Hush Little Baby Read online

  Table of Contents

  Hush Little Baby

  About the Book

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Playlist

  Don’t Say a Word Sneak Preview

  About Jennifer

  Also by Jennifer

  Acknowledgements

  HUSH LITTLE BABY

  Copyright © 2020 Jennifer Rebecca

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance of actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.

  Cover Design by

  Uplifting Author Services

  Editing by

  Kayla Robichaux

  For more information about Jennifer Rebecca and her books, visit:

  www.jenniferrebeccaauthor.com

  HUSH LITTLE BABY

  Life in George Washington Township and the surrounding areas has once again been shaken to its core. Young, unwed mothers are being found hacked to pieces after crude cesareans, and their babies are nowhere to be found.

  While overseeing the investigation, Captain Liam Goodnite receives some surprising news that just might give him the push he needs to make the sexy medical examiner, Emma Parker, his once and for all.

  Only Emma isn’t one to forgive and forget.

  Good thing life has taught Lee some tough lessons, and now he’s willing to do whatever it takes.

  For Sean, always for Sean. I wouldn’t want anyone to be my baby daddy but you. You take such good care of us and love us spectacularly. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.

  And you’re so damn cute when you drop your Rs. Thanks for being the best guy from New Jersey.

  PROLOGUE

  * * *

  BLOOD

  Blood.

  There’s so much fucking blood. The stuff is everywhere. Dark-red and sticky, it seeps down like fingers reaching for more. It’s like a monster in the night, seeking another victim. I haven’t seen this much blood and carnage since the last time I was in the desert.

  Hell, even Anna’s death wasn’t this gruesome.

  I rush toward her and drop down to my knees. I need to staunch the flow, but there is so much. I’m not sure where to start or how. I pull my cell phone out of my pants pocket and dial dispatch.

  “9-1-1, what is the nature of your emergency?” the dispatcher answers. I don’t have time to listen for who it is.

  Christ. Jesus Fucking Christ, don’t let her be dead.

  “This is Captain Goodnite, and I need an ambulance at 1431 Poinsettia Drive,” I bark into my phone. “It’s an emergency.”

  She’s not dead yet. Her eyes blink open at the sound of my voice and then flit around wildly. There is a shock to this kind of trauma. I have seen men on the battlefield not realize they were mortally wounded or missing limbs. Please don’t let her fucking die.

  “Hang in there,” I command her and hope to fuck that for once in her life she listens to me. “It’s going to be okay.” I just hope I can back up those claims.

  Today was supposed to be such a simple day. Lunch with my sister, Claire, so she doesn’t drive her husband to homicide, and then a quiet dinner at home with my girl. When Claire’s contractions at the restaurant ended in an ambulance ride and emergency surgery, I should have known better.

  I spent the afternoon and earlier part of the evening at the hospital. Until I had this weird feeling that something was wrong. It’s been a long fucking time since I had a gut check. Those instincts saved me more than a few times on missions. Finally, when I could barely stand it, Wes gave me the all-clear on my sister and her kids, so I rushed home.

  What I found there will haunt me for the rest of my days.

  Fuck me. There’s so much blood. My heart pounds in my chest, and I swallow back against the desert that has invaded my mouth. She’s still bleeding. I have to stop the bleeding. I cross my arms over my abs and whip my T-shirt over my head. I press it to the wound that gapes open like a gruesome smile. They didn’t even try to stitch her up.

  Her blood is wicking up through my shirt by the time I see the blue-and-red lights flashing on the wall of my living room. She should have been sitting on the sofa in her sweatpants and watching The Real Housewives of Something Stupid. She loves those dumb fucking reality shows almost as much as I love to tease her about them.

  There’s a knock at the door. Thank God.

  “We’re in here,” I call out.

  “What do we have?” one of the paramedics asks me as they roll in a gurney.

  “Another baby-snatcher victim,” I answer.

  “Then you need the ME, not us,” his partner says.

  “This is the medical examiner,” I inform them. “And she’s still alive.”

  “Fuck,” one of them bites out.

  “L-Lee,” she rasps and licks her dry lips.

  “I’m right here, baby,” I say as I hold her hand in mine.

  “I-i-it was—” she starts before her eyes roll back in her head and her whole body begins to shake.

  “She’s coding!” one of the paramedics shouts.

  “Sir!” the other one barks at me as he tries to push me away from her body. “Sir, you have to get back.”

  I scoot back a foot or two so they can work, and I draw my knees up to my chest. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up into the understanding eyes of Detective Jones. He thinks she’s going to die, but I haven’t come this far to give up now.

  She can’t die on me. I just got her back in my life, got to feel the warmth of her skin pressed against mine, the sounds of her laughter, the sight of her in my house, and the dreams of a future. A future that, as I take in the scene around me, is starting to go missing.

