Dangerous Rescue - Linzi Baxter Page 0,44

all the sense in the world. “I never hid you from Mia. That wasn’t my intention. And I told her stories so she felt like she knew you.”

He took the photo off the wall and studied it. Six years could change someone drastically. His sandy-blond hair, which had been short, was on the longer side now. Before, he’d been skinny, barely able to keep a few pounds on. Now his muscles filled out his shirt.

“I know I’ve said it before, but thank you,” he said.

“You’re welcome. Now, why don’t you pack some more of Mia’s clothes while I take care of mine.”

They walked down the hall covered in photos of her and Mia. So much time had passed. He’d missed out on his daughter's life.

Siena pushed open a pink door. His daughter’s room was covered in pink and silver glitter. Hudson couldn’t wait for her to decorate a room in his house. Maybe it was time to start looking for another place since Kaiden would be done with school soon and want to be on his own. For the past year, he’d thought about asking one of his teammates if they wanted to move in together, but now he had choices to make. And he needed to talk more with Siena.

He grabbed a pink bag off the floor and threw it open. Hudson had no clue what the girl needed, so he dumped the contents of a few of her drawers into the bag and closed it. It would be more than enough clothes for her and Siena during their stay. Next to the bed was another pink bag, which he filled with stuffed animals and a few books off the shelf.

Kaiden had been in middle school when Hudson started to take care of him. When he was younger, Hudson had been so locked into his career that he hadn’t spent much time visiting his nephew and didn’t get to read him books, but that was going to change. He would spend as much time as possible with his daughter.

“Oh, how much do you think she needs?” Siena laughed.

“You told me to pack her bag, and I did. We don’t know how long everything is going to take to settle. Honestly, I like you guys at my house. I missed so many years, and I don’t want to miss anymore.”

“She grows so fast.” Siena grabbed two more books from the shelf and another stuffed animal.

“Mia isn’t the only one that I’ve missed over the years, Siena.”

She nodded but wouldn’t look him in the eye. “We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”

“Yes,” he said dryly. He carried the bag out of the room and grabbed the other one out of her hand. “We don’t need to settle it all in one sitting. It’s going to take time to work everything out and for you to trust me again.”

“I trust you with my safety and our daughter’s.”

“Your safety isn’t the only thing I want you to trust me with, Siena. I know what I did years ago was a dick move. I don’t expect you to forgive me overnight, but the last mission went badly, and I had time to think about what’s important. Don’t get me wrong. I thought before how much I missed you, but fuck…” He let out a breath. “We aren’t going to solve our problems in the hallway on an empty stomach. Let’s go eat and see if we can figure out the week.”

“I’m starving,” she said.

He followed her down the hall and set the bags by the door. When he walked into the kitchen, she was taking their food out. “Where are the plates?”

She motioned to the cupboard next to her. He was reaching for a plate when he heard her gasp, and then her fingers ran along the backside of his arm. He winced as she pushed on the bruise. It wasn’t the only one he’d gotten from the fight.

“What happened?”

“Nothing on the mission went as planned. We encountered a few rebels.” No way was he going to tell her the team had turned on him and Scar. Cy had found intel on that. Rock wasn’t only turning the girls over to the rebels—he had planned to trade Hudson for a large sum of money as well.

Years before, Hudson had worked on a mission that didn’t go well. The daughter of a small terrorist group’s leader had died in the raid. The man had spent the last seven years hunting down each of