“Then you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Savannah’s brows furrow, confusion slashed across her face.
“Did you love your dad, Savannah?”
She nods without hesitation. “Very much so. I still do.”
I smile. “And did he love you in return?”
“He adored me as much as I adored him,” she mumbles, her eyes welling with tears.
“Then who’s to say Rylee is crushing on me like you did when you were four?”
The seriousness of our conversation can’t stop Savannah’s eyes rolling skywards. “Cocky much,Officer Carter?”
She can deny it all she wants; I know she was as smitten with me as I was her at the same age.
After tugging her a little closer, I say, "Rylee's never had a man in her life; maybe her kiss was a way of showing you who she wants."
“Who she wants orwhatshe wants?” Savannah seeks clarification.
“This isn’t an open submission, Savannah. There are no other applicants or an extensive interview process. I was just filling you in on the deets Rylee and I prearranged.”
Savannah bites on her cheek to hide her smile. “Is that so?” she murmurs, her hot breath hitting my lips.
“Uh-huh.” I bring my mouth closer to hers.
I feel her pulse throb through her body when she asks, “When was this conversation? You only met Rylee twenty minutes ago.”
“It was a long time ago,” I murmur against her scrumptious lips.
She moans when my tongue can’t hold back its desire for a moment longer. It slashes her mouth, nearly drowning out her, “How long ago?”
“When does Rylee turn four?” I ask, nipping at her lower lip.
“In thirteen days,” she murmurs breathlessly.
“Thirteen days?” I double-check.
When she nods, I say, “Then in thirteen days, our decision was made four years ago. Right around the time you named her after me. You knew she’d be my daughter one day, so you made sure her name suited her title.”
Savannah’s heavy-hooded gaze snaps from my mouth to my eyes, but she doesn’t deny my claims. She can’t. She’s never been a fan of lying.
Chapter 23
Savannah
Ithink I've died and gone to heaven. Or at the very least, my heart is sitting in a gooey puddle at my feet. Ryan just disclosed the exact reason I named Rylee after him. He isn't just a man I've loved for decades; he is my soulmate. His deceit hurt me, but it wasn't so scarring that it erased the promises we made when we were young. Although Rylee isn't Ryan's daughter, just her having my blood makes her partly his. I belong to Ryan—heart, mind, and body. And from the smitten grin on Rylee's face when she boldly kissed him, I’m realizing I'm not the only Fontane under his spell.
One of the reasons I kept Rylee’s identity secret from Ryan was because I was worried about the repercussions. I birthed a child with another man, then named her after a man I believed cheated on me. I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty pathetic to me, much less the fact of how Rylee was conceived. The day she was created will forever haunt me, but her beautiful face helped the memory fade so much it is nothing but a blur.
Keifer didn’t rape me, but when you’re coerced to do a sexual act for the fear of not being fed for a week, it is nearly the same thing. But even with the circumstances of Rylee’s conception out of my control, I’ll always see her as a gift, not a burden. She’s been the only one fueling my wish to live the past four years, so I could never see her as anything less than a miracle.
As the days rolled on, I realized I wasn't just lying to Ryan, I was lying to myself. Facing a fear head-on is the right thing to do, but when your beliefs are stripped away from you as cruelly as Keifer stripped mine, you doubt everyone, even a man you’ve known most of your life.
Just like Axel, I disliked Keifer on sight. He was rude to his fellow officers, and he always eyed me in a way that made me uncomfortable. When I expressed my concerns to Tobias, he voiced similar worries. Keifer was removed from my protective detail the very next day. I thought that was the last time I'd hear from him. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
After Tobias was killed in an FBI sting gone wrong, Keifer was placed on my protective detail again. Well, so I thought at the time.
