Chapter 32
Sutton
“Come on, Nellie-Jo. You’ve got this one.”
My daughter wipes windblown strands of hair from her mouth and stares at me with determination, her tongue poking through the gap in her teeth.
“You’re going to miss this one!” she taunts, dribbling the soccer ball between her feet. She’s new to the sport, but she already moves with the coordination of someone far more experienced.
“Show me what you’ve got.”
Merit darts in front of her, trying to steal the oversized soccer ball with her mouth.
“Merit! Don’t mess up my shot.”
I laugh as my old German shepherd bursts into the kind of energy she usually reserves for chasing squirrels. I haven’t seen her this wild in a while. She tears off with the zoomies, weaving figure eights between Nellie and me before collapsing in the grass beside the concrete patio.
“Last shot before bed. Better make it count.”
The blue eyes she got from me sharpen with resolve.
“Get ready, Daddy.”
I slap my hands together. “I’m ready, kid. Stop talking and start kicking,” I tease.
I’ve already decided she’s going to make this shot, so long as she keeps it on target. Anything beyond that is out of my hands.
With a grunt, Nellie charges forward, working the ball between her feet with impressive control. I sink lower in my squat and spread my hands wide as I wait.
She closes the distance, fakes left, then drives the ball high to the right with her nondominant foot. It slips just beneath my outstretched arm.
“Did you see that?” she cheers, arms thrown over her head as she takes a victory lap around the yard.
When she circles back, we trade high fives.
“Damn right, that’s my girl. Nice shot.”
“Thank you.” She curtsies, then pirouettes toward the back door. Merit springs up and follows her inside.
I trail them both at a slower pace, picking up a few toys left lying around the yard. The house is quiet when I enter. Merit drinks deeply from her bowl. Light from the basement spills into the kitchen, guiding me that direction like a beacon.
I rub some dirt from my bare chest, looking for the shirt I left on one of the kitchen chairs before going outside with Nellie. Not finding it, I descend the stairs.
Nellie bounces out of the hallway bathroom just as I reach the bottom.
“Brushed my teeth. Goodnight, Daddy.” She wraps my hips in brief hug.
“Goodnight. I’m proud of you. You did good tonight.” I stroke my hand over her freshly brushed hair.
She skips to her room and gently closes the door.
Entering my bedroom, I find it still and silent. The lamp on the bedside table is lit, highlighting my king-sized bed. More acutely, how empty it is.
Movement from the en suite catches my eye. I prowl in that direction, feeling my cock harden at the prospect of finding Alice there. I round the corner and stop dead.
God, she’s sexy.
Leaning against the doorframe, I take her in. Alice stands frozen in front of the vanity in nothing but my missing T-shirt. It swallows her, hanging off one shoulder. The black fabric brushes the tops of her bare thighs as she shifts her weight, looking better on her than it ever has on me.
She looks completely unaware of what she’s doing to me without even trying. With her hair wild from the long day, she looks comfortable. Like she belongs here.
Like she belongs with me.
My chest tightens with the thought.
This beautiful woman is taking over my life in ways I never even dreamed of.
She glances over her shoulder then, catching me staring. “What?”
I drag my eyes over her once more before meeting her gaze. “I seem to be missing my shirt,” I say, voice rougher than I intended.
A light flush hits her cheeks, coloring them pink. She tugs at the hem. “Sorry, I thought you were finished.”
“I am. You should keep it.”
A small smile plays about her lips.
“What’s got you standing in my bathroom like that?” I continue.
She holds up her right hand, her pink toothbrush clutched in her fist. “I was coming to brush my teeth.”
My gut hollows, picking up on where this is going.
She holds out her left hand and the toothbrush in the package I set out this morning. “Found this one.”
I search her brown eyes.
She cocks an eyebrow. “Care to explain?”
I wet my lips. “You’re in my bed. Been sleeping with you for nearly two weeks now. I thought we could stop pretending like you aren’t actually staying here.” Nervous, I cross my arms with a tight shrug. “It’s just a toothbrush. But seeing it next to mine means something to me.”
