Texas Cowboy's Protection, - [books you need to read .TXT] 📗

“No one knew who the baby’s father was?” This was news to Gina. But then she hadn’t kept up with Brittany.

“Brittany never even told her mother.”

“Is there a laptop here?” Isaac turned the stove off.

Gina retrieved it and set it up at the dinette table.

“You have a social media account?” Isaac took a seat after fixing another cup of coffee for himself.

“Yes.” She blinked at him. “You don’t?”

“Didn’t seem important where I’ve been.” He had a point. She couldn’t argue there wouldn’t be much need or time for online surfing where he’d just come from.

“I thought everyone did these days.”

“Call me old school.” His devastating smirk nearly leveled her a second time. It was dangerous to look at Isaac when he had a twinkle in his eyes and a smirk on his lips. His lips, his granite-made jawline and his pale blue eyes were things she had no business focusing on.

Her danger radar went on full tilt with him sitting next to her at the table. Again, she had to remind herself to take a deep breath and keep her bearings.

He pulled up Brittany’s social media account using Gina’s log-in credentials. He scrolled through her posts, searching for pictures of her. There weren’t many.

“That’s odd.”

Isaac was already nodding his head.

“Mom, how old is Brittany’s baby?”

“Let me see. She must be three or four months old by now.”

“There’s not one post made in the past six months. The few before that mention nothing about a pregnancy. There’s no birth announcement. No newborn pics.” Brittany’s profile pic had a filter that made it nearly impossible to recognize her.

“I’m not big on using this, but her page strikes me as off.” Isaac leaned back and folded his arms.

“Same here. I mean, it’s not that hard to set privacy controls if you don’t want strangers seeing your posts.”

“It was too much to hope we’d see a picture of your attacker.” Wouldn’t that be nice, Gina thought. To wrap the case up by going onto Brittany’s social media page and identifying the jerk.

After having a little time to digest what had happened this morning, Gina wondered why he didn’t kill her right then and there. Why take her to another site when he could’ve strangled her the way he had Brittany?

“That settles it. I’m staying here.” Mother turned to Isaac. “I brought a bag just in case. Would you mind—”

“You have the restaurant to think about.” Gina appreciated the gesture. Her mother didn’t do well sleeping away from home and to be honest wouldn’t be much help in an emergency. Gina already had Everly to think about. She wouldn’t be able to handle a baby and a senior if they needed to get out of the house fast.

“You are more important than food. We won’t open tomorrow.”

“Mom, you can’t afford to close down the restaurant for a day. Besides, Griff will most likely catch the guy by the time we go to bed tonight.” It was wishful thinking. “Even if he doesn’t, there’s no way the person would come back here. He has to realize at least his partial description is out there and that law enforcement will be watching my house anyway.”

Gina gave her mother a hug. She could feel her bones and figured she hadn’t been taking care of herself. Her mother was the one who needed ‘mothering’. Gina was used to taking care of herself. “I’m shaken up. But I’ll be fine.”

“I already offered to stay overnight,” Isaac interjected. “I’m not due home for a couple of days, so no one will miss me there. I don’t need a lot of sleep, so I’ll keep watch over your daughter and granddaughter until we can get a security system installed here.”

Gina’s mother exhaled. “This place could use an alarm. The windows are so old. I thought Gina and Everly would be more comfortable living with me, but this seemed to suit my daughter better.”

“You look tired, Mom. Are you okay?” Her mother had dark circles cradling her eyes. Her skin was starting to hang off her bones. Gina made the right call in coming home to help out with the restaurant. The stress of losing her husband combined with taking on full responsibility for the restaurant seemed to be taking a toll.

“Yes, dear. You don’t need to concern yourself with me. Between being worried about you and taking care of the breakfast and lunch rush, I’m beat.”

Gina hugged her well-intentioned mother. “Go home. Put on a pot of tea. Put your feet up. Mr. Marley is probably upset he hasn’t seen you all day.” The woman lived for her sweet cat. “Get to bed early and get a good night’s sleep. Everything will look brighter in the morning.”

“Can I get a peek at my granddaughter first?”

“Of course, you can do anything you want.”

Gina’s mother perked up a little bit as she made a show of tip-toeing through the living room and toward Everly’s room off the kitchen. When her mother was out of earshot, she said, “Thank you for backing me up with her. She means well.”

“My offer stands. I’d like to stay overnight on the couch. Make sure you feel safe with someone here to keep watch.”

“Thank you, Isaac. If you’re sure it won’t be any trouble or keep you from anything more important—”

“I wasn’t kidding. I’m not due home for a couple of days. I caught an earlier flight than expected.” Isaac had made the offer out of duty to Des. At least, that’s the excuse he tried to sell himself. In truth, he couldn’t deny how damn good it was to see Gina again. It felt better than he wanted to admit. She’d stirred his heart in a manner that he’d thought was long-since dead inside him. He chalked it up to unrequited love and their history.

Whatever the reason, she’d awakened a protective instinct that had been long dormant. That’s as far as he would allow himself to go. He couldn’t let it be more than that drawing him toward her, making him want to stick around.

Those other feelings he’d had a long time ago needed to stay stuffed down deep. And yet, a part of him wondered if him and Gina were being given a second chance at something that had been cut short in its prime more than a decade and a half ago.

All he knew for certain was that he hadn’t felt anything close to this in more years than he cared to count.

Gina’s daughter cried. The sound nearly broke his heart. There were a rare few times in Isaac’s life he felt helpless. This ranked up there.

Gina, on the other hand, hopped into action. She disappeared into the little girl’s room in a heartbeat. When she came out, she had the still-sleepy little girl in her arms.

He expected the sight of Gina holding her daughter close to her chest to throw him for a loop. After all, this was Gina. His last memories of her were high school. Instead, seeing her hold her daughter was the most natural-looking image. Apparently, Gina was meant to be a mother.

“Is she hungry?” Gina’s mother asked.

“How about cookies and milk?” Gina said quietly to her daughter.

The little girl nodded. Those big tears rolling down chubby cheeks caused his heart to squeeze. Isaac had never seen himself as the family type. Granted, he’d grown up in a big family. He loved his brothers. They were close. With seven strong-minded men, there were bound to be disagreements. His brothers didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues. No one questioned their love for each other. That, was a given with the Quinn brothers.

“I’ll help.” Gina’s mother was to her feet in a snap. It was the fastest he’d seen her move.

Everly held her arms out when her grandmother got close.

A moment of relief seemed to wash over Gina as she handed her daughter over. She joined Isaac in the living room. As she neared, he could see the toll the day had taken on her.

“How’s your head?”

She blanched, looking shocked by question.

“It’s not a trick,” he teased. “I’m asking how you’re doing.”

A ghost of a smile played with the corners of Gina’s mouth. “Guess I’m not used to anyone asking about me.” She gave him the most honest look. “My head hurts. My ankles are screaming. I think I could curl up on the couch and nap.” She glanced back at her mother and daughter in the kitchen. “But she needs me.”

“Between the two of us, we can handle the little munchkin.”

Gina shot him a look of doubt.

He chuckled. “Okay, I can’t. But your mom is doing all right and I’m here for backup. It’s safe for you to lie down here where you can keep an eye on us, and rest.”

“I have dinner to think about.” She bit back a yawn.

It was his turn to shoot a look.

She put her hands up,