Page 29 of Possessive Bodyguard Summer

I shoved the bar back onto the rack harder than I intended.

It was still too fucking early to call Sloane.

Not that sleep meant much in our line of work. If I called, he'd answer before the second ring.

My first instinct was to ask him how the hell he'd missed something this big.

Just as quickly, I knew the answer.

He hadn't.

Monroe's background check would've come back exactly the way she'd said it would. Early childhood education. Good references. No criminal history. No warrants. No reason to believe she was running from anyone.

Kael Mercer was the ghost in the file.

Unless you already knew where to look, men like him had a way of disappearing behind legitimate businesses, shell companies, and other people willing to take the fall.

It wasn't Monroe who'd slipped through the cracks.

It was the monster she'd escaped.

“I thought if I took the job with SBS, I’d be protected, too.”

She'd driven halfway across the country hoping she'd finally found somewhere safe.

Somewhere she could stop looking over her shoulder.

If that motorcycle had anything to do with Kael...someone had just brought the fight to my front door.

I sat there for a moment, staring at the floor.

Kaleigh had never once questioned whether Monroe belonged here, with us.

Not for a second.

And it didn’t take long for Monroe to make herself at home.

She cooked dinner in my kitchen most nights, breakfast on the mornings where I didn’t have time. Dressed up as a fairy princess, and laughed with my daughter overDisneymovies.

She had somehow managed to become Maverick's favorite person on the planet, which still pissed me off a little considering that dog had followed me into places most people would never survive.

And now she thought one mistake from her past meant she could lose all of that.

I pushed to my feet.

Not happening.

My phone buzzed.

I glanced down.

Sloane.

Speak of the devil.

"Wilder."

"You're awake."