Full Force Fatherhood

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“What did he take?” he asked, not wanting to think about what might have happened had he not followed them.

Her eyebrow arched. “Nothing,” she answered.

“What?”

She produced her wallet and phone.

“Okay, now that’s lucky right there!”

“Is it?” Kelli’s expression turned skeptical fast. “Why not take anything?” she asked. Opening her wallet, she showed him it was full of cash.

“I must have scared him off.”

“Or—”

Her thought was cut off as a police cruiser pulled up behind them. The officer got out, and Mark went to meet him. This definitely wasn’t how he’d anticipated the night going.

Twenty minutes later, Kelli was ready to go home. The officer took their statements and then went to look at the security footage with the manager. Mark wanted to go, too, but he couldn’t see the reason behind it. Kelli was safe and had her belongings back.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Mark asked as they got to her car. Sudden guilt riddled him. The first time he’d seen her since the fire and she’d been attacked.

“I’m fine,” she said with a kind, polite smile. “Thanks for everything, Mark.”

They didn’t say much more. Just the awkward goodbye two relative strangers exchanged without committing to seeing each other again. Mark watched as she drove away.

He was surprised at how the thought of never seeing her again struck a sour note.

Then, just as the feeling occurred, guilt followed it.

* * *

“I’M FINE.”

It was the second time Kelli had said it within the space of an hour, but this time it was to a very anxious Lynn. Her best friend was sprawled across the couch with a magazine open on her lap, and her eyes were saucers.

“Oh, my God, I can’t believe you got mugged!”

“Hey, quiet. My kid’s trying to sleep,” Kelli warned with a smile. Seeing Lynn so obviously upset was starting to make her calm crack. She was surprised she had even been able to recount the entire story before Lynn interrupted.

“I know she’s asleep,” Lynn said, dropping the volume of her voice. “I’m the one who put her there and read that annoying counting-sheep book to her. Can we just get rid of that thing, by the way? Maybe ‘misplace’ it? Say the Easter Bunny needed it to keep on hopping, or maybe Santa needed it to fight crime or something? I think I’ve read that to her at least a hundred times already.”

Kelli appreciated Lynn’s attempt to calm her with a change of subject. The knotted stress within her lessened. She kicked off her shoes and leaned back into the pillows.

“And risk a never-ending tantrum? No way. I’d rather read it every night than endure one night without it.”

Lynn seemed to reconsider her stance before returning to the topic at hand.

“I still can’t believe you got jumped.” Her face softened, lips turning down. “He could have really hurt you, Kel.”

“I know, but he didn’t.”

Lynn’s eyes slid to the scrape on her cheek. As Kelli had sat in the driveway outside the house, the light from the car mirror had shown her the small wound looked worse than it felt. Which is what Mark had said of his cut. Her thoughts switched to the man.

“I’m just glad Mark saw the guy follow me out,” she admitted out loud. “Do you know he didn’t even have a gun on him? The only weapon he had, he took from the guy.”

Lynn whistled. “He’s got my praise. So how was talking to the bodyguard after all this time? What did he want to talk to you about?” Out of all of the people who had ever stepped into Kelli’s life, Lynn was the one person she’d always confided in without hesitation. From the crush she’d had on Billy Ryan in third grade to that one thing Victor had done in bed, there had never been a wall between them.

Until Kelli had found Victor’s journal and started to investigate.

The urge to tell Lynn of her suspicions had been great, but something had stopped her. Whether that was fear of judgment or embarrassment at making something out of nothing, Kelli wasn’t sure. Regardless, the excuse she’d made to meet Mark had been a lie.

“It was good. Nothing too special, just catching up.” Another lie. Another shot of guilt. “But he’s no longer a bodyguard,” she added, needing a dose of truth to ease her conscience.

“What do you mean?”

“He quit last year.” Nikki had told her that when she had called looking for him.

“Why?”

Kelli shrugged, but she could bet why he’d quit security. She couldn’t ignore the way Nikki had sounded almost sad as she recounted the information.

Lynn switched subjects again. They talked about the latest episode of The Bachelor—which sidetracked them to the topic of Lynn’s new neighbor, who had a “smoking body” but “not so much personality.” Eventually both women’s eyes started to shut, so they said good-night.

“Don’t forget to let that kid of yours know who got sent home from my show,” Lynn said at the door.

“You let her watch it?” Kelli asked, ready to admonish her. Lynn kept walking away with a wave.

