Page 57 of Holding Out For A Holiday Hero

True sucked in a sharp breath.

“You think I’ll ever forget that?” Perry gave a slow shake of his head. “His fist was coming at me, again and again, and I was a scared sixteen-year-old who just wanted to keep my mom safe. Every part of me hurt, and I was curled in a ball because I couldn’t stop him.” His cheeks darkened. “Then you were there.”

Perry had better not cry. That had been one of the rules when Jake hired him. “I was chasing a bounty. That jerk had jumped bail. I was just doing my job.”

“You’re such a liar sometimes, boss.” Perry rolled back his shoulders. His hold on the box never wavered. “You weren’t even a full-time bounty hunter back then. You were on leave from your special ops work. You were in Rosewood and doing a favor for the agency’s old owner, Lorenzo Lake.”

Yeah, he had been doing a favor for a friend. Lorenzo had been overextended, so Jake had stepped in. Who would have known that he’d one day take over the business? Take it over, make the thing thrive. Now, Jake chased bounties for half the state.

“I always kind of thought it was fate that you happened to be working that particular bounty. Saw you as my guardian angel.” Perry swallowed. “You pulled my stepdad off me. You knocked him out and had cuffs on him in an instant. You got me to a hospital. You got me and my mom a new place to live. You paid the rent for two years while she got her LPN license and while I finished high school. And then you paid for my college.”

Jake could feel True’s gaze on him. But he didn’t look at her. He kept his focus on Perry. The kid who’d wormed his way past his guard, despite Jake’s best efforts. “You should have gone to work for one of those tech headhunters who came after you.” How many times had he told the kid that very thing?

“Not gonna happen, boss. I’m where I belong.” Perry lifted the box higher. “I’ll get the information back for you. You’ll see. You’ll be proud of me.”

Fuck. “I already am,” Jake groused. Shit, did the kid think he wasn’t?

Perry blinked. A lot of blinks.

“Rule number two, Perry,” Jake fired at him.

“No tears, yes, sir, but since we violated rule number one, I thought it was okay. Thought we were breaking rules left and right now.”

True sidled closer. “You love to break rules, Jake.”

Yeah, he did. Sue him. “Don’t pick up my bad habits,” he warned Perry. “Be better than me.”

“No.” Perry stared straight at him. “I want to be just like you, sir.”

Why the hell would he want to do that?

But Perry gave another nod before he marched away. Jake stared after him, shaking his head.

“What’s rule number one?” True asked, voice soft.

“No Christmas trees.” But he’d broken that rule when he let Perry bring in their Charlie Brown tree.

And then he’d broken it again today when he asked for a tree to give True.

Yeah, right. Fine. I love to break rules.

“He loves you,” True said.

His head swung toward her. Jake gaped at her. He must have misunderstood. Must. Have.

“He does. You can see it on his face. Hear it in his voice. Perry idolizes you.”

Jake spun and strode for the condo. “He needs a new idol.”

“I don’t think he does.” She followed him.

Jake stopped in front of the front door. Then, slowly, he turned toward True.

“You’re not as bad as you want the world to think.” Her hand rose and pressed over his heart. “First, you take my case when no one else will believe me, then you’re Santa for the kids, and now, I find out that you’re Perry’s protector.”

He hated remembering that long-ago scene with Perry. “The stepdad was wanted for two robberies and an assault. He was an abusing bastard. He’d broken Perry’s arm. Broken two of the kid’s ribs. Like I was just going to let him get away with that?”

“No. Not you.”

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