Page 3 of Possessive Bodyguard Summer

Before I could stop her, she snapped off a corner and handed it to him.

Traitor.

"Maverick already ate."

“Him still looks hungry,” she shrugged.

I tipped my head back and stared at the ceiling.

I'd negotiated with village elders in Afghanistan who were less stubborn than my four-year-old.

I finished tucking Kaleigh’s sandwich into a baggy, then into her lunch box, and reached for the plate of scrambled eggs I’d left warming on the stove, sliding them across the island to my daughter.

“Donotfeed your eggs to Mav, kiddo.”

Kaleigh gave me that trademark smirk that I’d seen on my own face when I looked in the mirror.

“I mean it. Eat your breakfast,” I warned before reaching for my coffee mug. The black liquid had already gone cold. Again.Oh well.I drank it anyway.

“Daddy?”

I raised a brow. “Hm.”

“Miss Marcie said she can’t come anymore.”

“I know, baby girl.”

“Who’s going to watch me after school?” she asked with a mouth full of eggs. "Who's gonna stay with me when you go to work?"

“Please don’t talk with food in your mouth.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. "And I’m figuring it out.."

For the last two years, my entire life had revolved around one mission—being the father Kaleigh deserved.

After retiring from the Marines, I traded deployments for preschool pickup and play dates, tactical briefings for bedtime stories, and early morning PT for learning how to braid hair. Making up for missing out on the first two years of her life, and trying to make up for the fact that Kaleigh’s mother decided a newborn was just too much to handle.

Guess that was what I got for thinking with my dick and getting involved with a woman I barely knew, while also being dumb enough to believe her when she said she was on the pill.

Thatwas my only regret.

But if I’d never gone out that night with the sole purpose of getting my dick wet, I wouldn’t have my daughter.

I was scared shitless when I found out her mother was pregnant, but the moment I got to hold Kaleigh in my arms, my life changed for the better. That was the best fucking day of my life, as was every day after.

Since retirement, I’d been here for every scraped knee, every nightmare, every swimming lesson. My awful braiding skills had gotten better, and I’d learned how to use a curling iron for those perfect ringlets she needed for her dance recitals.

And I loved every minute. But I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that there was a tiny piece of me that felt like something was missing.

The camaraderie. The rigorous routine and hard work. At least, adifferentkind of hard work, because parenting wasn’t exactly easy. Most nights I fell into bed exhausted.

Then Sloane Archer had called me about coming to work for him at Sunbreak Security, and I said yes almost immediately, only for reality to come crashing in when I realized there was no way in hell I could sign up to protect anyone if I didn’t have someone at home that I could trust to protect my entire world.

My cell phone buzzed on the counter.

Sloane Archer

Speaking of the devil,I laughed to myself.

“Wilder,” I answered.