LITMIR.BIZ

      Once she was warm and dry after her bath, Kennedy was drowsy and ready for her bedtime bottle of formula.

      “Why don’t you give it to her?” Alyssa held the onesie-clad baby out to Everett.

      He paused for a moment, then took Kennedy from her and tucked the little girl into the crook of his arm. As soon as she saw the bottle, she reached for it, pulling it to her mouth and sucking greedily. Within minutes she was asleep.

      Alyssa eased the bottle away from her and placed it on the coffee table. When she looked up, Everett was watching her face.

      “She’s a lucky little girl to have found you.”

      The lump in her throat was less about the words and more about his tone of voice. Don’t do this to me, Everett. This is day one. We have years ahead of us. Birthdays, holidays, starting school, boyfriends, graduation… The thought frightened her less than the intensity in his eyes.

      “She has us both.” She brushed a stray curl off Kennedy’s forehead, and raised the question that had been at the back of her mind all day. “I know why I’m doing this. What about you?”

      “Oh, come on, Alyssa.” A corner of his mouth lifted. “When you asked Ray Torrington what would happen to Kennedy if we said no and then you gave me that look, you knew I wouldn’t be able to resist you.”

      She shook her head. “Not good enough. That answer might work if we were still together and deciding where to eat out or go on our next vacation. But this is about being mom and dad to a baby. It’s a lifelong commitment.”

      He was silent for a moment or two. “First of all, you did influence my decision. Because there is no way I would have done this with anyone other than you.”

       And there goes the last of my composure…

      When he spoke again, his voice was little more than a whisper. “But you’re right. Just like you, I will be doing this properly, starting with a request to my boss for a leave of absence. And the reason I’ll be doing it is that it’s for Sean.”

      “Because you don’t think he killed himself?”

      “Even if he did—and despite his crimes—we were friends once.” He tilted his head back against the cushions. “I remember one summer when we were in high school, we got into a prank war. Neither of us could back down from a challenge. Sean thought it would be funny to use duct tape to fasten the handle of my school locker closed just when we had an important assignment due in. In revenge, I coated the seat of his bike in peanut butter. The jokes got wilder, until, one day, I enlisted Casey’s help. We were holding Sean down and filling his shorts with ice cubes when my mom walked in. She took one look, said, ‘I’ll give you boys some privacy,’ and walked out again.”

      Although she had only met Maribelle Colton a few times, Alyssa could picture the scene. “Your mom likes to keep it classy.”

      “Always.” He smiled. “The point is, I have a hundred stories about Sean. We kept those challenges going into adulthood, always trying to get the better of each other. But our friendship wasn’t all pranks. There was the time I tumbled into the creek and he jumped in to save me. Or when he fell off a wall and cut his head open, so I rode home with him on my crossbar. He screwed up with the way he treated Casey, but the earlier memories didn’t die.” He looked down at Kennedy. “When he entrusted his child to me, he knew I would be there for her.”

      Alyssa bowed her head. In all the years she’d known him, this was the most Everett had ever opened up to her. She’d never understood why he felt the need to conceal his emotions and had spent too many hours wondering whether he was trying to prevent conflict, protect her from hurt, or avoid worrying her. Would things have worked out differently if he’d been able to express his feelings?

      She gave a tiny shake of her head. It wasn’t his emotional detachment that had ended their relationship. Everett had been the one to suggest taking things to the next level. He’d asked her to move in with him and Alyssa had acted like a jackrabbit when it heard the cry of a wolf. Dating Agent Everett Colton had been difficult enough. Knowing he went out to work every day and put himself in danger was hard, but she could just about switch off from it and enjoy the time they spent together. If she lived with him, if she was watching the clock, waiting for him to come home at the end of each day…?

      “We should get this little one into her crib.” And leave the past where it belongs.

      Everett shuffled to the edge of the sofa and got cautiously to his feet. Carrying her as though she was a piece of priceless china, he took the baby through to the master bedroom. Earlier that evening, he had positioned her crib next to the bed, and Alyssa had placed the photograph of Kennedy with her parents on a nearby side table.

      After spending a few moments shifting back and forth to find the right position, he lowered her into the crib.

      Kennedy made a soft noise of protest and Everett gave Alyssa a look of pure panic. She shook her head and pointed toward the door. Like teenagers sneaking out to a party, they tiptoed from the room.

      Alyssa choked back a laugh as she switched on the baby monitor she’d found in one of the boxes. “The look on your face.”

      “What do you mean?” he whispered, sneaking a look over his shoulder at the closed bedroom door.

      “When you thought Kennedy was about to wake up, your expression reminded me of that time I started choking on my soda.”

      “Hey, that was scary. You nearly passed out.” He threw himself down on the sofa, hands linked behind his head, long legs crossed at the ankles.

      “It was your fault,” she reminded him. “You made me laugh in midswallow.”

      “Yeah. But I wasn’t expecting the whole wheezing, throat-clutching, eyes-watering response.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “You frightened the life out of me.”

      “That’s how you looked at Kennedy. She’s a baby, Everett, not a time bomb. She will poop, spit up, drool, put disgusting things in her mouth and likely wake up several times a night.”

      “You make it sound like such fun.” He sat up straighter. “I need to talk to you about something other than Kennedy’s bodily functions.”

      “Ah.” She sat down next to him. “Is this about why you disappeared today?”

      Now it was here, she realized how much she had been dreading this moment. It wasn’t that she believed caring for Kennedy had suddenly catapulted her into a fairy tale. Her early life had convinced her there were no such things as magic wands, golden coaches and glass slippers. And if Prince Charming existed? Well, he’d chosen a life in the FBI, and she was the anxiety-filled princess who couldn’t deal with that.

      No, she was realistic enough to know that bringing up a baby would be hard. But she’d have liked more than a few hours to adjust to the idea before things got weird.

      He nodded. “A delivery came. It was a Christmas gift for Kennedy.”

      She frowned, her brain trying to make sense of what he was saying. “How could anyone have known where she was?”

      “Exactly.”

      Her first instinct was to rush into the bedroom, wrap Kennedy in a blanket and dash out into the night with her. But where could she take her that would be safer than right here with Everett? He was experienced at protecting people who were at risk. For the first time ever, she saw his job as a blessing instead of a curse.

      “Is she in danger?”

      “I couldn’t find out who sent it.” He reached across the space between them and covered her

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