se. “That was fucking amazing.”

I smile proudly. I never thought after what I’d experienced with Jake that I’d be willing to try it with anyone again, let alone enjoy it. We lie in silence, trailing fingers over one another’s exposed skin. My hands smooth over each muscle of his abdomen, dipping in the valleys. Our breathing is shallow, and we may have even dozed off at some point.

Wrapping his arm around my waist, he pulls me underneath him. Last night had been aggressive and demanding – he’d fucked me. This morning, he’s soft and gentle. He makes love to me slowly and lovingly. I could spend the rest of my days with him on this futon and need nothing else.

As I lie in his arms, Brady shifts his weight on his side, resting on his elbow. His finger runs up and down the skin between my breasts. His face is serious, as he prepares to pour his heart out. He’s finally going to let me in, and tell me what he’s been through. My hand reaches for his, and I hold it next to my heart, biting back tears. I kiss his knuckles and smile at him. “It’s okay, Brady. I love you. Nothing you can tell me will change that.”

“I came home to tell you the truth because I’m done lying for my mother. I love you, and I don’t want any secrets between us, but make no mistake about it, my mother is going to be livid. The only thing she cares about his her career and what I’m about to tell you may jeopardize that.” He pauses and breathes in deeply as he traces a line up and down my arm. I hate seeing him like this, but I’m proud of him. I don’t want any secrets between us either. “My mother will probably ask you to move out, but I don’t want you to worry. I will take care of you, Tori.”

“Brady, I’m not worried about your mother. I don’t care if she asks me to leave. I love you and I want to be here for you.”

He smiles and looks away. Whatever he is going to say next is visibly painful for him. He continues caressing my arm, like the sensation in his fingertips is a security blanket. “Did you know my mother had a sister?”

“Yes. Liv and I came across a picture of her a while back.”

“Her name was Mona, and she died giving birth to me.”

Brady’s announcement shocks me. I can’t believe Sheila is not his mother. Although, now that I recall Mona’s striking beauty and sparkling green eyes, the resemblance is uncanny. “Your dad had an affair with Mona?” I ask, and watch his eyes flash in surprise.

“No, Nate is not my father. Sheila and Nate are my aunt and uncle biologically. They agreed to raise me after my mother died.”

Now, I’m stunned. How on earth had they kept this secret for so long? Brady looks down and draws circles on the curve of my bare shoulder. When his eyes flicker back to mine, the sadness in them is like a knife through my heart. I want to cry, but there’s more for him to say and I need to be strong.

“My birth father died a little over a year ago, but he never wanted anything to do with me.” The tears I’ve tried to hold back form in my eyes. His father didn’t want him? God, what he must have gone through when he found out. It had to have been awful. Brady presses his lips to my forehead and kisses me.

“Maybe he didn’t know about you.” I offer the suggestion because I honestly don’t want to believe it’s as simple as his father abandoning him.

“He knew about me – he just didn’t want me,” Brady clarifies. “My real mother and Sheila have different fathers.”

“Liv told me,” I interrupt, and think about putting an end to the conversation, but he needs to get this out of him.

“Mona’s father was from Mexico. He’d come here illegally and worked as a migrant farm worker. He met my grandmother, and they fell in love. She helped him earn his citizenship, and they got married. Mona was born a short time after. He was killed in a car accident, and my grandmother lost the love of her life. She met my grandfather shortly after, and he loved her and Mona. He treated Mona like his own until Sheila was born. As much as he loved my grandmother, Mona was always another man’s child.”

His expression is heartbreaking, and I feel helpless to free him from his pain. “That must have been awful for both Mona and your grandmother.”

He frowns and shakes his head. “It’s hard to say because I only know what Sheila has told me. When Mona met my real father, he was married, but she fell for him and thought he was going to leave his wife. She thought someone finally wanted her.”

Tears begin to well in his eyes, casting a shine over his beautiful green irises. They don’t spill, and he inhales sharply, holding them back. I wish he’d just let go, let the tears pour out. Maybe then some of the pain would follow.

“When she told him she was pregnant, he went ballistic. He told her she’d ruined everything and he would never raise her child with her. Sheila said he told my mother she was nothing more than ‘dirty Mexican trash’.”

I can’t believe what he’s just said. How could anybody speak that way about someone they’d made a baby with? “He sounds like a horrible person, but even if he thought that about your mother, you were his son.”

“He was a powerful man. Sheila claims he wouldn’t stand for the scandal of an affair with a low-class whore being made public, and he would never claim his illegitimate child.” His voice is hoarse and full of repressed emotions – anger and hate battling abandonment and confusion. “She went to her parents. My grandmother wanted to help her, but my grandfather was furious. He wanted her to have an abortion.”

That does it. Tears pour from my eyes and land on Brady’s chest. I’m overcome with gratitude for this woman’s strength and courage to defy her family and keep her baby. A baby who would grow up to be the man I can no longer live without. If she had given in to her father, Brady wouldn’t be here. I sob, and Brady wipes my tears away with his fingers.

“Please don’t cry, Sunshine. I hate to see you cry.” The softness in his voice is soothing to my emotions and at the same time sends a new wave of feelings through me. He’s doing this for me. Facing his painful memories because he loves me. I calm my emotions and wipe snot on my hand. Brady quirks a brow, and chuckles at my less-than-lady like manners.

Brady’s mother must have been scared. To be alone and pregnant had to be difficult. I can only imagine what it must have been like for her.

“Why didn’t your mother go to his wife?”

Brady sighs. We must be getting close to the rest of the story. “She couldn’t. He threatened her. Like I said, he was a very influential man. He told her he would destroy her family professionally if she spoke with anyone. That they’d be left with nothing.”

I pull away from his chest at look at him. “No one has that much power, Brady.”

Brady smiles, his expression shows me he thinks I’m naïve. I’ve seen this look before. “He did. My real father is Walter Gibson.”

Tags: K.J. Bell Irreparable Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net