Free Surrender to a Donovan (Kimani Romance) by A.C. Arthur

Tate Dennison than he’d anticipated. Then again, he reminded himself that she wasn’t a part of the plan; she was definitely outside the box for him. Whether that was a good or bad thing, he’d yet to decide.
    For right now, he could tell that Briana’s father had never taken her to nice dinners or treated her like she was special. Nor any other man, for that matter. Hence the reason she was so against him doing just that. So why did he insist on doing it? Because from the moment he’d set foot in her office and seen her first dimpled smile, he knew she was special indeed.

Chapter 8
    “Y ou have a really nice family,” Tate said when they were once again in Sean’s car.
    They’d picked up Briana from the Big House and were headed back to her apartment. The cheerful little girl was sleeping soundly in her new car seat, which looked oddly at home in Sean’s sports car.
    “Thanks. I like them,” he said with a slight chuckle.
    He hadn’t missed how nervous she was when they entered the Big House. And when they could hear Briana’s laughter floating through the spacious house, she’d tensed a little more.
    “Your mother is very down-to-earth,” she continued saying as Sean drove through the dark Miami streets.
    “Did you think she wouldn’t be?”
    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shrug. “I don’t know what I thought. I mean, I’ve never met a family like yours.”
    “And what type of family do you have?”
    The initial answer was her silence. She definitely did not like talking about herself. But Sean had no intention of stopping until he knew everything he could about her. If that took more dinner dates and more babysitting requests from his family, then that’s what would happen.
    “I have two older sisters. They live in Maryland. My mother died when I was thirteen so my father had the burden of raising three sassy and stubborn girls on his own. Well, not necessarily on his own. When my mother passed, we moved into my father’s childhood home with my grandfather.”
    “Sounds like a pretty close-knit family. Just like mine.”
    She shook her head. “No. We’re not like your family. Or at least we weren’t.” She took a deep breath. “We weren’t a bad family, that’s not what I mean at all. Actually, my father and my grandfather were very loving and supportive, especially when we grew up and decided what career paths to take.”
    “And how did they feel about you moving all the way down here and taking their granddaughter? I know my mother would flip if she had grandkids and either of us thought about moving them to a different state. Whew!” he said, shaking his own head. “Hell hath no fury like Janean Donovan.”
    Sean laughed thinking about his mother’s reaction, but he knew deep down it was no laughing matter. Janean would really be livid at such an arrangement.
    “They may have been upset if they’d known,” she said quietly, but Sean heard her loud and clear.
    “Your family doesn’t know where you are?”
    She didn’t answer verbally, only shook her head. He almost ran right through a red light as he turned to see her reaction to the question. Pressing harder on the brakes, his fingers flexed on the steering wheel. “Why didn’t you tell them?”
    “It’s a long story,” she said.
    “I’ve got all night,” he said.
    She shook her head again just as the light switched to green.
    “I don’t want to talk about it.” This reply came more adamantly.
    “Does it have anything to do with Briana’s father?”
    “What part of ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ did you not understand?” she said in a burst of temper.
    Reluctantly, Sean let his mouth clamp shut on his next retort and kept it that way until he’d parked in front of her apartment building. By the time he’d climbed out of the car and walked around to the passenger side, Tate was already out and pushing her seat back so she could reach the car seat.
    “I’ll get her,” she said