Page 54 of Perfect Bragg

“All we have to do is fool Ms. Cross while she visits,” Elder says and I’m glad for the interruption from my naughty thoughts.

“Look around this place.” I point to the bedding piled up on the chair. “It’s obvious you aren’t sleeping in bed with me.”

“We’ll put the bedding in the closet for her visit. No problem.”

“What about your clothes?” I motion to his clothes on the floor.

“We’ll move those into your bedroom, too. You’re making too big a deal of this.”

“Too big a deal of this?” I scowl. “You have no idea how it feels to be a child and have social services in charge of where you’ll sleep. Whether you get to stay at the pretty house with the nice people. Or whether you have to move.”

“It’s true. I don’t. But it sounds as if you do. Why don’t you tell me about it?”

Crap on a cracked cracker. I didn’t mean to tell him anything.

“No.” I push away from him and this time he lets me go. “I need to check on the baby.”

“I don’t think we need to worry about Ms. Cross,” he says before I can flee.

“Why not?”

“She dumped Robin with you and rushed off before you had the chance to respond. She seems overworked.”

“Maybe.” I give in.

“Go on.” He motions toward the hallway. “You check on Robin. She’ll probably want her bottle soon. And I’ll move my clothes into your bedroom. I’ll move the bedding in the morning after I wake up.”

He sounds reasonable. It’s reassuring. But he shouldn’t be reassuring me. Reassuring me is another way to tether my heart to his. I won’t let it. My heart is not going to tether itself to anyone.

Robin cries and I rush down the hallway. Except to this baby. She has my whole heart and I don’t want it back.

Chapter 18

Sure. It’s the dog’s fault. ~ Text from Miller to Elder

My alarm blares and I groan before burying my face in the pillow. I’m not ready to wake up. Not even close. I got maybe a grand total of two hours of sleep last night since Robin was awake most of the night.

Oh no! Robin. My alarm can’t wake her, especially after last night. I throw off my pillow and reach for my alarm. I slap it several times before it finally stops blaring. Phew. I roll over. One more minute and I’ll get out of bed.

I stretch my arms over my head. I needed that extra minute. I feel much better now. I glance over at the clock and shriek when I see the time. Ten in the morning? Ms. Cross will be here any minute.

“Elder!” I scream.

I jump out of bed as he rushes into the room. “What’s wrong? Who do I need to kill?”

“What is your obsession with killing people?”

“I’m not obsessed with killing people.”

“This is the second time you’ve offered to kill someone for me.”

He puffs out his chest. His naked chest because he’s only wearing a pair of boxers. And not the loose kind either. The tight kind. The kind that makes it perfectly clear someone just woke up. Oh boy.

“Because you’re my woman and I will protect you,” Elder says in an awful Russian accent bringing me out of my ‘it would be incredibly easy to pull those shorts down’-daze.

“Whatever.”

“Why did you scream for me?” He wiggles his eyebrows. “Do you need my services?”

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