After dressing, he slipped his wallet and keys into his pocket, then picked up his phone. Sometime during the night, two texts had come through. He touched the icon. Both were from the same unknown number.
His chest tightened. Who would text him in the middle of the night from an unknown number?
He touched the screen again to bring up the messages. The first was short—Sleeping well? The simple question held a sinister undertone.
The second text was an all-out threat—Instead you should be watching your back.
He struggled in a constricted breath, the sense of being watched so powerful it almost paralyzed him. He’d had the same personal cell number for years. It was private, known only to friends and family.
But Perez had a long reach, with control over people in high places. And he used those connections to strike terror into the hearts of his victims.
Colton spurred his legs to action, his phone still gripped in one white-knuckled fist. He needed to wake up Jasmine so she could be alert and armed. Or maybe they should all get in the Highlander and run.
Outside Liam’s room, he skidded to a stop. He needed to get a grip. He knew Perez well enough to know how he worked. When he was ready to strike, it would be without warning.
When Brutus plodded into the kitchen, Colton led him to the front and disarmed the alarm. After letting the dog out, he started the coffeepot. He’d nurse his two cups while enjoying his morning prayer and Bible reading. Then he’d make breakfast.
Paige would be arriving around the time he’d have to leave. The thought sent conflicting emotions tumbling through him—guilt over allowing his friend to put herself in possible danger, and relief that she’d be here backing up Jasmine.
Paige was right. She could hold her own. He hadn’t seen her in action, but he’d heard enough stories to know she wasn’t bluffing.
He added some flavored creamer to his coffee and headed into the living room. Before moving to his favorite chair, he stepped on the floor switch at the other end of the room, and the lights blanketing the Christmas tree’s branches woke up. He didn’t know about Jasmine, but Liam was enjoying the tree. Colton was, too. The decorations lent warmth and cheer to the house, qualities that were augmented by Jasmine’s presence.
He settled into his chair and clicked on the floor lamp. His Kindle sat on the end table next to him, but his Bible reading would wait a few minutes.
Tipping back his head and closing his eyes, he thanked God that Paige would soon be on her way over.
And he thanked God for sending Jasmine.
Both to protect him and his son and to help them heal.
And since God had sent her, he asked Him to also help them pick up the pieces when it was time for her to leave.
* * *
Pleasant aromas drifted into the room, and Jasmine opened her eyes. Light seeped in around the Captain America curtains, too bright to be the first glimpse of daybreak.
She bolted upright with a gasp, searching out the clock. It was just past 7:30. Liam was still asleep, curled on his side with one thumb in his mouth, his other arm wrapped around his little rabbit. The bedroom door was closed. Colton must have shut it so he wouldn’t disturb her.
After gathering a change of clothes, along with her vest and holster, she eased the door open. The scent of breakfast hit her full force. Colton stood in front of the stove, pushing scrambled eggs around a skillet with a wooden spoon. Contents of another pot simmered on the small back burner. Several pieces of fried bacon sat on a paper-towel-lined plate.
Jasmine leaned against the doorjamb, not ready to announce her presence. She was used to the professional Colton, dressed in a suit, heading out to continue his fight for justice. And she’d seen him in the role of father numerous times.
But watching the domestic Colton move about the kitchen preparing breakfast for her and his son warmed her inside. The problem with that warmth was how longing always followed, the desire for things that were out of her reach. At least with the man in front of her.
“Brutus is outside?”
Colton turned, brows lifted in surprise. “I let him out as soon as I got up.”
“I’m getting dressed, then taking a look around before breakfast.”
“Be careful.” He laid down the spoon and pulled his phone from his pocket.
She hesitated. There was a stiffness to his movements. “Is everything okay?”
Instead of answering, he touched the screen a couple times and handed her the phone.
She skimmed the words, her tension increasing with each one. “You should have woken me up.”
“I started to, then decided to let you get your rest.” He returned to his breakfast preparations. “He’s still playing with me. If this is Perez, that’s how he works. He’s an expert in fear and manipulation.”
“It’s disconcerting he has your cell number.”
Leaving Colton in the kitchen, she headed toward the bathroom off the side of the living room. It was a full bath rather than a partial, but instead of a tub/shower combo, it had one of those small walk-in shower units. But it was her own space. Much more comfortable than sharing the larger master bath with Colton.
Two minutes later, she emerged dressed in jeans, boots and a sweater, her bulletproof vest hidden beneath and her holster affixed to her belt. She crossed the living room and looked out one of the front windows. From her vantage point, no one was there. All was still under a gloomy, gray sky. Brutus was apparently around one of the sides or in the back. As she watched, a gust swept through, blowing dead leaves across the yard.
She lifted her heavy coat from the hook by the door, slipped into it and walked outside, locking the door behind her. After scanning her surroundings, she moved down the steps. Before she reached the bottom, Brutus appeared at the corner of the house, body rigid with tension. He immediately relaxed and bounded up to her.