“You want me to leave my toothbrush in the bathroom?”
“Yeah.”
Alice doesn’t say anything. She moves to the sink and brushes her teeth, her eyes locked on mine through the mirror. When she’s finished, she drops her pink toothbrush in the cup beside mine.
On her way out of the bathroom, she stops in front of me.
With her palm flat on my chest, she rises up onto her tiptoes and presses a soft kiss against my lips.
Twining her fingers with mine, she tugs me toward the bed, where I spend the rest of the night fucking her through three orgasms and she falls asleep after with her head on my chest.
Screaming wakes me up.
It isn’t a voice, but the siren of the security alarm after a breach without being disengaged first. I roll out of bed and into my closet to access my gun safe.
With a simple finger scan, the vault opens.
By the time I exit, Alice is on her feet, her expression a heart-wrenching combination of terror and confusion.
“What’s happening?”
Grabbing her hand, I rush us from the bedroom.
“We need to get into Nellie’s room.”
I enter first with Alice at my back, noting the way my daughter sleeps soundlessly as if there isn’t a blaring siren overhead. After securing the room, checking the closet, the window, and beneath the bed, I grab Alice by the shoulders.
My phone rings in my pocket, but I ignore it. It’s more than likely the monitoring center for the security company. Without my response, they’ll contact dispatch. Fine by me. I don’t give a fuck if they send in the fucking National Guard. Not until I know for certain my family is safe.
“Lock the door.” I grip her upper arms and yank her in for a hard, fast kiss, wishing we had time for more while knowing we don’t.
“Go,” she urges, then I rush up the stairs as the door clicks shut.
Merit is prowling by the back screen door with her hackles raised. The alarming tone of her barks rivals the security system. Noting the doors are closed, I clear the kitchen first, then pull out my phone, typing the letter Z into Silas’s text thread and hit send.
The preset message will let him know I need backup at the house.
I move silently through my home, checking every window and door for possible points of entry.
The playroom, my office, the bathroom, and the living room windows all remain secure.
The front and back doors are shut with no sign of forced entry.
But I know better than to let my guard down until I’ve combed over every single inch.
I pull up my camera feed on my phone. My neck muscles are tight as I first scroll through the past hour, checking the front and rear of the house. Nothing. I flip the camera over to live view, nearly jumping out of my skin as Silas jumps out of his SUV at the curb with his gun in hand.
I meet him at the front door and disarm the alarm. The screaming stops, but my ears keep ringing. His eyes are intense as he scans the exterior of the house.
“What happened?”
“Don’t know yet.” My brows knit as I flip through the alarm panel. “The system’s giving an offline warning for the playroom. I already checked that window.”
“I’ll check it again,” Silas says and skirts past.
Red-and-blue lights illuminate the normally quiet street, skidding to a stop outside my house. I watch my captain approach, service weapon drawn.
“Is it that guy again?”
“I don’t think so, Captain. Can’t seem to find a breach.”
He holsters his gun, but his eyes remain alert. He clicks on his radio, letting dispatch know not to send anyone else. “I’ll stick around. See if we can spot the problem. Did you do a perimeter search?”
“Not yet. Got my daughter and my woman both inside. Didn’t want to leave them alone. I didn’t see anyone on the cameras.”
He nods and flags down Marlowe. “We’ll take a look.”
I move back into the house, trusting those two to be thorough.
“Sutton,” Silas calls, rounding the corner from my living room. “This one doesn’t have an LED light on. I think the battery is dead.”
The tension in my shoulders eases. A humorless chuckle slips out. “Goddamn, Si.” I wipe a palm across my eyes.
He claps me on the shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “The system worked. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have known the battery died, and that window would have been unsecure for however long it took you to notice.”
“You’re right. Though I wish it wasn’t three in the fuckin’ morning.”
He shrugs. “Better than three in the afternoon when your nanny is here all alone.”
That thought didn’t occur to me. I blow out a harsh exhale. “You’re right about that.”
