Desired (Two Marks 2)

I stepped back, as if her words were dirty. “Harlan? No fucking way.”

“He’s your father,” she repeated.

And I looked just like him.

“He’s a murderer. I’m already tainted.”

“You’re not tainted,” Cord countered. “We don’t take on the sins of our parents.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. “I want to leave it in the past.”

“Turning off my phone isn’t going to make Chester go away,” Rachel said. “We still have to deal with him.”

I loved that she said ‘we’ even if she probably didn’t even realize it.

“You just found out about the guy. Go see him. I’m not saying forgive him, but get… I don’t know, clarity.” She waved a hand in the air. “Closure.”

Clarity? He’d killed my mother and father. Or, other father.

Cord was quiet for a moment. “She’s right. You need to see him. Meet him. Once, then you can let it go.”

“You’re Mr. Black and White,” I countered. “You need hard facts to analyze, to help base your opinions.”

He shook his head. “There aren’t opinions, there’s only facts. Facts are the truth.”

“See?” I said.

He shrugged, not bothered I’d called him out. He knew what he was, how he thought. “Still. You have questions. He’s the only person who can answer them.”

I did. I had a shit ton of questions. Cord was right. My other parents were long dead. My grandparents gone. I had no one else in my family to ask. I needed to know the truth about who they were.

Hell, about who I was.

I wasn’t sure if I could ever let it go. Harlan’s DNA was mine. Even if I walked away and never saw him again, he was a part of me. I saw it. Felt it in the aggressive way I touched Rachel. In my anger. In my need to tear Chester limb from limb. It was only growing stronger.

17

RACHEL

“If you’re my wife, I think we’d better move in together,” Nash said the next morning over coffee. It felt so natural to sit around Cord’s kitchen table. The three of us fit together, even though it didn’t make sense logically.

I smiled. “Move in where?”

“Cord’s casa es mi casa,” he joked.

“Of course you’ll move in here,” Cord said. “There’s no reason to keep your apartment. You are married.”

I hesitated. Was I moving too fast here? Sure, there was a piece of paper saying I was Nash’s wife. But we hadn’t known each other that long, and—

“I mean, you’re both welcome to come to Montana, but it feels to me like we belong here. Am I wrong?” Nash spread his hands. “You certainly can’t keep renting that apartment of yours if Chester is still sniffing around, trying to prove this marriage is a fraud.”

Chester. Fuck.

“Agreed,” Cord said, nodding. “We’ll go and get your things today.”

“When my parents show up, I’ll just tell them I married Nash but moved in with Cord? I mean, they’re not Mr. and Mrs. Cowboy by any means, but they will come to visit me here.”

Nash shot me a lopsided grin. “That should go over well.”

“They don’t have to know it’s my house,” Cord said, offering an easy answer.

Nash shot him a searching look. “You don’t mind?”

Something made me think they were talking about more of a long-term plan than this fake marriage thing. Like I was staying for good. Like the three of us would stay together for the long haul. Long enough my parents would visit, and that was saying a lot.

The thought wasn’t the least unsettling, though. I sort of loved the fantasy of staying in West Springs and having two devoted men, like Caitlyn and Shelby had. It was crazy, but made me feel so cherished. Safe. Protected.

“You’re the one who officially married her,” Cord reminded. “I’ll be the undercover lover. I don’t care how the huma—I mean, outside world, sees it. The three of us will know what we are. Our friends will know. That’s all that matters to me.”

“Undercover lover? Is there a t-shirt for that?” I asked, grinning.

Cord rolled his eyes as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

I shook my head. “It’s pretty unbelievable how easily you two roll with this sharing thing.”

“Believe it,” Nash said. “We’re committed to making it work. I know this marriage was for convenience, but I’m all in. Cord, too.”

“All in you,” Cord added.

It was my turn to roll my eyes.

“Let’s go move you out of that apartment right now,” Cord said. His phone buzzed and he picked it up. “Hi, Caitlyn. No, I’m not coming into the lab today. Did you hear the news? Nash and Rachel just got married.” He sent a sexy smirk my way. “No, legally married—except without the wedding. It was a tactical maneuver to throw off a persistent suitor, but we’re calling it a win, and moving Rachel into my place today.” There was a pause while Caitlyn said something. He said, “Sure. We’ll see you later,” and hung up.