With barely enough energy left to move, Bryson still managed to pull her into his arms and stroke the slick skin of her back as the two of them floated back down to earth, reveling in what had just occurred.
Bryson was no fool. He knew this moment was beyond anything he’d ever experienced before. He knew when he had everything he could ever dream of.
As he fell asleep that night with her in his arms, he knew that the rest of his life was going to be right.
He just didn’t know that there might be a few bumps along the road.
Chapter Twenty-Two
She’d assumed she’d be relieved to head back home, away from her brother and everyone else in the house. What if they knew exactly what she’d been doing under their impressive roof?
They probably did; she couldn’t miss their knowing looks. Thankfully, no one had called her on it. She would have been mortified. So when it came time to leave for the airport, it was almost a relief — almost being the key word.
No, saying goodbye wasn’t as easy as Misty had thought it would be.
She couldn’t repress a few tears as she and Bryson pulled away; the sight of Joseph and Katherine, Damien, and Sierra with the baby all standing on the step waving made her heart ache in a way she hadn’t experienced before.
For right now, they appeared to have embraced her as one of their own. If they still felt that way when the newness wore off, she’d be more than happy to be a part of their family.
Family. That was something she’d never thought she’d have — and she certainly wasn’t going to throw it away.
Soon the case would be over, and Jesse would be locked behind bars. She had to tell herself that. And then she’d grow more confident about the future. Then, her real life could begin.
For now, she had Bryson at her side. He was there to keep her safe. He was there to make sure this man who had terrorized her for so long never got the chance to do it again.
But she had a bigger fear than Jesse. Was she confusing love with something else? Bryson had been the one to show up and tell her Jesse wouldn’t be able to hurt her again; he’d been the one to show her how wonderful life could really be. He’d taken her to the edges of paradise and beyond and then slowly floated back down to earth with her.
But did all that mean that she was falling in love with him, or was she actually just grateful to him? She hadn’t ever fallen in love before and had no idea what true love felt like. She knew what her heart felt, knew that the thought of being with him for the rest of her life sounded just about perfect, but she didn’t know if she could trust what she was feeling.
Maybe the best way to judge the way she felt was if she were away from him for a while, even a few days. She’d been in this whirlwind relationship — if relationship was the right word — and she hadn’t had time to pause, hadn’t had a chance to really think.
She’d gone straight from one situation to the next, each one new, each one a first in her life, and more exciting than the next. There had been fear, passion, excitement, and sadness. All of these emotions sent her whirling. She needed to land on solid ground again before she could properly assess what she felt beneath all the adrenaline.
At the airport, Misty knew she was being unusually quiet, but there was so much on her mind. She wanted to speak to Bryson about it, share her feelings, but she certainly didn’t want to do it in public.
He’d shared with her the night before, so she didn’t think the conversation was going to go badly. It was more that she was afraid of how she felt, not of how he felt. Still, he could be riding on the same emotions as she was, and also be confusing love with something else.
Didn’t men confuse love and sex?
Hadn’t she read magazines before that said if a woman wanted to keep her man, she needed to feed him well and give him great sex — something about being a lady during the day and a tramp during the night?
Ahhh, she couldn’t remember. But if she could make him confuse the two things, would it be to her advantage? Or would everything crash and burn?
The time passed quickly, and soon they were boarding the plane. Misty sat back in the comfortable first-class seat, and decided she’d drink a screwdriver. A bit of alcohol couldn’t hurt, though it wasn’t yet 5 p.m. Yeah, yeah, it was somewhere.
She was trying to work up the courage to talk to him about these serious matters when the two of them weren’t na**d or about to get naked. There was no chance of that happening while they were in flight, not unless she wanted to become a member of the mile-high club. And, no, she did not.
The plane took off, and soon Bryson turned to her with a worried look in his eyes that didn’t reassure her.
“I have something I really should have told you sooner, but…I just didn’t know how to say it,” he began.
“You can tell me anything, Bryson,” she said, though her heart pounded.
“It’s really not that big a deal…”
“If it’s not that big a deal, why are you having such a difficult time saying whatever it is that you need to?”
“Okay, here goes…” He took a long drink of his diet soda before continuing. “Joseph didn’t tell you how he found you, did he?”
Misty was silent as she processed his words. This wasn’t what she’d been expecting. What did Joseph have to do with their feelings toward each other?
“Um, no. I guess that should have been the first thing I asked. I was just in too much shock over the whole situation.”
“Well, I’ve known Damien for quite some time. We’ve never been particularly close friends, but we see each other a few times a year. I knew he was looking for a sister. I also knew she would be about your age.”
“Just tell me, Bryson. I don’t know what that has to do with anything.” So far, he hadn’t cleared anything up.
“I took a glass from your house, had your DNA compared with Damien’s.” This time, the words rushed from his mouth before he lifted his glass again and drained the contents.
“May I get you another drink, sir?” The flight attendant approached and Misty wanted to shout at her to go away.
“Yes, please,” he replied, and Misty waited while the woman took his glass, then brought him a fresh drink.
The more she thought about what he’d done, the more irritated she became. Why couldn’t he have just spoken to her about it? Told her his suspicions, said that he might know where her brother was? Why had he been so underhanded?
“Isn’t that illegal?” she asked instead.