Olivia stood in the water and watched him disappear. Then she slowly came up to the deck and fell into a chair, sinking so far down that she was barely on the seat at all.
“What’s the matter?”
“I want Vincent to play with me.”
“He’s on the phone.”
“I know. But can’t he ignore the phone for a little while? Who is Megan anyway? Is she his girlfriend?”
“No, baby. She’s his boss.”
Olivia’s eyes lit just a little. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Can cousins get married?”
I nearly spit the coffee I’d just sipped. I sat up straighter and stared at my daughter.
“What?”
“Can cousins get married?”
“Olivia—”
“I like Vincent. Do you think he likes me, too?”
“I think he adores you.”
“Do you think he’d wait for me? We could get married when I turn thirteen.”
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Or maybe I wanted to sob. I wasn’t quite sure.
“Vincent is a grown man, Olivia. And you’re a child.”
“But I won’t be a child forever.”
“No. But when you get older, you’ll find someone else, someone closer to your age.”
“But I want Vincent to stay. I want him to be my friend forever.”
“That might not be possible. But you don’t have to get married to be friends forever.”
Olivia sat up a little straighter. “Sara said her mom married her new husband because they were friends and they wanted to be friends forever.”
“That’s just Sara’s mom’s way of explaining why she divorced her dad.”
“Oh.” Olivia looked toward the side of the house where Vincent had disappeared. “How come we don’t have any other family? Vincent has a brother and two sisters and a mom and dad. But all I have is you.”
“Is that so bad?”
“No. But it would be cool if I had a brother to play with.”
“You want a brother? What about a sister?”
“That’d be cool, too.”
I laughed. “You are an interesting kid. You know that?”
“But seriously…”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, baby. It’s just the luck of the draw sometimes. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters.”
“What about my grandma and grandpa?”
We’d talked about this before, but it was several years ago. Olivia didn’t seem to remember what I’d told her. I wasn’t even sure what I’d told her.
“My dad left the family when I was young.”
“Like my dad?”
It was like someone had just emptied a pot of boiling water over my head. I could feel my cheeks flush, and I could feel heat prickling just under my scalp.
“Olivia…”
“Hey, where’d my swim partner run off to?”
Vincent suddenly asked, sneaking up behind Olivia and tickling her sides. She laughed, leaning back into him for a minute before jumping out of the chair and racing for the stairs.
“I’ll beat you!”
“Thank you,” I mouthed to him. He winked, then chased after Olivia.
I took the food and dishes into the kitchen and washed up, putting everything back to where we’d found it. Then I just sort of wandered around the house, wondering about the woman who owned the place. One of the production assistants recommended Dragon Security when she overheard me talking about the weird letters I was getting. She said that it was owned by a former Marine and that she hired only ex-military. She said that an actress she worked with a lot had gotten similar letters and they made the guy stop. But that, other than the fact that they had good reviews on Yelp and didn’t have any bad marks on the Better Business Bureau’s website, was all I knew about her when I first called them. Megan had explained the way her agency worked, but I knew nothing about her personal life.
Did she share this house with someone? Did she have someone to go to every night? Did she have children? Did she spend her holidays around a big family table? Did she know what love felt like?
There were few pictures in the house. Very little in the way of personal belongings. However, we had respected the master bedroom and stayed away from it. I was curious, but not enough to invade her personal space.
To be honest, I was curious because of how she looked yesterday morning when she came to the hotel. There was a weariness about her that was familiar. And the way she looked at Vincent as she explained the situation to him…there was something about it. A sadness that spoke to my experiences. It made me wonder how a woman who could afford a house like this could seem so unhappy.
But, again, I could afford this house—probably—and my life wasn’t exactly all champagne and chocolates.
I guess money didn’t automatically make everything better. It’d given me the opportunity to give Olivia the kind of life I’d wanted when I was a child, but it didn’t make life any easier. It didn’t make what I did for the money any easier to live with, but it made looking into my daughter’s eyes much easier.
To a certain degree.
Olivia came running into the house, laughing.
“Vincent is racing me to the showers. He said the first one who is clean and ready to go gets to pick where we have lunch.”
She was breathless and running so fast that she barely missed stubbing her toe on the doorframe. But she made it and she was in the shower before Vincent even appeared at the back door. He was wet, and there was sand stuck to one arm and most of his back.
“Did she come through here?”
“She did. And I think she won your little bet.”
He smiled, a cocky smile that said more than any words he might have tried to give life to at that moment. And then his eyes moved slowly over me, and he quickly sobered.
“We’re going home?”
He nodded. “They put in the security system.”
“Good.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and regarded me from under those impossibly long eyelashes. “They still don’t have a clue who did this. He didn’t leave a single fingerprint, and there were no shoe prints, or anything else that might help identify him. But Megan has a couple of guys working on it, and she hopes they’ll figure this out pretty soon.”
