Page 61 of Free to Fall

“But, Dad, Kalie and Grace are smart. They know what to look out for ...”

“So do I!” he thunders.

Immediately, I fall into silence. His breathing is heavy in my ears. “Trust me, Laura. You have to trust me.”

My voice is hardly above a whisper. “Okay, Daddy.”

“But I’m installing more security cameras around your property.”

“How are you going to explain that?” To Kalie and Grace? To their parents? To our family? I think to myself frantically.

“I’ll just tell them the old ones failed. That’s not a lie, sweetheart. The old ones did fail—they failed to catch whoever thinks it’s okay to fuck with you.”

I’m silent for a while, trapped in a place where I’m reminded of death in a way I’ll never forget. Then I question, “I thought I had agents on me.”

“I’ll be looking into them,” he promises.

The thought of someone from Hudson being my stalker makes my stomach roll. I’ve trusted Al and his team of men and women to watch over me when I’ve been alone. “Dad, I’m scared.”

“I know you are,” he soothes just as I hear the purring engine pull up behind me. He opens my car door before disconnecting the call. It isn’t until I’m wrapped in his arms my father admits, “So am I.”

Chapter

Thirty

I wonder what she’s doing this weekend.

I wonder who she’s with.

I wonder if she’s thinking about me.

Slouching down on my couch, my lips curl upward when I recall the startled expression in her eyes the first moment our fingers touched. Would her pulse leap in other places if I kissed her? Touched her?

Took her?

My dick—in a semi-permanent state since I met Laura—presses against the zipper of my jeans. Grunting, I lift my hips and pull one of the throw pillows out from beneath me, hissing when I bump it against the cut on my hand I gave myself when I was slicing fruit for Bailey’s breakfast earlier.

Over at the table, Bailey’s brushing her doll’s hair and conversing with it. “You can grow up to be anything you want. Oh, you want to be a doctor like Laura? Okay?”

With a smirk, I flop back on the couch and give myself a pat on the back. I knew Laura would be a good influence on my daughter. I just couldn’t anticipate what she would make me feel.

Chapter

Thirty-One

A few days later, a few more nights with little to no sleep, and Alice handing me a bag of mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups makes me want to confess everything about what’s truly causing my mental strain. I wish it had something to do with why I started seeing her in the first place, but it doesn’t.

“So, how does it feel to be Bailey’s nanny?” Alice questions.

I unwrap the first one and contemplate my response. Giving myself a moment, I pop the treat into my mouth and moan, “Alice, you must be broke paying for chocolate each month. Please let me give you some money.”

“You bring me plenty of ‘payment’ when you drop by a box of Amaryllis Bakery caramel fudge brownies. Now answer my question.”

I swallow the small nugget of goodness and whip out my phone to text my cousin Nik to have her hold a box of them for me. Finishing typing, I answer her question with a mild accusation. “You knew I was going to bond with this family.”

“Did I?”

“You’re a rapscallion, Alice Cleary.”

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