Full Force Fatherhood by Tyler Anne Snell Read Free Book Online Page A

months.
    Memories like that made her heart heavy as she walked through the house.
    Heavy with love.
    Heavy with loss.
    She dropped her hand from the door and let out a long breath. Just because she was leaving didn’t mean she was leaving the memories, too. With a weird ache tearing through her emotions, Kelli decided to go to the one place that often helped soothe the rising grief.
    Since Grace’s bedroom was mostly boxed up, the toddler had been sharing the king-size bed with her mom. Though the bed never seemed big enough if Grace got into a good dream. Kelli stood in the doorway and watched as the fair-haired child slept peacefully, unaware of her mother’s tumultuous thoughts. The ache within her began to dissipate.
    Without undressing, she climbed into bed next to the girl, wrapping her arms around her. Grace—a snuggler—burrowed closer to her.
    You’re okay, Kel. You’ve got all you need right here.
    But even as she drifted to sleep, letting go of the hectic night’s worries, Kelli couldn’t help but pinpoint the one fact that felt off about her night’s bad luck.
    Why hadn’t the mugger taken anything?
    In the haze between wakefulness and sleep, her thoughts went to Victor’s journal, hidden in a box in the kitchen.
    Maybe he’d been looking for something more specific.

Chapter Six
    Guilt hung heavy within Mark’s chest. Lying in bed, he couldn’t get the image of Kelli’s scraped cheek out of his head. What was it about the Cranes that nulled his ability to keep them safe? It was a question that had pushed itself to the front of his mind during his cab ride home the night before...and it had still been there when he awoke.
    â€œGet it together, Tranton,” he scolded himself. “The past is the past.” But even as he said it, he knew it wasn’t true. The past had called him back to his favorite bar, asking him to avenge a man who died because of him.
    The weather forecast was clear for today, but a storm was in the distance. He could smell the rain as he walked to his small balcony. Drought for months and then nothing but rain. Dallas was consistent with its weather inconsistency.
    He moved through his apartment, trying to focus on anything other than last night. It wasn’t working.
    â€œHave you ever had a gut feeling, Mr. Tranton?”
    Yes.
    That Darwin McGregor wasn’t behind the fire.
    But he wasn’t in the business of trusting his gut. Not anymore. Not when it hadn’t even twinged at the cabin that night.
    Mark skipped his morning gym session and went straight for the shower. He managed to wipe his mind of any thoughts of the past. So much so that when he got out and looked at himself in the mirror, he took a moment to shave. Jonathan Carmichael would have been proud. Every time they had worked together during their time at Redstone Solutions or the Orion Security Group, he had always commented on Mark’s five-o’clock shadow and lack of neatness. Facial hair hadn’t been a point of fixation for the ex-bodyguard, and that had driven Jonathan a little crazy.
    â€œYou look like you’re the one we’re protecting our client from.”
    The memory made him snort.
    And now I don’t protect anyone.
    His hand paused midmotion.
    Once he had shaved, he decided Jonathan would’ve approved—he did have to admit it made him look better. He was heading to the bedroom when a knock sounded at the apartment door.
    Eyeing the buzzer on the kitchen wall, he quickly went through a list of people already in the building who would want to pay him a visit. He wasn’t pals with any of the tenants, but on occasion he would get asked to watch the game or go out drinking with Craig from the gym. As he walked to the door, towel around his waist, chest still bare, he marveled at the fact that he couldn’t even recall Craig’s last name.
    Which was fine, since it was Kelli waiting at the door for