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She’d never lost anyone on an assignment, and she didn’t want to start with Cam. She had no idea who’d crashed into him, but it had happened right after she’d seen the inspector take a wad of cash. Right after Cam had discovered the faulty material used in the houses. It wasn’t hard to connect the dots.

But between the city inspector and all the men and women building his houses, it left her with way too many suspects.

In between her sweeps of the front and back of the house, she looked at her phone. Caught up on emails from Blackhawk Security. Texts from friends. An email from her mother, which she answered briefly by explaining she was acting as Cam’s bodyguard, so she wouldn’t be home tonight.

As she hit send, she rolled her eyes, imagining her mom’s reaction. Her mother could build a whole novel around her staying at Cam’s house. She’d focus on the ‘staying at Cam’s house’ part and ignore the ‘to protect him’ part.

About an hour after she’d settled in, she heard a key in the back door. Jumping to her feet, she put her hand on the gun in its holster beneath her left arm. Staying out of sight behind the wall separating the kitchen from the living room, she watched Cam’s mom and a young, blond girl who looked about five or six walk through the door.

Re-holstering her gun, she stepped into the kitchen, a smile pasted on her face. “Mrs.Pierce,” she said, emerging from her hiding place in the living room.

Cam’s mom jerked her head away from the little girl. “Jo!”she said, delighted. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“Looking out for Cam,” Jo said. She glanced at the child holding Cam’s mom’s hand. “Because of the accident,” she said, trying not to alarm the girl.

Cam’s mom beamed at her. “That’s so nice of you to take care of Cam. I appreciate it.”

Jo’s gaze touched on the girl, and Mrs.Pierce caught the signal. “Jo, this is Fiona, Cam’s daughter.” She wrapped her arm around the girl’s shoulders. “Fee, this is Ms.Finster, a friend of your dad’s from high school.”

“Hello, Ms.Finster,” the girl said with a big smile. “Are you my daddy’s girlfriend?”

“Fiona,” Mrs.Pierce stuttered, tightening her hold on the girl. “That’s not your business.”

“Why not?”the girl asked.

“Because that’s between your father and Ms.Finster.”

“It’s Hatch, Mrs.Pierce,” she said quietly. “Jo Hatch”

The older woman’s eyes widened. “You’re married?”she asked, looking at Jo’s left hand.

“No. Widowed,” Jo said.

Cam’s mom’s face fell. “I’m so sorry, Jo. I didn’t know.”

“Why would you have?”Jo asked. “I haven’t seen you or Cam since we graduated from high school.” She pressed her lips together, determined to keep the memories from elbowing their way out.

Transferring her attention to Fiona, Jo crouched in front of the girl and nodded at the backpack that looked too big for her slender body. “Were you in school today?”

Fiona nodded as she slipped off the backpack. “First grade,” she said proudly. “I have homework, too.”

“I bet your daddy helps you with it, doesn’t he?”Jo asked.

Fiona nodded. “Sometimes Gram does, too. But we had to go shopping today, so Daddy’s going to have to help me.”

Jo glanced up at Cam’s mom, raising one eyebrow. Mrs.Pierce read her question perfectly. “Fiona knows her dad had a car accident,” the older woman said. “Knows he hurt his head.” She touched the child’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go into his room and see if he’s awake? If he’s not, give him a kiss but don’t wake him up. He needs to sleep.”

“Okay, Nana,” Fiona said, shoving herFrozen-themed backpack to the side with one purple sneaker. Then she ran toward the hall where the bedrooms must be.

As soon as the girl was out of sight, Cam’s mom turned to Jo. “How did you convince him to let you into the house?”she asked.

So his mom realized Cam could be a pain in the ass. Jo smiled. “I didn’t give him a choice. He hired me as his bodyguard, and me being in the same space he’s in is part of the deal.”

“He hired you as his bodyguard?” Mrs.Pierce reared back a little, as if the idea shocked her. “Why does he need a bodyguard?”

“When the accident happened, I was in my car, right behind him,” Jo said, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Fiona wasn’t in hearing range. “It wasn’t an accident, which he probably didn’t tell you. He was targeted. The truck that hit him was waiting at that intersection. The driver accelerated into the intersection as soon as he spotted Cam’s truck. Cam was lucky that he’d started to move. That shifted the impact to behind the driver’s door. But Cam still banged his head on the steering wheel hard enough to get a concussion. He needs a bodyguard, and that’s why he hired me.”

Cam’s mom put her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. “The accident wasn’t an accident?”