“Just tell her it was the guy with the silly shirt. She’ll know what I’m talking about.”

Kelli laughed and shut the door after Lynn was safe in her car. She bumped her hip against the door to make sure it was shut all the way, threw the deadbolt and turned off the porch light. The cold of the hardwood floor made her pause. Moving across town to be closer to Lynn—and in a more affordable place—was definitely a move she needed to make, but...

She placed her hand on the door. It was polished and perfect. It reminded her of Victor picking her up and walking her over the threshold when they first got back from their honeymoon. He had insisted, even though they’d been living together for months.

Memories like that made her heart heavy as she walked through the house.

Heavy with love.

Heavy with loss.

She dropped her hand from the door and let out a long breath. Just because she was leaving didn’t mean she was leaving the memories, too. With a weird ache tearing through her emotions, Kelli decided to go to the one place that often helped soothe the rising grief.

Since Grace’s bedroom was mostly boxed up, the toddler had been sharing the king-size bed with her mom. Though the bed never seemed big enough if Grace got into a good dream. Kelli stood in the doorway and watched as the fair-haired child slept peacefully, unaware of her mother’s tumultuous thoughts. The ache within her began to dissipate.

Without undressing, she climbed into bed next to the girl, wrapping her arms around her. Grace—a snuggler—burrowed closer to her.

You’re okay, Kel. You’ve got all you need right here.

But even as she drifted to sleep, letting go of the hectic night’s worries, Kelli couldn’t help but pinpoint the one fact that felt off about her night’s bad luck.

Why hadn’t the mugger taken anything?

In the haze between wakefulness and sleep, her thoughts went to Victor’s journal, hidden in a box in the kitchen.

Maybe he’d been looking for something more specific.

Chapter Six (#ulink_69f9ff2a-04ef-59c9-bfaa-36d77d8f0e23)

Guilt hung heavy within Mark’s chest. Lying in bed, he couldn’t get the image of Kelli’s scraped cheek out of his head. What was it about the Cranes that nulled his ability to keep them safe? It was a question that had pushed itself to the front of his mind during his cab ride home the night before...and it had still been there when he awoke.

“Get it together, Tranton,” he scolded himself. “The past is the past.” But even as he said it, he knew it wasn’t true. The past had called him back to his favorite bar, asking him to avenge a man who died because of him.

The weather forecast was clear for today, but a storm was in the distance. He could smell the rain as he walked to his small balcony. Drought for months and then nothing but rain. Dallas was consistent with its weather inconsistency.

He moved through his apartment, trying to focus on anything other than last night. It wasn’t working.

“Have you ever had a gut feeling, Mr. Tranton?”

Yes.

That Darwin McGregor wasn’t behind the fire.

But he wasn’t in the business of trusting his gut. Not anymore. Not when it hadn’t even twinged at the cabin that night.

Mark skipped his morning gym session and went straight for the shower. He managed to wipe his mind of any thoughts of the past. So much so that when he got out and looked at himself in the mirror, he took a moment to shave. Jonathan Carmichael would have been proud. Every time they had worked together during their time at Redstone Solutions or the Orion Security Group, he had always commented on Mark’s five-o’clock shadow and lack of neatness. Facial hair hadn’t been a point of fixation for the ex-bodyguard, and that had driven Jonathan a little crazy.

“You look like you’re the one we’re protecting our client from.”

The memory made him snort.

And now I don’t protect anyone.

His hand paused midmotion.

Once he had shaved, he decided Jonathan would’ve approved—he did have to admit it made him look better. He was heading to the bedroom when a knock sounded at the apartment door.

Eyeing the buzzer on the kitchen wall, he quickly went through a list of people already in the building who would want to pay him a visit. He wasn’t pals with any of the tenants, but on occasion he would get asked to watch the game or go out drinking with Craig from the gym. As he walked to the door, towel around his waist, chest still bare, he marveled at the fact that he couldn’t even recall Craig’s last name.

Which was fine, since it was Kelli waiting at the door for him.

“Oh,” he said, opening the door wide from its original cracked position.

“Oh,” she repeated. Her eyes darted up and down his body. He pictured the pair of shorts and shirt on his bed that he probably should have put on before answering the door. “Sorry. Is this a bad time?” she asked, recovering. A slow pink had risen in her cheeks.

