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  She walked upstairs to check and see if father or daughter needed anything before she turned in for the night. Voices sounded from Bailey’s room and she paused outside the doorway.

  “Daddy, you don’t sound like a unicorn!” Bailey said, giggling.

  “No? What do unicorns sound like?” Austin asked.

  “Girls! Unicorns are girls.”

  The next sound was uncontrollable six-year-old giggling, obviously from being tickled. Just how did he think Bailey would relax enough to fall asleep if he worked her up right before bedtime? Tickles were tantamount to giving the little girl a sugar rush, Mia thought. She was about to walk into the room and tell him so when the voice of reason in her head stopped her.

  It’s not your place.

  She wasn’t Bailey’s mother and Austin had given her the night off. Who was she to walk in and tell him how to handle his own child? Sure, she might mention it in passing when they talked tomorrow, but for tonight she’d leave him and his daughter alone.

  She was about to turn and leave the doorway when Austin lifted his head, catching sight of her, his dark gaze settling on hers, a warm smile on his face. Her stomach tumbled over at the sight.

  “Wait for me downstairs?” he asked her in a sexy, gruff voice. “I want to talk to you.”

  She swallowed hard and nodded.

  “Mia!” Bailey popped up from her prone position in bed.

  Mia waved at her. “Night, Munchkin.”

  “Night, Mia,” Bailey said, yawning big afterwards.

  Austin encouraged Bailey to lie back down.

  Maybe she’d fall asleep easily after all, Mia thought. She watched Austin pull the covers up and over Bailey’s little shoulders before leaning down to kiss her good night.

  Chapter Five

  What a fucking day today had been, Austin thought, finally getting Bailey down for the night. He hoped. Before he left her room for good, she’d asked for a glass of water, two other stuffed animals, and one more kiss good night. The last one especially hadn’t been a hardship.

  He headed back downstairs to talk to Mia, one, because he wanted to see how she was feeling, and two, he felt that as his daughter’s caregiver, she needed to be read into what was going on with Bailey’s mother.

  He joined her in the family room, where she sat watching television, her injured hand resting in her lap, and settled into the cushion beside her.

  “How’s the pain?” he asked.

  “I’m okay. Ibuprofen is covering it for the most part.” She glanced at him through lowered lids. “Thank you for taking me to the hospital today… and staying with me while they stitched me up. I’m not a big fan of hospitals. Bad memories and all that.” She treated him to a sad smile.

  “Care to share?” He was curious about Mia, her past and what made her tick.

  She sighed. “My mom died of cancer. I was an only child and I spent a lot of time in hospitals until she passed away. Needles, IVs, the antiseptic smell…” She curled a leg beneath her on the sofa. “I’m squeamish and I hate pain, but I was already worked up before the doctor took out the injection to numb me.”

  And after the awful hospital stays with her mom, she’d gone to foster care, he thought, a little girl left alone, without a relative in the world to love her. Pain filled him at the thought.

  He managed a smile so she wouldn’t think he was pitying her. She was a proud, strong woman and wouldn’t appreciate the sentiment. “I think you handled the whole thing pretty well. Except for the part when you shook in my arms. But I liked being there for you, so it’s all good.” He tried to make light of the situation.

  She laughed, which had been his goal.

  “I am sorry about your mom,” he said, not wanting to be callous and ignore what she’d confided in him.

  “Thanks. It’s funny, the things I remember and those I don’t. I remember what my mom looked like, I think… but not what she smelled like. But I remember the scent and look of the hospital she died in.” Mia shrugged, obviously used to living with the past. “Who knows how memory works.”

  “I wish I knew the answer to that,” he said, his tone so deadly serious she jerked her head up to meet his gaze.

  “Why?”

