Damn. One of the scariest days of his life—he was man enough to admit that now—had been when his mom almost died because she loved him that much.
After his dad had gone back in to the burning house, his parents apparently walked out of it holding hands—holding each other up—but through the smoke and the fire, his mother had methodically searched for her son. A mother’s love.
As Jared had grown up, he’d watched her deal with his antics and rule with an iron fist—and love with a giant heart. She kept the troops—what she called their family, including anyone needing a shoulder to lean on—in line.
So accepting Sugar’s choice of names hadn’t been difficult. She’d tried the name out, slowly saying, “Violet Westin.”
“Violet Lilly Westin,” Jared had said. “For the two strongest women I know.”
Sugar’s decision reached her eyes, and the name had been agreed to before Sugar could even mouth the word “yes” and kiss him.
He took a deep breath, focusing back on the maternity room in front of him.
The baby stirred, and Sugar’s dark-blue eyes drifted open. “I’m going to give this nursing thing a try again.”
Asal, Jenny, and Jared’s mom helped her sit up and futz with pillows as Asher and Jared opened up the food bags. Dad took a food order from his wife and Jenny and Asher and went to grab more cafeteria grub. Asal, apparently done directing her mom on the idiosyncrasies of nursing a newborn, hopped down and grabbed her lunch, pulling a chair to the table and tucking her knees under her as she got comfortable.
“God, I’m talented.” Sugar squealed, and Jared looked over. She nursed the baby while drinking out of a large hospital mug. “Small victories. Don’t knock ’em.”
He tossed a fry into his mouth. “I can’t imagine the complexities happening over there. You just flag for a refill.”
She beamed, and when Violet let loose for a minute, Sugar gave her drink to Jenny, grumbling. “If anyone says this is a piece of cake at first, they can bite my booty.”
Jenny and his mother agreed, and a few minutes later they heard one serious baby belch that could rival a few of the guys on his team. His mom held his newborn, and Jenny snapped pictures. All was right in their world.
“So what else is happening?” Dad asked.
“I’ve hired a few new guys.”
“For the main team?”
Jared nodded. “And I’m expanding Delta. Brock’s taking the lead on that.”
“Good.” Dad turned to Asher. “How about you? Everything still stinks in Washington. Having fun with that? Or about done?”
“Jenny’s about to announce she’s headlining something on Broadway,” Asher replied.
“Ah, the politician deflects.” Dad elbowed Asher good-naturedly.
“I didn’t know that!” Sugar said. “Why didn’t I know?”
“You had things going on. Like a baby.”
“Oh, BS. Asher’s throwing you under the bus. What aren’t you telling us?” Sugar’s eyebrows went up. “You are going to announce your candidacy soon, aren’t you?”
He laughed and shook his head, a dead McIntyre giveaway. “Come on, Sugar. We’re here for you.”
“Yay! This is so exciting.”
Again, Asher shook his head, this time not doing a great job of hiding his pearly-white smile. “Nothing is official.”
“It never is,” Sugar squeaked. “Holy moley. My sister will be First Lady of the United States. Do you know how crazy that is to say out loud?”
“Could be.” Jenny bit her bottom lip. “We’ll see. Things happen.”
Sugar decided to torture her sister later with that. “But you’re headlining Broadway? That’s crazy cool.”
“Way cooler. And a certainty.” Asher threw his arm around Jenny. “She’s amazing.”
Jared backed up and stared at his family. This room was full of impossible dreamers, surpassing what once could have only been a hope and a wish.
A Broadway headliner and a presidential candidate? His wife and children? Behind his family and friends was a group of warriors that he’d brought together for a greater good. Damn. Life was pretty fuckin’ great.
Asal fidgeted in the corner now that her lunch was done and the baby and all of the room’s guests were old news.
Jenny took her hand. “Want to go explore?”
“Yes!”
Asher grabbed a couple things for Asal. “We actually told Mia we’d take Asal out for the afternoon.”
Jared shook his hand. “Thanks.” Then he gave his little girl a kiss and sent her packing. His mom had the baby, who had nestled back asleep in a corner in a chair. His dad grabbed another chair.
“What do you think, Boss Man? Think we can break out of here soon?” Sugar asked.
“You’re raring to go that fast?”
Her blue eyes danced. “I want to get back to our life.”
His heart swelled. “Soon as we get a stamp of approval, we’ll be on our way. I’m good with that.”
“Take as much help from the hospital and nurses as you can while you’re here.” His mom stood, kissed the baby, and gave her to him. “And rest while you can. We’ll come over and help.”
“Thanks.”
Jared repositioned Violet so that he could stare down and watch her sleep. She fit inside his forearm even with the blanket wrapped around her. She was no longer than a football and weighed less than a brick of ammo. Vi-vi was… vulnerable. Precious. She was dependent on Sugar for nutrition, but damn if he wouldn’t provide for everything else.
She opened her little mouth and yawned. Even at full stretch, everything about her was tiny. She had a smattering of dark hair, and when she did open her eyes, they were blue. Jared leaned his head closer. “Hey, Vi.”
More than one person had said newborns didn’t smile after he announced that his daughter smiled at him. But he swore to God that Violet just smiled again.
“Oh, one more thing.” His mom reached into her bag and pulled out a pink-wrapped box. “One more thing. I couldn’t resist.”
The you didn’t have tos were said, and Sugar opened the box. It was a pink-camo onesie with, in military block print, “Titan Princess in Training.”
“Wow, Mom.” He picked up the outfit, running his thumb over the words.
She gave him a knowing look. “Sooner or later, you’ll have to be ready for the next generation of Titan.”
He thought about his teams, the new recruits, the men who’d been with him since day one, the paternity-leave requests, the women who had joined their ranks, and the babies and kids who ran the halls of Titan HQ. “We already are.”
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cristin Harber is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author. She writes sexy, steamy romantic suspense, military romance, new adult, and contemporary romance. Readers voted her onto Amazon's Top Picks for Debut Romance Authors in 2013, and her debut Titan series was both a #1 romantic suspense and #1 military romance bestseller.
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The Titan Series:
Book 1: Winters Heat
Book 1.5: Sweet Girl
Book 2: Garrison's Creed
Book 3: Westin's Chase
Book 4: Gambled
Book 5: Chased
Book 6: Savage Secrets
Book 7: Hart Attack
Book 7.5: Sweet One
Book 8: Black Dawn
Book 9: Bishop’s Queen
The Delta Series:
Book 1: Delta: Retribution
Book 2: Delta: Revenge
The Delta Novella in Liliana Hart’s MacKenzie Family Collection:
Delta: Rescue
The Only Series:
Book 1: Only for Him
Book 2: Only for Her
Book 3: Only for Us
Book 4: Only Forever
Each Titan and Delta book can be read as a standalone (except for Sweet Girl), but readers will likely best enjoy the series in order. The Only series must be read in order.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2016 Cristin Harber
All rights reserved. This book or any portions thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author and publisher except for the use of brief quotations used in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally.
ISBN-10: 1-942236-68-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-942236-68-9
www.CristinHarber.com
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