Page 43 of Her Righteous Protector

Absently, she put her hand on Zephyr’s silky curls and he looked up at her. “Is it green light now?”

“Sure, green light, but only to that fire hydrant, then it’s red light. Deal?” He nodded and dashed off.

When Max started walking, she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. “That’s not a very safe job, is it?”

Please let him reassure me.

He glanced over and Hannah followed his eyes. “Zephyr’s fine. He knows the rules.”

“Hannah, I’ve been a SEAL for eleven years. I’m thirty-three years old and I’m a lieutenant. I command a team of men.”

“But how safe is it?”

He sighed. “I’ll admit that it’s not like being a dentist, but I’m good at what I do. You also need to know that there are a lot of SEAL team members who have families.”

“There are?”

“There are.”

She took a breath and walked a little faster to reach Zephyr at the hydrant. “Come on, Honey, let’s get you to the car and get you some lunch. Then it’s going to be time for your nap.”

“Do I have to?” She smiled down at those big gray eyes that melted her heart each time.

“Yeah, you do. But tell you what, how about some SpaghettiOs?”

His eyes lit up. “Dealio!” He turned to Max and grabbed his hand. “We’re going to have SpagO’s. You’ll love ‘em. Hurry up, we’ve got to go home.”

“Sounds great, Zeph.”

Eleven years. Okay, maybe the job was safer than it looked in the movies.

14

Zephyr hadn’t wanted to go down for a nap when Hannah had gotten home from her mom and dad’s, but she’d finally convinced him. Max could tell the boy didn’t know how to take him—was he a friend or foe? He and Hannah had been waiting for the DNA tests to come back before telling him that he was his dad, but having ‘Hannah’s friend’ staying for a couple of nights made it confusing for the kid. But, it did answer a question Max had; it seemed like neither Meggie nor Hannah had brought over men to spend the night. Not that it should have mattered. It shouldn’t have, for fuck’s sake. But Max was honest enough with himself to admit it did.

Hannah was in her studio when the text came through, telling Max what he’d already known—Zephyr was his child. He knocked on her open door and she looked up at him from her large computer screen, her ponytail flying.

“Hmmm?” He could tell she was lost in thought. The other-worldly landscape that covered her screen was amazing.

“The text came through,” Max said.

“Huh?”

“The DNA test. We can tell Zephyr the truth,” Max said as he walked up to her desk.

Her eyes focused and she smiled. “Thank God. Max, he’s known something’s been up. I’m so glad we can finally tell him.”

Then her hands hit her desk with a thud, her smile vanishing.

Max whipped around her desk and crouched down. “What?”

She shook her head and kept looking at her hands.

“Hannah, we’re in this together. You’ve got to let me know.”

She sucked in a deep breath then looked up at the open door. He caught on immediately and went to shut it. He didn’t want Zephyr walking in on their talk. “Tell me,” he prompted as he leaned against the closed door.

She looked up at him from under her lashes. She spoke quietly. “We’ve been in limbo, waiting for the test. At least I have.”