stunning blond women Ian had ever seen, made his ears hot. He’d met Alyssa Traynor once before but all he recalled from that encounter was fury at her seeming nonchalance about their plight and his utter determination to cut Traynor loose. At that split second he remembered her brother, the stiff but model-handsome Marine who’d been in the office that day, on leave or something, visiting his sister.
    Now, he watched, mesmerized as the woman pulled his brother into an embrace, saw them exchange a soft kiss. Then he was introduced, and he felt her arms around him. The whole thing passed like a surreal dream. Gavin frowned at him at one point, but Ian just grinned and acknowledged the sensation of hovering over the scene, as if observing strangers going through the socially accepted motions. He was as sober as a judge, but he sensed a wooziness in his brain while something hovered on his horizon just out of reach.
    He stepped into Alyssa’s small, but tidy foyer, his eyes adjusting to the soft, subtle lamplight in the minimally decorated room. It was empty. Ian blew out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Just as he turned back to say something to his brother he heard a low growl.
    “Lyssa,” someone spoke in a rough, sexy as hell voice. “The, ah, timer’s going off.”
    Ian stared, gape-jawed at the man in the kitchen doorway. His eyes traveled down the terrain of broad-shouldered masculinity who stood with his Ray-Bans on and canine assistant by his side, his face set in a scowl, and back-lit from the kitchen. Nick was drop-dead heat in light jeans and a white tee. He was so pissed off Ian could sense his anger from across the room, palpable and real, but he kept staring, taking in the Marine Corps tattoo that peeked out from under his sleeve and the strong lines of muscle the shirt did nothing to disguise.
    “Huh?” He stumbled when Gavin shoved him with an elbow. His entire body was on alert in a way he’d forgotten. “Oh. Sorry.” He let his gaze return to Nick. The man’s dark blond hair was growing out from its military severity and his square jaw was covered in a light beard. He