Page 18 of Landry (Bayou Brotherhood Protectors #7)

Landry studied the tall, thin deputy as he made his way across the yard. He didn’t have much hope that the sheriff’s department would find the person who’d broken into Camille’s house. Unless they got lucky with matching fingerprints, the guy would remain a mystery. Until the next time.

“Deputy Clyburn, thanks for coming out,” Camille said.

The deputy came up the stairs and held out his hand.

Camille shook it and turned to Landry. “This is Landry Laurent, my...” Her gaze met his.

“Friend,” Landry offered. “Camille, Ava and I went for a late-evening boat ride and came back to find someone had broken into her home.

For the next thirty minutes, Landry showed the deputy the entry point and what Camille had noted was disturbed. The deputy dusted for fingerprints throughout the house, made notes, took pictures and promised to file the report and have the prints analyzed.

“Do you need a unit to drive by through the night to ensure your safety?” Deputy Clyburn asked.

Camille shook her head. “I think we’ll be okay.” Her arms were back around her midsection as if she was barely holding herself together.

Landry slipped an arm around her and pulled her up against him. “I’ll be here to make sure she’s okay. Thank you for coming.”

As the deputy drove away. Camille leaned against Landry. “It feels as if my house has been violated,” she whispered. “I don’t even want to put Ava in a bed some stranger has touched.”

“Do you have another set of sheets for her bed?” Landry asked.

Camille nodded.

“Show me where they are.” He followed her into the house to a closet in the hallway where sheets and towels were neatly stacked.

Camille stared at the items. “He could’ve touched these as well.”

“They look clean and undisturbed. Let’s pretend he didn’t.” He tipped Ava over and handed her to Camille. “Take Ava into the living room and sit with her in the rocking chair.”

As if on autopilot, Camille did as he said and sank into a wooden rocking chair that stood in the corner of the room.

Once she was settled, Landry pulled sheets and a blanket out of the closet and went to work, stripping the bed in Ava’s room.

Once he had clean sheets on the bed and pillow, he spread a soft pink blanket over them.

He started to go back out to the living room and get Ava but figured it would be better to leave Camille and Ava where they were.

Quietly entering Camille’s room, he quickly stripped the sheets from her bed, put clean ones on and a fresh blanket. After he gathered all the discarded bedding and carried it into the laundry room, he hurried out to the living room.

Camille sat in the rocking chair, staring out the front window.

Ava lay across her lap, sound asleep, completely unaware of the drama in her home.

Landry took the child from Camille’s lap, carried her into her room and tucked her into her bed.

He bent and pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered, “Sleep tight, princess.” For a moment, he stared down at her, marveling at how much she looked like her mother. She’d break hearts when she got older.

When he turned toward the door, he was surprised to see Camille standing there.

“You’ll make a good father someday,” Camille said.

He stiffened. All his life, he’d sworn off marriage and children.

Other guys did the whole family thing, but he’d steered clear.

He knew nothing about being a good father, his own father being a cold, unloving example.

And his mother had never been at all maternal.

Yes, she’d given birth to him but had immediately handed him off to a nanny.

Hearing Camille say he’d be a great father didn’t fit with the life trajectory he’d chosen from the moment he’d left his father’s house to join the Navy. What did he say in response? He finally settled on, “Ava’s a great kid.”

“Thank you for taking care of us tonight.”

Again, he was at a loss for words. He’d taken them out in the bayou and almost gotten them killed or at least stranded for who knew how long it would’ve taken to get them back home safely.

Maybe he was the wrong person for this job.

Something about Camille made him lose focus, turn off his logical brain and do stupid shit.

He'd talk to Remy in the morning and get him to assign someone more competent to protect Camille and Ava. Someone who could think about something besides wanting to kiss this woman.

As soon as the thought popped into his head, Landry knew he had to get away from her before he did exactly that. He headed for the door, intent on leaving the room.

“Your bed has clean sheets. You should get some rest,” he said. When he stepped through the door out into the hallway, she reached out a hand and caught his arm.

That familiar jolt of electricity spread throughout his body like wildfire. His pulse quickened, and his groin tightened.

