Page 12 of Securing His Family

Lauren felt like she’d lived a thousand lives in the last few hours. She was exhausted, and the things coming out of her mouth were things she wouldn’t say if she was thinking clearly. At least part of her recognized she had been talking out of her ass when she’d told Reed that she could make Patrick leave her alone. It hadn’t worked out well for her in the past and would be unlikely to work well in the future.

Yet, Reed still sat on her couch, willing and ready to remain engaged to her in an effort to keep Patrick out of her life. Who was this man and why was he doing this for her? And why was she, deep down, grateful that he was doing this for her?

Nothing made sense, and exhaustion dragged at her. All she wanted to do was sleep but she knew the moment her head hit the pillow sleep would be elusive. Normally she felt safe in her little cottage tucked away from the prying eyes of the street. Now, though, being hidden felt more dangerous than ever before.

“It’s all going to be okay, Ren.”

Ren.

The first time he’d called her that she’d scolded him for shortening her name. The second time she hadn’t said anything and now, this third time, she acknowledged that she liked it. Liked the way he shortened her name, as if she was special.

Everything in her wanted to believe Reed’s quiet assurance. Believe the confidence she heard in his voice but in the last few hours her world had been turned around and she didn’t know what to do.

“Is it though?” she asked. Reed patted the cushion next to him. The draw to be near his strength was a pull she couldn’t ignore.

Once she sat, he fiddled with his phone. Why would he ask her to sit down and then ignore her by looking at his phone?

“It’s time I showed you what Wilt found out about Patrick.”

Somehow she’d forgotten he’d said he’d done this. They’d gone off on a different tangent, but now that he reminded her what he’d done, another thought hit her. “Did you ask him to investigate me and my past?” The very idea that he might’ve, horrified her. It was an invasion of her privacy and she didn’t like that at all.

“No.”

“But you thought about it.” Lauren didn’t know how she knew that, she just did.

His sigh said it all. “I did but then quickly disregarded it because I knew it was wrong to do that. I want to know everything about you but I want you to feel comfortable enough to tell me.”

Lauren got up again. Goodness she was acting like a yoyo, but she needed to put some distance between them, which was kind of impossible in her small place. “But you had no qualms checking Patrick out.”

“Of course not,” his voice was hard. “He hurt you. It’s lucky the guy is still walking after what he said to you.”

Lauren didn’t doubt that Reed could hurt Patrick. After everything he’d done to her in the past, the thought of Patrick being hurt didn’t sit well with her. She didn’t want to be the cause of Reed getting into trouble for something he did to her ex, because Patrick would go to the police. Lauren had no doubt he would. “Probably not a good idea to do that to him.”

“I know.”

Reed still held his phone. Had he looked at what Wilt found out? Or had he waited until he’d told her about it? “Have you read it?”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because I wanted to tell you before I did.”

Exactly like she’d thought. “Why? If you had no issues asking Wilt to do it, why didn’t you look at it the moment the information came in.”

Reed shrugged. “Because I was enjoying my time with you and Charlee. I didn’t want anything to spoil it. Also I knew if I looked at it, Charlee would ask what I was doing and I didn’t want to have that conversation with her.”

How had this man read her daughter so well? He’d only met her briefly at Tabitha and Steve’s wedding. Today was the first time he’d spent any amount of time with them, but he’d pegged her daughter to a T. Charlee would’ve demanded to know what Reed was looking at, and even though he probably could’ve come up with a plausible explanation as to why he couldn’t show her, he’d prevented the situation from arising.

“Thank you,” she said, not knowing what else to say.

“Do you want to know what Wilt found out?” he asked after a few beats.

Did she want to?

“I don’t know.”

Reed got up and came over to where she stood. He looked like he wanted to pull her close for a hug, and she wanted him to do that so badly, but he kept his arms to his sides. “I know this isn’t what you’d normally do. What you would normally think to do. But with what you’ve told me about the agreement you had with him, and how it wasn’t legal, it seems, for whatever reason, Patrick wants to have a relationship with Charlee. Anything that Wilt found may be useful to you to prevent that from happening.”

---