Free Guarding Kelsey ((Books We Love Romantic Suspense)) by Kat Attalla Page B

can afford his new very young bride and baby. He doesn't pay me alimony anymore."
    Kelsey couldn't hold back a laugh and her mother glowered at her. "I'm sorry. But you've been married again since then. What did you expect?"
    "This is no laughing matter Kelsey."
    Her mother was right. The situation was actually sad. At least for the teenage boy who probably didn’t understand his mother any more than Kelsey had. "What do you want me to do?"
    "I was thinking . ." Elisabeth began.
    Kelsey groaned. Whenever her mother started thinking, it meant an argument with Uncle Daniel. They hated each other.
    Elisabeth continued. "The penthouse in the New Jersey complex is empty. It would be perfect for Michael and me. He is your brother after all. It’s close enough for you to come visit us."
    Kelsey bit her tongue. Elisabeth had made no attempt to bring the two siblings together, despite the many times Kelsey had asked. Yet, now, when her mother wanted something, she dangled Michael up like bait.
    She’d suffered too much pain because of her mother's selfishness. Still, Elisabeth was her mother and Kelsey was too weary to argue. "I'll tell Uncle Daniel. When do you want to move in?"
    Elisabeth sighed in relief. "As soon as possible."
    No matter what the circumstance, asking favors of the daughter she'd literally given away, took a certain humility normally lacking in Elisabeth’s character. They might be a thoroughly dysfunctional family, but they were family.
    "Would you like some coffee?"
    "That would be lovely. Do you have any of that special blend your father used to keep here?"
    Kelsey nodded and went to the kitchen to make the coffee. She’d just finished when Wolf stumbled down the hall with his eyes half closed and his nose in the air. Intent on reaching the source of the heavenly aroma, he apparently missed Kelsey's stunned mother staring at a man who had obviously spent the night in the apartment.
    Wolf lifted one of the cups off the tray and took a sip. "Thanks dear, I needed that," he joked.
    He did hear the horrified gasp coming from the living room and nearly spit out the second mouthful. He spun around quickly and stopped dead in his tracks.
    Kelsey's sorrow dissolved in a fit of unconstrained laughter. She wasn't sure who was more shocked.
    Elisabeth recovered first and swallowed hard. "I didn't realize you were seriously involved with anyone, Kelsey."
    "We're not serious. He's just living with me."
    Wolf coughed. He couldn't have appeared guiltier if the insinuation were true.
    "Wolf. Say hello to my mother," Kelsey said. He shot a bewildered glance towards Kelsey and opened his mouth to say something, then apparently thought better of commenting.
    Elisabeth's face turned red with anger. "You're living with a man named Wolf? I thought you would be a bit more careful in your choice of men after . ."
    Her mother cut off the sentence, but not before making her point. Elisabeth racked up more ex-husbands than her daughter, but Kelsey was not on the winning side of the ledger sheet when it came to marriage.
    "Don't have a stroke, Mother. Detective Krieger is a police officer. He's been assigned the dubious task of seeing that no harm befalls your daughter."
    Despite his vulpine name and hard-edged look, Wolf posed less of a physical threat than her polished ex-husband. The threat to her emotional wellbeing was still in question. Even now, when she should be centering her thoughts on the situation, she focused her attention on the masculine smell of him. The seductive, rolled-out-of-bed look of him. The heat radiating from him.
    Damn, she was in deep trouble and she liked it.
     
    * * *
     
    Wolf took his coffee and backed out of the kitchen. He refused to involve himself in a domestic dispute between Kelsey and her mother. He’d learned his first year on the police force that women fought more viciously than men. "If you need me I'll be with Martinez."
    "Coward," she accused.
    He regarded the two women thoughtfully, and