Page 4 of Mitch

Chapter Two

Mitch poredover the blueprints for one of the proposed stops on the tour the Palace had planned for next year, trying not to pull his hair out at the number of headaches it posed from a security point of view. He looked up as Will walked inside, the new tattoo on his arm on full display.

“Aubrey know you got that?” Mitch’s eyes crinkled in a grin as he nodded at the new ink covered in cling wrap.

“She does actually, she helped me choose it.”

Mitch’s lips turned down at the corners as he nodded. “How’s her new job going?”

Aubrey had just been promoted to Lead Detective after her boss and their friend, Henry English up and fell in love with a woman who lived in Texas, forcing him to up sticks and move.

“Good. She loves it and not having to worry about Madison is a help.”

“Yeah, I saw her in the conference room sorting through Jack’s paperwork. Have to say if she can figure that shit out, she may be on to something.”

“Pax is coming over later to give her some tips.”

“Pax is the shit.”

“Yeah, she is. I actually came to talk to you about your prospective tenant, though.”

Mitch’s antennae went up at Will’s tone. “Oh?”

“Yeah, it seems Ms Roberts is in witness protection.”

Mitch’s eyebrows lifted, his eyes going round for a moment, but then he considered how guarded she’d been and it made a little more sense. “Does it say why?”

“I didn’t dig any further. Figured that was your call. I can find out easily enough if you want.”

Mitch considered it for a moment, but then something stopped him. “No, leave it for now. Whatever is in her past, she deserves a second chance. Perhaps we can give her that, plus she has a kid. If she were dangerous, they wouldn’t leave a baby with her. I assume she isn’t on any social services child protection list?”

Will shrugged. “Not that I could find.”

“Then leave it, if she wants us to know she’ll either tell us or if the need arises, we can find out.”

“Fine by me. Now, I need to go see the ugly Granger of the family and tell him Mother is demanding he come for Sunday lunch.”

Mitch laughed at the thought of anyone demanding Jack do anything. But then he was no different. Even at forty-five, he still jumped if his mum spoke to him in a certain voice and he never turned down her cooking. Her West Indian recipes handed down from her mother meant she was the best damn cook Mitch knew. At the thought of his mother’s cooking, he figured he’d see if he had any of her jerk chicken in the freezer for later, his mouth already watering at the idea.

As Mitch drove towards his apartment, later that evening, a warm feeling settled into his belly. He’d put in a call to the letting agent telling them he was happy with the background checks—which he’d insisted on doing himself—and to let Ms Roberts know she could move in tomorrow if she liked.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he glanced at the door opposite his own and smiled. It would be nice to have someone else up here. Sure, he had Waggs and Bebe downstairs, but he liked the idea of a new face to look at and what a face it was. Maybe he’d make himself available tomorrow to help her and make sure she got moved in okay. Be a good landlord. Even as he thought it, he knew it was bullshit.

He was attracted to the beautiful woman with warm, cautious eyes and smile he knew would light up a cave if she ever let it show. With a beer in one hand and a plate of his mother’s cooking in the other, Mitch flipped on the TV with a grin. Tomorrow would be a good day.

* * *

Turningto the back seat of her decrepit old Ford Focus where Maggie was shoving her entire fist in her cute but dribbly mouth, Autumn smiled. Just the feat of getting here felt like a small victory in what had been fourteen months of hell. The fact the result had ended with her here, hiding, or restarting her life as a different person, alone in a town where she had nobody wasn’t something she could allow herself to dwell on. If she did, she feared she might sink under the weight of it all.

No, one step at a time was her new mantra, and she and her beautiful baby girl were safe with a roof over their heads, and that was all that mattered right now. Ducking her head, she looked up at her new home. From the outside it was imposing and beautiful, a grand old Victorian home carefully restored to its original grace and grandeur. On the inside, the owner had done an excellent job of blending the old and the new.

The owner in question sprang to the forefront of her mind, making her pulse kick up as she remembered the wide smile that made his eyes twinkle, the deep baritone of his chuckle making long-forgotten body parts sit up and take notice.

Autumn pushed those thoughts away, she had no time for such things, nor indeed the trust it would take to open her heart up again and risk the devastation the last man who’d shared her bed had cost her.

“Ready to go see your new home, Roo?” Autumn asked using the nickname she’d given her baby girl, as she always seemed to settle when she was cuddled in her sling, close to her mother’s body, just like a baby kangaroo.

Maggie just tried to shove her hand further in her mouth as she kicked her legs out excitedly. Autumn grinned which she found herself doing more and more since Maggie had been born, her daughter changing the course of her life and giving her more strength than someone so small should be capable of.