Page 30 of The Bronze Garza

Mitch chuckles. “Well, so far you’ve been able to read her better than I have and she isn’t even here. So I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

I massage two fingers across my forehead in an attempt to coax the dull headache away. I shift my gaze to Guy who’s sitting at the far end of the table and he shrugs. He knows what I know: Mitch Henderson won’t leave here until I give him the answer he wants. He was dogged about getting me here, and now he’s dogged about getting what he came for.

I don’t have to give in. I’ve told bigger and wealthier than him to fuck off before.

But it’s his profound, move-heaven-and-earth love for his daughter that gets me every time. He’d been the same way when I’d told him getting her back from Russia was impossible. He’d pushed and pushed and would’ve sacrificed his balls if I’d told him to.

In the end, he got his daughter back. I won’t lie and say it wasn’t rewarding. It was, hands down, the longest, most challenging, boundary-pushing job of my career. I quite literally walked through fire to get her out. The rush and thrill I had after realizing that we’d managed to pull it off was indescribable. But certainly not something I’d ever do again.

Now here he is again. The heartbroken father with pain and sorrow in his eyes.

Should I be honest, my reasons for not wanting to be around Lyra Henderson are more than I’m letting on. What I can’t tell this man is that I’m attracted to his daughter. Since the first time I saw her, which was about a year before she was taken. I’d gone to the house for a quick meeting with Mitch and saw her and her friend messing around by the pool. I’d assigned my men to guard her on many occasions prior, but that was the first time I’d seen her in person. And I’d felt something so intense and confusing that I’d left the house immediately.

When I saw her again in that penthouse in Russia, I’d felt it again. A forceful blast in my chest. It’d been hard to look at her. Not because of her predicament, but because looking at her had felt like looking at the sun. Blindingly intense. I’d had no idea what any of it meant and I still fucking don’t. To be frank, it pisses me off.Shepisses me off.

Bet if her daddy knew any of this he wouldn’t be shoving his precious daughter at me so hard.

But it does give me an idea to get him off my back. I’ll offer help he can’tnotrefuse. “Okay.”

Mitch claps his hands in victory, but I hold a finger up to stop him.

“Like I said, I’m on vacationat home, sothat’s where she’ll have to be. In my house.” I watch his face closely, but I don’t see any change there. “That said, I don’t care to have her wandering around all day long asking me a million fucking questions, so I’ll take her to Barefoot Runaway B&B in the afternoons. It’s owned and operated by family and heftily guarded and surveilled, so she’ll be safe there.” I clasp my hands on the desk. “That’s all I can offer.”

Mitch’s forehead crinkles as if he’s actually considering it. He can’t be serious. Sure, he’s a long-time client, but while he’s not a stranger to me,I’ma stranger to him. “Do you live with anyone?”

Well, fuck. Heisserious. “No.”

“She will have her own room?”

“You want her to sleep in my bed, too?”

“No, no,” he says quickly. “Of course not.”

I almost laugh. Almost. “She’ll have all the space she needs.”

“Well, all right then. Accepted.”

The offer was meant to throw him. But I sorely underestimated his desperation and determination. That he’s even willing to dump his “baby girl” at a stranger’s house. A fallible, red-blooded animal like myself…who has every slope and curve of his daughter’s body memorized.

“You’re forgetting the most important part, Henderson.”

“What’s that?”

“Sheneeds to agree to it.”

ChapterEight

“What do you think about this man?”

Lyra

“Absolutely not!”

“Sweetheart,” Dad cajoles over the phone. “It’s just for a week or two.”

“Dad, how old am I?”

“Sixteen?”