Page 17 of Securing His Family

“How often does Steve watch you?” Lauren blurted out loud.

Tabitha stopped kneading the dough. “If you’re wondering if someone will spend all day watching us, the answer is no. I do think, however, that Steve’s probably looking in more often today than he normally would. It wouldn’t surprise me if the guys haven’t already worked out a roster to watch the shop from outside. Charlee’s school, too.”

The second she’d walked in, Tabitha had rushed up to her and given her a huge hug, asking if she was doing okay. Not wanting to keep anything from her boss, especially considering she’d been there and had witnessed everything, Lauren told Tabitha about Reed asking Wilt to investigate Patrick and how he’d spent the night in his car watching her house. Tabitha hadn’t been surprised at what Reed had done, in fact she’d told Lauren she was happy that he was protecting her.

“Do you really think they’ll have done that?” Lauren asked, telling Tabitha about Reed’s concerns with watching Charlee’s school. But, surely Steve wouldn’t pull his men from the important stuff they did to watch over her daughter or the café.

“If I know my husband, and I know him very well, yes, he will have. Just like Reed watching your place all weekend, these guys are protectors by nature. They protect their own.”

“But I’m not theirs,” Lauren protested.

Where on earth did Tabitha get the idea that Lauren and her daughter were theirs to protect?

They probably hadn’t even given her a second thought prior to the weekend. For so long it had just been her looking after her daughter. The idea she had people willing to look out for them both was just too hard to comprehend.

“Aww honey, I’ve seen the way Reed looks at you. The way he always comes in when you are working by yourself when he doesn’t have to. You are most definitely Reed’s, which makes you one of our own. But even if you weren’t Reed’s, you work with me, so you fall under that category anyway.”

“This makes absolutely no sense.” Lauren picked up a piping bag and began to ice the cupcakes that had been cooling, her mind whirling at Tabitha’s declaration. The last few days have been so out of the ordinary she didn’t know what to think.

“Sometimes it’s better not to question anything and just accept it.”

Could she accept it?

That was a question she didn’t know the answer to, but she had spent the rest of the weekend thinking about Reed. About how it felt to be held by him. The way nothing had bothered him, not even Charlee’s overexuberance. He hadn’t even balked when Charlee had asked him to tuck her in. Everything had been easy. Almost too easy, yet shouldn’t that be a good thing?

“Were things easy with you and Steve when you first met?” she asked as she slipped the cupcakes into the fridge to cool.

“Once Steve got his head out of his ass and began to really talk to me, yep, everything was easy. Prior to that, the man was as closed as a clam shell.” A soft smile played across Tabitha’s lips. “In some ways, I’m thankful for my attack because it led to so many good things. And I know how weird and irrational that sounds, but it is what it is.”

“It does sound a little weird,” she said with a smile. “But that doesn’t mean that’s going to happen with me and Reed. I’ve got Charlee to consider, and I don’t want to bring someone into her life and then have them disappear after a couple of weeks.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about Reed. He knows you’re a package deal. With these guys they don’t do anything just because they feel obligated. They have a purpose and reason. If Reed didn’t want youandCharlee, he wouldn’t have hung around the café as much as he has been. Nor would he have said he was your fiancée to protect you from Patrick,” she finished with a sly smile.

Lauren groaned. Why had she thought Tabitha wouldn’t bring it up? “He didn’t mean it. It’s not like we are actually engaged. You said it yourself, the only reason he announced we were in a relationship was because of Patrick. Believe me, if Patrick hadn’t done what he’d done, there’s no way Reed would’ve said we were in a relationship.”

“Maybe. I guess you’ll never know.” Tabitha headed back out to the front and tended to a customer that had walked in.

She collected up what she and Tabitha had been using and took them over to the sink, trying not to let disappointment that Reed hadn’t turned up yet swallow her whole. Had she not listened to him properly this morning? He’d told her that the café was protected as well as the school, basically informing her that he didn’t need to be her shadow. But still, part of her wished he’d show up. Wanted him to be overprotective.

God, what a contradiction she was, wanting something while saying she didn’t. She should have her head examined. Have someone tell her what she really needed.

Fed up with thinking, she grabbed some rubber gloves and tackled the pile of dishes. Most of the baking pans had to be handwashed, but because of the measures Tabitha took, and the fact she was an amazing cook, they didn’t require excessive scouring.

She was humming a tune when the air around her seemed to change. Vibrate almost. The weird thing was, she wasn’t scared of the change of atmosphere. If anything, a thread of excitement sizzled through her. Turning, she found Reed standing in the doorway. He was wearing different clothes to what he’d worn when he’d wandered up her driveaway with her daughter in tow. He’d been sexily rumpled, and she’d wanted to smooth his hair down and run her hand across his five-o’clock shadowed cheek. Instead she’d done none of that, which was probably a good thing.

“Hey,” she said.Wow, way to sound intelligent.

“Hey yourself. Having a good day?”

“It’s been busy. How about you?”

This conversation was so mundane, yet normal at the same time.

“Not bad, there are a couple things I want to talk to you about. Tabitha said you’re due for a break. Do you want to grab a Danish or something and come for a walk with me?”

Reed looked so serious. Had something happened with Patrick? With Charlee? Before she allowed herself to drown in panic she took a deep breath. There’s no way he’d know if something was wrong with Charlee before she did. The school had no information about him, and if something had happened to her daughter, she would’ve been called.

“Umm sure, just let me finish this up. I won’t be a minute.”

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