  He blew out a long breath, wanting to have this conversation, as much for himself as for his daughter. He needed to talk to someone, and both his gut and his heart told him this woman would help him and understand. “Bailey was four when her mother left and I don’t know what she remembers. Does she recall her mom flinging her around by her arm? Hurting her? Leaving bruises?” He winced at the thought, his protectiveness rising as it always did when it came to his daughter.

  “Oh, Austin.” Mia placed a hand on his shoulder, her touch both arousing and soothing at the same time. “That has to be so hard for you to wonder.”

  He nodded. “It is. And Kayla showed up at my office earlier today.” Just the memory of seeing her, of her smug attitude and lack of caring about their daughter, had him seething all over again.

  As if sensing his reaction, she began to massage his shoulder where she touched him, working the muscles with her one good hand.

  Her touch was electric, the desire to do more than talk filling him, but the situation needed to be explained.

  “What did she want?” Mia asked.

  “She handed me a notice of a custody hearing,” he said through clenched teeth. “It was her big shot. She wanted me to know she’s not above taking this all the way if I don’t pay her off beforehand.”

  Mia shook her head, her expression one of horror. He agreed. He didn’t know how any mother could bargain over a child.

  “No wonder you’re upset. There has to be something you can do.” Mia looked at him with all the faith in the world.

  Faith he desperately needed to believe in. “I hired a private investigator to look into her life. Top to bottom, from her finances to her personal life, her contacts, friends, men she hangs around with. You name it. I don’t care how intrusive, I want everything he can dig up.”

  Mia nodded her approval. “Good. I’m sure if she’s willing to play dirty with you, she’s not squeaky-clean in her personal life.”

  “That’s my hope. But all this just sucks. Because it comes back to what Bailey remembers. If she does recall what her mom did to her, my custody situation would be that much stronger… assuming a court would rely on the memory of a small child.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache forming at his next thought. “But what kind of shitty father… am I to even want her to recall that just because it’ll help me to keep her?”

  Mia leaned onto her knees and scooted closer to him, the warmth of her body a much-needed balm to his senses. “You’re the best father I know. Seriously. Bailey is the luckiest little girl in the world. Don’t ever doubt it,” she said, reassuring him.

  “You have no idea what it means to hear that.” He paused, thinking about what possible plans his ex could have in the future. He didn’t put it past her to act underhandedly. “I want you to be careful when you’re out, especially with Bailey, and if you see Kayla or she tries to approach Bailey, I need to know about it immediately.”

  A flicker of uncertainty crossed Mia’s face. “Umm…” Her voice trailed off, her tone concerned.

  “Mia? What’s wrong?”

  She swiped her tongue over lips in a definite nervous gesture. “This afternoon, I was grocery shopping and a stranger approached me. He said something really odd and I couldn’t figure out what he meant, but now that you said Bailey’s mother is playing dirty, I can’t help but wonder if she had anything to do with it.”

  Austin stiffened. “What happened? And don’t leave anything out.”

  “Okay.” She raised her gaze to meet his. “So I was putting the bags into the car and someone slammed their cart against mine. I looked up and there was a man standing there.”

  “You’ve never seen him before?”

  She shook her head. “He walked around the cart and got really c
lose to me. He said…” She closed her eyes, as if trying to remember the words exactly.

  She opened them again. “He said, ‘Mind your own damned business and you’ll be fine. Stick your nose where it doesn’t belong and you’ll have problems.’ Then he shoved me. I asked what he was talking about. And he just said I looked like a smart girl and to figure it out. And then he walked away.”

  His hands curled into fists at the thought of anyone laying a hand on Mia, threatening her, scaring her in any way. He thought back to this afternoon. She’d come home from the store and he’d heard a crash, run downstairs, and found her on the floor surrounded by broken glass.

  He shook his head, understanding now. “You were shaken up and you dropped the glass. That son of a bitch really frightened you.”

  She glanced up at him with wide eyes and nodded. “It reminded me of when I had to testify against my old employer. He tried to threaten and bully me into keeping quiet.”

