Page 58 of Keeping Guard
He shook his head. “The day I saw the bruise Dalton put on your arm and you told me he’d done that and had tried to force you to marry him, I’ve never known such a rage. I wanted to kill him for hurting my daughter.”
What was he saying? She’d spent too many years hoping for him to notice her and love her, and she was afraid to hope again.
“That was the day I realized my heart hadn’t died after all, that as hard as I tried not to love you, I failed. I can’t think of anything I’d rather fail at than that, Peyton.”
“Daddy.” The tears were freely falling now as she let the words she’d never thought to hear from him flow through her.
He pushed his chair back, then opened his arms. “Come here, sweetheart.”
When she was four, then five, then six, and for a part of seven, she’d longed to crawl onto her father’s lap and be held by him. To know that she mattered to him. Somewhere in her seventh year, she’d accepted that wasn’t going to happen, so she’d stopped wishing. It wasn’t her adult self who crawled onto his lap but the little girl who’d wished for it ever so hard.
Chapter Nineteen
“You’ve been crying,” Noah said when Peyton got in the car. Her father stood on the front steps, and he gripped the steering wheel to keep from storming over to the man and telling him off for making her cry.
She shrugged as if tearstains down her cheeks didn’t matter. Well, they did to him. As he backed out of the driveway, he realized he was humming the Ray Charles song “Baby Don’t You Cry.” He stopped. For one, the man in the song was singing to the woman he loved. Maybe he felt something for the princess, but it sure as hell wasn’t love.
For another, he didn’t sing anymore...and that included humming songs. His penance for his sins. Even thinking about that day and his mistake put him in a dark mood. Lucky stuck his head between their seats and whined.
Peyton leaned her face against his. “Hey, sweet boy. You lonely back there?”
When the dumb dog tried to climb onto her lap, Noah pushed him back. “Stay.” He glanced at Peyton. “You okay?”
She smiled. “Actually, I am.”
“I don’t like that he made you cry. You want to talk about it?” Before he could think better of it, he reached over the console and wrapped his hand around hers. Her gaze darted to his, and before he could take his hand away, she turned her palm up and linked their fingers.
Holding hands with a woman wasn’t something he did. It was too intimate of an act. He left his hand where it was, and that he was willing to do that was something he’d think about later.
“I’ll tell you everything when we get home.” She squeezed his hand. “Thank you for not coming with me after all. I wouldn’t have finally learned my father’s secrets if you’d been there.”
When we get home.Something in his chest loosened, allowing him to breathe easier than he had since the day he tried his damnedest not to think about. He hadn’t had a home since his mother died. Not really. His aunt and uncle’s home had never been his. He’d only had a small corner where a cot had been placed to call his own. That was the best they could do, and they didn’t have to even give him that much, so he didn’t begrudge them.
He shared his apartment in Virginia Beach with two other SEALs. Both were assigned to different teams, so it was rare that the three of them were ever there together. It was a bachelor pad, not a home. Both Jared and Ker were players, the apartment’s front door a revolving one for women. That had never bothered him, but for reasons he blamed on a princess, he thought it would when he returned. Might be time to look for his own place.
As he pulled into the parking garage, his phone chimed a text notification with the tone he’d assigned Joseph’s prepaid phone. “Stay there. I’ll come around and get you,” he told Peyton. He grabbed the plastic bag with the condoms, then logged into his cell as he walked around the back of his car.
ex is here
Noah typed a reply.Noted.
He opened Peyton’s door, then held out his hand. “Allow me to escort you to your castle, princess.” Lucky scrambled over the seat, following her out. Noah glanced down at the dog. “You couldn’t wait for me to open your door, dog?”
She punched him with her elbow. “Lucky.”
“Whatever.” He knew she’d react to that, and he hid his smile. As they crossed the street, he scanned the area, locating the ex attempting to hide in the shadows of a building.
What was he hoping for? To catch her alone? Then what? It wasn’t a crime to hang out on the sidewalk, even if you were up to no good, which Noah was positive the man was. He’d already warned Dalton off, and another confrontation, although tempting, wouldn’t accomplish anything. Since the man was watching them, Noah decided to push his buttons. Maybe the fool would do something that would get him arrested.
“Did I tell you that you look pretty tonight, princess?” Noah said, putting his arm around her and pulling her next to him.
“Um, no.” She glanced up at him, surprise in her eyes.
“Well, you do. So pretty that I have to do this.” He stopped and turned her to face him. Then he kissed her. It was meant to be a taunt to the man watching them, but seconds into the kiss, he forgot about ex-boyfriends and taunts. He forgot they were on a public street until someone yelled that they should get a room.
That was a great idea, and there was one just minutes away. He grabbed Peyton’s hand. “Your loft. Room. Bed.”
“Finally,” she said.
