Series:
San Antonio Security (Book 2)
A baby in his care…
A target on their backs
A skilled security expert and bodyguard, Brax Patterson
is ready for anything…except unexpected custody of his reckless half-brother's
baby boy. Someone will kill to take young Walker -- and silence his resourceful
new nanny, Tessa Mahoney. With her help, Brax is breaking all the rules to keep
them safe. But will his and Tessa's shattering secrets prove too lethal to
survive?
Whew! Another gripping tale from the pen (keyboard?) of
Janie Crouch. Like the book before this one (
Texas Bodyguard: Luke), this one
opens with Brax's introduction to the Patterson family. My heart ached for the
boy and everything he'd been through in his short life. He's wary of the couple
wanting to take him home with them, fully expecting his time there won't last.
When next we see him, Brax is pondering how his life
turned out - from living on the streets at age twelve to owning a security
company with his three brothers. They are of different races but have each
other's backs, unlike Brax's feckless half-brother Robert. Robert shows up at
Brax's house one night with a story of an emergency and drops off his baby boy.
Brax is shocked but not surprised when Robert disappears and later has guardianship
papers delivered to him. I had to laugh at Brax's first few days with little
Walker - it had a
Three Men and a Baby vibe. Brax thinks he's died and gone to
heaven when he finds a phone number in the diaper bag that he believes belongs
to Walker's nanny.
When we first see Tessa, she's caught in Robert's mess.
The men who are after him believe that she knows where he is. After trashing
her apartment, the next step is threats to her life. Tessa barely makes it out
of her apartment ahead of trouble and realizes her only option is to go to
Robert's brother. She knows nothing about him other than their brief phone
conversation. When she shows up at his office, Brax assumes she's the nanny and
asks no further questions.
I ached for Tessa, who would do anything to have her son
back in her arms. Initially wary of Brax, she doesn't tell him the truth about
who she is or the trouble she is in. I loved watching her settle in as Walker's
"nanny" and smiled at her happiness in being reunited with him. Seeing
how she and Brax connected and the unexpected contentment he found with his
pseudo-family was sweet. But that peace doesn't last long.
The twists and turns that followed kept me on the edge of
my seat. Brax isn't happy when he discovers Tessa's lies but believes the truth
when he hears it. Complicating matters, Brax is due to testify against a local
cartel leader who is determined to ensure that he doesn't live long enough to do so. As
attacks from both sides escalate, Brax and his brothers work to find a
solution. The final confrontation is a nail-biter with a twist no one saw coming.
The resolution was excellent, and hopefully, everyone gets what they deserve!
I loved the development of the relationship between Brax
and Tessa. Brax is protective of her from the moment they meet, sensing that she
is in trouble. Tessa is wary of him, having been burned too often to trust
easily. Simmering in the background are sparks of attraction neither is ready
to deal with immediately. I loved seeing them grow closer over the next few
weeks. Brax is adorable when we see him interact with Walker, which makes it
easier for Tessa to trust him. But it takes nearly losing each other for them
to admit their feelings. I loved the ending and seeing the Patterson family all
together. There is so much love, and there is always room for more.
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