AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dust mites danced in the fat beams of sunlight that cantered through the wide glass windows. A wooden fan whickered overhead, spreading hot air to every corner of the room.
I spied a baby toy on the floor and swiped it up. It was a maraca. Reid’s favorite.
“Reid?” I called.
Still nothing.
They must be out.
Unperturbed, I set my duffel behind the glossy mahogany bar and sucked in another breath.
The earthy scent reminded me of my father. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine him, crouched in his worn armchair, legs propped up and a twisted frown on his leathery face as he said his favorite line, “Nothing in life is free, boy.”
A woman’s hissing shattered the vision. “Are you telling me this little boy has been cooped up in a cigar shop for the past three days? Do you know what all that second-hand smoke would do to him? Are you even human?”
I stiffened.
Was someone here?
I followed the commotion down the hall, heading to the backroom where I kept my office. Two figures stood just outside the door. I recognized Rasheed’s muscled arms and long dreads immediately.
The alarm in his eyes made me smile.
Not many people could rattle him like that.
I saw a lot of myself in the twenty-five-year-old. We’d met a few weeks after my arrival in Belize. From the moment he walked into the shop, Rasheed had struck me as someone solid.
After getting to know him, I’d grown even more certain of his character. Convinced by his loyalty, I’d extended my hand in trust.
He had yet to let me regret it.
The man would die for us. It was the reason I’d left Reid with him instead of the several, unsatisfactory candidates I’d interviewed for the nanny position before I’d left for my business trip.
Curious to know what had him so stricken, my gaze moved to the tiny woman.
And stayed there.
More than the beautiful body squeezing out of a black, one-piece suit caught my eye. She stood with her shoulders square and her chin tipped high.
A queen holding court.
She gestured wildly with her hands. Straight black hair danced with every dip and sway of her cocoa-brown fingers.
Beautiful was too tame a word.
I almost forgot my own name looking at her.
The woman rose a little on her tiptoes and I noticed sand falling off the side of her dark leg. My gaze would have lingered there if not for what she said next.
“That little boy could have DIED today. I need a better explanation than…”
Little boy?
Was she talking about Reid?
“Who?” I stepped forward and made my presence known.
Rasheed glanced up when he heard my voice. “Boss?”
