Page 44 of Hidden By His Side

“Take her back, Diego,” Ramiro said. Even with his hard voice, Emma squirmed closer to him.

“Nah, you’ll be fine.” Diego turned his back on him.

Ramiro hitched the toddler against his hip the way Diego had shown him. He’d held Emma a few times already and had kept her contained during Diego’s wedding not that long ago.

Her grubby little hands grabbed for his beard, and he sighed, resigned to it.

Summer stared at him, her eyes wide as Emma wriggled against him and tried to rip out his facial hair. Summer cleared her throat, stepping toward him with her arms held open, and he saw his salvation.

Ash slipped up beside her, grabbing her hand and pulling her away. “That’s not allowed, sunshine. You’re coming with us.”

Ramiro’s jaw tightened. He wanted to punch the man for touching her, but he still held a child in his arms. “Ash,” he warned, but only received a smirk and a wink in return as Ash drew Summer outside.

He only got a glimpse of her in the sunlight, but it eased something inside of him. Her eyes didn’t look quite as bruised. The nap had done her good, and his men were only doing what he’d asked.

Summer deserved to have her things around her. Over the years, she’d carefully collected everything that filled up her apartment, each piece chosen to fit in with the others.

Summer stared inside the truck at her belongings before glancing back at Ramiro in confusion. Diego grabbed her attention by handing her the fluffy blue blanket that had been draped over her couch for years. He said something to her, and she turned, staring at Ramiro before walking toward him.

“You had them pack up my apartment?” she asked.

He caught one of Emma’s hands before it could bash him in the nose. “I want to see your things here, mixed in with everything of mine.”

She swallowed. “Ram, no. Your place is perfect.”

“Ourplace will be perfect once I see pieces of you spread everywhere.”

Summer shook her head, her eyes shadowed. “What happens when—”

He stepped into her space, smooshing the toddler between them as he silenced Summer’s words with his mouth. The kiss was soft and brief, but she stilled against him, her eyes locked on his.

“There is nothing temporary about this. You’re mine now, baby girl. What about that wasn’t clear?”

Her tongue flicked out, as if tasting the kiss.

Suddenly, five years since feeling her clench around him was much too long. The things he imagined doing to her were wrong to fantasize about while holding a child in his arms.

He turned, setting Emma down. She took off into the house at a run.

Diego grunted from behind Summer, carrying a box. “That was a mistake. You let her loose. You find her, or I’ll let you keep her until you do.”

Ramiro no longer saw the child at all. The idea that she’d be lost in there forever made sweat drip down his back. “For fuck’s sake, Diego.”

“Language,” Diego said with a smile as he pushed past them and through the doorway.

Summer smiled but tried to hide it. Ramiro pointed at the blanket in her hands. “You. Make this place feel like a home. I’ll work on finding the demon I set loose.”

Her laughter at his back eased his tension.

Emma was impossible to spot, but she hadn’t yet learned the art of hide and seek. She was way too noisy. Her favorite word was “no.” She liked to shout it whenever Ramiro drew closer, and then she broke into a run when he flinched at the volume. Giggling would follow, and he was exhausted long before Ash and Diego had emptied the truck.

Ramiro managed to corner her in his office. When he pushed back his rolling chair to reach her hiding spot under the desk, she eyed the wheels with another devious look in her eye. Picking her up and setting her in the chair earned him another squeal, and then he was giving her rides around his office, with the occasional spin, but not too fast.

Eventually, Emma curled up on the seat, her butt in the air. She rested her head on one pudgy arm and closed her eyes. He sighed, biting back a groan as he settled on the carpet beside the chair, twirling it slowly side to side while he rested his head against the wall.

He felt old. A three-year-old had worn him out.

Movement in the doorway had his eyes shifting. Diego stared in at them, but he wasn’t smiling. His arms crossed as he stared at Ramiro.

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