Free A Little Harmless Secret by Melissa Schroeder Page A

hands in the air. “It was just an argument.”
    “Can you tell me that there was a point you didn’t know whether you wanted to slap him or kiss him?”
    That was a little too close to what she had been feeling. What the hell was going on with her? She had been losing control of everything in her life, and now she was getting hot about a man she had no business messing with—especially considering the situation.
    “I plead the fifth.”
    With that, Alicia turned and walked off, ignoring Dee’s laughter and praying she wasn’t right. Getting tangled up with Devon Stryker was something she’d barely survived the first time around.
    * * * *
    Devon was still irritated as he stepped off the elevator. The woman was always trying to dismiss him. At one time, he might have let her do it. Now, though, his daughter was involved.
    That was a lie. Even if Bridget had never been born, the moment Devon saw Ali again, he would have hunted her down.
    “You might as well just let it go,” Micah said. He’d been talking in that calm “I know better than you” tone since they’d left the parking garage. If he didn’t shut the hell up, there was a good chance he would punch him. Then, there was a good chance Devon would get his ass kicked—a very big chance.
    “I heard you the first five times you said it.”
    Devon knew he sounded like an ass. He didn’t really give a damn. The argument with Ali had left him on edge and out of sorts. It hadn’t even been that much of an argument. But one little disagreement and he’d been on the verge of yelling at her—or taking her to bed.
    He opened the door and strode across the room. He said nothing to his sister as he went through the room making sure they’d gotten all their belongings.
    His sister watched him from her seat in the kitchen and just like him, didn’t say a word.
    “What’s the matter?” Dee said.
    Micah kissed her cheek. “Nothing a little one on one time with Alicia wouldn’t fix.”
    He snarled at Micah and Dee laughed.
    “Where are Bridget and Ali?”
    “I think it’s odd you call her by that name,” Dee said.
    “Who cares?”
    This made Dee laugh even more.
    “They’re in your room, getting ready. Bridget has some jitters about the plane.”
    He said nothing as he turned and headed in that direction. He’d had about three hours of sleep, if that, and he was…out of sorts. That was it. Just out of sorts.
    And really freaking horny.
    Fuck. He leaned against the wall and counted back from ten. Then, he did it again. This wasn’t the time or place. They had too much shit on their plate to deal with. Not to mention, they had an innocent little girl in danger.
    That brought him back to earth. There was a little girl, and she needed both of them to protect her. As if on cue, he heard the two of them talking.
    “I’ve never been on a plane before,” Bridget said, nerves leaving her voice tight with worry.
    “You have but you were a little baby then, so you don’t remember.”
    “Still. And this is a little plane.”
    “We’ll be fine, poppet. These are nice people and guess what?”
    “What?”
    “I heard they have all kinds of little gadgets, including a shower and a bed. Isn’t that exciting?”
    “I suppose.” The girl was definitely not impressed with that.
    Devon moved closer so he could see in the room. Bridget was sitting on the bed and Ali dropped down to squat in front of her.
    “Right now, we can’t go back to the house. I told you it might happen.”
    “But I like our house. And the woods. You said maybe next year we could get a dog.”
    “I know and it might still happen. We just have to deal with this problem, then maybe we can make it back.”
    She sighed. “Hawaii doesn’t sound like much fun.”
    It was easy to hear the pout in Bridget’s voice. It took every bit of his control not to interrupt and tell her he would take her anywhere she wanted to go.
    “I have a feeling a lot of people would disagree with