Page 60 of The Brigadier

“Of course.”

“Daddy! Come see the shell I found.” Damien was so excited, so alive.

I knew in my heart this was the place where he could heal.

“A shell, huh? I’ll be right there. Fatherly duty calls.”

“He adores you.”

There was something odd about his deep exhale. “I’m curious. Is he still sucking his thumb?”

What an odd question to ask at this point. “Not since the first night.”

“Fascinating.”

The man was as layered as his boy.

Also just as covered in armor.

As Nikolay trotted off, I was a bit shocked to see he’d removed his shoes as well. I watched the two of them interact, the joy in both male souls as Nikolay held up a very large conch shell. I had no clue conch could live in colder climates. Unless the shell was a plant. I shook my head. Who would leave a gorgeous shell behind?

They seemed so happy together and I was thrilled to be a part of the experience. Maybe I could be happy as well for the first time in my life. A girl could hope and dream. Something I’d been doing a lot of lately.

After a few minutes, I headed in their direction. “Hey, boys. I hate to be a party pooper, but we should make lunch.”

The two of them looked at me at the same time, both with the same scrunched-up faces. That’s the moment I realized just how much they looked like each other. In fact, the resemblance was uncanny. They were definitely father and son.

“That’s what we’ll start calling her, little man. Party pooper.”

Damien giggled as only little boys could do. “Pooper. Pooper. Pooper.”

I lumbered forward, almost stumbling on a couple of rocks hidden by the sand. As I flew into his arms, Nikolay lifted me off the ground, swinging me around. “You are incorrigible.”

“You make me that way.”

Perhaps I did. Was that a bad thing?

When he eased me down, there was that special moment of connection, unbridled electricity that couldn’t be contained or fabricated. And it was wonderful.

Before we did something confusing in front of Damien, I purposely backed away. This was a true fairytale.

Yet the moment I turned around to head back to the house, a huge dose of reality was pushed back into my bubbled fantasy, popping it.

Four soldiers were already outside, walking the area on duty.

Looking for monsters in men.

And keeping us safe.

If there was such a thing.

CHAPTER 18

Nikolay

“No new incidents,” I said as I sat back in my office chair. I had my own expansive communications room on the second floor, a room dedicated to business, but there was also another war room established that had yet to be fully broken in. The state-of-the-art satellite and communications systems, including maritime abilities had been installed as soon as the house had been purchased, one for the guest house as well.

That was just the beginning of the capabilities of what could be handled from this location, carbon copies in the second homes of both Vadim and Aleksander.