One Chance (Hogan Brothers 1)

Shock lit up in his eyes just as desire replaced it. “The things I’d do to you,” he muttered against her lips as he leaned down to kiss her.

“Tell me,” she murmured back as her eyes grew heavy with sleep.

“Later, gorgeous. Rest now.” His voice was husky with his want for her.

A heavy blanket was laid over top of her as he sat on the side of the bed, one hand running through her hair, the other rubbing her hip.

His presence made her feel safe enough to sleep. To finally rest in a way her body would be re-energized when she woke.

Things were not going as Lorraine had planned. Well, they were, but they weren’t. Sophia and Nox were falling in love and how beautiful it was. Her son was the best man for Sophia’s soft shell. He treated her like a princess, and she couldn’t be prouder of him. But the danger and hurt, that wasn’t something she wanted for any of her children. Most especially the young lady she considered her own long before her son claimed her.

Which was why she’d driven to Anthony Bennett’s office downtown. It was time the two of them hashed a few things out. Her own husband, bless his soul, had connections from his Army days that extended to her, and she’d put every one of them to use if she had to.

She knew Lennox was leaving stuff out, not telling her or Sophia. It was time to stop the secrets. He didn’t need to protect her.

“Can I help you?” the cute receptionist asked from behind her mahogany desk.

“I’m here to see Mr. Bennett,” Lorraine responded stoically.

“Did you have an appointment?” the woman asked her, looking down to her calendar.

“Nope.” She wouldn’t leave.

“Then I’m sorry, he doesn’t have time to see you.” Her attitude changed to one of impatience.

“Honey, you go ahead and tell him Lorraine Hogan is here. I’m sure he’ll have time for me.” Feigning a bored stance, she looked at her watch as if to say, today.

The young woman got on the phone, and not two minutes later, the man himself came out to get her.

“Mrs. Hogan, how can I help you?”

She eyed him critically, he looked…tired. Worn down. He was also putting on a front for the receptionist.

“We need to speak in private, please,” she suggested.

“Of course.” He led her back to his office, which to her surprise wasn’t nearly as pompous as she’d expected from the things Sophia had told her about her parents wanting to keep up appearances.

“Your daughter doesn’t know you at all, does she?” she said walking past him to one of the overstuffed chairs by the window looking over the city.

“Why do you say that?” he asked, but she saw the shame on his face. He purposely hid this from her. Not letting her in.

“Because your daughter thinks you’re a cold, uncaring man. And since my son tells me you only went to the hospital once while she was there for nearly a week, I have to say I agree with her.”

He gazed out the window, eyes full of so much emotion she didn’t think anyone else had ever seen him so vulnerable. “I always wanted children. I wanted an entire house full of them.” His words were wistful, dream-like. “Rebecca didn’t.”

“So how did Sophia come about, Anthony? That girl thinks she’s worthless.” She was so angry at the Bennetts.

A deep sigh left his chest as he answered. “Rebecca’s complaint wasn’t that she didn’t want children, it was that she didn’t want to ruin her figure. So I found a surrogate. Then we found out Rebecca was sterile. Hope, the surrogate, offered her eggs. I wanted children so badly, and Rebecca put on a front good enough to convince everyone it was what she wanted too.”

Lorraine could see he was struggling with his emotions. He wanted to shut down, block that time out of his life, but something happened. She knew it. No child was as hated as Sophia without due cause.

“Anthony, what happened?” she asked again, her voice harder.

“I fell in love with Hope.” His words cracked, tears streamed down his face, and she finally got a sense of what was going on.

Walking over to him, she gripped one of his hands in both of hers. “Why didn’t you leave Rebecca, then?”

Agony radiated off of him. “Because I loved her, too. By the time I found out how insane she had gone, it was too late. Hope had died, and Sophia was here. I had to put my family together.”