Free Loving Vin (Barretti Security Series, #1) by Sloane Kennedy Page B

Rafael.”
    So he had four brothers.
    “What happened to Ren?”
    “His unit was ambushed in Afghanistan. But his body was never found so we’re not sure if he’s alive or dead. I feel like I’ve searched that fucking country a dozen times but I can’t find any proof either way. I go back every time there’s a new lead but they come less and less now,” he admitted.
    “I’m sorry,” she murmured.
    His fingers drifted up towards her palm and she was surprised when he laced their fingers together.
    “I was supposed to watch out for them,” he whispered. “I promised.”
    “Your brothers?” she offered.
    He nodded. “After we lost our parents I swore to all three of them that I’d keep us together. That we’d still be a family.”
    His hand tightened around hers but not enough to hurt. “You were a good big brother,” she said softly.
    Vin shook his head violently. “I wasn’t. We lost Rafe within weeks. His real father took him away and I couldn’t stop it. He was begging us not to let him go.” The pain in Vin’s voice had Mia’s heart breaking for him.
    “His real father?”
    “My mother cheated on my father with some guy she met at the trucking company she worked part time at. It went on even after Rafe was born but my father didn’t find out the truth until Rafe was almost eight. He confronted her and she admitted there’d been more than one affair and that Rafe wasn’t his. He stabbed her to death and then shot himself,” Vin grated out.
    Horror shot through Mia and she instinctively wrapped her other hand around the one already clenching hers. “Vin,” she gasped. When his eyes shifted up to meet hers she nearly reared back at the pain she saw.
    “It was my fault,” he said in a barely audible voice. “I was the one who told him.”
    “Your father?” she asked.
    Vin nodded. “I saw her with one of the men. I knew it wasn’t right so I told my dad.” His voice broke as he admitted, “I thought he would leave her. I didn’t know...”
    “It’s not your fault,” she said firmly as she reached up to grab his cheek and force his eyes back to meet hers. “There was no way you could have known what would happen.”
    “It doesn’t change the fact that my decision tore my family apart,” he said bitterly. “We have no idea where Rafe is and Dom’s been killing himself for twenty years trying to find him. And Ren...if he is alive...”
    Mia didn’t need him to finish the thought. If Ren had survived the initial attack, he would have wished himself dead a thousand times over as he suffered at the hands of his captors.
    Any words Mia could think of seemed inadequate and trite so she did the only thing she could think of and wrapped her arms around Vin’s neck. He stiffened at first but then she felt his arms go around her waist and he buried his head against the crook of her shoulder. There were no tears or words but the fact that he held her so close for so long gave her some measure of hope that she’d done the right thing.
    “Ow,” Vin murmured against her neck. She drew back and smiled at the sight of the three kittens nestled in his lap, their tiny claws digging into him as they got comfortable. But when she went to remove them, he whispered, “Don’t” and then drew her back against him.
    ***
    H e’d said much more than he intended. What was supposed to be a simple explanation had turned into a full on confession. He hadn’t even told Dom his secret shame – that he was the reason their parents were dead. But once he’d started talking, he hadn’t been able to stop. And touching her. Jesus, even when it wasn’t about sex he couldn’t get enough.
    His body didn’t care that she was too young or too innocent or too vulnerable. Even now as she sat on the opposite side of the loveseat, her gaze focused on the RomCom movie she’d picked out after they’d finished dinner, it was all he could do not to drag her against him and cover her body with his. No woman had