“As long as Olivia’s safe.”
“I’ll make sure.”
I knew I could trust him. The memory of his touch was still so warm in my mind. I knew he would protect Olivia no matter what happened. And that was all that really mattered to me.
Chapter 10
Vincent
We pulled up to a small diner along the side of the highway, Olivia bouncing on the seat behind us.
“They have sundaes, Mommy!”
“Okay, baby. But you have to have something halfway healthy first.”
“Like what?”
“Like a sandwich. A bowl of fruit, maybe.”
“Okay.”
We climbed out of the car, Olivia insinuating herself between Quinn and me as we walked to the front doors. But Quinn stopped short, chewing on her lips as she read something on the door.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her eyes focusing on me as much as Olivia. “We can’t eat here.”
“Why not?” Olivia demanded, a little bit of a whine to her voice.
Quinn pointed to a sign on the door. “They use peanut oil. You know I’m allergic.”
“But can’t you just eat some fruit?”
“You know that the oil gets into everything, baby. We’ve had this conversation before.”
“But you have your medicine.”
“I don’t, actually.”
“She’s right, Olivia,” I said, leaning down and scooping her up into my arms. “We can’t eat anywhere unsafe.”
“But you said I could choose where we had lunch today.”
“I did. But you’ll have to choose another place, okay?”
I carried her back to the SUV and deposited her on the backseat even as she started naming off restaurants she’d like to go to instead of this one. Then I turned to Quinn.“I didn’t know you had a peanut allergy.”
“Yeah. It’s not as bad as it could be, but eating something that’s drenched in peanut oil can make my throat swell up in seconds.”
“Good to know.”
I helped her into the car, my hand lingering on her hip. She smiled at me, this smile that made promises I hoped she would keep once we settled back at her place.
A man could hope, right?
We ended up eating at a national fast food chain, gobbling hamburgers and sharing a massive ice cream sundae with fudge sauce mixing with the caramel sauce in the melting ice cream. Olivia fell asleep fifty miles from the house, her face flush with all the excitement of the last few days.
“It’s amazing how much noise one little person can make.”
Quinn chuckled. “You should have known her when she was a baby. She babbled non-stop.”
“I believe it.”
We pulled into the driveway of Quinn’s house. The lights in the house next door went off almost the second we pulled in, almost as if the person living there had been watching and had seen us pull in. It was a little creepy. Or maybe I was just watching for creepiness.
I lifted Olivia into my arms and carried her up to the house as Quinn unlocked the front door. The alarm immediately beeped.
“Megan said the temporary code was 1-2-3-4.”
Quinn quickly typed it in and the beeping stopped.
“We can change that, right?”
“Of course. There should be instructions there on the table.”
Quinn picked up the little book while I carried Olivia upstairs. She woke the moment I lay her on her bed.
“Are we home?”
“We are.”
She sat up. “Are you going to stay with us a little longer, Vincent?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t want you to leave yet.”
“I won’t.”
She crawled into my lap and lay her head against my shoulder. I pulled her close, pressing my lips to her temple. Sydney used to talk about having kids. She would insist that I’d be a great dad even though I didn’t agree. She even told me that she hoped our first was a girl because she could see me cuddling with a little girl, loving her just the way I was loving Olivia right now.
It hurt, that memory. It didn’t feel right for me to be living out even a small bit of our dreams together without Syd.
Quinn tapped on the door.
“Someone’s here to see you.”
“Me?”
She nodded, coming over to slip Olivia from my arms. “Let’s get ready for bed,” she told the child, even as she studied me over the top of her head.
I bounded down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Standing just inside the foyer was Cole Bradford.
“Brother!”
We greeted each other with one of those enthusiastic bro hugs, the kind where we sort of pat each other’s backs as we shake hands.
“What are you doing here?”
Cole buried his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Megan sent me.”
“She wants her keys back?”
“No. She wanted me to give you a heads up. I’m to watch over Olivia from here on out, until we can find whoever’s doing this.”
“Olivia?”
“Take her to school. Hang out, watch the place for anyone taking the wrong sort of interest in her. Bring her back here and hang out until you get home.”
“Why now?”
Cole shifted slightly. “She’s concerned because of what happened here Friday. She doesn’t want Ms. Smith’s stalker to go after her daughter.”
“She thinks that’s possible?”
“Anything’s possible.”
“I didn’t realize you still worked for Dragon.”
Cole smiled. “Yeah, well, I don’t. But Megan thought it would be better for me to do this than one of her other guys. They tend to be a little…intimidating.”
“And you’re better?” I laughed a little. “Does your sister know you well?”
“Things have changed since I last saw you, Vince. Having a woman and a baby in my life…it has a way of softening the rough edges, you know?”