  “But you didn’t,” he said, proud of her for standing her ground.

  That was one of the reasons he’d hired her. Instead of her past scaring him off, he felt the opposite way. In his job as a bodyguard, he knew how hard it was for a person to show up in court and send someone else to jail. He’d seen people run instead of standing their ground. He’d felt that if Mia was strong enough to testify against her wealthy former employer, she had good moral character and she was someone he’d want around his daughter.

  “Do you think your ex-wife hired someone to scare me away?” Mia asked.

  He doubted she realized it but her hand was still on his shoulder, stroking him through his shirt. And though he wanted to answer her, her caress felt too good, making it difficult to concentrate. His body was beginning to respond to her nearness and her fruity, sweet scent. His cock was hard and it was all he could do not to draw her into his arms, devour her mouth, and work his way down her body, tasting every luscious inch of her.

  “Come here,” he said instead of replying. Unable to help himself, he opened his arms. He told himself he was offering comfort from her earlier fright, that he needed the same consolation from her.

  He was lying. He just plain wanted her. But the choice whether to come to him was hers. It always would be.

  * * *

  Mia looked at the handsome, sexy man beckoning her to him with open arms. She’d walked away once before and she wasn’t sure she had the strength to do it again. She glanced down at his hand before placing her smaller, uninjured palm against his.

  Skin brushed skin. An electric pulse danced up her arm, traveled through her body to her breasts, hardening her nipples and thudding through her swollen sex.

  “Is this wrong?” she asked him, meeting his heavy-lidded gaze.

  “Only if we think it is.” He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers gentle as they slid over her cheek, the featherlight touch arousing her even more.

  She leaned into him, his masculine scent going to her head. “It feels like a cliché to say this but how can it be wrong if it feels so good?” And it did. Her entire body was buzzing with need.

  His hand drifted to cup her jaw. Tipping her head, he brushed his lips over hers. At the first touch of his mouth, all her concerns fled in the wake of his potent masculine need. He held her chin in his hand and kissed her, his tongue passing through her lips and tangling with hers.

  Heat cascaded through her and she needed more. More of his hot mouth taking her, dominating her lips, and just more of him. She climbed into his lap, straddling him, settling her knees on either side of his thighs, and grinding her sex against his hard erection. She couldn’t get close enough fast enough, the barrier of clothing between them driving her insane.

  His cock was thick and she needed to touch him, to feel his skin against her hand. She pulled at the drawstring on his athletic pants in an attempt to do just that, but the movement hurt her stitches, causing her to wince and moan under his mouth.

  “You’re going to hurt yourself.” He grasped her wrist, pulling her hand against her side. “Let me do the work,” he said in a gruff, sexy voice.

  “If you insist.” She knew anything he did would make her feel good. “But let’s take this to a bedroom. I don’t want to get caught,” she said.

  “Good idea. Your place or mine?” he asked with a sexy wink.

  She laughed at his playfulness. “Your call.” She didn’t know which made more sense or wouldn’t her haunt more later. If he chose her room, she’d have memories of him in her bed. If he chose his, it would feel too intimate.

  “I’ve got a secure lock,” he said, grasping her good hand and leading her out of the family room, up the stairs, and to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

  She wanted time to catalogue things about the man, his taste in furniture, and the personal effects sitting around. Although she straightened up after herself and Bailey, he had a cleaning service do a more thorough job once a week. She’d never had a reason to come into his personal domain. But no sooner had he turned the lock on the door than he picked her up and laid her on the bed, his big body coming down on hers, and all thoughts of anything but his hard muscles and warm breath against her skin were gone in an instant.

  “I’ve been going crazy, lying in this bed, imagining you right downstairs, wondering if you sleep in sexy lingerie or a simple tee shirt with your gorgeous breasts peeking through.” He slid her shirt up and over her head and tossed it to the floor.

