Page 12 of Daddy's Christmas Rescue
I wanted to believe her. God help me, I did. But something about the way she said it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I stood, because sitting too close was starting to feel dangerous. “I’ve got work tomorrow,” I said. “You’ll be safe here with Biscuit. Lock the door if you need to.”
She nodded again, biting her lip. “Thank you.”
I gave her a tight smile and walked out before I could start asking more questions.
Outside, the snow was coming down harder. The kind that muffles everything.
I told myself I was just being cautious. Just making sure she wasn’t lying about something that might get us both hurt.
But deep down, another thought was already gnawing its way through.
If she was lying—even a little—I wasn’t sure I wanted to know why.
Because the truth would mean she wasn’t the lost, broken girl I’d started to care about.
And I wasn’t ready to lose her yet.
After I’d finally dealt with the pay and Christmas bonuses in the small study/office that would have been a fourth bedroom if I ever needed it and palmed my phone, scrolling for Clem’s number. We’d been at school together, and both enlisted right after high school. I’d wanted the army engineers, and she didn’t care so long as she got away from home. I’d had to come home after five years when Dad got sick, but Clem had been doing something secretive. Probably Black Ops. Wouldn’t have surprised me. I knew she worked for a guy—ex-marine that owned some fancy nightclub in Tampa—but she’d know or could find out what I needed. I sent the text and waited, but it only took about thirty seconds for her to call me back, not even bothering with hello. “What’s up, Viking?”
I snorted. “Got a situation. Sensitive. I need to know if you can run a background and do a trace for me.”
“I can do better. You want the guy to disappear?”
Jesus. Clem never changed. “No. Not yet, and not a guy.”
“Text me the name.”
“Will do.” I hesitated. “It’s urgent, but all I have is a name and a first name of a possible douchebag.”
“Everything you do is urgent, Weston.”
I rolled my eyes and left it at that. “Thanks, Clem.”
I hung up and stared at the phone, texting her quickly. My hands were tight around it, like I was ready to crush the damn thing. For a second, I just stood there, breathing. The house was quiet. I could hear Biscuit’s claws click on the floor, and Holly’s voice, soft, like she was reading to him in the next room.
It made something in me settle. I didn’t want her to know I was making calls. I didn’t want her to worry. I doubt she even remembered she’d let her last name slip. If I could fix it without her even knowing, that was what I was going to do. I had to find out if this was gonna bite me on the ass because I knew I was developing feelings for her.
There was another time I'd done that for a woman.
I’d spent half the drive home rehearsing what I was going to say.Not the fancy part, the real part.
Amanda and I had been together over a year. Long enough for her toothbrush to live next to mine, for me to fall headlong and quickly.
I’d been waiting for the right time, but I’d finally stopped overthinking it. I’d bought the ring that morning. Small, simple, elegant—she wasn’t the flashy kind. At least, I thought she wasn’t.
It was early afternoon when I walked soundlessly into the apartment we were living in. I remember that detail because the sun was slanting through the blinds just right, catching the ring box in my pocket every time I moved. I could already see it: her hands over her mouth, her eyes wet, her saying yes.
The house was quiet except for her voice.
I smiled at first—I’d missed that sound. Then I stopped.
Her tone was different. Lower. Sharper. A kind of edge I hadn’t heard before. She was in the den, phone pressed to her ear, pacing slow. She hadn’t heard me come in.
“…as soon as he proposes,” she was saying, her voice bright with laughter. “We’ll make it official, and then you and I can get what we deserve.”
Silence. Then a man’s voice through the phone—low, amused. I couldn’t make out the words, but whatever he said made her laugh again.
