Seducing the Bachelor (The Bachelor Auction Returns Book 3) by Sinclair Jayne Page B

heart flipped in a crazy way.
    Something so normal, like seeing Parker munching on a cookie looking up and smiling at a man and talking a mile a minute shouldn’t hurt. Shouldn’t make her feel sad. But Parker didn’t have a dad. And he might never have one. She deliberately kept all men at a long arm’s length. Between Parker, school, and work, she didn’t have time or the inclination. She was building their life. And it was safer that way. She didn’t want to bring men in and out of Parker’s life. But for the first time it hit her that by not even trying, she was ensuring that Parker would never have a dad. Or siblings. And that if something happened to her, he’d be in the foster system. Just like what had happened to her. And to his mom, Jenna.
    She turned back to the dog, trying to shut down the negative thoughts. Yes, life wasn’t fair, and bad things happened, and she had to roll with it. But Parker couldn’t be so unlucky as to have a dad who walked away, a mom killed in a car accident, and then his adopted mom…what? She didn’t want to think about it. Life was also full of good things, too. Lucking out on the living arrangements with Mr. Meizner for the last year and a half of his life had definitely qualified to be in the very, very good column of life her and Parker’s life.
    Talon cleaned the dog as much as possible without giving it a full bath, sterilized and stitched all the deeper gouges and tears, before what she’d been worried about for the past half hour became obvious even to Colt and Parker.
    Parker began fist pumping and jumping around the small cluttered room. Colt muttered “When it rains it pours. Parker, settle down. Dog’s freaked out enough.”
    “Oh, right,” he whispered. “Can I watch?”
    “Ask your mom.”
    Talon watched the beginnings of a very active labor. And blew out a breath. It wasn’t that she hadn’t observed a birth before. She’d helped deliver stuck sheep, calves, foals, llamas and alpacas, and a couple of prized bulls when Noah had been called out either because the ranch was understaffed or too busy or worried because the animal in trouble was more prized for its breeding capabilities. It was just she didn’t know this dog. How sick it was. And because of the malnutrition, it was possible that some or all of the puppies could be stillborn or that the mom wouldn’t have the strength to deliver or nurse. With her schedule, she couldn’t bottle feed puppies.
    “Parker, I think we should all keep a safe distance at this point. I’m going to have to take her cone off so that she’ll be able to smell and clean and bond with the puppies, but she’s pretty sick, and, Parker, some of the puppies might not make it.” She forced herself to say it.
    “They might.”
    “Yes. They might.” She smiled.
    She’d always been called Sunnyside Up in the group homes she’d bounced around; especially by the teen years, many girls in long term foster care had a tendency to be sullen, angry, thinking the world owed them something. Her view had not been embraced by anyone but Jenna, which was why they’d probably bonded. Jenna had been positive that “this time it was going to work out and be perfect.” Even though she hadn’t told Talon about Parker’s father, she had been sure he would return for both of them, and each rodeo she’d dragged the two of them around to, she’d always dressed up and looked around with such an expectant air it had broken Talon’s heart, but she hadn’t been able to let her go alone. She knew what it was like to hope, and it seemed like Parker had inherited that as well as his mother’s thick, straight, black hair.
    Four years later, and she still thought about Jenna every day. Missed her.
    “What do you need me to do?” Colt asked. “Is this bench thing a good long term option? Should I figure a way to safely contain her in case she gets over protective?”
    “There’re a few large animal crates in the barn that Noah