  She wore a flimsy bra, just enough to be appropriate walking through the house, and he moved the cups aside, allowing her breasts to show above, pushed together by the stretch of fabric against her full mounds.

  “So fucking perfect.” He bent his head and pulled one nipple into his mouth, tugging with his teeth until the same sensations shot straight to her core.

  Her panties were already damp, and she writhed beneath him, seeking friction and harder contact he was only too happy to give. His hard cock ground against her sex while he played and toyed with her breasts and nipples, alternating between each, long, loving laps of his tongue and short bites with his teeth that had her hips bucking beneath him.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist, digging the fingernails of her good hand into his ass, holding him tight as she strained against him.

  He pushed himself upright to a sitting position, grasping her arms and placing them over her head. “You seem to forget I’m the one doing the work. Which means I’m the one in charge.” His eyes gleamed with determination and a heady, sexy fire, his demanding tone arousing her even more. “I want to make sure you don’t hurt your hand. Besides, I want to make you feel good.”

  He flicked open the front clasp of her bra and helped her writhe out of the garment before turning his attention to the sweat pants. He tugged on the white drawstring and pulled the pants loose, then moved aside and stripped her, removing her panties along with the sweats.

  She was naked and splayed out on his bed, a feast if he wanted to indulge. And when he grasped her hips and slid downward, his face within inches of her pussy, she knew that he did. He slid his tongue over her sex and she moaned aloud, then immediately realized she couldn’t risk Bailey hearing her. It wasn’t easy to keep quiet when he didn’t let up, sucking, licking, and devouring her like a starving man.

  She lost any inhibitions to the sensations he caused, lifting her hips and grinding into his mouth, pleasure overtaking her. Wave after wave of pleasure bringing her higher and closer to climax.

  He slipped one finger inside her, finding the exact spot that had her thighs shaking, her muscles quivering, and she clenched her inner walls around him.

  “Hot, wet, and tight. Fuck,” he muttered, raising his head and sliding his thumb over her clit.

  “Oh, damn, that feels good.” She bucked at his talented touch. “So good,” she moaned, trying to keep her voice low.

  And when he pressed down harder, she exploded, coming hard against his touch, soaring higher as he pumped his finger
in and out of her, hitting her G-spot each time, causing exquisite pressure and pleasure as she rode out her release.

  She was still quivering when he stood beside the bed and stripped off his clothes, her gaze gliding over his muscular body, perfectly ripped from working out, and then lower to his thick, hard, clearly aroused cock.

  He pulled open his nightstand and retrieved a condom, ripping it open and gliding it on. Her sex throbbed at the sight, arousal consuming her. He rejoined her on the bed, his big body looming over hers.

  “Ready to come again?” he asked her, grasping his erection in his hand and deliberately gliding his thickness over her wet, aching sex.

  She groaned at the feel of him sliding over her clit, hard and hot. “Ready, willing, and able,” she assured him, her body definitely soft for him.

  He braced a hand on either side of her shoulders and the head of his cock settled at her entrance. His gaze locked on hers, dark and slumberous, desire oozing from him as he pushed himself into her. She trembled, her slick body accepting him easily, as she adjusted to his thickness.

  “Bend your legs,” he said, and she did as he asked, the new position causing him to glide deeper still.

  “Austin.” She groaned, and as if the sound of his name released the hold he’d kept on himself, he began to thrust into her, taking her hard, his hips pounding against her.

  She hadn’t been kidding when she said she was ready, willing, and able. Her body began the climb the minute he withdrew and took her over and over, his steady thrusts a perfect counterpoint to the spot he hit inside her. The same one he’d found earlier with his finger.

  She took in his expression, jaw tight, sweat dripping from his temple, his concentration completely on her face. She felt owned by him, his body reading hers well, his focus on her complete.

  “You’re going to come first,” he said, swiping his tongue over her lips. He pumped into her over and over, and she barely recognized the incoherent sounds ripping from her throat as pleasure consumed her.