Page 14 of Off Limits Daddy

He nodded.

"I'm wondering where you got the idea for it. Is this something that you saw?"

Aiden sank even deeper against me.

"You know, it could've been something he saw on TV." I didn’t like how he was retreating. The boy was already locked up tight emotionally. I didn’t need her closing him up more.

Agent Marsden gave me a quick disapproving glance and then turned her attention back to Aiden. "Is this something that you saw?"

Aiden didn’t respond.

"Was there anyone else with you?"

I guess she decided that he had seen it and was going to ignore the fact that he didn't answer.

Aiden turned his face into my chest. I hated that. Whatever this was, it was traumatizing the poor kid.

I held him away from me slightly so I could look down into his face. "You're safe here, little guy. I'm not so big for nothing. I’ll protect you. Agent Marsden is asking if you saw something or know anything that's in this picture."

Aiden shook his head.

"Did someone tell you about it?" I asked, not caring if she didn't like me interjecting into her interview.

Aiden shook his head and buried his face against me again. I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. According to his social worker, Aiden had always been quiet and shy. But he was a boy, and little boys like to draw violent things sometimes.I remember being about his age and picking up sticks off the ground to pretend they were guns.

When I turned my attention back to agent Marsden, she was sitting back in her chair, taking another sip of her hot cocoa. She studied Aiden. I'd been completely enthralled by the sage green eyes that flashed with wild heat the night we fucked in the sauna. Today, those eyes were calculating, assessing.

"Do you have any proof that this picture actually represents something he really saw?" I asked.

She finally lifted those pretty green eyes to me. "Only its resemblance to a crime scene.”

God. Had Aiden seen an attack? A murder?

"Have you noticed anyone suspicious hanging around you or Aiden?" she asked me.

I took the question seriously and thought about it. "The only new people in my life are Aiden and his social worker. I haven't seen anybody suspicious. There've been no odd calls or drive-bys."

She nodded and once again looked down at Aiden, assessing.

"Sounds like this happened long enough ago that if he did see something, they don’t know about it, or they’d have tried to do something.” That idea sent a cold shiver down my spine. It hardened my resolve to protect him. “So they don’t know or it’s just a little boy drawing his imagination. Either way, I think we’re in the clear."

"That's only as long as people don't know that Aiden knows anything."

"We don't know if Aiden knows anything. He says he doesn’t.” But I had a bad feeling that he did. “I appreciate that you found this important enough to give up Christmas to come here and find us. But as you can see, we are doing fine and I am plenty equipped to protect him." And once I got home, I would put more security measures in place, just in case.

She sat for a moment longer, and I thought she was going to fight me about it, although I wasn't quite sure what she'd fight me about.

Finally, she gave a single nod and took the paper back, putting it in her bag. She smiled at Aiden. "Thank you so much for talking to me tonight. I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas. Are you?"

Aiden nodded.

"Well, I will leave you to it, then.” She pulled out a business card and slid it across the table toward Aiden. "If you ever think of anything that I might want to know, you can call me, okay?"

He looked at the card.

"It's yours. You can take it. Keep it someplace safe, okay?"

Aiden glanced up at me, and I gave him a nod. What did I care if he had an FBI agent's business card?