Page 52 of Saving Summer
Adam nodded sharply—once. “I do have a good reason for protecting Jay. For now, all I can tell you is we’re a covert anti-terrorism joint task team, and the charges against him are fabricated. He didn’t murder anyone, and he hasn’t committed treason. In time, we’ll be able to tell you more, but since we’re being honest, you should know we’ve been monitoring your communications as a precaution.”
“I figured as much, but as far as I’m concerned, your secrets are my secrets.”
“Why?”
Summer didn’t need time to think about her answer. “Because this is where I belong. I’ve never felt safer. Never felt more appreciated or respected. You, Eve, Grace, the guys—you treat me like family, like one of you, and I’ve never had that before. I don’t need the details about what you do to know you’re doing it for the right reasons. I love Halia, and I’d do anything for her, but I want to stay for me too.”
“Okay.” Adam nodded, his grin as open and friendly as she’d ever seen. “Then, if the nanny gig doesn’t work out, I could always use a personal assistant”—he waved his hand toward the stacked folders—“to help with the filing. Would that work for you?”
The lump in her throat cutting off the air supply to her lungs, her vocal cords became inoperable, and she nodded her head. She kept right on nodding until her motor functions came back online, and she regained control of her muscles long enough to stop the world from bobbing up and down in front of her.
Relief flooding her insides, her shoulders dropped, and the tension she’d been holding for weeks dissipated. She could stay. No matter what happened with Jamie. She could stay. Be near Halia, even if not directly responsible for her. Keep her new friends. Have a safe place to live.
A ball of warmth settled in her chest, replacing the last of her fears. A deliberate man, Adam wouldn’t have made the offer if he hadn’t been serious.
Peace and comfort stole over her. Hers. All of them. A family who wanted her. A family she wanted to be a part of. A family she’d fightanyoneto keep. Did staying with them work for her?
Yes. All the rainbows, butterflies, and shooting stars bursting from her engorged heart, yes. About to embarrass herself by breaking down and weeping while trying to express her gratitude, his phone saved her the mortification by pinging a notification.
He lifted it from the desk, thumbed in his passcode, and shook his head. “Fucking Kincaid,” he mumbled as Gray burst through the door.
“They got Jamie,” she announced, her evil grin infectious as she waved her phone side to side in front of Summer’s face. The screen moving too quick for her eyes to focus on the photo, she couldn’t make out anything, but…wait…was that an ass? “They’ll be back tonight.”
“Did you get the message?” Davis asked, appearing behind Jeff, whose happy butt wag knocked his tail against the desk in a steady rhythm.
“I think we all got it,” Eve replied, coming in next and throwing herself into Adam’s lap. His arms went around her automatically, and he snugged her in tight.
Not to be left out, Zander entered last, the baby the size of a small ham in his hulking arms. “I’ll get a cot ready for Jamie in the basement,” he said, handing his precious cargo to Summer.
“Oh, he can have his room back,” she said, settling the baby’s weight against her. “I can sleep in Halia’s room. There’s plenty of space for a twin bed.”
Gray snorted. “You hate the Hubba Bubba room.”
“I don’t hate the room, but the color is a bit much,” she admitted, leaving out the fact the dark pink walls made her teeth ache.
“Yeah, I may have missed the mark on that one,” Zander said, his sheepish smile lighting up his face. “Easy enough to fix with a quick re-paint. Pick a new color, and I’ll order it in.”
“Thanks.” She’d miss sleeping in the big bed but felt good knowing Jamie would be close by to bond with Halia. Little girls needed their fathers. “I’ll send you a new color today.”
“No rush,” Eve added, tapping her finger against the back of Adam’s phone. “Looks like Jamie will need a bit of time to adjust anyway. Let’s leave him downstairs for now, and once your new room is ready, he can move back into his, if that’s what he wants.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Adam said, rewarding her common-sense approach with a kiss on the cheek. “Who’s hungry for dinner?”
* * *
Stretchedout on the couch at the back of the plane, Jamie registered the thump of the landing gear locking into place. On the final descent into his version of hell frozen over, he kept his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes squeezed shut tight.
He still had no clue how they’d found him. Didn’t matter anyway. The interruption to his plan served his purpose. Being back in the United States a day earlier than anticipated, with authorities none the wiser, worked for him.
All he had to do now—find the quickest way to ditch the JTT and disappear—should be easy. Not. They were pissed, maybe more so than him, and fucking livid didn’t even begin to describe his current state.
Anger seethed from his pores. Rum did too. But whatever. They all had their own issues.
His jaw clenched, and a spike of pain ricocheted through his cerebral cortex, further lowering his capacity for reasonable thinking. He hadn’t spoken to anyone since Jay hit him in the face with a freight train of a left hook. And poking his tongue around the inside of his mouth, he assessed the damage.
Shredded tissue. Check. A couple of loose molars. Check. Significant injury to his pride. Motherfucking check. He’d never been knocked unconscious before. Sure, he’d been in some decent scraps, traded knuckles with assholes, delivered a broken nose or two, but he’d never had his clock cleaned with a single blow. Then again, he’d never been on the receiving end of a fist thrown by a world junior boxing champion, and to be fair, he hadn’t seen the punch coming.
Wasn’t there a rule about best friends hitting best friends in the face?