She bent to pet him. She wasn’t letting down her guard, but if anyone was out there, Brutus would have let her know. He seemed to share her constant state of alertness. She straightened. Her rounds would be abbreviated this morning, since Colton would be ready for breakfast once he’d gotten Liam up.
She released a sigh. She’d told Colton that Liam was an easy kid to love. That was exactly what had happened. She’d fallen in love with the sad little boy.
But she was trying hard to keep her distance from Liam’s handsome, hurting father, no matter how much her heart wanted to do otherwise. Colton and Liam needed stability, something she would never be able to provide.
Her own history proved it. From her mom’s string of boyfriends who screamed curses and slapped her around to her own failed relationships, anything more than friendship never turned out well. Even her latest. Although she’d loved Zach, she’d had to admit that her relationship with him wasn’t much less dysfunctional than the others.
Colton deserved better. Someday, someone as amazing as Mandy would walk into his life. When that happened, she hoped he’d be ready. For both his sake and Liam’s.
She moved toward the side, gaze scanning the mix of evergreens and mostly bare hardwoods that made up the scenery there. As she did her rounds, Brutus walked beside her.
This assignment was turning out to be a mistake, all the way around. Colton had feared that his little boy would get attached to her. He’d done what he could to make sure that didn’t happen, enrolling him in day care and taking care of Liam himself evenings and weekends.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked. And early this morning, Liam had called her Mommy. Instead of finding the name endearing, she’d felt like she’d been punched in the gut. Colton had turned away, but not before she’d seen the hurt on his face.
During her time in the Gale household, she’d watched Liam take small steps and slowly reengage with his surroundings. In trying to help the little boy heal, she’d thought she was doing a g
ood thing.
Now she knew better. In the end, her involvement would do more harm than good.
Over the past two and a half weeks, Liam had already started viewing her as a mother figure. No matter what she and Colton did, he was only going to get more attached. When the assignment ended, he’d find his little world shattered for a second time.
She followed the back fence, Brutus still walking next to her. Breakfast could wait a few more minutes. She needed to call Gunn. Dom was finished with his assignment. Although he wasn’t ideal for this one, he was a better choice than she was.
Jasmine sighed. She’d never given up on a job, no matter how difficult. She wasn’t a quitter. But this was different. She’d been fighting her attraction toward Colton almost from the moment she’d met him. And she was losing the battle.
But it was more than that. A child’s emotional health was at stake.
She glanced at the house. Colton had opened the curtains over the sink and now stood framed in the window, watching her. He lifted a hand, and she waved back. Her heart squeezed.
When she turned the corner to head toward the front, she pulled her phone from her pocket and brought up Gunn’s cell number. He answered on the second ring.
She skipped the pleasantries. “I’m the wrong person for this job. You need to put Dom on it.”
“Two and a half weeks ago, you showed Mr. Gale you were the right person for the job. Did something change?”
“It’s not Colt—Mr. Gale. It’s his son.”
“You’re letting a three-year-old run you off?” Gunn’s tone held barely restrained humor.
She heaved an exasperated sigh. “It’s not like that at all. Liam is precious.”
“And what about his father?”
“He’s...fine.” Several other adjectives flitted through her mind, but she wasn’t about to pass any of those along to Gunn. If her former commander had any inkling of the feelings she was developing for her client, she’d never hear the end of it.
Gunn was only twelve years her senior, but too often, he tried to slip into a father role. He’d been there when Zach was killed and over the following months had helped her come to grips with it. She owed him a lot.
But as well as he knew her, sometimes he was totally off base. Just because he’d been happily married for most of his adult life didn’t mean she was cut out for a stable relationship.
She pulled her thoughts from Colton and focused on his son. “Less than seven months ago, Liam lost his mother. Now he’s getting attached to me.” She paused, closing her eyes. “He called me Mommy.”
“You’re worried that the boy is getting attached to you, but it sounds like that’s already happened. What does his father think?”
“He hasn’t said.”
“And he hasn’t spoken with me, either. If he’s worried about it, he’ll give me a call. Until then, I think you might be exactly where you need to be.”
She tightened her hand around the phone. Gunn was probably thinking he’d found her a ready-made family. Another example of him believing he knew what was best for her when he had no clue.
“You’re not old enough to be my father, so stop trying to act like one.”
The clipped tone obviously didn’t annoy her boss. Instead of a reprimand, she got good-natured laughter. She reached the end of the front fence and headed toward the house. Beside her, Brutus stiffened, then shot away.
“Gotta run.” She ended the call with Gunn and hurried after the dog, weapon drawn.
Brutus had stopped at the back fence and stood staring into the woods. The hair on his back was raised, and a low growl rumbled in his chest.
“What is it, boy? Do you see something?”
She scanned the woods, but whatever he’d seen was gone.
Finally, Brutus relaxed. Jasmine had just started to walk away when a loud rustle sounded nearby. She spun, swinging her weapon around. Two squirrels chased each other along the outside of the fence and up a nearby pine.
She released a nervous laugh, scratching the back of Brutus’s neck. “We’re going into fight mode over a couple of squirrels.”
