Page 82 of Second Chance for Mr. Alden

His body lost some of its tension and a tiny smile lifted the corner of his lips.

“You were doomed. Just admit it.”

“Doomed, huh?” He repeated back, his smile much larger now.

“Yeah.” I drew his hand to my mouth and gave it a light kiss before releasing it. “We’ll be more careful.”

Alden took the job of protecting me very seriously. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to me because we weren’t paying attention.

***

WE WERE RELAXING TOGETHERin bed watching TV after dinner when the phone rang.

“Hey,” Alden said, answering it.

“Hi, Gage,” I yelled from my position across the bed. I was eating popcorn a few feet from Alden. He had a thing about eating in bed. He was not a fan of it, but since we couldn’t cuddle on the couch and watch TV he relented, telling me not to get crumbs everywhere.

And of course I had a big sappy grin when he called itourbed. I was being ridiculous.

“Did he find anything yet?”

Alden grunted.

He shifted the phone to his other ear. “Yeah. Uh, huh.”

I wish he’d put Gage on speaker phone so I could hear what was going on.

“Sure.”

Only hearing Alden’s side of the conversation was driving me crazy. “Is Lexi there?”

Alden raised his eyebrow. I knew he was silently telling me to be patient and shut it at the same time.

I smiled sweetly. “I want to talk to her when you’re done.”

He nodded to let me know he heard. Within a few minutes he handed the phone to me.

“Hi, Jess. You okay?” Lexi asked.

“I am. So far, my stalker’s a no show on this end and Alden won’t even contemplate using me as bait,” I grumbled.

Alden frowned at me.

Just to be a pain I blew him a kiss.

“Right. Like my brother would ever put you in harm’s way,” Lexi scoffed. “Things okay between the two of you?”

“Oh, definitely. We’re screwing like bunnies.”

Alden’s eyes went wide. I knew it would sound so preposterous Lexi would brush it off.

I put my bowl of popcorn on the nightstand and crawled closer to him.

Lexi snorted with laugher. “Oh my God, Jess. If you keep saying stuff like that, you’ll give Jamie a heart attack.”

“You know I can’t help getting a rise out of him.” I bit my lip, holding back my snort of laughter. “How’s my baby girl, Reina?”

“She misses her mama.”

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