“Got a fresh battery?”
“There’s a caddy full of them in the cabinet above the fridge.”
“I’ll take care of this, switch it out, and put it back.”
“Thanks, brother.”
While Silas takes care of the window sensor, I let Captain and Marlowe know it was a false alarm. By the time I’m done and they’re driving down the street, Silas has the window fixed. I thank him for coming and reengage the alarm, verifying that the playroom zone is back online.
My steps are sure as I return downstairs. I knock softly on Nellie’s door, proud to see it remains locked.
“It’s me, Firecracker.” I use the intimate nickname only she knows I call her.
Before my next breath, the door lock disengages, and Alice’s face appears. Her eyes are wide, and she chews on her bottom lip.
“How’s Nellie?” I whisper, looking over her head to see my girl in the same place I left her in.
“Slept through it,” Alice answers.
I slip my hand through the opening and thread our fingers, tugging her into the hall. She closes the door behind her and follows me to my bedroom.
“Is it-Is it over?” She tries for nonchalant, but can’t quite hide the waver in her voice.
“It was a false alarm.”
Alice pulls her chin into her neck. “That was a false alarm?” She starts backing slowly toward the bed.
I study her, noting the paleness to her face in the sliver of moonlight coming through the window.
“Unfortunately. When a battery dies, it registers as a breach.”
She laughs, but the sound is hollow. “Well, that’s one way to get my heart racing. Not my preferred method, but points for creativity.”
“Alice.” I move a step closer. “Come here.”
“I’m fine.” She waves her hands as the backs of her knees hit the mattress. She stumbles, but catches herself. “Annoyed, but fine. There’s a big difference.”
“It’s okay if you’re scared.”
She scoffs, but the sound gets locked in her throat. “I’m fine. You’re the one acting like I matter more than you planned.”
My expression falls like she just slapped me. “What did you say?”
“Oh, come on, Sutton. I’m not sure ‘save the nanny’ was on your list of requirements when you hired me for this job.”
“Save. The. Nanny?” I growl.
Her throat bobs as her emotions run away from her. “Yeah,” she croaks.
I’ve never seen her like this, but Alice scared and cornered is like a train without brakes running off the tracks. It’s bound to crash, and when it does, it’s really going to fucking hurt us both.
“You’ve come around my cock more than once, and you think I still think of you as just the nanny?”
Her lips start to quiver. “Yes.”
“Alice.”
“Yes, Sutton?” Her blinks become faster.
I tentatively close the gap between us and pick up her fingers. They’re ice cold and tremble against my palm.
“It’s okay to be scared.”
She shakes her head. “Don’t—Don’t look at me like that.”
I tilt my head. “Like what?”
Her nostrils flare. “Like you care.”
“But I do care. I care so much that it’s breaking my heart to see you like this. If you need to laugh and joke, I get it. You can do that. But if you need to be scared, please be scared with me.”
Her breath hitches. “You were not scared.”
“Gorgeous girl.” I shake my head, brushing my finger down her soft cheek. “I had my daughter and the woman I care a fuckuva lot about under my roof and thought someone was coming to hurt them. Trust me when I say I was terrified.”
“When I laugh, it’s easier than… than this.” She hiccups, the first sign her dam is breaking.
“You don’t have to make it smaller just because I’m here. Let it come. I promise I won’t let anything bad happen. You’ll get through it like you always do.”
Her face completely crumples. A painful-sounding sob crawls up her throat, but I don’t give it time to land before I sweep her into my arms. She clings tightly to my neck, burying her face in my throat as she begins to cry full, body-wracking sobs.
“I’ve got you, Alice,” I murmur in her ear, sitting against the headboard and tucking her body close. “You’re safe. You can stay right here as long as you need.”
She doesn’t say anything else. For what feels like hours, Alice cries, her tears cascading from her eyes and soaking my skin beneath her. I murmur into her hair until her body stops shaking and the tears dry against her cheeks.
I kiss the top of her head, tightening my arms around her, and keep watch until the sun starts to rise.