“I never imagined you settled down with one girl.”
“You can’t have the monopoly on monogamy, brother.” Cole slapped me on the shoulder. “How are you doing with all that, anyway? Her folks still causing you heartache?”
I didn’t particularly want to talk about it. The truth was, I’d gotten a letter in the mail just the day before Megan put me on Quinn’s case. They still wanted justice. If they couldn’t get it through the legal system, they were going to find a way to get it. The letters came once a week, sometimes twice, letters describing exactly what circle of hell I belonged in. What they didn’t realize was that I was already there.
“We could hire a lawyer. Get them to back off.”
I shook my head. “It gives them an outlet. I wouldn’t want to take that from them.”
“Vincent, what happened was an accident. Surely they would understand that if you told them.”
I didn’t want to talk about it, especially since I heard Quinn’s footsteps coming down the stairs.
“She wants you to come up and read a story,” she said, as she came around the curve in the stairwell. She stopped when she saw that Cole was still there.
“Quinn Smith, this is Cole Bradford.”
“Bradford? As in Megan Bradford?”
“My sister.”
Quinn shot a glance at me as she crossed the room to shake Cole’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Bradford.”
“Cole, please.”
“Cole.”
“He’s come to let us know that Megan has assigned him to watch over Olivia until all of this is over.”
“What?” A stricken look came over Quinn’s face. “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere.”
“Megan just wanted someone on Olivia who was separate from Vincent’s assignment to you,” Cole explained. “The break in on Friday seems to be an escalation, and because the pictures the stalker sent you were taken at Olivia’s school, she thought it wouldn’t hurt to have someone watch over Olivia constantly. Plus, it will free Vincent up so he can concentrate only on you during the day.”
“The thing is,” Quinn said slowly, looking from Cole to me, “my daughter doesn’t know what’s going on. She thinks Vincent is a cousin of mine.”
Cole’s eyebrows rose. “Well, you can tell her whatever you’re comfortable with. But make sure you tell her something by morning because I’ll be here at seven.”
He tapped his fist to mine, said polite goodbyes to Quinn, and disappeared out the front door.
Quinn immediately went to the security system’s pad and typed in the code to set it.
“He’s your friend from the military?”
“Yes.”
“The one who saved your life a couple of times?”
“The same.”
She studied my face, concern still etched into every line. I crossed to her and took her hands in mine.
“I trust Cole. He’ll keep Olivia safe.”
“I believe you.”
“But?”
She stared at a spot on my chest as though there was something profound written there.
“Quinn?”
“I’m just…it’s my job to keep my child safe. I hate that we have to put her through this. That I’m putting her through this.”
“This is not your fault. This is because some asshole became obsessed with you. You cannot control other people.”
“But she’s my child. She has nothing to do with this.”
I ran my hand over the side of her face. “She’ll be okay.”
She stepped back, a little groan slipping from between her lips. “I better go talk to her before s
he goes to sleep.”
I followed her up the stairs and stood just inside the door as she settled on the bed beside Olivia.
“Is it story time?” Olivia asked.
“In a way.” Quinn took her hand. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Am I in trouble?”
I could see the tension rippling across Quinn’s shoulders as she asked that question.
“No, baby,” she said, leaning close to kiss Olivia’s cheek lightly. “I just…do you remember when I told you that Vincent was my cousin and that’s why he’d come to stay with us?”
Olivia’s eyes shot to me, the same fear that I’d seen in her mother’s eyes washing over her expression.
“He’s not?”
“He’s a professional bodyguard. He came here to protect us.”
“From what?”
Quinn couldn’t answer. I could see it on her face. She couldn’t come up with a lie that was good enough. I crossed the room and stood behind her, laying a hand gently on her shoulder.
“Your mom has lots of friends at work and one of them got a little mad at her and he’s been sending her letters that aren’t very nice.”
“You mean the people she makes movies with?”
Quinn’s head shot up. “What?”
“The movies you make.”
“How do you know…?”
“Someone at my old school told me. He said you make movies for grownups. He was really impressed.”
Quinn glanced at me, completely bewildered. “One of your classmates? One of your third-grade classmates?”
“Yeah. Bobby Thomas. You remember him?”
Quinn just shook her head.
“Are you staying a long time, Vincent?”
“Until the police figure out who this guy is.”
“Well, I hope it takes a long time.”
She jumped off the bed and ran into my arms. I lifted her up and cradled her against my chest for a long minute, meeting Quinn’s eyes over her head.
“Listen,” Quinn said, coming to stand in front of me, “Vincent’s friend, Cole, is going to take you to and from school from now on. Is that okay?”
“Why not you?” Olivia asked, looking into my eyes.
“So that I can stay with your mom. But I’ll be here every night.”
She studied my face for a second. “Will you tuck me in at night?”
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