She shook her head and walked toward the house. When she entered the kitchen, Colton already had Liam dressed and in his high chair and was dishing up their plates. He turned and gave her a half smile that was in direct conflict with the worry in his eyes. “Everything okay out there?”
“Yeah. Brutus’s meltdown was nothing more than a couple of squirrels playing.”
After an especially somber breakfast, Colton disappeared into the master bedroom, then returned ready for work, blond hair combed into soft layers. He’d already been wearing his suit pants and long-sleeved dress shirt. Now a jacket and tie completed the ensemble.
Her heart stuttered. It wasn’t just his good looks. It was the whole scenario—the man of the house heading off to work to provide a stable home for his family.
He approached the table, then bent over the high chair to hug and kiss his son. Suddenly she wanted one, too—a hug or a kiss. Or both.
Instead, she got a wave and a caution to be careful.
A horn tooted outside and Colton crossed the living room to peer out the front window. “Bryce is here. Paige should be arriving any minute, but I’m still going to close the gate behind me.”
“Sounds good. She’ll let herself in.”
Jasmine spooned the last of the grits into her mouth. When Liam finished, she took him down from the high chair and wiped his hands. Sudden barking set her nerves on edge. Her hand stilled, Liam’s fingers still wrapped inside the washcloth. She straightened, every sense on alert.
Brutus wasn’t letting her know Paige had arrived. Paige would be stopping at the front gate. Brutus was in the back. Maybe what he’d seen before had been a real threat and not simply squirrels.
She moved to the kitchen sink and peered past the edge of the curtain, which Colton had closed. Brutus stood at the back fence staring into the woods. His head and body jerked in time with the barks. He fell silent for several seconds, then resumed the ferocious barking. Judging from his stiff stance, and the way the fur stood up on the back of his neck, the periods between rounds of barking were probably filled with deep-throated growls.
From her vantage point, she couldn’t see anything suspicious. Other than a highly agitated dog. And she couldn’t go out to investigate. Not with Liam inside the house alone.
Letting the curtains fall, she moved into the living room. She’d heard Colton lock the dead bolt with his key but couldn’t ignore the compulsion to double-check. When that was done, she headed back to the kitchen, then into Liam’s room. His window offered the same view as the kitchen one, just a slightly different angle. Whatever Brutus was barking at, she couldn’t see it from inside the house.
Where was Paige? She was supposed to arrive close to the time Colton left. Of course, it was close to the time Colton left. He hadn’t been gone more than five minutes.
When she turned from the window, Liam was standing in the doorway.
“Legos?” His voice sounded so sweet. Knowing his history, every word he spoke warmed her heart.
“Sure, sweetie. You can play with your Legos.”
He picked up the plastic bin and poured its contents onto the bedroom floor. She didn’t know what he planned to make, and she wasn’t going to stay there long enough to find out.
“I’m going to see if Miss Paige is here yet. Call me if you need me, okay?”
Liam didn’t look up from his activities. “Okay.”
She stepped back into the kitchen. Brutus was still barking. It didn’t sound like he’d changed positions, either. The barking was reassuring. If someone came into the yard, he’d just attack. So whoever had him in such an uproar was still outside the fence. And he apparently didn’t have a tranquilizer dart.
She moved into the living
room and peered out one of the front windows. The gate was ajar. Colton would have closed it. And Paige would open it fully so she could park her vehicle in the driveway. Instead, it was open about two feet—just enough for someone to slip through.
Was the commotion in the back a decoy, a way to draw Brutus to the rear fence while someone accessed the house from the front?
Jasmine reset the alarm and put her hand on her weapon. She hadn’t drawn it yet, because she hadn’t wanted to startle Liam. But she was alert and ready.
She scanned the yard, looking for signs of movement. There were plenty of hiding places. Like behind that huge hemlock. But intruders wouldn’t be able to get to the front door without her seeing them. If they broke a window, she’d hear the glass shatter.
She leaned closer to the windowpane. Paige suddenly shot out from behind the hemlock and sprinted the few yards to the driveway. She ran around the Suburban and disappeared from view.
Jasmine disarmed the alarm, then swung open the door and stepped onto the deck, weapon drawn. A man sprang to his feet on the other side of the SUV. A ski mask hid his face, but the eyes peering through the holes were wide.
A second later, Paige was on him, fists swinging. Though the guy tried to block her punches, several found their mark.
Jasmine raised her weapon. “Hands in the air, or I’ll shoot.”
The intruder spun and ran toward the fence. Three steps later, Paige tackled him, and they both disappeared from view, the vehicle blocking them.
Jasmine hesitated. The man Paige had tackled wasn’t the only threat. Someone else was in back. Maybe they intended to lure her away from the house so Liam would be unprotected.
It wasn’t going to work. As concerned as she was for Paige’s safety, she wasn’t going to abandon her responsibility to Colton’s little boy.
Several seconds passed before she realized that Brutus had stopped barking. Except for some thumps and grunts from the other side of the vehicle, the morning was eerily quiet.
Bodyguard for Christmas Page 9
