Free The Return of Brody McBride by Jennifer Ryan

She went rigid, her mouth not responding, her eyes wide. But he didn’t give up. Not after all this time. He wanted her more than anything in the world. After everything he’d been through, the taste of her eased all the anxieties, crowded into all the dark corners, consumed all the anger and pain and left nothing behind but good.
    When she went lax against him, her lips softening against his, he pressed her into the car, his whole body aligned with hers. She returned the kiss with as much heat and demand as he gave to her. This he remembered. This is how things used to be between them. One touch ignited the fire in both of them.
    “Is he mad at her?” a little voice asked behind him.
    “No, honey. He’s very happy,” Owen said with a laugh in his voice.
    Brody reluctantly stopped putting on a show for everyone standing behind them watching. With his forehead pressed to Rain’s, he tried to rein in his emotions and put words together that would make sense and tell her just what this meant to him. “Thank you. I’m sorry.” He kissed her slow and softly. This time, there was no resistance. Her silence made him nervous, but he was just so damn glad to be this close to her. “Thank you, Rain. You don’t know what this means to me.”
    “Is he going to kiss Roxy like that, too?” the little voice asked, and Rain’s body turned to stone with a look of pure rage in her eyes a moment before she pressed both hands to his chest and shoved him away. Falling back onto her flat feet, he gave her some space. He needed some, too.
    “No.” Brody never took his eyes off Rain.
    Rain slapped a hand on his shoulder and turned him toward the two girls standing in front of his brother.
    Time stopped, everything in him stilled. They looked alike in every way, and so much like him. Blond hair and round faces with little pert noses. They even dressed alike. Both girls wore jeans, pink tops, though one had a darker version, and pink Converse high tops. Rain’s influence there, he thought.
    One of the girls belonged to Rain. He recognized which upon closer inspection. The one with the light pink shirt had wavier hair and her mother’s nose. Looking more closely at the girl in the darker pink shirt, he tried to see Roxy in her. She seemed to be the shyer of the two. Everything about her appearance resembled him. The only thing he could say that spoke to Roxy’s contribution was that she was slim and maybe the shape of her eyes was a little like Roxy’s. The color was all him and shared by both girls.
    He bent on his good knee in front of them, knowing full well Owen, Eli, and Rain watched him closely. The two girls remained reserved, but inquisitive enough to look him up and down.
    “Hi,” he said and had to clear his clogged throat. “I’m Brody, your dad.”
    The two girls looked at each other, then Rain’s daughter spoke for the two of them. “Do we have to call you Brody?”
    “If you want to for a while, that’s okay. But it would really make me happy if you called me Dad.”
    “Because you want us?” Roxy’s daughter asked softly.
    Brody thought he’d lose it. His throat hurt for keeping the tears from spilling out his eyes. “Yes, honey. I want you very much. If I’d known about the two of you, I’d have come back for you.”
    “Are you going to take us?”
    Confused by the question, he glanced up and found Rain standing close. She went to the girls, stood behind them, and put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Girls, Brody just found out about you. Whatever decisions have to be made, Brody and I will discuss them. But no matter what, I’ll always be with you.”
    “But, Mom . . .”
    “Dawn, let it be for now,” she said softly.
    “Dawn?” Brody asked.
    Rain looked down at him and smiled softly. The smile didn’t really reach her eyes; too much worry clouded any happiness she might feel. The sadness he read easily. Her heart couldn’t stand he’d missed out on knowing the girls. “I think you