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“The house is full of supplies. Use however much you need. There are four guest rooms upstairs. Pick whichever one or two you guys want. Each should have all the usual basic care shi—stuff stocked to get you through until I get back. You with me?” he asked as I sat there just staring at the phone.
I don’t know where the urge came from.
But the next thing I knew, I was leaping out of my chair, painful feet be damned, and throwing my arms around this man.
“Thank you,” I half-sobbed into his suit jacket as his arms, a bit unsure at first, went around me, then started to squeeze. Like he knew how close I was to falling apart, and how much I needed him to hold me together.
“Everything’s going to be alright, angel,” he told me, squeezing me tighter still. “You did the right thing,” he added, and, God, I needed to hear those words. “And we’re gonna figure all this out.”
Still sniffling, I pulled back.
A little embarrassed, it took me a second to glance up at him. To find him already watching me with those warm brown eyes.
“I can’t imagine how scary this is for you,” he went on. “But you are a hell of a mom, Claire.”
Good Lord.
The man was intent on making me cry, it seemed.
Admittedly, yeah, my emotions were all over the place. But still.
It was like he knew how badly I needed to hear those words, how much Warren had emotionally beaten me down over the years, had made me constantly question myself and my mothering.
“Thank you,” I said. His phone started to buzz in his pocket again. “You need to go,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said as we finally broke apart.
I didn’t expect the disappointment as we moved away from each other, how much I wanted to walk right back into his arms.
It was good he was leaving.
Clearly, I needed to pull myself together a little bit.
“Send me the list, okay?” he asked, heading toward the gate. “Do you want me to set the security system, or would you prefer I didn’t?” he asked.
Like he knew it might feel like another prison if he did.
But if this was a prison, it was one I wouldn’t mind being trapped in.
“Set it,” I said, thinking the added layer of protection would give me some peace of mind. I had no intentions of going anywhere anyway.
“Okay. I’ll be back in a few hours,” he told me before heading out.
And, oddly, I was looking forward to it.
CHAPTER SIX
Aurelio
She’d been on my mind constantly since the warning.
The gorgeous woman with the cuffs and the panicked, desperate eyes.
I’d racked my brain trying to figure out why she wouldn’t let me rescue her.
Until I opened my front door to find her standing there, eyes even more panic-stricken.
With a baby in her arms.
