High Stakes Gamble: Book #4 by Mimi Barbour Excerpt

High Stakes Gamble: Book #4 - Full-length (Hot Romance & Powerful Suspense - Vegas Series) by Mimi Barbour
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Aurora loves her mommy role and is fascinated by her little angel, Lily. When babies start disappearing in Vegas, not once did Aurora ever imagine that Lily would be one of the kidnap victims. So when the unthinkable happens, it forces Aurora to once again partner with Lily’s daddy, Kai, who’d previously walked out on her. This time, her heart will be kept firmly in lock-down where it’s safely resided since he disappeared and left her high and dry.

Almost a year later, still heartbroken over having lost Aurora, Kai learns he’s become a daddy. When a crazy lunatic kidnaps his baby girl, nothing can stop him from working the case, not even Aurora’s gun pointing at places on his body he’d like to keep intact. Hope arises when Aurora’s lips tell him to drop dead, but her hungry eyes plead for more of his tender brand of loving.

Excerpt:

She knew… just like that. Kai was the only person who could unsettle her to this extent. Anger boiled and fizzled over to fill her small body. Slowly she stood and moved to look out the peephole.

Sure enough, a man who resembled Kai stood leaning against the doorjamb, a thick file of papers in one hand. An L.A. Kings cap covered a full head of hair.

He looked away from the door and she saw him swallow then turn. As if he felt her eyes on him, he lifted his face and those sorry blue dazzlers stared straight through the tiny window and into her hardened heart. Then she noticed Cory next to him. She retrieved her weapon from the hall table, opened the door and stood back.

Cory moved in front of the chicken-bastard and held his hand out towards her. “Put the gun down, Aurora. I’d planned to shoot him myself but I listened to his story first. It’s cool, brat. Trust me. You’ll want to hear what he has to say.”

She leaned to the side in order to get a better aim and held back the grin that threatened when she saw Cory scoot out the door and close it very carefully behind him. Fucking coward!

Kai dropped the papers on the table. “Baby—”

“Don’t you call me Baby. You gave up that right.”

“I know. I was talking about our daughter.”

As if the idiot had no idea that her finger itched to pull the trigger and pay him back for the pain he’d put her through, he stood facing her, hands on his hips and a stubborn glare on his face.

“Where’s your bald head?”

“Under my hair.”

“Looks weird. I like it better the other way.”

“So I’ll shave it. You gonna shoot me?”

“Like to. Just can’t decide if the satisfaction would be worth the years in jail. It’s a tough call.”

“I thought of you every day.”

“You’re making it easier every time you open that lying mouth.”

“I was undercover… deep undercover. I brought a copy of the case files for you to read because I knew you wouldn’t believe me any other way. Started a few days after I got back to L.A. until yesterday when I got debriefed.”

“And the first few days you were in L.A.?”

A blush appeared on his cheeks that arrested Aurora’s gaze and made her remember why this man had captured her heart when no others had ever come close.

“I guess I drank enough to forget my own name never mind yours. Not proud of being such a jerk, but it’s the truth.”

“A fucking jerk you mean!”

“I stand corrected. You gonna put the gun away soon?”

“Just so you know how much I hate you and how hard it is not to pull the

Trigger—”

He interrupted, his voice harsh. “Got it!” He held his hands out at his sides and the unspoken message let her know he understood there would be nothing between them except a tiny human being conceived from a night of such sweet lovemaking she’d never, ever be able to forget.

Anger fizzling through her, Aurora swung around and replaced her gun in the opened drawer and then slammed it shut. “Lily’s sleeping.”

“I’d appreciate a chance to look in on her. I promise I’ll be quiet.”

She heard the hitch in his voice before he recovered. “As if your promises are anything I’d believe.” Strange, she’d never heard her own teeth grind before. It unnerved her.

Looking at the bastard, she saw agony written on a face too thin, too pale and sweating as if standing was taking its toll. Questions slammed into her mind, but she bit down on her inquisitiveness, clipped the bud of softness and started down the hall.

“One quick peep and then you leave. If you really want a part in her life, don’t push me. I’ll think on it and let you know the rules. Capiche?”

A deep opened-mouth sigh followed. In a voice choked with emotion he replied, “Capiche.”

She pushed the door to Lily’s room wide enough for them to enter. The whimsical mobile of butterflies strobing soft shades of every color imaginable around the ceiling hung over the crib, a typical present from Auntie Lisa.

Lily dressed in a tiny pink shirt and frilly diapers lay sleeping on her tummy, her diapered backside up in the air and her knees curled under her as if she were waiting for the whistle to blow to start a race.

Her dark curls, damp with sweat, rioted around a face so pretty Aurora still questioned how she’d ever produced such a miracle.

Standing on one side of the crib, Aurora watched as Kai approached the other side. The wonder written on his face spoke more than words ever could. So did the hitch of his breath that had a noticeable sound of a sob.

She left him there. No way did she want to see his tears. Or let him see hers. No goddamn way.