Free You are Mine by Lisa G Riley Page A

him from
beneath her lashes.
    “‘Course I am,” he murmured, staring at her
mouth. “Because you love me.” He bent his head and met her halfway
when she pursed her lips and stretched towards him.
    The kiss was a brief one, and she settled
back against him with a sigh. “Did Jae say when he’d be here? I
have to go in soon. I’m sure the others are already here.”
    Brian looked at his watch. “He’ll be here
soon, I think.” He flattened his hand on her stomach. “How are you
and the little wonder doing?” he asked gently.
    She began caressing his hand softly with her
fingers. “Oh, we’re fine. We had saltines and warm ginger ale for
breakfast, but we’re planning on a pretty big lunch of soup and
tea, because though we are no longer nauseous, we must be ever
vigilant.”
    “Poor babies,” Brian said, feeling genuine
sympathy.
    They both sat quietly, content to enjoy the
intimate silence. Brian noticed Jae approaching, and stirred.
“Jae’s here. What time should I come back?”
    “We’ll be finished in a couple of
hours.”
    “All right. See you then.”
    ***
    BRIAN had been in his office at Inclusion
Integrated for about ten minutes when a knock sounded at his door.
“Enter.”
    “Hi, Bri.” Linda Thompson, a junior graphic
artist, poked her head around his door.
    “Hey, kid. What’s up?”
    Linda came into his office and sat. “I know
I should be talking to your underling about this, but I can’t find
Larissa, so I’ve come to the big Kahuna. My computer’s acting up.
Will you take a look at it when you have a chance?”
    Brian stood. She was right, as Chief
Technology Officer and founder, he didn’t have to do what some
might consider the grunt work, but he did occasionally like to keep
his hand in things. “Let’s go.”
    “Wow, that was easy,” Linda said as she
hurriedly stood. “It can wait, you know. I mean, I can still work
on the computer; I just wanted someone to be aware that there are
difficulties. Can’t we chat for a minute?”
    Brian sat again. “Sure. How are your
parents?” Brian had known Linda since before she’d hit puberty, and
thought of her as a little sister. Her father had been his captain
when he was just a wet behind the ears beat cop. Captain Thompson
had taken him under his wing and Brian had spent many an evening at
the Thompson home stuffing his face with Gloria Thompson’s
delicious cooking.
    “They’re fine. They were wondering when you
and Caroline might come for dinner again.”
    Brian frowned. “That’s a difficult one.
We’re going away next week, and when we come back, she’ll be all
wrapped up in her work in preparation for her fall show at the
Rutledge Gallery.” He paused and thought for a few moments. “Tell
you what, I’ll call your dad tonight, and we’ll figure out some way
to make our schedules work together.”
    “Good. He won’t talk about it with me, but
he’s really intent on finding out where that Brickman character is
hiding. He and Mom are worried about both you and Caroline.”
    “I appreciate their concern, and your dad
was really helpful the last time the little bastard showed up.”
    Linda leaned forward eagerly, her deep
dimples flashing against her dark skin. “He was? What’d he do?”
    Brian smiled and shook his head. He’d never
tell her how her dad had helped get some of his cop buddies out of
the jam they’d gotten themselves into when they’d allowed Brian to
ride with them to try to capture Brickman and had even allowed him
to carry a gun. Captain Thompson had used his pull to keep Brian’s
friends’ records clean. “No way, no how am I telling you a darn
thing.”
    Making a sound of disgust, Linda sat back in
her chair. “I don’t know why I even bother. You enjoy tormenting
me,” she accused, sounding like a typical younger sibling.
    And like a typical older one, Brian only
offered her a shit-eating grin in response.
    Linda laughed, and sounding much younger
than her twenty-four years,