Page 43 of The Forbidden Sitter
A few wrinkles were etched across my forehead, a thing I hadn’t had before becoming afather.
I was finding out that with love for anyone came something else. It made a person subject to threats that were different than when they only had themselves to worryabout.
I’d barely gotten my son, and already someone had figured out a way to get to me. A coward who didn’t want to faceme.
I knew it was someone who didn’t want the nightclub ever to open. Butwhy?
None of it made anysense.
A lone gunman came to my home. One person had hidden amongst the work crew at the bar to place the explosive under that bar. It didn’t sound like the work of anyone who owned any of the upscale nightclubs inVegas.
Thenwho?
“Gannon?”Brooke softly called tome.
I went into the bedroom to find her lying on her side, facing Braiden. “His pants need to be changed. He’d been doing so well, but with all the fear … Do you think you could go to his room and grab some clean pants and the wipes for me?” She cut her eyes away. “I’m afraid to do it myself. And I don’t want to leave him alone for one secondeither.”
I gave her a smile as I headed to the door. “Daddy’s on it.” I stopped and turned back to look at her as she nestled in close to myson.
I kept saying my son. But the truth was right there, staring me in the face. That boy was every bit as much hers as he was mine. They might not have shared blood as he and I did. But they both were so deep inside the other’s heart that it made them mother andson.
I had a lot of shit to do. Find this son of a bitch who had gone way too fucking far. And make that woman—the only woman I had ever loved—mine. And once she was mine in all the right ways, then I’d be giving Braiden her as his mothertoo.
Both of them deserved that. And so didI.
Chapter27
Brooke
After not sleeping wellat all, I finally gave up on the dozing and pulled my eyes open. When I did, I found Gannon was also awake. Wide awake and sitting up in bed, looking at something on hiscell.
“Morning,” I croaked out in awhisper.
He looked at me and smiled, then handed me a bottle of water. “Morning,beautiful.”
After taking the bottle from him, I sat up and took a long drink while running my hand through my tangledhair.
God, I must lookawful.
My first time waking up with the man, and it had to be after a night like lastnight.
Looking at Braiden, I was glad to see he was still fast asleep, making little snoringsounds.
I laid back down and tried not to feel so depressed about the situation, but it wasn’t going to be an easy task to just act like nothing terrible had happened. Gunshots into my bedroom and Braiden’s couldn’t beignored.
Thanksgiving and my birthday were mere days away. With some madman on the loose, there was no way we could go to my family’s home and put them all indanger.
“I suppose we should tell Consuela to make plans to make Thanksgiving dinner here, Gannon.” I rolled off the bed to get up and gopee.
As I passed by him, he caught my hand. Our eyes met, and his were chock full of guilt. “Baby, I’m so sorry I got you in the middle of this. I swear I’ll make it up to you. I never intended to make you miss the holidays with your family or your birthday. I reallyam…”
I couldn’t let him go on, and leaned in to kiss him. When our lips parted, I said, “I know, babe. Don’t worry about that at all. There are so many more important things to worry about. Let that crapgo.”
He let my hand go, and I went into the bathroom. My hair was a wreck. It was absolutely everywhere, and I groaned at my reflection. And I marveled at Gannon’s ability not to laugh or grimace at me. Hell, he’d even accepted a kiss from my dry lips and disastrousappearance.
He must really loveme!
I needed to go across the hall to my room to shower and get dressed, but I was afraid to go in there. Shaking my head, I looked at myself in the mirror and gave myself a pep-talk. “You cannot be a chicken, Brooke. Go into that room and do what you have to do. Then go into Braiden’s room and get him someclothes.”
