Santa Assignment

It was a dare, another gauntlet. And this time, it worked. Brayden lifted his head, turned and nailed his gaze to hers. Unfortunately, his movement came at the same moment when she noticed the car creeping through the parking lot.

Ashley tried to ignore it. Tried and failed. Before she could stop herself, she began to make mental notes of the specifics. A dark green van. Texas plates. Nondescript, except for the fact it had heavily tinted windows. So heavily tinted that she couldn’t see the driver.

When it finally crawled by, she pulled her attention away from it and reaimed it at the man who was waiting for her to fulfill her part of the you still haven’t seen my face dare.

“Want me to run a check on those plates?” Brayden asked.

So, he’d noticed. Of course, he wouldn’t have been much of a cop if he hadn’t. “No thanks. Old habits, you know.”

And those old habits ruled her life. In fact, when Ashley got right down to it, to that elusive bottom line, one of those old habits was the thing that worried her most about becoming pregnant. Giving up her life in Virginia was only part of the problem. Getting past her unresolved issues with Brayden was another. But the worst part was facing a fear that so far she’d had zero success in facing.

She cursed herself.

And cursed Brayden, as well.

While she was at it, she cursed the medical community for not having a cure for her nephew.

“You know those scenes in horror movies where the people go into a scary-looking house?” Brayden asked.

Okay. That got her mind off her mental profanity. “Excuse me?”

“Those scenes where people go inside even though they’re scared spitless and there’s this creepy music playing?”

Now, he looked at her. And she looked at him. Even though the subject was intriguing, and somewhat confusing, Ashley got lost for in moment in those eyes.

Mercy, where had that come from?

“Those people are too stupid to live because they ignore all their instincts and do something, well, stupid,” he continued. “And the point is, you’re not stupid. So, that means I want you to accept my offer to stay in the guest room at my house. You might think I’m a couple of steps below navel lint, but I didn’t ask you to come here so you could get hurt.”

As one-sided conversations went, that one packed a wallop. Brayden didn’t dismiss her fears. Didn’t give her one of those icy coplike glances. It was one nearly perfect moment in what had been far from perfect between them.

And in that moment, Ashley knew exactly where this had to go. Maybe she’d always known but had needed this moment, this visit with Colton, for it to sink in. Now, she only hoped she could live with the decision she was about to make.

“I’ll do it,” she heard herself say.

Brayden nodded. “Good. It won’t take us long to get to the house. I’ve already upgraded the security system, and some officers have volunteered to drive by and keep an eye on the place. It’s as safe as I can make it.”

He put the car in gear, but she caught his hand to stop him from leaving.

“No, I mean…well, yes, to the guest room,” Ashley assured him. “Because you’re right—I’m not stupid.” Well, not about this anyway. “But yes to helping Colton, too.”

His gaze rifled to hers again. But he didn’t say a word. He just waited for her to finish.

Ashley did. After she gathered enough breath so she could speak.

“I’ll have your baby, Brayden.”

Chapter Four

Brayden unlocked his back door, disengaged the security system so he could enter and then immediately reset it once he was inside. What he didn’t do was leave the family room. Instead, he stood there a moment in the thick darkness and listened.

If Ashley was still up, she wasn’t making a sound.

Of course, it was close to midnight, and after the trip from Virginia, the doctor’s appointment, the lab tests and the general stress of the past two days, she was no doubt exhausted. And probably asleep.

Well, hopefully.

Brayden hated to admit it even to himself, but one of the reasons he was so late getting home was that he preferred not to see her. That’s why he’d stayed away most of the night before and why he was late again tonight.

And that created a whole new round of guilt for him.

As if he needed more.

He’d asked so much of her, and she’d come through for Colton. For him. Somehow, Ashley had been able to put aside their past to give him the most incredible gift: a chance for his son to get well.

Yet, he wasn’t anxious to face her.

That couldn’t go on much longer. Eventually, they had to talk. About the insemination. About the upcoming pregnancy. About the logistics of how all of this would work. They had to discuss what would happen once she became pregnant. Would she stay in San Antonio or return to her self-made sanctuary in Virginia?

Brayden refused to change that once to an if.

Ashley would become pregnant.

And the new baby’s bone marrow would be a match for Colton. He’d have two healthy children to love and raise.

That was the only scenario he could accept.

He leaned against the wall and listened for several moments but only heard the hum of the fridge in the adjoining kitchen and the rhythmic swings of the pendulum in the grandfather clock. Certain that he could make a clean escape to his bedroom, he crossed the room to the hall.

And came face-to-face with a baseball bat.

He moved out of instinct, latching onto the bat before it could be used to assault him. In the same motion, he grabbed the person’s wrist.

His brain registered that it was probably Ashley. Probably. But in the back of his mind, there was a concern that it might be an intruder.

“It’s me,” he managed to say. “It’s Brayden.”

He heard her then. Definitely Ashley. She made a sound of surprise, of recognition, of relief, but unfortunately her body was a couple of steps ahead of that sound. She’d already started toward him, and it was Brayden who stopped her forward progression.

Ashley rammed into him, off-balancing them both. And they went down to the floor. He managed to turn them at the last possible second so that he took the brunt of the fall. Chivalrous, yes, but not very bright since his head banged the corner of the clock.

Brayden could have sworn he saw stars.

But that wasn’t all his chivalrous act had done. No such luck. Ashley landed on top of him. Her breasts against his chest. And their lower bodies aligned in the worst way possible. If it hadn’t been for their clothes, they might have had accidental sex.

“It’s me,” he repeated. Heaven knows why. Ashley obviously knew that by now.

She looked down at him, her breath gusting and hitting him in the face. She smelled like mint toothpaste.