Janie Crouch - Daddy Defender

“No. It’s easy to get frightened when you’re alone. Everybody deals with that.”

“It’s just...something bad happened the last time my power went out. Somebody...” She faded out again. “Something bad happened.”

She’d been kidnapped by a crazy woman. He knew. But Summer didn’t know he knew. He didn’t blame her for being a little spooked.

“Look, I’ll be there in just a few minutes okay?”

“No. It’s silly. You were already over here once this morning. My condo is not your only job.”

Her condo wasn’t his job at all. Ashton scrubbed his hand across his face, wincing as it pulled on the burn on his shoulder. Like Derek had told him, he needed to tell her who he was before it bit him in the ass.

“It’s no problem. Just for both of our peace of minds. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Are you sure? Please, Ashton, you can tell me if this is inconveniencing you. Augh, who am I kidding, of course this is inconveniencing you. Just don’t worry about it.”

“Summer.” He waited until he had her attention to continue. “I promise I don’t mind. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” He disconnected the call before she could begin to berate herself again.

“Looks like I’ll be buying the rounds.” Roman walked up to the entrance behind Ashton.

Ashton lifted his shoulder in a half shrug. “I’ve got to go. Summer needs—”

“Summer needs to know what you do for a living. Who you are.”

“I’ll get to it.”

“Get to it soon, brother. It’s going to be hard enough now. If she finds out on her own...” Roman shook his head.

“You’re right. I’ll tell her.”

Because ultimately telling her he worked for Omega was going to be much easier than telling her he could’ve saved her husband’s life two years ago.

How exactly did one phrase that?

He wouldn’t worry about it tonight. Summer was upset, needed help. Honestly, Ashton didn’t mind being the person she called. He just wished it was because she wanted to see him, not because she thought he was under contract with the building.

Because he sure as hell wanted to see her. Maintenance problem, boogie man or for whatever reason she called.

He liked hanging here with the team, drinking a couple of beers. But he’d rather be with Summer and Chloe any day of the week.

Roman was right. He had to tell her. There were too many other things he was keeping from her—planned to continue keeping from her—to let his occupation be a secret.

He’d almost died today. In his line of work, he could honestly die at any time—it was a risk they all accepted as part of the job.

He hadn’t had any grand moments of his life passing before his eyes earlier when he’d been electrocuted. But he did know one thing for sure: he needed to come up with a plan when it came to Summer. Figure out what truth he could give her and what he couldn’t and see where that left him.

It was time. Past time.

Chapter Five

Summer felt like she had set women’s lib back a hundred years. What sort of grown female called a man over to her house just because the electricity went out?

She walked into Chloe’s room to check on her again. Found her daughter sleeping peacefully in her crib just like she had been the last two dozen times Summer had checked.

And that face at the window had just been a figment of her imagination. Nobody was standing outside her condo.

Right?

Summer was willing to cut herself a little slack. The last time the power had gone out, a psychopath had drugged and kidnapped her and Chloe and trapped them in a burning building.

So she had reason to be wary of her power being out. Of course, Ashton didn’t know any of this. He was just going to think she was a coward.

Or maybe he was going to think she wanted to see him. Seduce him or something.

She wasn’t sure which was worse. At least if he showed up here and she was waiting in some kind of negligee, he wouldn’t think she was terrified of being alone in the dark.

But would he be interested?

She pushed the thought away. That was not why Ashton was on his way over.

But she promised herself this was the last time she would allow herself to call. She was taking advantage of him. Of his politeness.

The knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.

“Summer? It’s Ashton.”

She opened the door. “Thank you again for coming over. I’m sorry. It was totally unfair for me to ask you to come back again today. Especially so late at night.”

He completely surprised her by putting a finger up to her lips. “It’s okay. Don’t apologize.”

He dropped his hand back to his side almost immediately, but Summer still felt shocked. She didn’t think Ashton had ever touched her except to shake her hand or in passing Chloe between them.

And more than that. He looked different.

She opened the door farther to allow him entrance, shaking her head. How could he possibly look different when she’d seen him just over twelve hours ago?

But he did. Just in how he carried himself. How he was looking her in the eyes without looking away.

How he’d just touched her.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I know you must think I’m a hot mess, but the last time the power went out something...” She swallowed. She really didn’t want to get into the details. “Something bad happened.”

Ashton cocked his head sideways, studying her for a long minute, but he didn’t ask her what she meant. “It’s always better to be safe than sorry. Let me double-check the fuse box, then I’ll go to the main breaker near the street.”

She stood at the top of the stairs as he made his way down into the basement/laundry room of her condo. He was back up in just a few minutes.

“You were right. There weren’t any fuses tripped in the box,” he said softly, making her appreciate his awareness of Chloe’s sleeping state.

She smiled at him. “I’m glad. If you had been able to come over here and fix the power in under ten seconds, I would’ve never been able to show my face in this town again.”

He smiled. “It looks like you’re free to show that beautiful face whenever you want to because there’s nothing you could’ve done about the power.”

Summer just stood staring at him. Not only did he just speak an entire sentence to her without stuttering, but did he just flirt with her?

“Oh. Oh, okay. Good.” Now who was stuttering?

“Let me go check the larger fuse box out by the street.”

Summer watched him walk back outside, trying to get herself under control. Maybe Ashton was just more confident and talkative at night.

If she thought she was attracted to him before, now she felt like she was smoldering inside.

Maybe she should’ve met him at the door in a negligee.

She needed some water to cool herself down. She turned away from the window—because staring at him probably looked a little desperate—and walked into the kitchen.

And found the same hooded face pressed up against her kitchen window.

This time she knew it wasn’t any figment of her imagination.

She ran to the front door, then stopped. She couldn’t leave Chloe alone in the house.

“Ashton!” she yelled.

He looked up from where he crouched at the fuse box by the street. He got one look at her face and began immediately running toward her.

He grabbed her arms. “What? What happened?”

“The face in the ski mask. It was back. At my kitchen window.” She could hardly get the words out around her own breaths.

“Go inside and lock the door, okay? Don’t open it for anyone but me. Call the police and tell them what happened.”