Camille’s brow furrowed as she stared up into his face. “I know you were only supposed to come out and check our window and door locks this evening. Now, here it is, the middle of the night. We should be okay for what’s left of it. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

He stood frozen to the spot, fighting for control, afraid to move lest it unleash the sudden rush of desire rising inside.

“Landry?” Camille’s hand moved from his arm to rest against his chest. “Have I done something to make you mad?”

“No,” he bit out. Her hand on his chest burned a hole through his resistance.

“Go to bed, Camille. I’ll fix the back door frame so you can lock the door, then I’ll sleep in my truck to keep an eye on things.

” He brushed past her and went out the front door to his truck to get the tool bag he kept under his back seat.

Moments later, he was back with a hammer and nails.

He beat the splintered doorframe back into place, secured it with nails and tested the deadbolt.

It would work well enough for the night.

He would stop at the hardware store when it opened and get what he’d need to shore up the door and the lock as well as fix the trellis as he’d promised Ava.

Then he’d have Remy find someone else to protect them.

Someone who wasn’t getting too attached to the woman and her child.

Because that was what was happening, against everything he believed to be true. He was not the kind of man fit to be a father or have a family. Camille and Ava deserved a man who knew how to love unconditionally, how to care for another person above his own life, business and career.

Once he finished with the door, he locked it and hurried back through the house, praying he wouldn’t run into?—

Camille stepped out of the bathroom into the hallway, blocking his path.

With her hair wrapped in a towel, and wearing a filmy baby-blue nightgown that draped her body and barely covered her ass, she stole Landry’s breath away.

“Why are you acting so weird?” she demanded.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You hold me one minute and the next you shove me away and announce that you’re going to sleep in your truck.

” She shook her head. “To say I’m getting mixed signals is an understatement.

What’s wrong? Why are you pushing me away?

” She stepped up to him and laid her hand on his chest again.

Her warmth burned through what little resistance he had left; it was hanging by a thread.

He captured her hand in his and held it away from his body.

Yeah, that didn’t slow the burgeoning desire building inside like carbonation in a shaken soda bottle. If she didn’t step away quickly, the cap on his control would pop, and he’d do things he shouldn’t.

He stared down into her eyes. “I’m not the man for you.”

She lifted her chin. “Not that I said you were, but why?”

“I’m not interested in a long-term relationship.”

She raised her chin higher. “Neither am I. And?”

“You deserve someone who could love you unconditionally.” He shook his head, drawing her closer. “That’s not me.”

“If I wanted unconditional love, I’d get a dog,” she said. “And?”

“I won’t be around after the threat is neutralized,” he continued.

“I knew that when you signed on.” Camille cocked an eyebrow. “And?”

“I won’t fall in love with you or anyone else,” he stated. ‘It’s not in my nature.”

“Good. Other than my love for my child, I don’t believe in love. It’s overrated, a burden I don’t wish to bear, which is often not reciprocated.”

Landry’s brow rose. “That’s harsh,” he said without thinking.

Camille shrugged. “Maybe, but it’s what I’ve personally experienced.”

His gaze softened. “Your ex?”

She nodded and sighed. “Nothing like having your rose-colored glasses crushed.”

“I’m sorry.”

She gave him a tight smile. “Not your fault. If anything, it was mine. I was na?ve, too trusting and stupid. When he was arrested and thrown in jail, I had to grow up fast.”

“That had to be hard on you with a baby to take care of,” Landry reached out and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “But look at you now.”

She lifted her chin again. “I worked my way up from rock bottom. I won’t go back there again.”

Again, he brushed her cheek with his thumb. “You’re an amazing woman, an entrepreneur, a talented candy maker, and you still have time to be a good mother for Ava.”

“She’s my everything, and she’ll always come first.”

“All the more reason for me to sleep in my truck.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why, when I have a perfectly good couch you could sleep on. I can’t imagine you’d be more comfortable in your truck.”

His thumb brushed over her lips. “Because you’re my assignment.”

Camille stiffened. “And is that all I am?”

“That’s all you can be,” he said without meeting her eyes. He was wrong for her.

“Holding me on the porch before Billy Ray made his entrance and then on the dock when we got back was all part of your duties?” Camille slid her hands up his chest and around his neck. “Look at me and tell me you didn’t feel something.”