🗝️Detective Ryker Viltarin must uncover dark secrets before he loses not only his heart but also his life.🗝️
You're on your own, far from home
The wind is blowing in the top of the pines
A gloomy sky where the sun never shines
Deep...
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Eve could have pinned Dylan down. Made him swear or repeat it. Part of her, an older part, would have done just that, out of a need to finally force certainty. But words had long since ceased to be enough for her. She wanted him to prove it. And Eve... she was sure that the man she had once loved was still there. Trust couldn't be forced, only built. Brick by brick. Day by day.
Dylan shifted uneasily, visibly putting less weight on one leg and rubbing his tense neck. Then his gaze slid lower for a moment... and he cleared his throat. "You look good... You can already see your baby bump a little."
Eve snorted, almost amused, perhaps a little embarrassed. She didn't need a mirror to know it was true, because just this morning she had placed her hand on her growing belly and caught herself smiling from ear to ear. Now Eve turned her head slightly and pursed her lips. She fixed Dylan with a look, and in her eyes there was a flashing, dangerous humor that was sharp only because it was based on a painful past.
"Are you telling me I'm fat again?"
The words fell like a stone into water, and for a moment there was a brief, breathless silence before Dylan's face drained of color. He looked as if he had just stepped into a trap he hadn't even seen coming—again.
"No—" he blurted out hastily, almost breathlessly. But he stopped because Dylan probably realized that any further words would only make it worse. Instead, he grimaced. "I didn't mean... I just wanted..."
Eve held his gaze with raised eyebrows and let him squirm... Then she laughed.
Not mockingly or maliciously. But genuinely. The kind of laughter that came from a chest that had been tightly constricted for far too long. It was as if a knot that had been there for far too long had finally been untied—and Ryker laughed along with her. As if he had been waiting for this signal, his laughter was deep and warm.
The mood lightened so noticeably that Eve even noticed Liam becoming more relaxed. Her son looked up at her, then back and forth between the adults, and warmth welled up in his eyes like rays of sunshine breaking through a cloud cover and finally bringing spring. He had heard the laughter and now saw that Mama was laughing—and suddenly the world was a little bit more right again.
Dylan blinked and looked like a deer in the headlights for a moment. He obviously didn't understand for a second... then he exhaled audibly, shook his head, and his gaze darted from Eve to Ryker, as if he had to make sure this was really happening.
"You two are impossible! Both of you..." he muttered, then dared to let out a dry laugh himself.
Liam suddenly let go of her hand, as if seized by a wave of happiness, and the brown-haired whirlwind threw herself against Dylan's legs. Dylan hugged him warmly and gently, then Liam turned on his heel and hugged Eve very carefully, resting his head where her belly was growing under her winter coat.
"I'm looking forward to the baby," Liam said loudly enough for everyone to hear, his voice sounding proud, as if he were taking on an important role in the world with this statement. The big brother. The protector.
