More Than Protect You (More Than Words #6.5) - Shayla Black Page 0,28
“Now you answer me.”
“I don’t need someone to tell me what to do, and I resent my brother oversimplifying. I don’t think he means to be sexist or dismissive. He just doesn’t understand. What I want is a helpmate, a true lover in every sense of the word. Someone I can talk to, confide in. And…someone who will help protect me if there’s a storm, so to speak.”
Clearly, Barclay wasn’t that man. “Exactly. And for the record, no. I don’t think you need a ‘daddy.’ I think you need what I’m aching to give you.”
“I’m not looking for someone to run my life or tell me what to do,” she warns.
“I know, Mandy. You want someone who will be there if you need him.” I brush my knuckles down her cheek, wanting to touch her so much more. “I can be that someone.”
“I almost believe you. Are we crazy?”
“Maybe.”
“You’re not gun-shy from your divorce? It’s not even final and—”
“It was final in every way but legally a long time ago. I’ve been ready to move on, and I’ve been searching. I think I stopped searching when I met you.”
“I want to believe you…” But she’s been burned—badly.
“I know. Wait here.”
I push away from the kitchen counter and trek down the hall, into the little office beside the master. After stepping over the inflatable mattress, I rifle through my duffel until I pull out the thick envelope, then head back to the kitchen. “Got a pen?”
She rummages through the drawers until she finds one and hands it to me with a curious stare.
I open the envelope, unfold the thick pages of the divorce decree, then press the pen everywhere I see a tape flag, signing my name and ending my marriage for good. “Unlike Barclay, when I tell you the marriage is over, I don’t mean that figuratively. I’m absolutely serious. These papers go in the mail tomorrow. Once the judge processes them, Ellie and I will officially be exes. Did Barclay Reed ever even try to divorce his wife?”
“No. He said he would, but…she ended up trying to divorce him.”
“I’ll never lie to you. I just want a chance to give you what you need.”
“Why?”
“Because I think you can give me what I need in return.”
Amanda reaches for me, then seems to think better and pulls her hand back. “I have to think about it.”
“Sure.”
She frowns. “What are you going to tell my father tomorrow?”
“To fu—” I see the iPad on the tile, forgotten, and Oliver still blinking up at us—“I mean, to pound sand.”
“Really? Even without knowing if I’ll choose you?”
“Yep. No matter what you decide.” I cup her cheek. “I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t pick me. I’m broke and between businesses. I’m—”
“A seemingly good, honest man. And if you’re everything I think you are, then I’d be a fool to turn you down.”
“So don’t.”
She looks up at me. Her mysterious expression tells me her feelings run deep…but I can’t read what they are. “Let me think. I’ll let you know when I decide.”
Chapter Six
As we finally finish the online grocery order and arrange a pick-up time, Oliver gets restless and cranky. We feed him the sliced turkey Masey left, along with some baby carrots. While Amanda cleans up after him and tries to soothe his fussy grunts and cries, I attack the crib Griff brought, glad I only need minimal tools, which he lent me, to assemble it.
Twenty minutes later, Amanda makes up the baby bed with clean sheets, then sets him in the master closet. “It’s cooler and quieter in here, which helps him sleep.”
She plugs in a nightlight just outside, in the adjoining bathroom, then leaves the master bedroom door cracked behind her. “We should be good for an hour or two.”
“I think you’re hidden here, at least temporarily. But have you given any thought to the idea that Oliver might be safer elsewhere?”
“There are a lot of pros and cons, no matter where he is.”
“Sure, but let’s be honest. No one is after him; they’re after you.”
She fidgets like she knows I’m right and hates to admit it. “Even so, I think keeping him with me is best for both of us.”
I’m not his mom, so I can’t argue her choice but… “Even though he’s more of a target with you?”
“No one else will risk everything to keep him safe the way I will.”
Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, she clearly doesn’t expect her family or friends to put their lives on the line