Full Force Fatherhood. Tyler Anne Snell

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      “Something’s not right.”

      Kelli Crane looked at her husband and sighed. “Making fun of me isn’t going to win you any points, Victor,” she warned. “Don’t poke the bear.”

      “Because she might poke back?”

      He walked into the cabin’s bedroom, where she had been lounging with a book, and took a seat at the edge of the bed. In his late thirties, Victor Crane had managed to hold on to his boyish grin with ease. Tall, almost lanky, he had short strawberry blond hair that looked like extensions of the sunlight that fell through the windows, and eyes that mimicked the blue of the sky. She could claim the same kind of brightness about herself, but slightly different—dirty-blond hair, green-gray eyes, a tan that could only be described as sun-kissed—but sometimes when she looked at Victor, her own beauty felt diminished. Staring at her husband of a year and a half, she wondered what their children might look like.

      “If you keep mocking me about wanting to keep you safe,” she said, “poking back is the first thing I’ll do.”

      Victor held his hands up in defense. “Whatever you say, my love.”

      She put down her book and smiled. She knew he had only indulged her paranoia by hiring the bodyguard two rooms away. For the past two weeks, he had tried to put her worries to rest. In his line of work as an investigative journalist, sometimes the crazies came out. That didn’t mean they should run for help after receiving a few deep-breathing phone calls at the house. However, Kelli couldn’t stop her anxiety from mounting as more than just a few calls had come in.

      “How’s the story coming along?” she asked, setting the book against her stomach. Her hand hovered there a second before she let it drop. “Please tell me you’re almost done.”

      “The news article is nearly finished, yes. I should be done by tomorrow.” He stood and stretched. “Then we can resume our normal lives.”

      “You wouldn’t want to stay a few more days?” Kelli looked out the window. Victor’s family cabin was a few skips away from a crystal-blue lake that looked like a painting, with a pier that Victor had probably walked down since he was a child. Her family had never had moments like that. Then again, if her parents had been alive, she was sure they would have tried. They had been good, loving parents before the car crash had happened when she was younger.

      “If this was a vacation, then I’d say yes, but...”

      “But you’re here to work,” she interrupted.

      He nodded. “And when that work is done, I have to move on to the next assignment.”

      “One that I hope won’t make me feel we need to hire another bodyguard.”

      Victor laughed. “Let’s be honest. The only reason you hired him was for a little eye candy,” he whispered. He raised his eyebrows suggestively, joking with her. Kelli swatted at him.

      “Dark hair and muscles galore?” she said. “Who would want that?”

      Victor came to her side and bent low. He brushed his lips across hers for a soft kiss.

      “Not you,” he replied, laughter behind each word.

      Kelli smiled. It had been a while since they had been able to spend more than an hour or two a day together. Since they had been married, Victor’s assignments had taken him away from their home in Dallas.

      But that was going to change soon.

      It had to.

      “Well, back to the grind. Do you need anything?”

      Kelli pictured the ice cream in the freezer but decided against it.

      “I think I might take a nap. I still don’t feel all that great.”

      Victor gave her forehead another quick kiss. “Nap away, my love.”

      And then he was gone.

      * * *

      MARK TRANTON HAD watched the sun set as he finished his routine perimeter check. He might have had a history of traveling internationally and domestically, but this was the first client to bring him to a lakefront property. If he ever took his vacation time, he might consider coming back to a place like this.

      In the dwindling light, the isolation felt serene.

      He was almost glad that his boss, Nikki Waters, had more or less forced him to take on the weeklong contract with Victor. Even if both Nikki and Victor had said his presence was more for Mrs. Crane’s peace of mind.

      Since the Orion Security Group was in the middle of an expansion—thanks to a large contract completed two months before by Mark’s good friend Oliver—the small company’s caseload had tripled. Even though the closest contract start date was two months away. Including one for which Mark would be traveling to Washington for a three-week commitment.

      Which was why Nikki had said accompanying the Cranes to a family vacation home in North Carolina was “the closest to a vacation” that Mark would take.

      He couldn’t complain.

      They were on day three of the contract, and Victor and his wife had been nothing but pleasant.

      “Are we in the clear?” Victor asked him.

      Mr. Crane was standing in the kitchen, beer in hand, when Mark came back inside and locked the door. There was a lightness to his tone but no disrespect. He might not have shared his wife’s fear for safety, but he didn’t discount Mark’s job. Mark respected him more for that.

      “I think we’d hear or see someone coming a mile away,” Mark answered honestly.

      “This place is kind of off the beaten path, but that’s why I thought it might do Kelli some good.” Victor pulled out another beer from the fridge and started to offer it to Mark but caught himself. He switched out the bottle for water, which Mark thanked him for. Although he could have gotten away with one drink, he wouldn’t. A bodyguard needed to stay alert at all times. No exceptions. “Kelli’s normally not this anxious. But lately some things have happened that have...well, made her more emotional. I just want to keep her from getting all worked up.”

      “That’s nice of you,” Mark said.

      “Well, I feel it’s the least I can do. I’ve been working a little more than I should be.”

      “I can relate to that,” Mark said with a quick smile, even though he loved his job. When he wasn’t given a new client, he asked for one. He’d been working in the private security business since he was twenty-one. It was as much a part of him as the scars on his back and the muscles he had honed as a job requirement. Pretending that overwork bothered him would be just that.

      Pretend.

      “You know what I like about you, Mark?”

      “Aside from my stoic nature?”

      Victor laughed. He seemed always to be laughing.

      “Aside from that, I’d have to say I’m surprised СКАЧАТЬ