Lisa Childs - Bodyguard's Baby Surprise

He wasn’t as certain about Logan and Cooper. Annalise was furious. She didn’t want to go home with him. And she hadn’t wanted to ride in the wheelchair, let alone having to wait in it until he pulled his vehicle up to the lobby doors. His half brothers probably had a fight on their hands to keep her in the chair and make her wait for him.

She might see this as her opportunity to call a cab to take her home to Chicago. Her home was in Chicago; his wasn’t. He had never felt as if that house or anyplace else he’d lived was home. The only time he’d ever felt as if he was home was when he’d been with Annalise. When he’d given in to his desire to kiss her, he’d worried that it might have been awkward. They’d known each other so long.

But it hadn’t felt awkward. It had felt right and passionate and thrilling. And he hadn’t been able to stop. But he’d felt most at home buried deep inside her body.

Had they made a child that night? Twenty-four weeks ago. The doctor had said that was how far along her pregnancy was. However, Annalise had never confirmed her baby was his.

But he knew...

Annalise carried his child. And she hadn’t called him. She hadn’t told him about the pregnancy. Or that she was in danger.

She probably wouldn’t be waiting for him to come back with his vehicle. She had no intention of staying with him. So he quickened his step, running toward his SUV just as he’d run toward the ER earlier.

That was when he heard it—the scream. It wasn’t just a shrill cry. It was his name, full of terror and warning. “Nick!”

Someone was in trouble—someone he knew.

* * *

“You’re in trouble,” Logan Payne said.

Annalise laid her palms over her belly. “That sounds like something my grandmother would say.”

His face, so similar to Nick’s, reddened. “I wasn’t talking about your pregnancy.”

“Then how do you mean I’m in trouble?”

Did he know how deeply she loved Nick? And how unlikely it was that Nick would ever return her feelings? She had to get over him. If she was going to mend her broken heart, she could never trust him with it. He would only hurt her again.

“Those guys weren’t stealing your car,” he said.

“Really?” she asked. And his brother Cooper, who also stood beside her chair, furrowed his brow, mirroring her confusion. “Then why is my car gone?”

If she had it, she would have driven herself back to Chicago—doctor’s orders be damned. Or better yet, she would have driven herself to Alaska. She had thought she’d needed Gage. But maybe she needed her mom and dad more.

She would have gone to them before, but she didn’t want to put them in danger. Gage could handle it. He could protect her. He had survived being missing in action when everyone else had given him up for dead. She hadn’t. She knew her brother was tough. Trying to be like Nick had made him tough.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Logan said.

Unable to hold his gaze, she glanced down at the terrazzo floor of the sun-filled glass lobby. “Have you called Gage?” she asked.

“No,” Cooper answered for Logan.

“Why not?” she asked. She needed her brother—more than she ever had.

Cooper wouldn’t meet her eyes.

And she realized why. Concern filled her. She had been so happy—so relieved—he had come back alive that she hadn’t considered what condition he might be in. “He’s not all right, is he?”

“Physically he’s fine,” Cooper assured her.

“And...?”

“Mentally and emotionally, he has some recovering to do yet,” Cooper said. “He’ll get there. It just takes time—more time for guys who’ve been through what he has.”

“Thank you,” she said.

Cooper shrugged off her gratitude. “I haven’t gotten him to talk about it. I don’t really know what he’s been through. The only one who might know is Nick.”

Gage had always gone to Nick—had always told him everything. If Nick knew, why hadn’t he told her? Why hadn’t he called her? Had he been so determined to avoid her after they’d made love that he hadn’t even wanted to call to talk about Gage?

“Thank you for not calling him,” she clarified. “I wouldn’t want to add to whatever he’s going through.” She couldn’t imagine the horrors her brother had endured while he’d been missing. Gage was tough, but everyone had a limit.

“Then you’d better be honest with us about what’s been going on with you,” Logan said. “Your getting hurt might be more than your brother could handle.”

He was right. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to share her troubles with someone. But she wasn’t certain whom she could trust.

These were Nick’s brothers. She couldn’t trust Nick—not after the way he’d treated her. So how could she trust any of them?

“My sister told me what you said when you saw those men jacking your car,” Logan said. “This isn’t the first time that’s happened.”

“No,” she admitted.

“And it’s not the only thing that’s happened to you.”

Her head began to pound as other memories rushed in, and she squeezed her eyes shut to block them out.

“Annalise?” Logan prodded her.

They hadn’t been raised together, but he reminded her of Nick. Even before he’d become an FBI agent, Nick had always been good at asking questions and finding out information. Perhaps Logan should have been an FBI agent, too. He was a natural interrogator, as well.

And she had never been good at keeping secrets. She parted her lips to speak, but someone shouted. She opened her eyes to see a security guard running up to Nick’s brothers.

“You guys are with Payne Protection, right?” he asked.

Both men nodded. “What’s wrong?” Logan asked. Because it was clear that something was. The young man was flushed and breathing hard.

“There’s a shoot-out in the parking garage! I called 911, but I don’t think the police will get here in time. So I need to go down there.” His throat moved as he swallowed hard, obviously afraid. “I need backup.”

Annalise’s heart hammered against her ribs. “Nick’s in the parking garage.” He’d gone down to get his vehicle to pick her up. Just like her car getting stolen again, it couldn’t be a coincidence. Nick had to be involved in that shoot-out.

“I think Nikki’s down there, too,” Cooper said.

Logan’s face paled, and his hand shook slightly as he reached beneath his jacket—probably for his weapon. But his holster hung empty from his arm. He glanced at her. “I told Nick...”

That he would protect her. She had heard him, and she’d thought it was ridiculous that they thought she needed protection inside the hospital. Obviously they’d been right.

“Go,” she urged him.

He shook his head and turned to Cooper. “You go.”

Cooper was already grabbing the arm of the security guard and pulling him across the lobby.

“Be careful!” Logan called after him. “And make sure they’re okay!”

Cooper glanced back and nodded. But he could only do his best—if he arrived in time. Annalise worried that he and the security guard would be too late to help.

Nick couldn’t be gone.

She pressed her hands over her belly again. And the baby shifted within her womb. Her child couldn’t lose his father before she was even born.

* * *

As Cooper Payne shouldered open the door to the parking garage stairwell, shots reverberated inside the concrete structure. He kept the security guard behind him, shielding him as he would have a Payne Protection Agency client or a fellow serviceman. Fortunately he’d the foresight to leave his weapon with security, so he’d retrieved it before they’d left. He clasped the Glock in both hands, swinging the barrel in each direction he looked.