Page 4 of Guardian Daddy

Dear Lord.

He wondered if they ever intended to have children.

Just imaging the Fox with a child gave him chills.

A baby.

A girl baby.

Holy. Heck.

Parent-teacher conferences would be a nightmare.

Play dates would be a minefield.

He fought off that terrifying thought.

“Papa,” Brody said.

“Fine, Pup,” the Fox said gruffly. “I’ll let your friend leave. But no flirting with my babies, Stone.”

Ethan didn’t bother to protest that he hadn’t been flirting in the first place. He just breathed out a sigh of relief as they left.

Then he sat in Brody’s chair.

Yeah, he definitely needed a vacation.

2

“Morning everyone.” Ink walked into the meeting room at Callahan Security. Brody strode in behind him, looking slightly dishevelled with his hair standing up on end. His T-shirt had a fox’s face on it. Above the fox was the word, ‘No’, while underneath was the word, ‘Given.’

No fox given.

Clever.

Ethan was sitting at the large table. Across from him sat Seth Blue. He’d worked with Seth for years. The other man was solid. If a bit too happy. It was odd.

“Morning,” Seth said cheerfully. “Love the shirt, Brody.”

“Um, thanks.” Brody tugged at it self-consciously.

Ethan didn’t say anything, just nodded in greeting. He was feeling grouchy this morning.

Something about his run-in last night with the Fox had irritated him.

Maybe because a killer assassin has two people who love him, and you have no one.

Ouch. His inner voice was being a real bastard this morning.

“We have a new client,” Ink said, getting straight to the point.

Brody sat with his laptop and connected it to the projector.

“And this client is important because he’s an old friend of mine,” Ink added.

Brody brought up an image of . . .

“Is that Rhodes Ripley?” Seth asked in surprise.

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