Page 13 of Innocent Target

“Which ones?”

“Not sure. He said he’d update me when they know more.”

“What about Scorpion?”

James’s lips thinned as he popped the bread in the toaster, feeling fury ripple through him as he turned his back to Mercy, not wanting her to see the monster he was when he thought about the man who’d fathered his niece.

“Hey.” He felt her hand on his back and stiffened. “Don’t hide from me, James.”

He gave a short, humorless laugh as he glanced at her. “Only room for one of us doing that, hey, Merc?” He saw a flicker of pain cross her face before she shut it down and backed up.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his body. “I’m sorry, that was out of line. I just feel so fucking helpless.” He let the impotence he felt show, allowing her to see him and the fear he experienced for his sister.

Mercy raised her hand and stroked his cheek, the bristles catching on her soft skin. “I understand what it is to have someone you care about missing. The fear, the anger, and the heart-stopping impotence that you may not find them in time. I get it, but we have to be a team on this, James. Don’t shut me out.”

James slid a palm to her back pulling her closer, so their bodies were touching, her hands sliding to his chest. “Are we a team, Merc? Is it me and you?”

She stared at him, her tongue poking out to lick her bottom lip, the pulse in her neck hammering faster. “I can’t give you what you need, James.”

“How do you know what I need?” His hands held her upper arms, the skin soft under his touch.

Mercy looked up at him, the height difference making her tip her head back to look at him. “I have eyes. I see the love you have for your family, for your friends. You’re a family man at heart, James.”

He tipped his head. “You don’t want a family?” Maybe he’d read her wrong, but his gut told him she did, despite her outward attitude.

She pulled away as the toast popped and he let her, knowing she needed space and hoping he could get in her head and find out what was going on, and something was definitely going on with her. He plated up the bacon, eggs, and toast and brought it to the table where Mercy had taken a seat next to the bassinet without seeming to realize.

They began to eat before Mercy spoke. “I want a family, James. I want what everyone else does, but it just isn’t on the cards for everyone.”

His fork stopped halfway to his mouth at the sad acceptance in her voice, making him ache to hold her.

Her eyes were on Abbie as she spoke again. “I got injured on an op and lost my left ovary. Which in itself is bad enough, but I also have a condition called endometriosis which causes tissue to grow on my fallopian tubes and ovaries. It makes having a family of my own difficult. I may never be a mother, James. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?” Her eyes raised to his then, and the anguish there almost leveled him.

Standing, he crossed to her side of the table and crouched next to her, taking her hand. “Mercy, I’m so sorry. That must be awful, and I know from what my sister has said it causes a great deal of pain.”

“Your sister has it?”

He saw the surprise in her face as he nodded. “Yes, Mel has it. She struggled for a while with getting pregnant. The thing is, I don’t like you because I think you’re some kind of broodmare, Merc.” He saw her eyebrows raise, and his lips twitched with the first smile in the last thirty-six hours. “I like you for you. I won’t promise this will work between us or that we won’t face problems along the way, but you’re the woman I see when I think of my future. That doesn’t necessarily mean children or a white picket fence. It means you and me together, side by side.”

“What if it doesn’t work out? One of us would have to leave, or you could change your mind and decide you want kids, and I’m not enough of a woman for you.”

“Who said that to you?”

Mercy looked away. “Nobody.”

He reached up and gently forced her eyes to him. “Who, Mercy?”

“Nobody that matters anymore.”

“It matters if he hurt you, if he made you feel less than the amazing woman you are.”

Her eyes held so many emotions; it was hard to pinpoint just one swirling in the blue depths.

“Give me some time to think about it. This is a lot. Protecting Abbie and finding Beth has to be our focus right now.”

“But you’ll think about it? And does it include kissing? ’Cos, I really want to kiss you right now.”

His head moved, and she caught his chin with his lips just millimeters from her own. “No, kissing is most certainly not on the table. You scramble my brain with your wicked ways.”