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

briskly.
    “No,” Sean told her, taking her arm and moving her gently to the side. “I’ll take her in.”
    She was angry, but Sean couldn’t tell if that was because he’d asked her too many questions or because of the subject of those questions. This marked the second time this evening he’d asked about Briana’s father and she’d clamped up with a frown that said this was a dangerous subject.
    As he unsnapped the harness that held Briana in the car seat, he couldn’t help but stare down into her angelic face. What kind of man could walk away from her? At two years old, she was already beautiful, and Sean felt like he was suddenly falling head over heels for her. When he scooped her out of the seat, he held her close to his chest as he backed out of the car. Her scent was fresh and intoxicating. A scent he wasn’t familiar with but one he could quickly get used to. On instinct, he turned his face to her cheek and kissed her softly.
    Behind him he heard the car door slam. By the time they came to the double glass doors that led to the lobby, Tate had come around to walk in front of him. She opened the door and held it for him. Her apartment was on the third floor, so she led the way to the elevators and pressed the button. On one shoulder she held Briana’s diaper bag. Her arms were folded across her chest—a chest that was more than ample, as he’d been treated to an irresistible view all night. He didn’t know the designer of her dress, because fashion wasn’t his thing. What he did know—no, correction, what he prayed—was that she had a closet full of them, because she looked great in it. When they stepped into the elevator, Sean couldn’t tell which one of these two had begun wrapping their fingers around his heart first, but he knew for a fact that he wasn’t finished with either one of them.
    “Thank you,” she said tightly when they were once again inside her apartment. “It seems like I’m always saying that to you.”
    “You don’t have to,” he told her when he stood in her living room. He’d noted she wasn’t big on furniture—not adult furniture, that is. There was no mistaking that a baby lived here, from the corner with her playpen to the opposite corner that held a bright green tub of toys. The living room was connected to the small dining area with its table and two chairs and high chair that held more stuffed toys.
    “Which way is her room? I’ll put her to bed,” he asked.
    “You don’t have to,” she said, mimicking him and then smiling at the coincidence. “I can take her from here.”
    “Let’s try this again. I’d like to put Briana to bed, Tate. I’m not going to hurt her.”
    Her questioning gaze kept him still, along with the fact that she hadn’t told him where Briana’s room was.
    “What are you afraid of? That someone’s going to take her from you?”
    “No!” she said quickly. “Her room’s this way.”
    Sean walked behind her and entered another baby haven. From the Minnie Mouse border that stretched around the walls to the pretty pink canopy that covered the brown crib, he knew instantly that the child that lived in this room was loved.
    “You have to change her first and put on her pajamas,” he heard her say.
    Sean had never changed a baby in his life. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t do it. There was nothing he couldn’t do. That had been his mentality for so long that his fingers were already moving to remove the baby’s clothes before his mind knew what he was doing. Tate came up beside him, her soft perfume permeating the air, and Sean felt a clutching in his chest that was becoming all too familiar when he was around these two. She handed him a diaper.
    “Tape’s on the sides. Place this one under the old one to avoid mistakes.”
    “Mistakes?” he asked, looking at her.
    She nodded.
    “Oh yeah, mistakes.” He did as she said, placing the new paper beneath Briana’s bottom. He stripped the tape from the old diaper, removed