  My name is Captain Liam Goodnite, and I’m going to get my family back. I’m going to do whatever it takes.

  ONE

  * * *

  JUST A DREAM

  Three weeks earlier...

  My heart clenches in my chest. And it hurts like fuck.

  I would ask how this became my life, but I know. It’s my own damn fault, and it’s not like me to blame my issues on other people. But that doesn’t mean that when I see Emma walk into a restaurant in a cute-as-hell dress that shows off her growing belly, on the arm of someone else, that it doesn’t hurt. Because it does.

  It should be me whose arm she’s on, and it should be my baby that’s growing in her belly, not his. That asshole is living the life that should be mine, and it’s no one else’s fault but mine.

  I was too comfortable in my bachelor ways. I focused on my career with the George Washington Township Police Department. My only goal was filling my dad’s shoes and making him proud. That and keeping my baby sister from getting killed. She has always had a penchant for finding trouble, and as much as I’ve di
scouraged her from a career in law enforcement, she’s damn good at it. I’m proud of her. I can also breathe a sigh of relief, because she’s on desk duty now that she’s the size of a house with her own pregnancy.

  Not that I was making him proud when I distracted myself by keeping company with just about every willing female who crossed my path. And then I hooked up with Emma. I never would have done it, but there was something about her shitty attitude and her ridiculous Metallica T-shirts that make my cock hard. It was after our night together turned into another and another that I realized it’s her.

  She’s the one.

  She’s a brilliant doctor and she knows it. Her confidence is sexy as all get out. And she hates my fucking guts. I shouldn’t be surprised about that one either, not with the way things ended between us. Before I ever slept with Emma, I shared a night, just one, with her friend Anna, not knowing my sister’s other best friend harbored secret deep feelings for me that I didn’t share.

  Anna was sweet and charming, but she wasn’t the one for me, and no matter how much I tried to tell Emma that, she refused to listen. Her love for her friend was deeper than anything she might feel for me.

  And then Anna died.

  Not only did she die during an investigation, but she didn’t need to. She was so desperate to have my feelings reciprocated that she took dangerous risks with a serial killer to prove herself, and it cost her her life.

  The guilt after something like that is unbearable. For Emma, it was tenfold. She feels like we’re responsible for the actions Anna took at the end of her life. And because of that, we don’t deserve to be happy—her words, not mine.

  “You can’t avoid me forever,” I whisper softly from just behind her.

  “It would be a lot easier if you played along,” she snarks. Holy fuck, how her mouth can make me hard. I want Emma to dress me down every day for the rest of my life so that I can fuck her out of her bad mood afterward forever.

  “I can’t do that, baby,” I admit. “I need you too much.”

  “No.”

  “And I think you need me too,” I tell her. There’s no denying it. Emma and I are like gasoline and matches. We can’t help but come together, and when we do, it’s incendiary. It’s only a matter of time before we fall together again, and when we do, I’m done running, and so is she. She just doesn’t know it yet.

  “No,” she whispers.

  “And I think you’re scared to fall,” I say softly as I put my hands on her shoulders and gently turn her around to face me so she can see the truth in my eyes. “But I’ll catch you, I promise.”

  “What if you don’t?” she asks, and I can hear how scared she is in the tone of her voice, and maybe a little drunk too, if I’m being honest.

  “You have to trust me,” I tell her.

  “I can’t.”

  “Just for tonight,” I plead, and I think we both know it’s a lie. Once I have her again, I won’t be able to let her go. “Just trust me for tonight, and we’ll go from there.”

  “Okay,” she replies softly.

  “Okay?” I ask, hoping I heard her right over the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.

  “Okay,” she repeats.

  I smile. I’ve been smiling all night. It’s my sister’s wedding, after all, but now, it’s like all the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. I’m finally getting everything I ever wanted, and I’m so fucking happy.

  I don’t care if it’s the champagne or the moon over the beach; whatever it was that made Emma Parker agree to a night with me, I’ll take it, and I’ll keep on taking it, because I am so in love with her. I’m going to use every day for the rest of my life to show her just how much.

  We belong together.

  She looks up at me and realizes we’ve slowly moved out of the light shining from the reception and down to just under the pier. It’s dark here and a little secluded. The music from the party can be heard just barely. And it’s just us out here.

  And in that moment, I want Emma like I have never wanted anything in my life.

  “Don’t look at me like that, Emma,” I warn, my voice strained by my need for her, and so is my cock. “You have to decide now because I can’t walk away like a gentleman when you look at me like that.”

  “Like what?” she asks. She’s looking at me from underneath her lashes and bites her lip.

  “Like you want me. Like you need my cock like you need air to breathe. Like you want me to make that pretty pink pussy of yours come,” I tell her.

