Secrets Collide (Bluegrass Brothers)

heard things at night, things that he knew weren’t real. Even though his team surrounded him, he felt more and more isolated. There was no one he could trust anymore.
    “Sir. There’s been activity on that account you wanted me to watch.”
    He nodded and the guard hurried from the room. Taking a breath, he made his way to the massive desk and turned on his computer. He pulled up his account and searched out Sarah Flannery’s page. A picture was front and center that caused him to throw his glass of whiskey into the fireplace. In the middle of his screen sat a picture of his beautiful daughter with that son-of-a-bitch spy and no-good journalist determined to bring him down.
    “Sergei!” he roared as he slammed his fist on his desk. He was going to take care of this himself.
     
    *     *     *
     
    Gemma opened her eyes to a room of women. The smell of coffee whiffed through the air along with a huge tray of brownies. And then she remembered what happened. Taylor Jefferies leaping into Cy’s open arms.
    “Oh no,” Gemma groaned and rolled back into her pillow.
    “Here, dear. Have some coffee. It’ll help clear your head. Cyland is downstairs and needs to talk to you,” Miss Lily told her.
    “I don’t want to see him.”
    “You really should. We might have misjudged the situation,” Katelyn told her.
    “Yeah. It turns out that Taylor really is just a friend. Trust me, I would've shot him if it were otherwise,” Annie said reassuringly while patting her sidearm.
    “Thanks. That’s very nice of you.” Gemma attempted to laugh but it hurt her head to do so.
    “And I should tell you that little Miss Jefferies is staying in the room on the third floor,” Miss Lily said hesitantly.
    “No,” Gemma squeaked as she hid her head in the pillow. “I made such a fool of myself.”
    “There, there. She’s actually quite sweet. Poor dear, she’s never been a teenager before. She acts as if she’s already forty years old instead of eighteen,” Miss Lily clucked as she shook her head.
    “Thank you all for your help. Now if only I could get over the embarrassment of it all, I could leave this house again.” Gemma sat up and took a sip of the strong coffee.
    “Oh, we’ve all been there. It’s nothing compared to that time I walked through school with my skirt tucked into my drawers,” Miss Lily shrugged. “It happens.”
    Katelyn and Annie shook their heads as they grinned at Miss Lily. “It does happen. Especially when the Rose sisters’ special iced tea is involved. We’ll meet you downstairs.” Katelyn smiled in a way that had Gemma thinking there was a story to be told there.
    Gemma took another drink of coffee as the room cleared and finally stood up to take a quick shower. The hot water felt good as she began to wake up. Unfortunately, now the only thing she felt was foolishness for getting so upset over someone she didn’t even have a well-defined relationship with. They were sleeping together and sometimes he called her his girlfriend. But she knew the real reason she was so upset. She loved the man.
    Not the incredibly hot Hollywood stunt hero and international spy, but the kind, caring gentleman he was when they were alone together. The one who loved his family and wanted to take care of her. The one who told her corny jokes and helped Miss Lily carry in the groceries. The one who snuggled with her tiny fur ball of a dog and then took him to playdates with his brothers’ dogs. That’s the man she loved.
    Gemma turned off the shower and slipped on a skirt and shirt before brushing out her hair and quickly braiding it. She knew she had kept him waiting. But quite honestly, she was scared to see him. What would she do if he looked at her with pity or worse, without that spark in his eyes?
     
    Cy paced back and forth on the porch as his brother and sisters-in-law laughed in the parlor. He didn’t see what was so funny. He had never been this nervous before. Waiting to see if the woman he loved with all his heart would even talk to him was worse than the time he had to lift a passkey from a warlord in the Sudan.
    The screen door opened and Cy turned around to see a freshly washed and barefoot Gemma standing shyly by the door. “Gemma, please believe me. There’s nothing going on with Taylor. I . . .”
    Gemma cut him off. “I know. The girls told me. Can we forget it happened? I’m so embarrassed I don’t think I can stand it.”
    “It’s okay, sweetheart. I would've