“No. I just got out of the shower.” He motioned to the towel that hung low on his hips, just in case the droplets of water across his bare skin and his wet hair weren’t enough proof to make his claim believable.

“Right. Um, could I maybe talk to you for a minute? I promise it won’t take long.”

Mark stepped back and waved her inside, cautious of how loose the towel felt as he moved. After everything they’d been through, he didn’t think flashing Kelli Crane was the best way to start a conversation.

“Make yourself comfortable. Let me go get dressed.”

Kelli nodded and took a seat on the couch, but only on the edge of it. She was uncomfortable, but why? Mark dressed in record time and sat in a chair across from the intriguing young woman, ready to find out.

“Sorry if coming by was too intrusive,” she started. “I may have Googled your number the other night, trying to find your address.” The blush from earlier came back, but not as strong. “I was in the neighborhood, meeting my realtor for some papers, when I realized how close your apartment is. So I decided dropping by might be better than leaving another voice mail.” She gave a little laugh. “Now I see that maybe it was just creepier.”

Mark still wasn’t sure he could sum up how he felt at seeing Kelli again—especially in his apartment, wearing a pair of tight jeans and a form-fitting blouse—but he didn’t feel creeped out in the least. He hadn’t even thought to ask her yet how she’d gotten into the building.

“It’s not creepy,” he admitted. “But I am curious how you got in without buzzing up.”

“A man asked me who I was here to see and waved me in.” Her smile was small. “Said he was worried you hadn’t shown up for the gym that morning.”

He laughed. He really needed to learn Craig’s last name.

“So what’s up?” Mark asked when it was clear she needed a bit of prodding. “Did they catch the mugger?”

Kelli shook her head. “They told me they’d call if they did, but so far, no call. That’s partly why I wanted to talk.” She readjusted in her seat and seemed to take a breath before looking him in the eye. “I wanted to sincerely apologize for everything. I shouldn’t have asked you to meet me after all this time just to spin a paranoid theory about a charity, of all places. I just— I guess I thought I’d accepted—to some degree—what happened to Victor. Finding his journal showed me that maybe I haven’t fully.”

She shrugged, sudden vulnerability showing in each movement. “After I had Grace, I needed to be strong for her—for us—to make it. I suppose I might have buried some feelings rather than faced them. Though creating a conspiracy in my head was probably the wrong route to take.”

Her gray-green eyes took on a new shade as the conversation left the past behind. The vulnerable side of Kelli disappeared with it. The corner of her lips pulled up into a smile. “To apologize for trying to rope you into my crazy, I’d like to invite you to dinner tonight at my house. And before you say yes or no, I should warn you—my best friend, Lynn, will be there, and, of course, Grace. Most of the house is boxed up. So if you’re expecting fancy, you won’t find it there.”

Mark tightened his jaw so his mouth didn’t fall open in surprise. Once again, he hadn’t expected their conversation to go the way it had. Being invited into Kelli’s home to eat with her loved ones? No, he hadn’t seen that invitation coming.

And he didn’t know how to feel about it, either.

“Listen, I appreciate the offer—I really do—but you don’t owe me anything, Kelli. You don’t have to apologize to me.” Ever, he wanted to add.

The blonde’s smile grew. “Now, you listen to me. You saved me last night, and...well, it wasn’t the first time.” She pulled a small piece of paper out of her purse and handed it to him before standing. “I’d really appreciate it if you came, Mark. I’d feel a whole lot better knowing that—after I’d gone a bit crazy—you at least got a good meal out of it.” She started to walk to the door before pausing. “Unless you already had plans? I—I realize I didn’t even ask.” Kelli’s eyes quickly flicked toward the bedroom.

He smiled. “No plans here,” he said.

“Okay, great. Then you really have no excuse not to come.” That made him laugh. Kelli Crane was tenacious.

“Fine,” he replied, copying her playful tone. “I’ll be there with bells and whistles on.”

Kelli’s expression contorted to disgust. “I know that that’s an expression but please, dear goodness, don’t bring bells or whistles into my house. I have a toddler. She will want them and use them until we’ve all gone crazy.”

Mark laughed again and followed her to the door. “Deal.”

Kelli smiled and was gone, leaving him standing in his doorway with the paper in his hand. On it was an address and the starting time of seven. His eyes went back to the house number, and his memory sparked. Guilt undid the fun humor he’d lapsed into with Kelli when he realized she still lived in the same house she’d shared with Victor.