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“Come on. Let me take you home,” Bruiser said, his eyes a little too bright.
“Okay.”
He called Dimir on the way home, telling him to meet him at my house because he had something to do, and he needed both Dimir and Limel there within the hour to guard me. As he hung up to call Limel, I opened my mouth to tell him that wouldn’t be necessary. Bruiser shot me a cautionary look. This man was taking protector to another level. It was going to require some time to get over me being taken from him, and I was about to get in his way.
Sinking back into the seat, I didn’t say another word. I didn’t have a case anyway. After what happened with Van, and telling him his baby was in my stomach, there was no way I would ever be left alone again. Not anytime soon, anyway.
We pulled up to my house, where Dimir was waiting. “So, boss man, you want me back on the job, eh?”
Bruiser answered him while escorting me out of the car like I was fragile. “Yeah, but you’ll have some help keeping up with her and the other precious package of mine she carries because Limel is on the way. Plus, she’s not going to try to escape this time, right, baby?” Bruiser asked with eyebrows raised.
I nodded because my safety being a nonissue between us would keep the man sane, therefore me sane. “I’ll be right here, in plain sight even when I’m bathing.”
Bruiser’s eyes bucked, not liking the joke all that much, which was amusing.
“Congrats, guys.” Dimir offered, shaking Bruiser’s hand and pounding his back.
Limel’s red Challenger pulled up right behind Dimir.
Bruiser went inside the house first, checking it out before walking me inside. “I should be back in a few hours. Dimir and Limel will take you to your mother’s house. I’ll meet you all there in a little bit,” he instructed.
“Okay. But where are you going?” I wanted to know.
“You’ll see.” Grinning, he placed a hand on my stomach. We smiled together. He leaned in and held my face into his hands. He was so close to me that I had no choice but to breathe him in. Good thing he was better than oxygen. His lips skimmed mine, and I wanted more, but that would be all I would get. He tipped my chin up. “I’ll see you both soon, baby.” He then turned to Dimir and Limel and said, “You two know what to do. Keep your eyes on her. She has everything that matters the most to me in this world in one body.”
Dimir saluted, ever the clown. “I aye, Captain.”
Chuckling, Bruiser flipped him off then left.
Limel wanted to know what Bruiser meant by ‘in one body.’ I let Dimir explain as I went to get ready for my date with my mother. It was a long time coming.
?
Bruiser
1:26 p.m.
“Mom, how are you doing?” I asked when she picked up the call on the first ring.
“I’m doing fine. I heard about you on the news yesterday. Your firm was representing that girl that got kidnapped. I tried to call you, and you didn’t answer. I knew you were busy. Did you find her? Are you okay?” Worry laced her tone.
Headed to a nearby jeweler’s, I attempted to put her at ease. “Yes, Mom, we did. We found her last night.”
“Oh
! I knew you would. You have the best security agency in the whole country if you ask me.” I appreciated the sentiment, even if she was a little biased.
“Thanks, Mom. How’s dad doing?”
“He’s fine. He had his doctor’s appointment a few days ago, and the doctor said that he’s just getting old.”
“Well, we already knew that.” It was a beautiful, sunny, cloudless day for good news.
“I told you, son,” Dad yelled in the background. “I told you, I didn’t need a doctor to tell me to take a Tylenol.”
“That wasn’t all he said, Rowe,” Mom said. “They said he needs to cut down on his salt, so maybe the next time you’re over here, you can talk to him about that because he won’t listen to me.”
There was no reply from Dad this time. I imagined him sitting quietly, thinking about how he was never going to stop using salt on his food no matter what a doctor said.
