Page 14 of The Baby-whisperer and the Brute
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By the time he and the girls returned for the treasure hunt, I’d managed to compose myself. I made sure to avoid any more private conversations with him. There was no point to it.
I couldn’t avoid my awareness of him though. As he chased his daughters around the Wessex estate, my eyes followed involuntarily. The three of them were back near the bounce house when Cinda announced it was time for the gender reveal.
Standing at the edge of the patio with all the other adults, I watched as Alexander Wessex walked around and offered each of them a gold-foil-wrapped party popper from a basket.
Cinda handed out poppers to the children who were interested in participating.
On the count of three, everyone pulled their poppers, releasing their contents. There were shouts of delight and then a few moments of silence as confusion reigned.
The adults’ poppers had expelled bright pink confetti. But the confetti projected from the children’s poppers was distinctly blue.
Had someone made a mistake with the party favors? As Cinda and Alex hugged and nodded their heads, I and the rest of the party guests understood—there weretwobabies. Fraternal twins.
A boyanda girl.
While I clapped along with the rest of the assembly, inside I was rocked by a wave of longing so powerful it nearly knocked me off my feet.
Oh, this is not good.
It was not good at all. I was mere weeks away from beginning my postulancy and sequestration from the outside world. At this point I should be more certain about my decision than I’d ever been.
Instead I was filled with turmoil and a sense of doubt that was growing faster than Cinda’s waistline.
Beware the evils of men…evils of men… beware.
Shutting my eyes, I repeated the familiar mantra to myself over and over. But instead of settling me, today it only caused the agitation inside me to grow.
And behind my closed eyelids danced a vision of icy blue eyes… and a pair of large, warm hands reaching out to capture me.
Chapter Four
Top Contender
Sully- the next morning
The front doorbell chimed, and I walked across the wide entry hall to answer it, still thinking of the preschool teacher.
Angelina.
I hadn’t been able to get her off my mind for more than a few minutes at a time since the party, had even woken up this morning thinking of her.
It was a strange thing. I’d never had such a strong initial reaction to a woman in my life—not even Anouk, who was stunning—I mean, she was a fucking supermodel.
Angelina was different in every way—shy rather than bold, sweet rather than aggressively sexy. Anyway, whatever the reason behind it, she’d seized my attention like no one ever had before.
And the way she’d managed the girls… maybe she reallydidhave a divine gift. Speaking of my daughters, those little stinkerswere about to go on lockdown.
I reached the door and opened it to the head of Viridian Security who’d agreed to come out personally and assess my house for weak spots. There would be no more sneaking out and running away to the neighbor’s yard or anywhere else.
“Mr. Reece, I’m Wilder Lowe.”
The man on my threshold was larger than I’d expected, though I probably should have. I’d read on the company’s website that its founder had played college football and been a Navy SEAL before starting his own security firm.
The guy looked like he could still play ball. Six-four or six-five, he had a powerful, athletic build that probably gave his clients an extra feeling of comfort about putting their property—and personal security—in his hands. I’d also read that Wilder occasionally still worked as a bodyguard for very select celebrity clients.
“Hey Wilder. Come on in. Call me Sully.” I shook Wilder’s hand and motioned for him to come inside.