  “Yes,” she breathes as I back her up and her shoulders hit one of the wooden posts of the pier. “I want that. All of it.”

  “Emma,” I plead with her. I need her too much, and her name rolls off my lips like a prayer.

  “I want that,” she says, bolder than she normally is with me in the bedroom. My cocky, headstrong doctor is a little shy with me behind closed doors. Maybe it’s the fresh air. “I want your cock, and I want you to make me come. And I want you.”

  “Fuck,” I bite out before crashing my mouth down on hers.

  My kiss is fierce and powerful, and I let that fire build and consume us both. She lets out a whimper, and I take the opportunity to sweep my tongue inside her mouth and taste all her sweetness. She sucks it deep, letting mine brush over hers as I plunge it in and out of her waiting mouth. And it’s fucking heaven.

  “Lee,” she pleads when I rip my mouth away so we can both drag in a ragged breath.

  Slowly, so painfully slowly, I slide the skirt of her dress up, bunching it in my hand as I go. When it’s up above her hips, exposing her delicate pink panties, I slide the damp material aside and plunge two fingers into her pussy.

  “So wet for me,” I say softly.

  “Yes,” she agrees as she leans her weight back on the post, and her knees begin to buckle, making me smile wickedly.

  “Are you going to come for me like this, or do you want my cock in that pretty pussy of yours?” I ask. And we both know she’ll come on my hand like this if I keep it up.

  “I want your cock,” she says honestly.

  I unbutton the front of my suit slacks. My hard length springs free, and I revel in the hungry way she watches me, the way she openly wants me. I want all of it. All of her, her heart, her body, her fucking soul, because she owns every fucking part of me. And I’m going to give everything I have to her. In this moment, I won’t take whatever she’s willing to give. I’m going to take it all.

  “That’s my girl,” I growl. “Lift your leg around my hip. That’s it.”

  I pull the at the seam of her panties over her pussy and to the side and slide my cock all the way in. I lift her up, bracing my hands under her ass so I can lift her up higher and then drive her down over and over again.

  “Oh, God,” she moans as I slide her up so that only the tip is inside her, and then I power her back down again.

  “That’s it,” I praise as she clenches around me.

  “I-I’m going to—” She gasps as her orgasm rolls over her like a steamroller. “Lee!

  I pin her to the post, giving her most of my weight, and pump once, twice more… before calling out her name into the night as I follow her over the edge. “Emma!”

  I hold her in my arms against the wooden post as we both struggle to catch our breath. I lean my forehead against hers and breathe in her air.

  “So what are you doing for the rest of tonight?” I ask her, when really I mean, What are you doing for the rest of forever?

  “I had grand plans to go bum a smoke from one of the valet guys,” she admits, and I smile against her mouth. That’s my wild girl, always looking for trouble.

  “Well, seeing as they’ve all gone home for the night, how about you come back to my room with me instead?”

  “I suppose I could do that,” she says hesitantly.

  “Excellent,” I whisper, not wanting to scare her with my enthusiasm for her.

  I set her on her feet and wait for Emma to regain her balance, and then I tak
e her hand in mine and we walk down the beach and back up to the resort where I let us into my room, and we spend another night together.

  And this time, I have no plans to let her go.

  For six weeks after Claire and Wes’s wedding, I held the woman of my dreams in my arms. She was in my bed every night, and I thought we were finally headed in the right direction, one of healing and forgiveness and moving on, but I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong. So here I sit in the bar, drinking scotch and eating alone while the woman I love sits at a table across the room, sharing a meal with someone else.

  “Here’s your dinner,” the waitress says as she leans just a little too close to me, her breasts just under my face.

  “Thanks,” I murmur, looking up to catch Emma’s heartbroken face. I have no idea what she has to be heartbroken about; she’s the one who left me for this tool. I’m sure he’s a perfectly nice guy and all, but he’s not me, and she chose him. That cuts deep.

  “And uhh….” She nervously bites her lip before releasing it. “Here’s my number. I, uhh… I get off at eleven if you’re free.”

  “Thanks,” I tell her.

  I should take her up on her offer. Take her back to her place and give her the night in bed she’s promising me, but I can’t. I can’t, because looking into the wounded eyes of the one woman I want more than anything and can’t have ruined any chance of a hard-on I might’ve been able to work up for this girl.

  Thankfully, my phone rings, saving me from making another monumentally bad decision.

  “I have to get this; it’s work,” I explain to her as I shift and pull my cell phone out of my pocket.

  “Sure,” she says, looking a little dejected. “I’ll let you get to it.”

  “Goodnite,” I answer.

  “Captain Goodnite, this is dispatch. We have a body.”

  Looks like I’m saved by the homicide.