Page 44 of Her Righteous Protector

She wasn’t making any sense. They’d both known he was Zephyr’s father. But he waited so that she could say what she needed to, in her own time. She pushed her chair back from her desk and clutched the arms, her knuckles turning white.

“I…I…”

What in the hell?

Her eyes started to well up with tears. He turned and locked the door as she gulped in a silent sob. He was at her side in a flash.

Her head dropped and her hands lost their grip. Tears streaked down her face and before she had a chance to slide out of her chair he caught her. She was biting her lip so hard he thought she would break the skin. He knew it was to stifle her sob.

“Hannah,” he whispered. He turned them so that he was sitting in the chair and she was in his lap. He cuddled her close and she clung to his neck, her silent shudders were heartbreaking.

Shit!

How could they have not talked about this? How could he have not realized that she’d been living on a knife’s edge?

“Hannah, you’re not losing him,” he whispered harshly. She wasn’t hearing him. Her grief was absolute.

Max pulled her arms away from his neck, trying to tilt her face up so she could look at him, but her eyes were shut tight.

“Look at me, Hannah.”

Her head shook so wildly, her hair came out of her ponytail.

“Hannah!” He gripped her chin, forcing it up. “Look at me. You’re not losing him. I promise you. He needs you. You’re not losing him.”

She tried to pull away from his hold and turn to the door. “He’ll wake up soon,” she gasped. “He can’t see me like this. He’ll get upset.” Hannah’s voice sounded like she’d swallowed broken glass.

“Hannah, did you hear me? You’re not going to lose him.”

She started to struggle. “I need to clean up.”

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Max said soothingly.

Hannah shoved at him violently. “How! How can it be fine?” she shrieked softly. “How can it ever be fine again?” She stumbled off the chair and shoved the heels of her hands into her eyes. He would have pulled her into his embrace, but she lurched across the room and sagged against the door.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry Max,” she whimpered.

He stalked her carefully as she tried valiantly to pull herself together.

How had he fucked up so badly? How?

“Zephyr needs you. I know that. How could you ever think that I would pull the two of you apart?”

She was mere inches away from him and he once again pulled her into his arms. He breathed a sigh of relief as she fell against his chest, but she was still softly keening in pain. She hadn’t heard him.

He bent his knees and cupped her cheeks, willing her to open her eyes.

“Hannah,” he kissed her forehead. “Look at me.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Please, Baby, look at me.”

Her eyes fluttered open.

“I was going to talk to you about this. I swear to God, I was going to talk to you about this. I got so excited about being able to tell him about being his dad, I didn’t think about how we would work things out.”

“Talk about what?” the words tumbled out of her mouth.

“Right now it’s important for him to stay here. He has you, he has your parents, he has this house. I’ve talked to my commander. I’m taking emergency family leave. We’re going to figure this out.”

“But eventually you have to go home to Virginia,” she whimpered.