Page 69 of Help Wanted

When the brothers were gone, she locked up the building and headed out.

Following the directions she was given, Kenley pulled down a winding driveway to a large brick home. It looked as if it could easily house twelve people.

Sidney met her at the door before she even had the chance to knock.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Sidney said, giving her a hug. “I haven’t had the chance to thank you for the flowers.”

“Of course. I understand.” Kenley rubbed her hands together. “So where is she?”

“She’s napping.”

Kenley didn’t hide her disappointment, letting her shoulders fall with an “Awww.”

“That’s okay. I’m sure you also came to visit me and will be happy to wait to hold my child.”

“Yeah. I guess so.” Kenley laughed and Sidney playfully swatted her on the shoulder.

“So how are things going?”

“Fine. Good.” She hadn’t come there to bash Zane. At least not unless Sidney started it first. “Brady brought his brother in to the office today. He’s a sweetie.”

“He is. It breaks my heart that a mother is capable of hurting her child. The worst thing is how he always tells Brady ‘not to ride with Mom.’” Kenley had noticed that, but hadn’t asked. “If he’d done just that when he was eleven, who knows what he’d be doing today. I’m sure it tears Brady up every time he says it. The poor guy feels terrible about what happened, but it wasn’t like he could help. He was in a hospital in Germany when the accident happened.”

“Why was Brady in the hospital?” Kenley asked.

Sidney looked a little surprised and then said, “He lost his foot in Iraq.”

“Oh. I had no idea.” She’d noticed a slight limp, but nothing to indicate it was that serious.

“I guess that’s the point, that he’s able to walk well enough no one would know it’s a prosthetic.” She shrugged.

“Brady is like a different person when Hunter is around. No joking or flirting. I didn’t realize he could be serious.”

“He’s spent a lot of his life being way too serious.” Before she could ask what Sidney meant, they were distracted by the sound of Paige’s slight whimper on the baby monitor.

“She’s up! I get to hold her.”

Sidney rolled her eyes, but led her to the nursery. Once Kenley was settled in the rocker with the baby in her arms she felt the stress of the last week flow away.

“She’s beautiful,” Kenley said while sniffing her hair. “And she smells so good.”

“Trust me. Sometimes she doesn’t smell good at all.” The sound of someone coming in the front door caused Sidney to stop laughing and go investigate.

Kenley heard the low rumble of his voice before he stepped into the room.

Perfect. Zane was here.

* * *

To say Zane was shocked to see Kenley in his sister’s home rocking his niece was an understatement. He’d been on the phone when he arrived and didn’t notice her car.

Then he remembered he didn’t have any reason to hide. Not that he needed a reason, obviously. He’d been doing a fair job of it since the night she’d gone out with Scott.

He knew that hadn’t gone anywhere. For a cop, Officer Porter didn’t seem to realize when someone was manipulating information out of him.

He’d been almost chatty about how he’d kissed Kenley—a statement that made Zane cringe—but it hadn’t been right. They’d had no chemistry.

Zane knew for a fact, the fault wasn’t Kenley’s. The two of them had plenty of chemistry. Too much, in fact.